One more with the background decoration.

She's standing on a stool, just FYI.

Edit:  She refers to Parker.

Making cookies

Rest of the cookie pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures I promised.  If I don't post them now, I never will.  

It's times like this that I regret letting Parker wear a shirt that is too small, inside out, all day long and not brush her hair.  Oh well.

Cutting out cookies

A leftover ball of dough scraps that she played with off and on throughout the day.

Decorating the very special longhorn cookies for Bob.  He likes red hots on his Christmas cookies, so Parker was in charge of those.

I finally let her eat one.

Close up of the decorations.  I do the icing (my signature squiggle style), and Parker does the sprinkles.  You can't really tell but they have sparkly sugar on top in addition to the few bits of colored sprinkles that I allow.

Christmas eve in the kitchen

How to you fill the looooong day before Christmas?  Cooking and eating worked pretty well for me.  I started early this morning making cookie dough, then Parker and I cut them out and baked them.  She made it nearly all the say to the end before getting bored.  I have pictures of her helping...I'll put those in a different post.

After we iced cookies, it was time for a special fancy Christmas eve appetizer I've never tried to make before.  Shrimp Dumplings!  I had shrimp in the freezer, and the other ingredients on hand, so if these never got made, I was only out a couple bucks for the wonton wrappers.  They were great - just like at a restaurant.

Next it was time for pizza.  (I bought frozen dough). Parker had canadian bacon and onion and we had canadian bacon, onion, mushroom and pineapple mango salsa.

And now I'm going to SIT DOWN for the rest of the evening and help Parker track santa on the NORAD site.  

Christmas eve cookies

Parker is literally skipping in circles with excitement.

New Tradition - Elf on the shelf

In case you don't have little kids, or you live under a rock, there's a new thing sweeping the nation at Christmas time. Elf on a Shelf. I suppose this was a tradition in some families, and then some genius relized the opportunity for profit.  I knew about it last year and resisted, but this year I caved. Lots of Parker's friends were coming to school talking about where their elf was each morning.

It works like this:  This little elf sits up out of the way somewhere and reports back to Santa whether or not they've been good.  They aren't allowed to touch him or he loses his magic.  And somehow, magically, each night he changes locations.  Some elves in some homes are VERY creative and mischievous (waaaay to creative, in my opinion - just google "elf on the shelf ideas"...I guess some folks don't have enough to do during the holidays?!)....ours just basically hides, although one morning he tried to do a little fishing. 

So between this and her Playmobile advent calendar (pictures coming soon)....where she gets a little tiny toy that eventually makes a scene....she's super excited each morning and pops out of bed bright and early, instead of sleeping in.  Guess all that sort of backfired, but that's ok - at least she's waking up in a super cheerful mood and is semi-occupied for the first half hour of the morning.  

Now what someone needs to create is the summer vacation "advent" calendar.  A new toy each morning for 3 months.  Where do I sign up?  

Holy cow

A week ago, I suggested that Parker build a nativity out of her stuffed animals, and this is what she came up with.  

Polly the polar bear is Mary.  Bailey the waterdog is Joseph and DQ the cow is Baby Jesus.  

Also in attendance: Wylie the white cat: sheep.  Halloween cat: camel.  Pinky the lion and Rainbow the dog are shepherds.  Not sure if you can tell, but they have shepherds staffs made from pipe cleaners.  Foxy, Candy the bear from Canada and Melissa the bear: 3 Wise Men.

Duchess is the angel and also the narrator.  

Break Begins.

Good think it's break time, because I'm worn out!  Today was the last 1/2 day before Christmas break and even though it's a 'non instructional day' (the principal says "why pretend?") , it was super busy.  We started off with an awards ceremony that I helped produce to recognize the students that participated in the PTA's art contest.

 Parker won a blue ribbon this year again for her artwork, and she'll be advancing to the district level of judging. (It was also pajama day). 

 After the ribbons, they did a "decorate a human tree" and selected 5th graders got to decorate the principals.  It was very cute and the kids loved it.

    Then the kids watched a movie in the classroom while the moms set up the class parties.  I made a Roll A Snowman game.  It was a big hit!  

