Dollhouses (and a Garage)

So I feel like the dollhouses and Garage that AJ and I made deserve their own post!  We spent a LOT of time on them.  And even with Peggy's help (AJ's mom) we were down to 11:30pm on Christmas Eve before we got the last one finished!  So glad to have them done and they turned out really well I think.  Each girl got a little dollhouse with a wooden family, and Lincoln got a garage with toy cars. 

Here they are!

Each girl got a recreation of our family.  AJ and I are in the back and then in the front, left to right, are Emmaline, Liliana, Imogene, and Lincoln

Here is Lincoln's Garage:

Lincoln Garage - Front

Lincoln Garage - Back  See the cute littly puppy with the bone and the orange tree?

Lincoln Garage Inside - Road, Pond with Frogs and Fish, and a Tool Box

Imogene's Dollhouse:

Imogene Dollhouse Front

Imogene Dollhouse Back - Apple Tree, Kitty Cat, Sunflowers on side

Imogene Dollhouse Inside, Fireplace, Pond with Frog

Liliana's Dollhouse

Liliana Dollhouse Front

Liliana Dollhouse Back - Apple Tree, Two puppies, Butterfly, Sunflower on side

Liliana Dollhouse Inside - Fireplace, Pond with frog

Emmaline's Dollhouse

Emmaline Dollhouse Front

Emmaline Dollhouse Back - Apple Tree, Kitty cat, window on side (sunflowers on other side - can't see it)

Emmaline Dollhouse Inside - Fireplace, Pond with Frog

Rating:  5 Lollipops

Christmas Means Carnage

So things have felt really busy lately!  I have spent a lot of time lately trying to get a big project done for Christmas.  One that didn't get finished until 11:30pm on Christmas Eve.  I even forgot to take pictures during the gift opening so I had to take photos afterwards of everyone sitting amongst their hauls!

A few funny kids stores first though.

On Christmas Eve, Emmaline informed us, completely out of the blue, that "Christmas means carnage."  Apparently she as watched the movie Babe a few too many times!  She didn't even know what that meant so it was particularly funny to hear her pop out with it.

When we were putting the kids to bed on Christmas Eve, I said to Lil that I wondered if Santa would bring me anything,  She said, "No. You were NAUGHTY this year.  You yell at us.  Daddy was good.  He will get presents!" 


So on the 24th we spent the day just hanging out.  We made cookies for Santa of course, watched movies, told the story of Jesus, and had a finger food picnic and watched a movie.

Santa of course showed up around midnight.  This is what he brought for each kid plus stockings:

Emmaline:  Bare Books, Fabric Dollhouse, Toy Hamster

Liliana - Fabric Dollhouse, Pretty Pretty Princess Game, Toy Hamster

Idgie - Toy Hamster, Remote Control Car, Fabric Dollhouse

Lincoln - Personalized Towel, Beanie Puppy, Fabric Garage

And here are all the kids in their piles of stuff after all the carnage was over.  Everyone made out pretty well I think!

Emmaline

Idgie

Liliana

Lincoln

Overall an exhausting but good Christmas.  The kids are all happy, the parents are all happy.  Now time to rest!

Rating:  10 Candy Canes

Surgery

Today was Lincoln's surgery.  It actually went very quickly.  We were at the hospital at 8am and were leaving a 1:30pm.  The surgery itself only took an hour.  He got all his little bits arranged correctly and he is doing great.  Other than the shock you see when you open his diaper, he is happy and crawling and moving around and just being great!

I took this picture with my cell phone before he went into the surgery:

Rating: How do you rate this?  Good it went well, bad he had to have it.  5 Lollipops, 1 Fireball

Making a List

Emmaline and Liliana both got their Christmas lists written - Finally!  Emmaline wrote her own, and Lil dictated hers to me.  Here is what they say:

Emmaline:

Dare Santa,
Toks for Bering Prasis.  Here our sum ideeus.
Love, Emmaline

Teeker Toy
Jummg Rope
My uon toy train
Jolree Box

(Translation:  Dear Santa, Thanks for bringing Presents.  Here are some ideas.  Love, Emmaline  Tinker Toys, Jumping Rope, my own Toy Train, Jewelry Box)

Liliana:

Dear Santa,
I want:
A Hippopotamus Robot
A Bee Robot
A Bunny Robot too.
And a magazine
An elephant Robot
I like mooses
A dollhouse

Thank you!
Love, Lil

Rating:  5 Candy Canes

Playgroup

Liliana has a playgroup every week with a group of little girls that are all about the same age. This week it was at our house and for part of the time I put in a movie since it was too chilly to go out and play. There were limited good spots to see the movie so I set up some "loungers" with the couch cushions. I had enough pillows to make 3 spots, but it turns out all the girls wanted to sit there - so they all managed to cram in!

Rating:  6 Lollipops

Beautiful Idgie

I wish I had this picture a couple days ago when I posted the funny thing Idgie said.  I managed to snap this yesterday afternoon.  Sometimes the best pictures are the ones you get randomly instead of working for them.

Rating:  5 Lollipops

Idgie-isms

A couple of cute things Idgie has said/done lately.  Oddly enough - both involve her butt . . .


A few days ago she came to me and stuck her butt out and pointed to it and said, "I have a butt on my bum!!!"

Tonight at bedtime Idgie was getting undressed to get her pj's on.  Her back was to me and right when she pulled off her pants and underwear and exposed her cute little tooshie - she said, "Peek-a-boo Mom!"

Rating:  3 Lollipops

Santa Games

Yesterday at the dinner table, this conversation occurred:

Emmaline:  Lil, what did you do today?
Liliana:  I played Santa
Emmaline (misunderstanding Lil): Aw!  I want to see Santa!
Liliana:  Santa not real!  Not real Santa!
Emmaline:  He is too real!
Liliana:  No Emmaline, Santa not real.  It was a GAME Santa.
Emmaline:  Oh.

AJ and I literally froze to see what was going to happen next but luckily they were able to work out their misunderstanding but it was a tense moment for us!

Rating:  4 Candy Canes