Letter to Santa

Last year while browsing around on the web, I saw several fill-in-the-blank Santa letters for the kids to complete. Unfortunately, everywhere I found them wanted to charge money for such a thing and I wasn't about to pay for it. So, I did what any creative momma would do...I made my own.



Do you have little kids? Do you want a fill-in-the-blank Santa letter for your kids that you don't have to pay for? I'll send it to you for FREEEEEEEEEEEEE! (because I like you) :)

I don't know how all of those online file sharing things work, so you'll have to leave me a comment (with your email) or send me an email if you want it and then I'll send you an old-fashioned email with an attachment. Isn't it funny--or not so funny--how quickly things become "old" these days?

Sharing the Joy of the Season

...with her baby dolls.

First thing this morning, Emilia lined (almost) all of her baby dolls up on the couch. I came out and asked if they were having a party and she said,

"No, mommy. I wanted them to be able to see the lights on the tree."

Decorating the Tree

Well, I may not be done with my Christmas shopping like some totally organized people I know, but we did manage to get the tree up and decorated last night. That's already a step ahead of last year when the tree never got more than 1/2 decorated. (Really, I mean that. If you had looked at the backside of our tree it didn't have any decorations...plus, I know it wasn't up this early!) So, yay for us!

Our little black-eyed princess tried on the Santa hat.


Hanging their first ornaments (of the year) on the tree.


Emilia was so excited, she gave herself a round of applause when she was done. :)






Getting more ornaments to hang up.


They've spent most of the morning today showing each other which ornaments they put on the tree. It's all so exciting!





Putting the hat on the tree. We couldn't remember who did it last year (that's so long ago!), so two kids got to do it this year.




And then we tried for a picture of all the kids, but Audra didn't want anything to do with that.



She was alright if Mommy was holding her, though. So, a picture of mommy and the kids it is!



Finally got a smile out of Audra! All it took was a little bit of peek-a-boo. :)



Now to get started on the Jesse Tree, on which I'm already 5 days behind...

The Belly

I love chubby babies.



Three of my kids have already outgrown that beautiful chubbiness of being little, but I still have one.



And she is so adorably cute in her chubbiness that I could just eat her up...but I won't. :)




I'll just take all sorts of pictures to remember these days and to embarrass her when she's older.




Embarrassing my children: Just another service I offer. :)

The Playhouse Is Still Awesome

I haven't shared any more pictures on here, but in case any of you were wondering, the playhouse is still awesome and, in fact, has continued to get even more awesome. Construction is now complete. It even has a roof. :) This weekend I took some pictures to put on here so you can see.

But really, pictures don't do it justice. You'll just have to come play with us sometime.

And no, we did not actually fill the sandbox with kitty litter. It's sand from the river bed near Sue's family home in Missouri. She and her sister collected it for us. Wasn't that nice of them? It makes for a much better play space than kitty litter. :)







Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to my mom and Sue for all of your hours of planning and measuring and cutting and revising and building and sweating and well, just all of the time and talent you gave us in designing and building such an incredible-beyond-words playhouse for our backyard.

We love it!
And we'll love it for years to come.

We love you!
And we'll love you forever. :)