Parker's teacher gave everyone Slinkies as a gift.  Parker collected all the boxes she could and brought them home to build an animal apartment house.  (you can see the slinkie cast aside next to the tape.

I can only hope that the gifts we have for her under the tree are as interesting as the boxes they are packed in.

Christmas Morning

I'm going to attempt to get caught up on posting pictures and blogging.  I have quite a backlog, but my pictures are in several different cameras and phones so it's tough to get them all downloaded at once.

We went to Bob's folks house for Christmas this year.  Parker actually went 3 days earlier to spend some extra time with her Gigi and Papa and her cousin Peyton.  That worked out REALLY well for me...it's amazing how much (holiday errand-wise) you can accomplish without 'help'. 

By all reports, they had a great time.  Gigi got them matching hats, and Christmas morning, they set their alarms on their itouches so they didn't oversleep, put on their hats and came out to check out the gifts that santa had left. 

Parker is showing off her 'Mazing Hamster dressed like Santa.  A very specific request that was on her Christmas list.  She also got an Easy Bake Oven, a woven bracelet kit, Bendaroos, puzzles, a cheapie lap desk she had her eye on forever,a new art set, a new bathrobe and more stuff I can't remember.  The biggest hit of all may be the new robe (not pictured)....she wears it as often as possible, like Fred Sanford.

More pics coming soon.....

Trip to the American Girl Store

Over Christmas break, we needed to fill an afternoon, so we took a trip to the Galleria area to the American Doll store. Parker's doll Elizabeth was in serious need of a trip to the AG beauty shop.

Walking in. You can see Elizabeth's hair is a total mess.

You choose your hairstyle and ribbon, and then wait while the stylist combs out a year's worth of tangles.

While we were waiting, we went upstairs to the little cafe, where girls and moms and dolls have lunch. I'm not sure if you can see in the background, but if you bring your doll with you, they have little booster seats so the doll can sit right up at the table with you. And if you don't have a doll, they have loaners.
We just sat at the ice cream counter and had some juice while we waited. Parker was getting a little tired at this point. She perked up a little after the juice.



This give you an idea of how the store looks. Doll displays and people everywhere. I've only been there during the holiday season. I wonder if it's less of a zoo during the summer.

The finished hairdo. You can see that Parker had had enough of the the crowds. Later she rallied a bit and really enjoyed the mall. She put Elizabeth in a shopping bag and drug her all over the mall with us, even though I could tell it was pretty cumbersome. Next year we'll have to make time to ice skate. She was super mad that we couldn't stay longer to skate.

And believe it or not, Elizabeth's hair still looks pretty good! This is her cowgirl outfit by the way (sans hat). Not sure if I've posted that or not.

White Christmas

Here are some pictures from our 'white christmas'. When the rain started turning in to snow, Parker was super thrilled. She spent a LOT of time running around on the patio catching snowflakes on her tongue. Like her hodge-podge outfit? Santa hat, purple gloves and white shirt and legging, chosen specifically to match the snow.

This was the accumulation we woke up to on Christmas morning. They said this was the first White Christmas in 80-something years. And one of Parker's Christmas gifts was a new larger, warmer coat, just in the nick of time.

In other (more recent) news, Parker got her first report card this week. They do them mid-year, and end-of - year. As expected, she did really well and has mastered nearly everything. But instead of letter grades they do a "D" for that skill being "Developed: Successfully completes tasks independently." It is quite a shock opening up the envelope and seeing a big string of D's though (as I'm sure my parents can attest). The only area where she received a "SD" for "Still Developing" is on writing the letter J. I'm pretty sure she can do that.....so I'm thinking the teacher just threw in the SD so it would look like she actually checked her on each an every letter and didn't just give her straight D's.
Her reading level is a 12 on the DRA leveling system they use. The goal for the end of the year for Kindergartners is a 3, so she's well past where she needs to be. I'm not telling that though....I don't want her thinking she can slack off the rest of the year.

