He’s pretty much attached to Sydney, by no choice of his own.  She just won’t not touch him.  She was about 40 million more times excited about him than I have ever seen her about anything, and she’s a pretty effusive person.

Coming up with names was fun.  My only suggestion was Rumble.  Tyce had Rocket, Scout, and Scooter.  Sydney picked Burt Dragon or Diamond.  Skyler’s suggestions were Forto and Dorch.  I totally loved Dorch, but Tyce thought I wasn’t being serious, so I backed off of it.   We threw so many names out that Skyler got bored with the conversation and asked if we could talk about something else.  Later that night, Tyce threw out dusty and we were all like, “Yeah! Dusty!”  So Dusty he became.

He’s cute.  Prone to eye boogers, eating leaves, and licking.  He lets Sydney treat him like a baby, so that’s awesome.  So far, most of his stuff is pink.  Poor little guy.

The night before.

Almost party time!

Pretty table.

Rainbow treats!

And the other side of the table.  We eventually put drinks in those buckets.

Pin the tail on the donkey!

Treasure hunting!

The whole party was completely fun, and the girls had a blast!  Thanks to all our friends and family that made it so special!

Christmas decorating was fun this year.  Tyce got a workout, because Skyler wanted to hang everything “way up there at the tippy-top.”

Christmas cookie decorating night was at my house this year.  It was really fun, but I can’t even remember what I made.  Probably sugar cookies.  And they were probably good.

4th birthday breakfast was a big hit.  One of my favorite birthdays ever was the one where my mom woke me up in the morning with breakfast in bed that consisted of an entire package of bacon.  All for me.  A whole pound.  I think I was about 9.  Amazing that I lived until ten, considering the hit my arteries took, but I will remember it forever.  My girls just got bacon at the table.  And not a whole pound, but enough to make ‘em smile!

Christmas Prettiness:

Christmas Eve.  Time for bed, but too excited to sleep!

Rise and Shine!!!!

Stockings!

The pink guitar.

New kitchen!

Feeding the “Gilly Goats” was Sydney’s favorite part.  I thought it was kind of odd that she was saying it wrong, because she usually speaks very correctly and clearly.  Then yesterday she informed me that of course they were billy goats.  She just named one of them Gilly.  Duh, mom…

Did you see that lady’s snazzy purse?  Yikes!

There was a lot of loud quacking at the geese.  Top volume.  Poor romantic couples trying to enjoy the beautiful lighted bridge!  All they heard was QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!!!!!!!!

Skyler fell, but it was awesome.  Kind of like when Marty McFly skids on his knees playing the guitar.  I think she was confused about the fall, because she had a sense that it had been something special.

Skyler’s favorite lights were a blue dino.

Sydney’s, of course, had ponies.

1. My husband.  He works hard and sacrifices for his family.  He loves us.  He’s funny.  He’s also totally cute.
2. Skyler & her awesome personality.  She’s giving, caring, and sweet.  She knows how to stick up for herself, even if it’s to me, when I’m getting her in trouble for something she didn’t do.  She doesn’t stand for that!  She’s genuinely happy for others.  No success on anyone else’s part diminishes her.  She’s first in line to congratulate her sister for something!
3. Sydney & her goofy, joyful personality.  She’s sweet and loving.  She LOVES to have fun.  She gives wet willies and then wants you to give her one back.  She  likes what she likes, and if you don’t like it, then who cares.  ”Don’t like unicorns?  Oh.  Well, I guess you’re not as cool as I thought…”
4. Crab legs.  I’m really not planning these in any particular order, as you can tell.  Crab legs are dang good though.
5. Pinterest – Because it’s fun.  And it gives me lots of good ideas.  And because it gives me a place to keep ideas I don’t want to forget.
6. Our home.  Boy does it feel like home now!  We’ve lived here for a year, and I still love it.  Although we’re still living in the midst of swirly purple and green goodness in the master bedroom.  Someday I’ll get around to fixing it up.
7. That I get cuddled to sleep every night.
8. Cold weather.  I’ve never been a warm weather girl!
9. Our church.
10. Scallops and the fact that America’s Test Kitchen taught me how to choose them and cook them.  Seafood seems to be taking up a big portion of this list already.
11. That my husband is as firmly committed to never getting a dog as I am.  Those girls are so dang cute, one of us might forget if the other weren’t there to shut it down when they start asking.
12. Fresh notebooks with nothing written in them.  It’s so much fun to decide what a notebook is going to be.
13. That my husband is an excellent cook.
14. The Belly Button Song.
15. Ellie, Skyler’s special stuffed animal.  It’s not all that stuffed anymore.  Kind of just an elephant shell.
16. That we got to go to St. Louis.  It was a fun trip!
17. Large capacity washing machines.  Because if it wasn’t huge, I’d never be caught up with laundry.  (I’m still usually behind.  I despise laundry.)
18. Crock-pots, of course.
19. Clinique makeup and skin care stuff.  I’ve always thought of Clinique as a trendy starter makeup for newbies.  Then later, you’re supposed move on to bigger and better things, like Lancome or Estee Lauder.  Or, as I would prefer, cheaper things, like Revlon.  Turns out, Clinique is the only one for me though.
20. People who are kind to kids who aren’t their own.  I’m grateful for those extended care workers, good teachers, and anyone who is a gentle spirit in my kid’s lives.
21. My camera.  I still love taking pictures with it!
22. The Beth Moore Bible study I just finished.  It was awesome.
23. Christmas wrapping paper.  I love choosing it, wrapping things, and getting to look at it every day for a while.  So cheerful!
24. The ability to roll my eyes.  I like doing it.  I know it can be kind of snotty, but I don’t feel snotty all that much, so I don’t do it all that much.  It’s an immediate dismissal of something, for me.  Hehe.
25. Online shopping.  I’ve found that the path to fun Christmas shopping is to go look through stores and find what I like, then come home and order it online.  All the fun of holiday hustle and bustle, with no waiting in line.
26. Satellite radio.  And to think, one of my least favorite presents ever was satellite radio.  I opened it thinking it was going to be some romantic gift and just stared at this stupid radio thing, thinking, “What the crap?”  I think I might have cried at one point.  Guess I was wrong. (Although it was the lack of romantic thinking I was crying over.  Not the presence of the radio thing.  I also got annoyed when one year he got all my presents from Langston’s.  Even though I loved them all, I was ticked that all he did was hit one cowboy store and call it a day.)
27. Almond butter.  Peanut butter is nasty junk compared to this stuff.
28. Backyardigan’s.  Because my kids love it, and it’s cute and imaginative.
29. My family.  Mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, brother, sis-in-laws, nieces, nephews.  The whole shebang.
30. That my grandmother’s Ginger and Elsie were such sweet people and good examples.  They are missed!
31. Warm blankets and the fireplace.
32. The Bible.  Man, that thing is awesome!
33. Sweet friends!
34. Tyce’s Henry the bear and Howard the duck stories.  There’s nothing cuter than listening to him tell one and seeing how much the girls love it.  And somehow, the stories are both funny and sweet, and entertaining enough that I’m completely engrossed as much as the girls are.
35. Watching the three of them play tiger.  More precious moments.  :)
36. That Baylor beat OU the other day.  I don’t think I could have stomached that Cowboy loss if the Sooners hadn’t gotten smashed too.  No, I don’t pretend that I don’t have ill-will towards OU.  Of course I do.  It’s more fun that way.  Gives me a team to root for, and a team to root against, which is just as much fun.
37. That I hear “I love you” a lot.
38. Early morning cuddling when Sydney sneaks into my room after Tyce leaves.
39. Those perfect, sunny, cool days, when you just feel relaxed.  I like feeling relaxed.
40. Shrimp.  Boiled shrimp, Shrimp scampi, Shrimp salad, Shrimp cocktail…

