Archive for December, 2012

Santa Claus came to town

Posted in Celebrations, Family visits, Leah, Molly on December 31st, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Santa brought the girls a bunch of dress up clothes. Leah immediately had to put on the wedding attire, including veil and heels, which she wore for the entire time opening presents.

The bride

Molly was excited to finally get to see Brave thanks to getting it on Blu-ray from her sister.

Brave

This looks like a big present.

A big present

It's a scooter!

A scooter

The girl's 1st cousin twice removed, Ann, restores very nice dolls and makes clothes for them. When Molly was younger, she gave her a very nice American Girl doll (also named Molly) which she continues to love. This Christmas, Leah got this very nice Madame Alexander doll, Wendy, along with a few very nice outfits to go along with her. It looks like she'll be a prominent figure in our house for years to come, too.

Wendy

After opening Wendy, I made the girls close their eyes for an unwrapped surprise gift. Matching doll nightgowns!

Festive sleepwear

After finishing opening presents at our house, we headed to Grams and Pop's house to open presents there. This music box from Aunt EA was a big hit for Leah, and we've been hearing It's a Small World over and over since she opened it.

Music box

We always open one present at a time, going around the room from youngest to oldest. So, Leah spent a lot of time waiting patiently for her turn to open another.

Waiting patiently

There were lots and lots of dress up clothes this Christmas - for the girls, for their dolls, and even for Molly's bear.

Bear shoes

Grammy was in town to partake of the Christmas festivities too.

Nice bag, Grammy

EA's boyfriend, Scott, loves all things bacon. So when I saw this recipe for Candied Bacon Fudge I had to make it for him. It got thumbs up from all who tasted it. Chad even said it was the best chocolate-bacon combo he's had!

For the love of bacon

Grams is shocked at the ceramic trivet with custom artwork created by Molly we gave her.

Wow

The blanket I made got a thumbs up from Pop.

Thumbs up

Of course, Minnie Mouse is always a hit.

Minnie Mouse Pillow Pet

The one gift Molly kept talking about getting were these Unusual Unicorn Stompeez Slippers. When you walk in them, the eyes pop up due to the force of your foot pushing air from the bottom up into the eyes.

Fancy slippers

Nice pearls Aunt EA (given by her boyfriend Scott).

Oooh, pretty

For Pop, EA (with help from several of us) put together a video montage of pictures throughout his life.

Emotional moment

After seeing the video, the girls wanted to see some of Pop's Navy stuff, including his sword.

Nice sword

The girls tried on some of Pop's Navy hats. Before Chad took this picture, Aunt Caroline told them to make the biggest smiles they could. She apparently has not learned that you don't tell little kids that, as it will inevitably result in these faces.

Smiling Naval officers

Commander Sellers and Aunt Caroline got in on the hat fun as well.

Nice hats

Christmas is coming

Posted in Celebrations, Family visits, Leah, Molly on December 30th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Our Christmas visitors were flying to see us, so the girls decided to make their own plane to go for a flight as well. Of course, there are lots of passengers on the plane.

Ready for take off

As always, G'Mom and Grampa arrived with lots and lots of new books to read.

New books

Even though the girls made Christmas cookies with Grams, Molly insisted we make some at home too. She wanted to decorate them with icing, which she proved to be very good at.

Decorating cookies

I may have had just as much fun decorating!

Mom decorating too

Leah has heard Molly singing Gloria so many times that she knows it now too. So when the carol was sung at our Christmas Eve service, Leah knew just what to sing.

Singing Gloria

Per tradition, we opened one gift on Christmas Eve. The girls got these fancy snow boots from Grammy, which came in handy since it snowed on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve presents

I think the boots go very well with Molly's smocked dress.

Perfect match

The girls had fun tracking Santa as he circled the globe on G'Mom's iPhone.

Tracking Santa

The girls were excited to pick out the perfect cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. They were also thrilled to finally wear the Christmas nightgowns I made for them.

Cookies, carrots, and new nightgowns

Editor's note: The title of this post was inspired by the song Christmas Is Coming on Laurie Berkner's new Christmas album. We are huge fans of Laurie Berkner and her new album does not disappoint!

