Christmas Break, Week Two: Part One

Time to catch up, one step at a time. Hopefully nothing too exciting happens in the meantime, to set me back even more.

Monday, December 28th

Last Monday was the first day of the second week of Christmas break, and it brought with it....FAMILY!

Seth's sister Sarah and her family drove up, sacrificing the warm weather down South, to spend time with us. My kids were so excited to see their cousins! They arrived Monday afternoon just in time for Chloe's birthday celebration.

I never did manage to get out to shop for cake supplies. Poor Chloe was so miserable all day. Even if she had been up to shopping, I know she wouldn't have let me put her down for long enough to decorate a cake. I had the perfect cake too. I was going to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcake cake. So perfect for Chloe, since her two loves in life are books, and food. Oh well, I will make it one day for story time instead.

Here is how her birthday actually played out. I will once again spare you all the present opening and just say Thanks Grandparents! I will show you what we got her though. On Christmas day, Chloe was smitten with Alyssa's new doll. Chloe is actually more of a dolly girl than Alyssa is, but you saw how she abuses her poor dollies, right? We certainly couldn't buy her an American Girl doll. After we saw how jealous she was on Christmas, even Seth agreed that we should get her a knock-off American Girl for her birthday. We went to Target on the day after Christmas and they were totally cleaned out, but we did manage to find one last doll, on clearance for $15. It is not the exact one we would have chosen, but for $15 we couldn't pass it up. She loves her new dolly. She named her Dora. I will say that the American Girl one does have better hair. Is it $100 better? I don't know about that, but it is better. This one is perfect for a two year old little imp like Chloe, who will surely shave it's head, or frame it for frosting thievery soon enough.

She kissed her...

And hugged her...

All before we even opened the box.

Meanwhile, I heard commotion coming from the other end of the table. Alyssa lost a tooth.

Then it was on to store bought goodies, again. Chloe blew out her own candles.

And then declined her kitty cake, and had what the other kids were having. I know, she looks like a nightmare but remember she was sick. It seemed cruel to dress her up and force her in to piggytails just for the sake of cute pictures, even if it was her birthday.

Alyssa and Aspen, best buddies. Notice the tooth fairy pillow on the table and the two teeth missing up top?

Alex and Cedar, oh how different boys are from girls.

After cake, the cousins were bursting to show us what they got for Christmas. A Wii! Yes ladies and gentlemen, there were video games happening in my house. Alyssa loved it, but luckily she has not even hinted at wanting one of her own. Alex was in over his head, but he tried. He did tell me after everyone left that he liked to play real Wii games better. He even asked if I wanted to play. What is a real Wii game, you ask? Apparently it is when we run around the house car racing with two strollers. That's my boy!

Anyhow, here is a quick peek at Dance Dance Revolution.

Olive cracks me up in this one

Alex giving it a go, and Seth laughing at him.

Alyssa, in tongue biting concentration mode and Aspen, just breezing through.

Seth and Cedar took their competition seriously.

Even Chloe gave it a go.

As did Violet.

Did I join in? Come on, you know better! No way in this lifetime...at least not in front of people.

I think that about sums up night number one, but stay tuned because we ran full steam ahead all week long!