Tis' The Season!

Hey Everybody!  We have been pretty busy around here with all of our Christmas Celebrations.

It started out with my church Christmas Program.  It was a pretty special event, all of the kids got to make a decoration and help build the manger scene.  I love getting to see all of the pretty Christmas decorations, and Mama really loves getting to sing all of her favorite Christmas Carols.

Next we had Christmas with Mama's family.  Unfortunately we were having so much fun hanging out that Mama didn't remember to take any pictures  :-(  Either way, it was fun to be with Heidi and Ronnie, Grandma Nancy, and Wendy, Missy and Tyler to celebrate.

 That night Santa surprised us with an early visit!!  He left a note saying that he heard Mama and Daddy say that we would be leaving for Alexandria Christmas Eve night, so he stopped by when he and Rudolph were taking a practice ride.  

This year I asked for an Art Kit, and Ellen asked for a Ball!  We also exchanged family presents and Mama and Daddy told us that we were going on vacation!

We had a great time in Alexandria.  It was so much fun getting to play with our cousin Mackenzie, and see Megan and Tommy, Grandma Carolyn, Papa Tim, and Great Grandma Joan!

The best part was the fresh snow and beautiful weather!  We had a great time sledding, tromping around, and playing with each other.

The best part of playing in the snow is HOT CHOCOLATE!!!!

Mama and Daddy were planning to take me skiing, but the weather didn't work out, so instead we went with Grandma and Papa to the bowling alley.  I don't know why we don't go bowling more often, it is a ton of fun!

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and nothing passes a long car ride better than a nice nap!  (Somebody needs to explain that to Ellen, I have tried, but she won't listen!!)

Happy New Year!

Linden

The Real Cinderella

As usual, I am playing makeup on the blog.  Maybe that should be my New Year Resolution? 

December 4th was a great day, I woke up and there was SNOW!  Mama decided to make snowy waffles with snowballs for breakfast to celebrate (in case you can't tell, there is powdered sugar on my waffle and white chocolate chips for the snowballs).

We had a packed day planned.  After Sunday School Daddy dropped me and Mama off at a friend's house and we headed to the cities to see Cinderella at the Children's Museum.

It was a great show with lots of laughs and fun characters!  And the best part, I got to hang out with one of my best friends, and so did Mama!  My favorite part of the show was the step sisters, they were played by boys!  They were really mean to Cinderella, but she chose to be kind anyways.

When we got back to Owatonna we went to Daddy's work party where we got to sing Christmas songs, eat a yummy meal, and meet Daddy's work friends.  We showed up at just the right time because Santa was just leaving!  It was so fun to see him, and we even got to hear him "Ho Ho Ho!" as he left.  I couldn't figure out where he left sleigh, I'll have to remember to look harder next year.

Have a great night and look forward to some Christmas posts coming soon!
Linden

My The Biggest!

Hey Everybody!  Ellen Here!

There is big news at my house, I got a Big Girl Bed!!  A couple weeks ago we spent a couple nights away from home, when we left home my crib was normal, but when we came back I went into my room and didn't know what to think!  At first I was really worried because I thought my bed was broken, but then Mama told me that I got a Big Girl Bed!

My first night started out pretty good...

But that didn't last very long.

Mama said I have been doing a great job staying in my bed.  She and Daddy got me a fun alarm clock that turns green when I can get up.  The rule is, if the light isn't green "we go BACK to Bed!"

I am VERY particular about how I want my blankies when I lay down to go to bed.  My favorite blankies are the muslin ones, I like to have one flatted out on my mattress (without any wrinkles, of course), and then another one covering me.  Mama started getting two matching pattern blankets out at the same time because otherwise I had a hard time trying to decide which pattern I wanted to lay on.  The past few nights have been colder so Mama has started covering me up with a Grandma Nancy blanket too which is so soft and cozy.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love my blankies???

When I stopped using diapers I knew I was a pretty big girl, but now that I am in a big girl bed it is unacceptable to call me a little girl.  I love it when Mama calls me a big girl, I always respond, "My the biggest!"

Have a great night!
Ellen

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey Everybody! Ellen here!

After leaving Duluth, we headed to Alexandria for Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma Carolyn, Papa Tim, Aunite Megan, Uncle Tommy, and Cousin Mackenzie.  It was a ton of fun getting to play with Mackenzie and teach her all sorts of big girl things.

It was super fun getting to play outside in the snow.  We have had a LOT of rain which is no fun, but snow is great!!  Sissy and Daddy took turns pulling us around the yard, and pushing us down the hill.

Grandma Carolyn made a huge meal and it was delicious, but as usual, all good things must come to an end and we headed home.

Because we came home on Friday it gave us a couple days to hang out at home and have some fun.  We got our trees setup, and lots of decorations out.  We also listened to a LOT of Christmas music!

