Christmas Round #2

My parents came down on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with us since I can no longer travel. They got here just in time for our traditional Christmas Eve appetizer spread that we had for dinner. We had our usual sausage balls, shrimp, beef tenderloin and turkey with party rye, and this year I threw in some stuffed mushrooms and crab dip. Yummy!!! Ella Ann and I had made cookies for Santa earlier in the week so we got that out to put on her "Cookies for Santa" plate that she had made for us at school, along with some carrots for Santa's reindeer. She knew Santa was coming to our house that night, but that didn't seem to keep her from falling asleep or sleeping in in the morning! My parents got to our house before Spencer and I were even awake to make sure they didn't miss Ella Ann getting out of her bed Christmas morning and seeing all that Santa had for her under the tree! It was SUCH a fun morning/day! Ella Ann raced into our living room to find that Santa had left her a cradle and high chair for her babies and "Elmo Live", along with many presents from my parents and Spencer and I under the tree. Santa was REALLY good to Spencer and I too, especially with our stockings! Even Baby Boy had his own stocking! The stockings have always been my favorite part of Christmas because my parents really go above and beyond the call of duty with them. My Mom had fixed them up in our living room the night before and then covered them all with a big sheet so the three of us would be surprised in the morning. Once we went through our stockings, we had breakfast casserole and watched Ella Ann play with some of her new toys. She only asked one time to open gifts, I think the stocking was plenty for her!

We went to our church's Christmas service at 10:30 and then came home and ate our Christmas Eve spread again and opened our gifts. It was so fun to watch Ella Ann tear into her gifts and want to get out every single thing she got immediately and play with it! We tried to take our time, though, to make the occasion last a little longer. I think her favorite gifts were a bouncing ball with a handle for her to ride on across our house, rooms for her dollhouse along with the family's van, a Bilibo (can't really describe what that is), and her Tinkerbell costume.....oh and of course more Baby Legs!

That evening Mom and I prepared our usual Christmas dinner and it was fantastic! IT was so nice to have everything the same, as it should be, on Christmas even though we were not at my parent's house like usual. My parents did everything they could, as did I, to make sure it stayed the same. Ella Ann crashed early that evening since she didn't have a nap and so did the rest of us.

We just hung out and played at our house on Friday and went out for pizza that night....no more leftovers please! My Mom and Dad left Saturday morning after stopping by our house to say goodbye and visit for a little bit. It all passed so fast and we were sorry to see them leave but we know they could be back in a matter of hours or days!!! Thank you again, Mom and Dad, for a wonderful Christmas!

Again, I took a ton of pictures so HERE they are!

A First

Yesterday afternoon Ella Ann and I went to Megan's house to play and decorate a gingerbread house with her little boy, Luke. I should have done something like this with Ella Ann already, but it has completely slipped my mind. I was really excited for Ella Ann to do this and she was too even though she didn't know what she'd be doing! Of course both of them wanted to start eating the house itself as soon as they saw it, not to mention the bowls filled with candy in front of them! They both did a really good job and Megan and I had fun watching them do it and trying to keep them from eating it all, although Luke did manage to sneak in eating an entire Christmas tree! ha! Here are some pictures from our visit:

Waiting oh-so patiently for Megan to get the icing ready.

Megan trying to assemble the house before the kids attacked it!

Luke eating the tree!!!

Well since Luke decided to chow down of course Ella Ann had to start eating the candy!

So proud of the award-winning gingerbread house!

Ella Ann getting her baby fix with little Henry!

I also wanted to share some funny things that Ella Ann has said in the past few days:

We were walking into Trader Joe's the other day and they had big silver snowflakes dangling from the ceiling. Ella Ann started shouting, "LOOK AT ALL DOSE CORNFLAKES MOMMY!!!"