The Garden of Lights

Posted in Family outings, Leah, Molly on December 29th, 2012 by jen – 2 Comments

As a child, my family always drove through the lights at Celebration in the Oaks in New Orleans City Park. I have since always compared Christmas light displays to those memories. (I know, it might be a tad skewed since I was so little and the lights were so big, but whatev!) So, when my parents asked about going to see some lights, I knew just where to take them.

The night of the 23rd we headed to Brookside Gardens with some of our friends to see the trains and The Garden of Lights. Here are the six kids lined up to look at the trains before heading out into the cold to see the lights.

Trains

These are the same gardens we took pictures at a couple years ago. Molly and Leah had fun in this house then, too.

Candy cane house

This is the same rail as this picture. She's a bit bigger now.

Peering out

Mesmerizing lights

Mesmerizing lights

They had an impressive number of lights and some really cool light sculptures.

Lights everywhere

Look at that

The girls had a great time running through all the lights.

Lights are fun

Leah, the Ghost of Christmas Pretty Soon.

Ghost Leah

The kids all thought this tree of milk cartons was pretty neat.

Milk carton lights

By the end of the evening, our toes and hands were frozen, but there were still smiley, happy kids!

Hi Leah

I would venture to say that this was the best lights display I'd been to. Walking through the lights was a unique way to experience them. So, if any locals have not made the trip down, here's my recommendation to do so!

We ended the night with a great dinner at Squisito. (Thank to EMK for the recommendation.) The kids had their own table, which was fantastic for everyone!

Pizza

Holiday happenings

Posted in Leah, Molly on December 19th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host…Luke 2:13

Molly and I participated in Walk to Bethlehem as angels singing "Gloria!" She and Simon sang out loud and clear every time (which was roughly every 5-10 minutes during the two hours we were there!)

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host

I was not planning to dress and sing, but when Molly asked, I couldn't say no.

Momma angel and her little girl

It's become a tradition for the girls to go over to Grams and Pop's house and bake Christmas cookies with Grams, Aunt EA, and Aunt Caroline. When Chad and I arrived to pick them up, we found Leah surveying their product.

Cookies

I think Molly has her eye on one.

I pick this one

Astounding cookies. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Astounding cookies

Yes, they get pretty excited about cookies.

I love cookies!

3-2-1 blast-off!

Posted in Molly on December 5th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Saturday afternoon turned out to be quite nice, so Molly took advantage and spent it outside. She spent most of the time playing with the stomp rocket. The yellow rocket is about ready for launch.

Stomp rocket

We have lift off.

Blast off

Lift off

Next stop, outer space! OK, maybe not.

Next stop, outer space

What goes up must come down. Think she can catch it?

Catch

Catching with your hands is too easy. Catching with your hat is much more challenging.

Use the hat

I’m dreaming of a white…pine?

Posted in Family outings, Leah, Molly on December 4th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

We again returned to Greenway Farm to cut down our Christmas tree. We took a family vote and opted to try out a white pine this year.

A new kind of tree

Molly thought this little tree was the cutest! She kept saying, "Mom, it's so little!"

Mom, it's so little!

Chad picked out a good saw this year and cut the tree down in no time.

Cutting down the tree

That evening, it was time to decorate our new tree. Molly put on the first ornament.

First ornament

The daddy ladder is sometimes required to reach the higher parts of the tree.

Up high

Leah was much more into putting ornaments on the tree this year than in years past.

Leah, too

All decorated and ready for Christmas. This is the earliest we've ever put up our tree, thanks to our very eager Kindergartener. We're hoping that we don't have a Charlie Brown tree come Christmas Day!

Our tree

A peak into our Thanksgiving

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly on December 3rd, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

We spent Thanksgiving day at Chad's parents' with all the family. Leah sported her new dress for the occasion. After I completed the first Fall outfits for the girls, I decided Leah needed a new Fall dress too. She's looking very trendy and oh so cute!

A new owl dress

Leah is a very opinionated 3-year-old and can show a huge range of emotion in a short time. This was 4 seconds after the previous shot.

So opinionated

A shot of the whole Sellers clan (plus one who has not yet gone through the initiation ceremony).

Thanksgiving family

Molly made finger puppets at school, so for our after lunch entertainment, she and Aunt Caroline put on a show for us.

Finger puppets