It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend - we had Gary's entire family over and he did all the cooking. It was a fun day. On Saturday night, I surprised Anna Claire and took her to see the Nutcracker ballet. Mom used to take me when I was little, so I thought it would be fun to continue the tradition. She had a great time and almost popped a blood vessel when she figured out where I was taking her - she was so excited! Now she wants to sign up to take ballet classes...

Anna Claire also lost one of her top front teeth on Sunday night, so she's excited about that, too. She was concerned she would look weird but I convinced her that she can suck on a mini candy cane without opening her mouth. Also, my dad is going to teach her how to spit through the hole at Christmas when we see my parents, so she's pretty pumped.

I just killed 2 more house plants. Thank goodness my parenting skills are better than my gardening skills. Also, thank goodness for the Lowes guarantee that comes with all plants where you can return them for a refund if you kill them. I've decided that having "foster plants" is a pretty good deal for me.

I've been decorating for Christmas throughout the day and our house is looking very festive. I'm hoping that Gary will agree to go get the tree tonight because I want to finish getting everything decorated. I put a little tree up in the girls' playroom in the window with a bunch of non-fragile ornaments - and I put a miniature tree in each girl's bedroom. Leah's has Sesame Street ornaments on it, and Anna Claire's has hot pink garland, Hello Kitty ornaments, and a glittery star on the top...just like her personality! I've always dreamed of having a house where I could put several trees up, so this is a fun thing for me.

I'm off to get dinner ready - I did a huge project in the kitchen last night (more on that later) and it's a mess. I want to get it cleaned up before Gary gets home...