We're ready for Christmas!

The girls were getting excited about Christmas even before it was Thanksgiving. The cute thing was, they weren't getting excited about getting presents. They were getting excited about decorating. They really wanted to decorate our yard and put up our Christmas tree. Our neighbors decorated their yards for Halloween so Grace and Lyla had been talking about decorating our yard since Halloween. One afternoon in particular they were talking about it and got themselves all worked up. They were telling me all of the things they were going to put in the yard. I finally gave them paper and pens and had them make a yard "plan". Unfortunately, I can't find it now. Not happy about that. Anyway, we went shopping for yard decorations before Thanksgiving. I tried to steer them in the direction of the classy, white light reindeer and white light tree decorations. We ended up with candy canes, two blow-ups and colored lights on the porch. It looked cute though. If it made them excited then I was fine with it. After all, we were decorating the yard for them.

We got home from Thanksgiving and immediately started setting out the yard decorations. After that was done we put up the tree. The girls get excited about talking about each decoration and where it came from and if it is "theirs" or not. They get a new ornament every year to call their own. Hopefully by the time they have their own house with their own tree they will have a special little ornament collection to start decorating with.

Last year they slept in the family room in sleeping bags with the Christmas lights on after we put up our tree. Grace remembered this, of course, and said it was a tradition and they HAD to do it this year.

Here are the pictures from our night of decorating. The yard picture doesn't actually show all of the lights. We added colored lights to the porch banister after this picture was taken. I don't have a picture of that.

Why is Lyla doing a karate move in the picture?

Taking a break for cartoons...

Crazy face picture...

Photo shoot in front of the tree...

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a little more subdued this year at my parents' house because my Aunt Kris and Uncle Kendall and their kids didn't come from Missouri this year. They usually come with their two kids, which adds to the fun chaos. They didn't make it this year. Our own kids are enough chaos, but we still missed having them there. I didn't take very many pictures this year. Here is all I have from Thanksgiving 2010....

an attempt at a group pic of the great grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa Galloway.

Easton playing with the girls....

Grandma coloring with the big girls...

Papoo pushing Lyla on the tire swing...

Thanksgiving at the Gardner house....Grace and Lyla "making a wish"

These are pictures of Lyla and Grace licking the spoon from something yummy. Eric was actually taking these pictures b/c Lyla let us put her hair in a ponytail to keep it from getting in the batter. It came down immediately after she was done! She looks so cute with a ponytail!

Papoo watching cartoons with the girls....

Eric playing football

This past fall Eric played on a Saturday morning football league. It was a bunch of guys playing flag football. They took it pretty seriously though. The organizer even wrote about the games every Saturday after they were done naming MVP and other titles. The girls and I went to his last game and I took the camera. I didn't get very many pictures. First of all, he told me he would play two games. He was finishing his first game as we were getting there. The girls brought their scooters with them to the park. There was a big hill right by where Eric was playing. So, of course, being the daredevils that they are, they started riding their scooters down the hill. Then Lyla got the bright idea to sit on her scooter and go down the hill. I'm sure all of the moms were thinking, "where in the world is the mom of those girls?" Well, I was right there watching along with all of those moms that were thinking that. What was I thinking? "They are so crazy! What's the worst that could happen? A cast? A couple of stitches? They'll be fine." Well, Lyla got that little boo-boo rather quickly. She hit her head on the scooter somehow when she went down the hill sitting on the scooter. She put a little cut on her eyebrow. It was bleeding enough to need attention so I had to carry her to the car for a bandaid. By the time we got back, Eric was done with his game and they had lost, so he wouldn't be playing a 2nd game. So much for watching him play. We spent a little time on the playground after that. Lyla actually has a little scar in her eyebrow from that little cut. Did she learn? Nope, she's always up for a dare!

Another belt promotion

The girls graduated to their next belts in Novemeber. Lyla is now a purple belt and Grace is now an orange belt. They both still enjoy going to class. I think it's a great place to learn self defense, self confidence and other character lessons. They're both very proud when they earn a new belt.

Halloween

This year we went trick-or-treating with Joni and her girls. All of the big girls were dressed like Indians and Elye was a cowgirl. They had a great time running from door to door. Elye was adorable saying thank you to every person that gave her candy. She really stayed with the big girls and did just what they did! She was pretty cute. The funniest part of the evening happened right at the start. We went to a house that was actually decorated on the outside. They had music playing and spooky lights and decorations. The girls went to the door and we hung back a little. The girls came walking back to us and right about the time they got to us a person dressed in a big hairy "big foot" monster costume walked very slowly out from behind a tree that we had been standing right next too and said boo. I screamed louder than anyone and the girls took off running as fast as they could! It was hilarious! The girls got about 3 houses away before they stopped running. I think everyone was really laughing at me yelling so loud though. I've always been a sucker for scary halloween stuff. I've never liked haunted houses or scary movies. I laughed at myself too though. It was pretty funny!