The three of us watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the original version) a few nights ago and Ella Ann got pretty upset with the Grinch but afterwards starting talking herself into actually liking him by saying, "That Grinch! He's soooo nice! I loooooove the Grinch!" Spencer asked her if she wanted to watch it again and her immediate response, "No, no, no." This morning at breakfast I told her that Santa was going to come tomorrow night while she was sleeping. She got a really concerned look on her face and asked me, "Is he going to take all of our presents?" If you have seen the Grinch then you know he dresses up like Santa and takes all the presents from the Whos in Whoville. I then had to explain to her that Santa was going to bring her some presents not take them away!

Weekly Wrap Up

This week was pretty busy which seems to be the case every single week since Halloween for us! I cannot believe Christmas is THIS week! That also means our little baby will be here soon as well! Yeay! I'm tired of waiting, tired of being fatigued (which I know that's not going to go away even after the baby's born!), tired of pregnancy pains, and tired of not being able to squeeze Ella Ann while she sits on my lap because I have a huge belly in the way! Okay, enough "me" complaints and on with our weekly update! Ella Ann finished up preschool this week until next year. I wanted to really end the semester on a good note since next time I take her I will probably have her brother which will make it even harder for her to part with me. I actually tried the carpool line this week at drop off and it went amazingly well. I was happy about that because that's how I plan to drop her off once this baby gets here because I'm certainly not hauling him inside! Unfortunately, though, we didn't get to end on a happy note. Spencer met me at her school on Wednesday morning to watch her in their Christmas program. I knew they had been prepping for this since Thanksgiving because Ella Ann has been singing all the songs. Well as soon as her class paraded into the room and she spotted Spencer and I she completely lost it and sat on the front row and cried until her teacher brought me to her. Yup, she was the first kid to break down....but not the only one! I coerced her back up on stage with the promise that I would sit in front of her. She still didn't utter a word to a single song but sat their giving everyone the hairy eyeball. It was just lovely. Her teachers told me afterward that she was having a bad day because she kept asking for her "new animal." I stopped allowing her to take her brown horsey to school a few weeks ago and it had been smooth sailing ever since so when I was told there was an animal I immediately asked, "What new animal?" Her teacher pointed to her backpack and what do I see?? Ohh her beloved guinea pig's rear end sticking out of her backpack! She snuck that thing in! I couldn't believe she did that! That's why she had had such a bad day because she knew the guinea pig was there but her teachers wouldn't let her have it. Arghhhh! I guess I'm going to have to pat her down before releasing her from my car at school from now on!! ha!

Ella Ann has recently started dressing up in costumes....VERY often. She wears her tutu that the Evans' got her for Christmas each day. I have given in and let her wear it when we run errands. She also decided that she wants to be Minnie Mouse (her Halloween costume from a year ago) the past 2 days. I let her wear it to Kroger, Trader Joe's, and Target yesterday and to my surprise it made a lot of people smile! One woman wanted to take a picture of her! I always get a kick out of a kid I see out and about wearing a silly costume in the middle of the summer or something but to have my own child do it is a different story. It does make you laugh and can brighten your day if you're having a bad one so maybe Ella Ann is spreading some holiday cheer! :) Her Baby Legs are also an item of clothing that she refuses to take off. They are not tights but are leggings with no waist or feet. She wants to wear them every day so this week I have let her wear them often...thank goodness my parents are giving her more for Christmas, along with some Disney costumes! It's been an interesting fashion week in our household!

On Friday morning one of our friends was hosting a birthday party for Jesus. Her daughter, Anna-Kate, is one of Ella Ann's buddies. We had such a good time! Janelle, Anna-Kate's Mom, read the Christmas story before the kids made a craft, ate lunch, sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, ate birthday cake and decorated cookies. It was really fun for everyone! Spencer and I have been trying really hard to put Santa on the back burner and focus on the true meaning of Christmas and Ella Ann has really gotten into it. In fact after bath time this week Spencer had wrapped up Ella Ann in her big towel and as he was carrying her back to her bedroom she looked at him and said, "I'm Baby Jesus." She is so funny!

