The Gingerbread House

The Kit

The Candy

Licking her lips!

The final product!

A Night in Bethlehem

Last night our church had a night in Bethlehem.  It was a great experience for all of us.  Ellie loved visiting all the shops.  She was able to make perfume, tie some rope, grind some wheat, knead some dough, make a mosaic and get her dinner from the farmers market.  

Family Photo

Ellie taking a ride on the horse!  

Notice the vial of perfume she is wearing around her neck that she made.

Grinding some wheat

Meeting baby Jesus. 

 This was the highlight of the evening for Ellie. At the end of the nativity program Ellie went running up to meet baby Jesus.

There was this one guy dressed up in navy biblical attire but he had a white beard as part of his costume.  Whenever Ellie saw him she kept on calling him Santa. I think she was a little confused about the fact that there wasn't a Santa at the Christmas party...  but by the end of the night she was satisfied by seeing baby Jesus.

Christmas Eve dinner.... a little early

We are going to be away for Christmas so we decided to have the Rowley's up a week early to celebrate.  A couple of hours before the big celebration we received a call and great-grandpa Rowley has mrsa (a highly contagious disease and can be fatal for little ones) so we had to cancel our celebration.  We had prepared a feast so we decided to have some friends over to celebrate with us instead.

Ellie and Hazel enjoying their dinner

Ellie giving Hazel a little too much love for Hazel's taste I think....

We all had a great time and enjoyed lots of yummy food.  We celebrated Christmas morning this morning... but only took video footage (oops).

The Terrible Twos? I don't think so.

We are loving this phase of Ellie's childhood. I love the fascination and excitement that she has with each day of life.  I love that she is growing and learning so much each day.  Below are some of my recent favorites.

1.  When I yell "Ouch", as in I just stubbed my toe, Ellie comes running to whichever room I am in while yelling in return... "You ok Mommy?"

2.  She is fascinated with the lights of the season and gets so much excitement and joy as we drive around at night and she sees the Christmas lights on.  She helps to remind me to enjoy the festivities of the season.

3.  The other day I was running on the treadmill in one room and Ellie was off playing in another.. when I finished I went to see where she was and what she was up to.  She was up on a chair at the kitchen sink with a towel getting it wet.. then ran to her little table and started scrubbing vigorously.  As I went to see what had happened... she was scrubbing the ink she had gotten on the table while drawing...  I was pretty impressed that she was cleaning up without being asked!

4.  She LOVES to help me cook. Anytime she hears me working away in the kitchen... she comes a running, drags the chair over from the kitchen table, and starts asking questions as to what we are making (and of course asking to have a taste).  It is so much fun to have a little helper in the kitchen.

5.  When Ellie hears a boom, as in something has just fallen, she comes running.. "I help you Mommy."

6.  The other day I was off cleaning up one of the bedrooms and I heard water from the kitchen sink.. I came to see what was going on... Ellie had the dish scrubber in her hand was scrubbing the dirty dishes in the sink.

7.  Ellie's friend just recently was potted trained and upon learning that her friend was a "big girl" and went on the potty Ellie has been fascinated with the concept.  BUT when she attempts to go on the potty and the attempt fails....she says, "Not working Mommy, it's not working"... which I think is just too cute!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Ellie and her animals

Ellie has this thing for her little animals that my mom got for her when we visited her last year in Guatemala. These little animals are by far her favorite little toys. I had to ask my mom to bring back a couple more packs when she came home in July because these little animals are easily lost and they were getting low in numbers. I will frequently walk in the room Ellie is playing in and all of her animals are all lined up in a row or all laying flat with a blanket ontop of them as she says they are "sleeping" and she requests that I use a quiet voice as not to wake them. This week she lined them in in rows of two. I love the way she paired them... either by size or by type of animal. All she needed at the end of these two rows is a boat and she would have been ready for Noah's Ark!