December Happenings

I don't think I ever journaled about Elly finally deciding she liked her 4-wheeler, only a YEAR later! Santa brought Elly this 4-Wheeler for Christmas last year and she was super terrified to ride it. So it sat in our garage for almost a year. One day we pulled into the garage and she said she wanted to ride her 4-wheeler. It came out of nowhere. So we pulled it out, she hopped right on and took off!! What? Where did that come from. We had tried and tried and tried to get her to ride this dumb thing and she never would. It was so funny, within 2 times around the driveway she was already doing tricks. She would say "Look at me mom!" and would go one handed, sit on the seat backward, stand up with one foot on the seat, and anything else she could think of to do. She was quite funny. She is on this thing ALL THE TIME! I love it! Now her favorite thing to do is give Ragan rides. Ragan really loves it too!! She just laughs and claps and squeals with delight. So cute.

While on the subject of my newly brave little girl...The day after she decided to give her 4-wheeler a try we rode it over to the park and guess what! She went down the BIG slide! Such a proud moment, I think I even got tears in my eyes. Forget the fact that she's 3 1/2. I have been trying and trying to get her to go down the big slide for a couple of years now. She would just sit up there and cry while the one year olds would step over her to go down. Well, she must've been feeling really brave because she climbed right up there and made me go stand at the bottom to catch her and she just went. Just like that. So easy. Now she's a pro and I don't even have to stand at the bottom to catch her. What a proud mamma.

Spaghetti

Of course every mother has to take pictures of their kids eating spaghetti. I'm no exception to the rule. This is Ragan's first spaghetti. She LOVED it!!
She even got the hang of the slurping thing. She would put one in her mouth and suck it up like a pro.

Isn't it so funny that mom's think that their kids do the cutest things and everyone else is probably thinking, "What's the big deal?" That's totally me.

Elly loves spaghetti too.

Trimming the Tree

Trimming the tree, and Elly too! When we got the tree skirt out Elly wanted to wear it, and of course she wanted me to take a picture. She's goofy.
Elly was super excited about decorating the tree this year. I just gave up on trying to do it my way and let her go at it. So this is what my tree looks like with all the balls in one spot. She did a good job. I think it's pretty. I tried to tell her to put them in different places but she told me she wanted them all in one spot.

Ragan was a big help too. She thinks all the ornaments belong on the floor and in pieces. So we have a tree that is bare at the bottom with all the ornaments at Elly's level. Perfect! I can usually find Ragan under the tree trying to open presents. And I thought it would be Elly that I would have a hard time keeping away.
No peeking till Christmas!

Elly is going through a stage wear she can't figure out how to smile for the camera. I wanted to get a picture of her in front of the tree and told her to smile. She gave me a big cheesy grin like she always does. I told her to give me a pretty smile and it was pretty hilarious watching her try to figure out how. She would pull this face (above) and say, "Like this mom?"

"Not quite, try again."
"Eh, that will have to do."