Kane, Jana and Mara Kate came over Saturday night to eat pizza and play the new Wii games we received from the Jensens last weekend. We had a blast together! We got Mario Kart, which is a racing game, and the steering wheels to go with it so it really feels like your driving. We competed against each other and was really fun! The boys also played a couple of other games while Jana and I chatted, of course! The girls played Wii as well and Mara Kate loved it. She was way more interested in watching the adults play Wii than play baby dolls with Ella Ann! hahahahaa!

This morning the 3 of us went to church and then hit Starbucks afterward. Ella Ann has now started making coffee in her little kitchen each morning while I sit on the couch and drink mine. I predict she's going to develop a love of coffee too early in life!

The two of us went over to Jana's on Wednesday afternoon and I told Ella Ann she could pick out what she wanted to wear. This is what she looked like.....

don't forget the Baby Legs!

Janelle, in the green sweater on the floor, reading the Christmas Story.

Ella Ann listening to the story while kissing Anna-Kate's baby doll.

Mara Kate and Ella Ann making a manager.

Playing with Mary and Joseph.

Devouring the cookie she just iced.

The girls getting their game on!

A New Driver In the Family

Ella Ann, my little three-year-old smarty pants, has become the newest want-to-be driver in our family. Every time we are in the car she has no problem telling me how to drive. "Mommy, you stop at red lights, go at green lights, and slooooooow down at orange lights, okay?" Here is our conversation on our way to school Monday morning:

EA: "Mommy!!! You CAN'T turn on red lights!!!!"

Me: "Ella Ann, I can turn right on red it's okay."

EA: "NO YOU CAN'T!!!!" "IT'S RED NOT GREEN!" "YOU CAN ONLY GO ON GREEN MOMMY!!!"

Me: "YES, I can turn right on red!" "I KNOW how to drive Ella Ann!"

EA: "No you don't!" "You can ONLY go on green!" "Don't do that Mommy!" "You have to be careful!"

Me: "Okay Ella Ann you are right." "Next time you can drive us to school."

EA: "Okay!"

Yes, I was arguing with her on the rules of the road! Sometimes I just like to argue back to see what she'll say....often I'm glad I do because it's usually pretty funny!

Before we left for school today I grabbed a big oats container out of our recycling containers that were outside for pickup this morning. I forgot I wanted to keep it to make a "I'm thankful" drop bin so we can, throughout the year, write on a strip of construction paper what we are thankful for at a particular moment or day and then read them all at Thanksgiving next year and make a paper chain out of it. I mindlessly grab the container and throw it in the car to take back inside when I get home. Well, as I'm driving along I look over at the oats container only to see a big slug working it's way out!!! I scream, of course! Ella Ann starts yelling, "WHAT? WHAT?" I tell her what it is and start laughing and pick up the container to show the slug to Ella Ann, who then flips out and wants it out of her face immediately! I just think it will stay in the container (it was going back in) while we are in the car so I just tell myself I'll throw it away when I get home. Well it does not. I look over and now it's trying to get on my purse so I start screaming again and I look back at Ella Ann and she's got her legs and her arms curled up as tight as they can possibly get against herself in the car seat (as if it's going to jump to the back seat) and she starts yelling, 'GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT MOMMY! NOW!!!!" I wheel the car into a shopping center and get rid of that slug asap! Ahhhh....gotta love interesting mornings to start your day off right! :)

One more thing, Jana took this picture of the girls Sunday night at our church's Christmas cantata service. I stole it off her blog to post on mine because it was too cute! They are wearing their matching green bows!

Christmas Round #1

This weekend we celebrated Christmas a little early (because of my pregnancy) with the Jensen family. On Friday afternoon Gary, Gayla, Mandy, Carter and Seth (Zach arrived in the evening) got here. The kids played like crazy while the rest of us did some catching up and preparing dinner. Unfortunately Spencer came down with the stomach virus on Thursday and it still hasn't let up as of today so he missed nearly all of our Christmas. We were all disappointed that he didn't get to enjoy 1) a rare weekend off and 2) very special time with his family at Christmas. Zach, Mandy and their boys stayed with us that night so it was really fun, especially for Ella Ann, to wake up Saturday morning and have her cousins waiting on her in the living room! She was so excited that everyone was here, as were Spencer and I!