 Mama surprised Linden and me with matching jammies, and a Christmas sleepover in the living room.  We watched a movie, but neither Linden nor I could fall asleep so the sleepover ended and we all went to our own rooms for bed.

Two of our favorite Christmas toys came out of hiding, our Little People Nativity, and Jingle and Bell!  I love our nativity because it looks almost like Mama's but I get to play with it.  Jingle and Bell are great, they love to listen to their books and even bark and sing!

Daddy got out little mini trees for Linden and me to decorate and have in our room.  Our trees are so small and cute!

I also wanted to share a picture of one of our recent projects that we did.  A couple weeks ago Linden and Mama went to a craft show and saw a really fun snowman/scarecrow sign.  The signs were really big, but Mama decided that we could make them for ourselves and much smaller!  It was really fun getting to do a project with the big girls, can you guess which one is mine?  Mama said that mine will never fall apart, probably because I poured half a bottle of glue on it while she wasn't looking.

Merry Christmas! 

Ellen

Lots to be Thankful For

As usual, we are playing catch-up, but I have to tell you about the fun that we had for Thanksgiving Weekend.We didn't have school the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so Mama and Daddy took the day off work and we headed to Duluth for a mini vacation.

The vacation started off pretty rocky.  Ellen decided that she did NOT want to go to sleep.  I'm not just talking about in the car on the way up there...she REFUSED to go to sleep even once we got to the hotel at 10:00.  Mama and Daddy were not happy.  She finally fell asleep around Midnight so it made for a very short night.  

The next day we woke up and it was raining, but we decided to make the best of it and headed out anyways.  We started the day off by checking out some running stores for Mama, and then we headed down to the canal to wait for a boat to come in.  We stopped into Duluth Pack for Daddy to look around and found these cute little chairs, but Daddy said we didn't need them.

After doing some looking we headed to the museum by the bridge.  There were lots of fun ship models to look at, but Ellen and I decided that watching the movie would be the most fun.  Boy were we wrong!  That lasted about 30 seconds and then we agreed to move on.

After playing some more Daddy checked the boat report only to find that it was running behind and we had to wait a couple more hours.

We headed over to an indoor play area with arcade games and bounce houses to kill some time.  After another phone check the boat was now arriving early so we rushed back to the bridge and got there just in time!  The horn was so loud, but it was really fun getting to wave at the worker.  Ellen did not like standing under the bridge when it was coming down, she thought we were going to get squished.

The main reason we went to Duluth was to check out the Bentleyville Tour of lights!

There were Millions of lights!  It was so beautiful.  It was still a bit rainy, but it was warm so it was pretty nice.

We got to see Santa and tell him what we wanted for Christmas.  He must be pretty forgetful because I have had to remind him that I want an Art Kit a LOT this year.

Our hotel, Pier B, was pretty great, we got to walk over to the lights, this was the view from our room!  Ellen was pretty grumpy by 6:30 so we headed back to Mama could put her to bed.  Daddy and I tried to roast Marshmallows but they didn't have the real fires going so we pretty much just burned them all before coming back inside.  Mama was waiting for us and had our swimsuits ready so we could hit the pool one more time for the day.

Speaking of pools, this place was amazing, they had an outdoor hot tub that overlooked the bridge!  It was pretty cold getting to the hot tub but once you were in it, it was great!

To make the pool even better, I found a mermaid friend with a matching tail!!!

Thursday morning we drove to Grandma Carolyn's, look forward to that update soon (I hope!)

Have a great week,
Linden

Kitten, Come Home!!

I heard the worst news when I came home from school today...Kitten escaped and hadn't come home yet.  I was so sad, and very worried about him.  I wanted to do everything I could to help him find his way home.

After talking it through with Mama, I decided to make papers to put on our neighbor's doors.  I wasn't really sure what to put on a missing cat note, so I decided to put his name, and then decided that adding "pet" so people would know that he was a cat, not a person.

I even drew a picture of him so people would know what he looks like.

Later that evening he made his way home, I am certain it was because he found my notes!

We are so happy to have kitten back!
Linden

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Happy Sunday!  This next week is going to fly by with lots of traveling, so we decided to start our Christmas traditions a little early.

It started earlier this week when Mama went shopping for our Christmas outfits.  She asked Ellen if she wanted a twirly dress, and Ellen said, NO WAY!  Ellen is not a twirly dress kinda girl, so Mama decided that this year would be more low key.  She found a pretty gold skirt and sweater for me...and a gold sweater and red leggings for Ellen.  I really liked the skirt, but when I saw the pretty Christmas dresses at Target, I was kinda bummed.  

Mama decided to switch gears and got me a pretty dress, and return my other outfit.  Ellen was still sure she wanted a "sweatshirt" and NOT a dress.  That is, until this morning.  She saw me in my pretty dress, with my curly hair and pretty barrette and she wanted in on the Christmas Magic!  So, off to Target we went.  Ellen even wanted a pretty clip in her hair.

