Two Santas Before Thanksgiving

We have been having a great time. I love being these girls mom but I sure get tired some days. I can't believe time can go by so fast and I always feel like I am just trying to catch up. I really enjoy those days where we can just hang out. But we also go places too.

Elizabeth is doing great at school. She has homework every weekend and usually has it done before I pick her up on Friday evening. We got the school pictures back and she is looking so grown up. I can't wait until Monday. She has been taking a theatre class on Mondays during the after care program. Monday afternoon they are giving the performance. I will be taking a late / long lunch to watch that one for sure. She has been saying her lines to me all over the place. She plays a pirate and knows her line inside and out. Its a pirate I be and something about staying up until half past three! I hope I can get the video to work for me. I'll have to do a test run tomorrow. I bet I can get the girls to so something for me!

Ella is loving life. At least once or twice a week she will look at me and say I Happy Mom. It makes my heart smile. I have been trying to teach her how to say prayers before dinner. One day this last week my day care provider Beth called me at work to share a story. Ella was playing at the play table with another child from the daycare. They have pretend food and they were setting the table and pretending to eat. Well Ella did part of the sign of the cross and said Amen. So, she is listening! I love getting those kinds of calls from Beth. It helps me feel a part of my daughter's daytime life a little more.

Wednesday the girls and I stopped to see Dad after work. We got there about 6:15 but he was already asleep. He was glad we woke him up though. We had a nice visit and the girls showed Poppa some loving. My dad really enjoys my girls. He really gets a kick out of Ella though. She has loved her Poppa from day one. So does Elizabeth but Ella wakes up almost every day asking if she can see her Poppa today. When I say yes, we are going to Poppas, she has started saying yeah!!!! I don't know how much longer we will have with my dad so I want my girls to continue to build their memories! My dad is an amazing man and I am so glad he is still in our lives.

I took two days off of work this week. Thursday I started organizing what will be the office. I am finally working on cleaning up the spare room that was always meant to be the office from the time I moved back home. When I was a child the room was one of my bedrooms. Its one of those small rooms without a closet. Its right next to the door going to the attic so that is what my parents set up for me. Since I moved back it has not been a bedroom but will make a great office.

Yesterday Elizabeth didn't have school so we had a PLAY DAY. We went to the Childrens Museum with friends and saw Sesame Street as well as painted with feathers and danced in the music room. It was a lot of fun - so much so that Ella fell asleep in the highchair at the restaurant. She took my hand and put it on the side of her head and fell right asleep. My friend Mary got the photo and I can't wait to see it. I wasn't able to keep her asleep at home though. Which led to a long night. We also had plans to go to Macy's Holiday show with Todd and his daughter Elise. Todd picked us up and we took the light rail to downtown mpls. I decided to not bring the stoller because I didn't want to haul it on the train. Bad Move on my part. I had to carry Ella everywhere. I was exhausted by the end of the night. Thank goodness Elizabeth was content to hold Elise's hand because I had to put Ella on my shoulders for most of the walking.

After the wonderful show at Macy's the girls wanted to see Santa. They both sat on his lap and Elizabeth told him that Ella wanted a baby doll and that she wanted a Real Kite. Not sure what that means really. And Elizabeth has never shown an interest in kites before. But the pictures turned out nice with Santa. After that we went to eat and then back on the train. We slept in this morning because we were so tired. But, sleeping in here is 7:30. I remember when I would sleep so late on the weekends that I would get my dad mad. My guess is my girls will get there soon but I don't think I will ever be sleeping until noon again. :-)

Today we went to Ikea with Todd and I got a desk top and legs and filing cabinets for the new office. So I am committed to the project for sure. The girls were pretty good but its stressful to take them to busy places. After we left, we stopped by Todd's mom and dad's. Then we went to Bachmans for another Santa visit. This Santa is an old friend of Todd's mom and dad. We had front row seats to the show and it was very entertaining. Elizabeth was watching and signing with the group. Ella was tired and wanted to go home. She took a 3 hour nap and still went to bed by 9pm. While Ella was sleeping Elizabeth colored and made a tamborine with paper plates and rice.

Tomorrow is church and rearranging Elizabeth's room. The play area is getting overwhelmed with toys. The hanging thing from Ikea will go up so that Elizabeth can put all her stuffed toys in there. That will free up a couple of drawers. Maybe her dress up stuff can go in there. Maybe we will go see the Bee Movie in the afternoon.

Have a great weekend.