Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!! I am so excited for Christmas this year because Elsie might actually get it. But then again I bought most of her gifts with her there...so maybe next year will be the good year. I have been thinking a lot about the whole Santa thing and trying to figure out a way to make Christmas more about Christ. I am not sure if I have figured it out yet but we do have a nativity that Elsie can play with and a great book about Christ's birth story and I plan on telling her again and again about that story!!! What else can you do right??? I am not sure if acts of service will really make any sense to her yet but I am thinking about what to do on that front too. I just don't want to get all warpped up in the commercializations of Christmas.

Here we are decorating our tree together.

Santa

Santa came to our ward Christmas party and to our amazement Elsie actually sat on his lap. Of course if he had not been giving out candy canes I don't think she would have done it!!!

Snow time Fun

Elsie likes the snow. Here are a few photos to prove it.

A visit from Grammy

We were so happy to have Grammy come out to visit us. We did lots of fun stuff with her but most of all it was great to have her here. She read to Elsie a lot and played with us and had a good time. We went to see the lights on Temple Square, we saw music and the spoken word and went to a few other church sites.

Our trip to Kansas

As I said below we hitched a ride with some of or best friends to Kansas. It was a fun ride with two toddlers but we made it and with only one car sickness episode! It took us from 6 am to midnight but we did it in one shot. After getting there our friend passed us off to our other best friend and we were good to go for about a week of fun. We hung out a lot and went shopping and to appointments. I had my birthday there so we had cake and went to a movie...it was a blast!!! The best part about it was watching the kids play!! They loved being together again!!! Thanks for a great time. We miss you already.

Elsie the model

We had a beautiful tree in our back yard so I took a few pictures of Elsie in front of it. I think they came out great and I am actually going to use one of them to reproduce for family.

Fun with firends

We were so happy to have a few friends come out to visit. They were actually here to see their family but they made some time for us too. That is the one great thing about living here....lots of people have family here so they come and visit and see us too!!!

Naps

Elsie is going through a tough time when it comes to naps. She does not want to take them!!! I used to be able to put her down with no problem but now she just gets right back up again and gets out of her bed. So I have just been putting up the gate and letting her have quiet time while hoping the whole time that she will lie down and fall asleep. But what happens while I am away is far from sleep. This is how I fond her one of the afternoons after her quiet time

Swimming in the bathtub

Elsie has been doing funny stuff in the bathtub for quite a while but this is the latest. She swims in the bath. Will fills the tub really high then lets her have fun. She goes under the water face first then moves her legs and arms all around as if she was swimming.

Hop On Pop

Elsie has recently been reading more of her Dr.Seuss books and her current favorite is Hop on pop. So one night she started to hop on her pop.

on a little trip

Elsie and I have gone on a little trip to Kansas. One of our best friends from KS was living out west and then needed to go home to KS so we hitched a ride. And here we are happy as can be spending time with some of our very best friends in the world. I will have to post pictures later.

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year. The fact that it was a Saturday helped a lot. Will took Elsie to see grandma and grandpa Shumway and then he and grandpa went golfing. At home I was cooking up a storm. I started with my very first batch of Apple Butter. It was also my first time trying to make any kind of jam or jelly. I am proud to say that the end result was perfect!!! All the jars sealed and the apple butter set up and tastes great!!! After that was done I was feeling adventurous so I made a cranberry apple pie. It also turned out great. I also started working on boiling down more apples (making apple sauce) for a second batch of apple butter. It did not end there because we were having two of Will's siblings and a close friend over for some food and games and so I made some pizza. Meanwhile Will had gotten home with Elsie and they started to carve pumpkins. Will did a great job with both of the pumpkins. Elsie on the other hand did not want to help that much. She put her hand in one once and then played with the tops. But we still got some cute pictures. As you can imagine by the end of the night the kitchen was a mess!!! In the middle of all of this fun before it got too dark Elsie and I went to 3 houses to go trick or treating. I had not prepared her for it so I had not taught her to say trick or treat but no one cared.

It was a very busy but great day!!

Cookie making and eating...

...but mostly eating. Elsie helped make them by dumping in the measured ingredients with a little help, stirring, and pushing on each ball of cookie dough on the tray (even though they did not need to be flattened). And I am proud to say I allowed her to eat a little batter...well she might have taken a lot more then I wanted but boy did she love it.


She loved the batter so much that tonight when I was making biscuits she had to try some of that batter even though I told her it was not cookies. She liked it a little too which is crazy!!

Pumpkin hat

Elsie's grandma had this pumpkin hat. So we had to try it on her and get some festive shots.

Mitten Soxs

I am not sure how many of you out there have ever put mittens on your feet but Elsie has now done so. I assume a lot of little people do this. I know I did it when I was a wee one because my sister wrote about it in a book she was making for a school project. Anyways it was cute so I documented it.

What Elsie has been up to

I couldn't think of a title for this post but here are a bunch of photos of Elsie and the cute stuff she has been up to. She absolutely loves riding her bike!!! She wants to do it all the time and says "that really happy" when describing how it will make her feel. The hat and mittens where more for fun then function. She has also been into putting my over sized shirts on for fun.

Bath time in the BIG tub

In our master bathroom we have a small shower and a huge tub. It is not a jacuzzi tub but it is big. Will wanted Elsie to try it out one night for bath time. She liked it ok but ever since then Will asks her if she wants the little tub or the big tub and she always chooses the little one. We think it might have something to do it with all the bubbles!!!