We got to Macy's and decided to go straight to see Santa.  Ellen was so excited when we first got in line, but as we got closer to the door she started to look not so sure.  Once we got in there she was definitely a little worried, but once he asked her what she wanted for Christmas things started to turn around.  I told Santa that I want an art kit and a new mermaid tail.  Ellen wants a ball.  After that, we smiled for the camera and got our annual Santa picture. 

We had a great time seeing Santa's workshop, the elves are so cute and there is so much work to be done!  Thank goodness they take the time to make all sorts of yummy treats for us to enjoy, on top of all of their other work.

Have a great week!
Linden

Picnic in November?

What do you do when it is 58 degrees in November? You have a Picnic, of course!!  We have had a pretty amazing fall and have gotten to be outside playing a TON!  Tonight Mama decided to get some picnic food, and we walked to the park to eat and play.  It was fun until it started getting dark at 5:15, but that meant that we got to look at Christmas lights on our way home!

In other news, Ellen and I got to be Twin Sisters the other day.  I REALLY like getting to be twins, Ellen doesn't get quite as excited about it.  The really amazing part was that Mama was able to get her to change shirts after she was already dressed so we could match.  Ellen doesn't like change, and she doesn't like anything that isn't her idea, so this was REALLY big (notice we are standing on the foot rest, that was the only way Mama could get a picture of us standing next to each other...)

Tomorrow we are supposed to get a lot of snow, or maybe not, or maybe a little, or possibly rain.  The weatherman really has no clue :-)

Have a great night!
Linden

Jumpin' in OUR leaves!!!

Last week we posted that we got to go to our good friend's house for our annual Leaf jumping party...But tonight we got a great surprise...Our tree is finally big enough and has enough leaves, for us to jump in them!!

It wasn't a very big pile, so we hope Kaiya invites us over again next year, but I thought we should document it anyways.  Ellen and I had a great time running back and forth and throwing them up in the air.

Off to bed, not sure what we are doing tomorrow but I am sure it will be fun.
Linden

My Letter Book

Hey Everybody!  I haven't posted much about school, so I thought I would give a quick update.

I am absolutely in love with school.  If you were to ask me I would tell you that music and gym are my favorite classes, but I really love reading, math and art too.  

I go to Lincoln Elementary, and our mascot is the Roadrunner.  If we make good choices in class we get a Roadrunner card that we get to bring to the office and put in a bowl.  They use this bowl to draw names for prizes throughout the year.  So far, I have gotten 3 roadrunner cards!!

The first few weeks of class we worked really hard on creating our Letter Books.  Each day one student was picked to be the Letter Expert.  They got to bring in something for their letter, show the class how to write it, and tell the class what sound it makes.  I was the Letter Expert for Z, so I brought in a Zipper!

Once our books were complete the next goal was to read the book to our teacher and be able to tell her each letter, what sound the letter makes, and what word goes with that sound.  Once we could do that we got to bring our book home!  I was so excited to get to bring mine home last week and couldn't wait to show it to my Grandma and Aunties last weekend when we saw them.

It was really fun that P was for Peacock because it matched my Halloween costume.

Each page was a different letter and we got to draw a picture for each one.

School is pretty great.  I can't wait to keep learning more!
Linden

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has come and gone, and let me tell you, it was a GREAT day!

We carved pumpkins this weekend, and this was the first year that I was old enough to do it mostly on my own.

I decided I wanted a spooky Frankenstein pumpkin so I used a crayon to draw it on.

After that, Daddy helped me get the cutter started, and helped me around the tricky parts, like the teeth.

I think our pumpkins turned out pretty great.  The one on the left was one Mama and I did this afternoon after school.  The 2nd one was the one Mama made for the family (Ellen was going to be a ladybug, and i was a peacock), the third one is the one I did, and the 4th was one that Mama carved for Ellen.

Today at school we had a Halloween party.  We got to make witches brew (trail mix), we had a parade through the school to show off our costumes, and we read a spooky story.  Ellen had a party at daycare too.  

The highlight of the night was trick or treating!!  We added to our outdoor decorations this year and it was sure a hit!  The spider web got upgraded this year with Christmas lights, and Daddy surprised us today with a GIANT spider that moved!  Lots of kids came by our house and were so excited about the spider that they almost forgot to get candy.

Ellen had a last minute costume change to Owlette from PJ Mask because twirly skirts just aren't her thing.  Mama found a hooded sweatshirt with wings, Ellen couldn't have been more excited to wear it.

After we got home we got to dump out our candy and eat as much as we wanted until bedtime.  We scored big with full sized candy bars, bags of chips, and TONS of candy.

It was a pretty great night!  Hope you had an ooky-spooky night!
Linden