round 2, cuddles, and festive stuff.

just got back from round 2 at the dr's office this week.
results:
second round of 2 ear infections.
second round of pink eye.
PLUS teething- she's cutting molars..

PLUS a mama who is on the verge of going insane.

i guess that would explain why Alice has been screaming her guts out/has been glued to my hip/has been hanging on my leg when not on said hip...

poor little thing.
and Ellie- poor 2nd little thing, is still coughing her guts out... dr says it's normal- but c'mon- coughs like this are not normal. but what do i know. i didn't study at an expensive university for a hundred years- so i guess i'll believe the lady who did.

anyway- two good things did come of this.
1) we found a new pediatrician. one that the girls actually talked to and liked. that was new and cool.
2) i've gotten lots of extra snuggles. which is a rare thing from this little wiggly creature these days. and a rare thing from her wiggly older sister, who seems to like dad wayyyy better than me (heck, i don't even know if she likes me at all these days). (note: me + Ellie's cuddle pictures = silly face pictures. hey, i get what i can get).

 i'm just hoping we're getting all of this garbage out of the way so we can have a superly awesome-tastic healthy-licious Christmas.

anyway.
enough with all of this bah-humbug complaining stuff!
i'm annoying the crap out of myself right now.
we've been keepin' it real- and mixin' in some fun festive stuff when we can.

some fun festive stuff:

my rosette wreath is finally finished and hanging on the door. i love it- though am noticing all of its imperfections now. like how you can see the middle part, and i should probably add more rosettes there. but making more rosettes sounds nauseating. and i always burn myself with the hot glue gun, so i'm leaving it hung and giving my poor fingers a break for a while.

we wrote letters to Santa and actually took them to the post office. we did this last year too (you can read about it here), and i think it is such a fun tradition. i like to imagine the postman's face when he sees:

'Santa Claus

North Pole

Planet Earth'

on the address line. i like to think that he smiles when he sees it.

we also have visited Santa- a couple of times. once we went to the Mall. Ellie loved getting to meet the Snow Princess that lives at the North Pole by Santa. i didn't even know she existed- if i was Mrs. Claus i'd be a little ticked knowing a hot, young babe always dressed for a wedding was hanging around. but whatevs.

the big news was actually that Santa told Alice that she was on the naughty list (he heard about all the ornament shattering, floor coloring, water-dumping, and diaper-changing-tae-kwon-do-wrestling that she has been doing). Ellie seemed all-too pleased about this. apparently she believes justice should be served (she's a little police officer). the Santa at the mall was pretty amazing, though- i thought he looked super authentic- i especially loved his mustache with the curled ends.

another time we went to Six Flags' Holiday in the Park to see him. they have a cool sleigh that you get to sit in- and even have elves and Mrs. Claus there. but the Santa there has a bad case of old-man breath, and was kind of wonky this year. he kept "suggesting" for me to sit in the front with the girls..i didn't want to cuz i knew i'd look ginormous in the picture- but he wouldn't let it go- so i shimmied my way up front...and bam, my suspicion was correct- i'm a giant in the picture. i wanted to whisper to him "you stink like beef and cheese. you sit on a throne of lies." but i didn't. because that would have been rude. 

while at Holiday in the Park, Ellie also met a creepy Gingerbread Man who hugged her for an abnormally long amount of time. we also watched the huge tree get lit, waited way too long to ride the carousel, enjoyed all the Christmas trees and other lights lit up everywhere, and listened to a terrible medley of Christmas songs that could only be performed by theme-park singers.

and contrary to my really mean synopsis of Holiday in the Park, we had a blast and plan to go back next week.

i finally started wrapping Christmas presents. my mom is super amazing at wrapping gifts. she said that she got it from her dad who always made a special Christmas gift for each of them each year and would make the wrapping of that special gift just as incredible as the gift itself. presentation is key. anyway, i am not as good at wrapping as my mom is. but i'm happy with the outcome nonetheless.

we've also addressed/labeled a good deal of Christmas cards (let me know if you want one! and if you are expecting one, there are some that haven't been sent yet- i had to reorder and have been checking 2x's a day for a week waiting for the rest- ugh!). we've received quite a few too! i set up a little display on our wall- makes me happy to see so many of your faces, our family and friends, on our walls. man, we miss you guys.

of course, we've been doing as much shopping as we can (amidst melt-downs, runny noses, and nervous breakdowns). our favorite was going to see the huge tree in downtown Walnut Creek. my girls loved that.

and we even have lights on our little house. i love that M likes to be festive and gladly put up the lights as soon as we were back in town from Thanksgiving. he takes great pride in those lights, as he should.

finally, (are you still there? whew) our little elfish friend, George Albert has made mornings so fun with his little mischievous hide-n'-seek spots. i haven't photographed all of them- but my faves have been:
::the toilet paper hammock he made from the bathroom door handle,
::having a tea party with Ellie's princesses,
::peeing in the toilet and not flushing
::and when i woke up and he had mopped up my floors.
Ellie asks for Georgie first thing in the morning- and laughs every time she finds him. i've loved this tradition- even at 6:30 am when i wake up stressed that Georgie (Ellie's nick-name for George-Albert) hasn't left the mantle yet... it's a little involved, but so worth it.

other festivities on our to-list:
ward christmas party
white elephant christmas party
making neighborhood/friends treats
baking the traditional chocolate peppermint cookies (grandma's secret recipe!)
seeing the lights at the temple
going to the lights at the zoo
our Primary Nativity lesson
seeing our favorite decked-out- house all lit up (the one that coordinates with the radio- it's truly awesome) (we still haven't seen it this year!)
going into SF- seeing the tree on the Pier, Macy's, + the giant gingerbread houses
cross off those last gifts off of my never-ending list!
our "Symbols of Christmas" FHE lesson
a magical christmas morning, filled with joy and happiness...and with no tears or meltdowns (wishful thinking?)

man there's a lot to do/see, huh?
Christmas time is the best!
but it also wears me out.
hope you're enjoying the festiveness (and taking naps when you need 'em)!

PS Christmas arrived a little early today- i bought a groupon back in June that i used to snag a Canvas from our family photos last month. it was hard to choose which one...but i figured the one with all of us looking/smiling at the camera was a Christmas Miracle in itself and should be the natural winner. i'm so excited to hang it up!

PPS: i'm so sorry this was so long. i was wishing it was over like an hour ago, so i can only imagine how you're feeling. i've always been a little too long-winded. but i guess you all know that by now.

xoxo