Craig and Kasey arrived early on Saturday so we prepared a big lunch with lots of good appetizers and after that it was time to open presents! Carter was about to bust at the seams he was so ready to open his presents that said "C-A-R-T-E-R" on them! He hunted for his gifts the night before and knew where they all were when it was time to open them! We all took turns opening our gifts (youngest to oldest so Baby Boy Jensen was the first to go each round!) and it was over before we knew it. Everyone got lots of wonderful things, especially the kids (too much) and it was fun to watch them play with all their new stuff. Ella Ann got a purple and pink tutu from her cousins and she kept it on most of the afternoon (played football toss in it) and has had it on all day today! She also got a couple of games, puzzles, books, rooms for her dollhouse and clothes. All stuff she loves!

We had our big Christmas dinner that evening and we all enjoyed the good food....except for Spencer. :( Craig and Kasey spent the night with us last night and then everyone left this morning. Ella Ann was sad to see the festivities come to an end and everyone go home, but it all begins again next week when my parents come down for our Christmas with them! Thank you Gary, Gayla, Zach, Mandy, Carter, Seth, Craig, and Kasey for making the long trip down here, spending the weekend with us and for all the wonderful gifts and food you brought! We are very thankful for each of you!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to view them.

Silent Night

We have really enjoyed singing Christmas songs with Ella Ann this month and I didn't realize how much she was paying attention until she sung "Silent Night" in it's entirety the other day in the car! I always sing this to her at night in bed and she's always sucking her thumb so she doesn't sing along. This really reminded me that she IS paying attention and IS listening to me (most of the time) so that has made me realize I need to be very careful what I talk about in front of her and to make sure I talk about important things to her, like the birth of our Lord this holiday season. My oh-so-wonderful (and very crafty) best friend, Jana, has helped out in that department by making our family an Advent Tree and each night we have enjoyed reading scripture and putting on a new piece on our Tree. It is wonderful to think that this will be a part of our family forever and we will always remember the Barker's each Christmas because of it. I will take a picture of it when it is completed on Christmas Day and post it on the blog. We love it! Thanks again Jana!!

Okay, so I did manage to catch Ella Ann on video singing "Silent Night" tonight with her babies. She left out a verse, but it is still a memorable video!

Can you tell she was born in the south at all??? :) So precious!

Sweet Suprise

My very sweet husband surprised me last night and took me to The High Museum to see The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform "Handel's Messiah." I knew about the date itself because it was my birthday present, but I didn't know what we would be doing. Spencer just told me to dress up, which was not hard for me because I miss getting all dolled up for a night out so I was all about that! Fortunately my dear friend, Megan, has given me all her beautiful maternity clothes to wear during my pregnancy so that is why I have such a pretty dress on...I can't take credit for it! :)

Jana came over at 7 to keep Ella Ann while we went out. I figured out that we were going to The High when we started getting closer but I still didn't know what was there until we walked inside. The ASO is only performing "Handel's Messiah" 2 times this week and that's it for the entire year, so I was thrilled to be one of the lucky few that got to experience it! It was amazing! Such a moving experience! The theater was really pretty and decked out for Christmas and the choir and orchestra wore all black so it was very neat....not to mention the fact that the performance was outstanding and something I will never forget!!!!

Thank you, Spencer, for such a wonderful date and birthday gift! I really enjoyed our time together last night.

Oh and on a hilarious side note..Ella Ann fell totally IN the toilet today! Her potty seat shifted on her and fell off the toilet as she was trying to sit down so down she went! I was in the other room and heard her scream bloody murder so I went running in there to find her literally climbing out of it! Her whole back and bottom were soaked! Classic.