If you’re readin this, yer on the right path, to findin me hidden treasure at last.  I hid it near here many years ago, when without my booty I had to go.  Here’s your first clue – Look where you eat.  Under that place, you’ll find there’s four seats.  Under one seat, I’m happy to say, you’ll find clue #2, to point out the way.

Walk down a long hall to a pink room, if you dare.  Climb up to the top of the sleeping stairs.  Look under the spot where your head shouldn’t hit.  You’ll find clue #3 when you reach under it.

You’ve found clue #3.  You’re proving quite clever.  But, you’ll need the fourth clue if you’re looking for treasure.  On a covered porch, there is a small table.  You’ll find the clue there, if find it you’re able.

Ah, me mateys, yer smart ones.  You’ve found #4.  Now look for the pink and green hangin by the door.  Peek yer scurvy eyes behind ‘em, and give ‘em a slap.  If you’ve gotten it right, you’ll be holding the MAP!!!!!

(I’m a great artist, right?)

(That’s dry-erase marker all over her face and arms.  Like I said, we’d just finished a pre-school pack.)

I came away from the experience with not a single great picture.  Which means I have another photo shoot somewhere in my near future.  Admittedly, it’s probably 50% my own fault for overestimating my abilities.  Prior to heading out for the photo shoot, I started changing my camera settings.  I tried shooting in manual, without autofocus on, and while some were okay, all the first shots were wasted until I finally got my settings usable.  Note the adorableness that this would have been if I hadn’t overexposed:

Here are the rest of them.  No reason not to show them here, since they won’t be on your Christmas cards.

Here’s the blog link to the pre-school packs.  They have all kinds of fun printables.

I pretend I’m a teacher when we do pre-school.  They call me “teacher”, and I call them “class”.  I think they pay attention better that way, and it makes it more special for them.  Today we started by talking about the letter L.  Then we traced, played matching games, played counting games, talked about different leaf parts, and colored a big letter L.  Then we started our expedition.  One of the pages from the pack was an observation page, so we started with that.  I didn’t let them taste the leaves, even they were totally up for it.  Bleh!

Next we searched for cool leaves and put them in their explorer notebooks.  Skyler went wild with this one.  She was running around the yard yelling EUREKA, and pulling leaves off all our plants.

Sydney participated a little bit, but mostly she just walked around saying funny things and doing whatever she wanted.

After they filled their books we took a bunch of paint sample cards and talked about different shades of color.  They matched greens and yellows and we talked about how God made the colors they already know, like basic blue, green, and yellow.  Then we talked about how he made many different kinds of yellow, and many different kinds of blue.  It was fun, and they both asked some thoughtful questions.

Sydney doesn’t really like nature much.  She color-matched her pink chair and was satisfied.

A very fun day!  I keep changing my mind about what we’re doing next, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a pirate theme.  I’m going to bury treasure in the back yard, mark it with an X, then let them follow a treasure map to find it and dig it up.