Christmas morning

The girls had a great time opening presents together. They were both excited about the little reindeer in their stockings. They got a lot of great stuff. They spent most of the morning packing their stuff into their "emergency kits" and carrying them around in grocery bags, gift bags, and suitcases.

Skiing with Ava

Skiing with Ava and Christmas picnic lunch in the snow.

Sledding with Daddy

Pajama day and birthday party

Friday I dropped Casey off at school, went for a run, rushed home and took a shower, and got back into my pajamas to help with Casey's holiday party. Yes, unfortunately pajama day was the same day as her party. The kids had a great time with it but to me it's like a nightmare where you forget to get dressed and go to school in your PJs.

I am the backup room mom and the main room mom is very pregnant and almost couldn't make it to the party so I was going to have to take over. Thank goodness she made it! I did one craft with the kids, though. Eric, Casey, and I went to the fabric store and bought a bunch of fleece in 7 different patterns and Eric cut it into scarf length pieces and then the kids cut off the edges and cut fringes into the sides. It was a big hit.

That evening there was a birthday party and a lot of the kids were still in their PJs. It was pretty funny. The funniest part though was when the dad stood next to the Christmas tree and held up the pinata for the kids to hit. Casey almost chopped down their tree. There were ornaments flying everywhere and I just stood there with my hand over my mouth thinking that I guess the dad would stop it if he didn't want his tree chopped down. It's not like she could see while she was blindfolded with the Santa hat!

Mall cowgirls

Eric's uncle sent Casey a lot of cash for Christmas, so when we went to the mall to get lunch and go ice skating it was burning a hole in her pocket. She was putting quarters in all the little rides and wanted to spend ten dollars to jump on this little trampoline in a harness and wanted to pay for Brynn too. First we checked out the shoe store and she saw Spinner shoes where they have a little spinner (like a mini turntable) on the ball of the foot so you can twirl. I said no we're not buying those and she wanted to spend her own money on them. I figured it's better than spending it on jumping on a trampoline so said ok. I made her promise not to even ask to wear them to school though. She loves them. Crazy.

Christmas party at Maddie's

Went to a Christmas party gift exchange at Maddie's house. I think it was Casey's first gift exchange and it took a while to explain why we were buying a present for 7 year old Matthew and someone else was buying a present for her. Then the day before the party we got an email saying to sneak the presents into the garage after we get into the house. Oops. I told her that it was a game the parents were doing for the kids and not to mention it to the other kids. 

Nonetheless, she looked a bit worried like she wasn't sure if she'd been naughty or nice enough while Santa was calling out names, as her name was near the end. Then there was a big look of relief when her name was called. 

She got the game Operation and was SCREAMING "YEAHHH!!!!" when she opened it. I'm sure whoever bought it was happy. I heard Matthew say, "AWESOME" when he opened the Micro Charger cars we got him and I was so happy. 

Afterwords she asked me if it was the real Santa. I said that I know it's Santa's busy time right now so I'm not sure. Casey said, "You know, Mom, he works all year long." 

Monkeys

Turkeys

Aunt Amy rode her bike to the store and came home with a turkey on the back of her bike. Not to be outdone, Uncle Bill rode out and picked up his own turkey. 

Climbing, playing, and building

Casey had a great time in North Carolina -- climbing trees, playing on playgrounds, and building cars. 

Kids' table

Happy Thanksgiving!

Eric got some new slippers. Heavy but cute.

In the second picture you can see that Casey lost tooth number four. The tooth fairy brought two Sacajawea dollar coins. And a candy necklace and pez. We told her it's VERY unusual to get candy from the tooth fairy. I think it only happens when you have a long flight the next day. 

Olivia meets the Velveteen Rabbit

We went to see the Velveteen Rabbit with Susan and Ava. Casey got some more mileage out of her Olivia dress, since she won't wear either of her two fancy dresses, as they are sleeveless and she doesn't want to show her armpits! We went to a milk and cookies with the cast party afterwards and the girls had a great time. They had chocolate milk with cookies and cupcakes, and then got to learn a few dance moves.

I will post the Thanksgiving pictures soon. There are a lot to go through!

The principal lost a tooth at lunch

Casey had a good time being the principal. She got to choose what classrooms they would visit, so she chose her room, of course, and the rooms of her two older neighbors, the kindergarten classrooms (her former teacher wasn't in, so she was disappointed), and another first grade class. She said she was a little nervous at first, because they started off with an assembly, but was pretty happy with the whole experience and wishes she could be principal and lose a tooth every Tuesday.

Principal for the day

From scientist to runway model to school principal. This girl is getting a chance to try out a lot of careers. At the Halloween carnival, Eric made sure to monitor the auction and win "Principal for the day" for Casey. He got into a bidding war at the end, but he didn't give up.

She has been so excited to get to wear a whistle all day, and has been a little worried about things like, "Will I get to play on the playground at recess?" and "What if I am playing on the playground at recess and it's time to blow the whistle and I accidentally blow it too loudly in someone's ear?" She gets to eat lunch with the principal and visit all of the classrooms and write notes to the teachers. They have an assembly at 9am. I can't wait to hear how it went.

Putting the run in runway

Casey was a model at a charity fundraiser last night. The kids walked out two by two and then at the end they all lined up and walked out again for an encore. Some kids were skipping and some kids were running to keep up. I took a couple of short videos on my phone and was watching them at 4am when I couldn't sleep, which of course didn't help at all because I started laughing so hard.

We were up late late late. Was a good time. Luckily we didn't have anything planned this morning.