Here are the teacher comments:
"Parker is becoming more and more fluent and accurate in her reading. (she has moved from a reading level of 3 in Oct. to 12 in Jan.) She enjoys reading to herself and enjoys reading with friends, as well. Parker is very polite and respectful of her classmates. She is never in a hurry to be first and will often give another friend the opportunity to go ahead of her. I would consider Parker to be a very giving, caring girl. She is a joy to have in class! "

Another doll outfit

Here's another one of the doll outfit's that Parker's GiGi (Bob's mom) made for Parker's doll for Christmas. This is her rain apparel. It's a raincoat, boots and hat, all lined with the cutest green ladybug fabric ever.

Christmas: The Aftermath

In case you don't read the comments, my mom posted a comment on yesterday's post that said "Do I see MATCHING shoes on Elizabeth???". Yes mother, there are matching shoes with EVERY outfit, including the nightgown. I told you Claudette is part Santa's elf.
Here's another outfit. You can't see the fabrics, the the top and vest are fleecy, and the pants are velvety. And yes, there are matching shoes, hat AND purse.

It's been a looong day. Parker is in rapid detox from the mixture of being pampered while she was sick, unlimited apple juice and chocolate milk, undivided attention from adults and a constant stream of gifts and new toys. We're back to the harsh world of amusing yourself, limits on tv time, errands and solid food.
(I can't remember if I said, but Parker has been a little under the weather since Christmas day with a little cold or virus or something. She's better now.) Here's a picture of her 5 oclock fit.

Don't feel too sorry for me though...every mom of a preschooler had the same fit on their kitchen floor at some point between 4 and 6 most likely. It's the witching hour.

We started disassembling the decorations today. Parker was somewhat helpful this year - I took ornaments off and gave them to her, and she sorted them. It made for quick work. I realized afterward that I didn't take a picture of the tree this year. I changed the colors a bit....silver and green instead of silver and red.

Christmas 2008

At looong last, Christmas came and went. Parker has been counting the days for what seems like MONTHS. She was really into it this year, they did a lot at school regarding the birth of Christ, etc. She 'read' me one of her Christmas books,
"The angel appeared to Mary and said 'you're going to have a baby' .",
"And Mary said 'I can't handle a baby!' "

At least 2 months ago, she picked out what she wanted Santa to bring her - an American Girl doll. She went back and forth about which certain one, but finally decided on Elizabeth after we made a scouting trip to the American Doll store here. It was chock full of little girls with their dolls in tow, waiting to get the doll's hair (!) done in the salon, or to dine in the little cafe...where they have booster chairs for the dolls so they can sit up at the table too.

We were very worried about her changing her mind after the order was placed.....the plan to tell Santa in person fell through. We attended Spaghetti with Santa at her school, and she loved the meal and the live music, but REFUSED to sit in his lap. I offered up every bribe I could think of, but she wasn't interested. On the way home, although I never told her this, that if she didn't tell Santa what she wanted, she wouldn't get her doll. She sobbed "can't we just BUY a doll?" Like, why do we have to go through this middle man, anyway? She was ready to have me turn the car around and go through with it, but I assured her that just writing a letter would be good enough.
We hosted Bob's parents for Christmas. I cooked a fancy dinner Christmas eve and Parker was very amped up, but she went to bed at the appointed time.

Setting out cookies....we left the milk in the fridge until later.

She waited until 7am to come downstairs....and was thrilled to finally get her doll.

Parker and Elizabeth

Gigi (Bob's mom) spent untold hours making doll clothes for Elizabeth. After seeing all she made, I'm convinced that Santa's elves are real, and she's one of them.

Opening the doll clothes

We've been doing photos of the diferent outfits, and we'll post them soon. Here's one:

Matching nightgowns

She's REALLY into the matching clothing thing. It looks like I might have to start sewing soon. We hope everyone had a great holiday. We're going to be busy... Parker only has 6 months to plan her birthday party.

My angel

Parker's teacher dressed her class up as a nativity scene and she decoupaged the print onto a tray that the sold at the silent auction/fundraiser. I knew nothing about any of it, so I was a little suprised to see it. Anyway, they finally posted the picture, and here it is.