Disneyland, here we come!

I love these huge stripey letters at the entrance of Disneyland's California Adventure!  O for Olivia.

N for Naomi

A for Annabel (but she was looking for a "B")

. .. and Annie!

That funny hooded sweater makes little Bella look like a funny dwarf (Dopey? Sneezy?) while she waits in the Toy Story line.  (Maybe the coolest ride ever?  Yes?)

Look at my cute sister.  And look at the funny angle I held my face.  (Note to self:  Never hold my face like that again.  Ever.)

And these cute boots we found at the rental house where we were staying.  Perfect for those rainy, and oh-so-super-rainy days.

There we are again.  Better angle.

And King Triton's carousel.  Yes--we love that one.

L.A. ScienCenter

We went to California over Christmas, spending some time with the Andersons and some with the Wellses.  L. A. has the most amazing science museum--FREE!--with loads of fun things to see and do.  It was especially fun with Grandpa Wells, since he loves to show the girls things in nature.  

 I love aquarium tunnels, except when I stepped too close to the glass walls, the water started to look like I was wearing the wrong glasses.

 Gabey was excited to show his cousins all his favorite parts of the museum.

 Bella loved it.

Christmas Concert

Our school puts on the cutest Christmas concert in a church building every year.  It's one of my Christmas highlights.  

I love getting my daughters in their Christmas finery.  (Naomi's dress was sewn start to finish in that day.  I hate how events often creep up on me and end in a sewing frenzy.  Note to self:  Don't do that next year.)

 "Must Be Santa" was sung, complete with props and hand motions.

 I love kindergarteners.

 "Who's got a beard that's long and white?"

 The older kids sat further away for their part of the concert, which made photography more difficult.

 However, they weren't far enough away for us to miss Olivia's solemn faces of concern,

 anxiety,

 and confusion.  I love that girl.

 Yet another thing I'm going to miss about South Bend.

Like I said. . .

. . .South Bend Santa is nearly the perfect Santa.  He's been so sweet and interested every year we've gone to see him.  

 He acted like it was a delight, instead of a burden, to hold my grumpy fuzzy baby.

 And he made sure to mention to Naomi that if she did, in fact, get a scooter for Christmas, she needed to make sure she wore a helmet.  (Which Mimi has filed in her memory permanently as "Advice from Santa", which is held in much higher esteem than "Advice from My Mother.")

We love Santa!

(I started this posted on December 16, and then promptly forgot it.  That's how it goes, I guess.)

You know, there are a lot of great things about Indiana.  I love so many things, especially now that we are finishing up residency and every month here is our last November, or our last December.  But, if I had to make a list of things I love about Indiana, these two would be in my top ten:  Soelbergs and The Children's Museum.  My first visit to TCM (with the Soelbergs) was when Olivia was only 10 months old, and there have been many since.  Including the most recent one that included. . . 

. . . A VISIT WITH SANTA!

Now, we're pretty attached to our South Bend Santa.  He is perfect: kind and friendly and soft-spoken and incredibly photogenic.  However, The Children's Museum Santa may just be the best Santa on the planet.  

Mimi and Jenna (shunning the idea of sister pairs and gleefully sharing Santa's lap with their "cousin") told Santa what they wanted.

  

Olivia (looking incredibly tall) and her teeny friend Libster also shared their wishes.

And this what endeared me forever.  Bella was nervous about sitting on Santa's lap, but she wanted to sit on a stool next to his chair.  Santa scooted himself off his big comfortable armchair and planted himself on a little stool right next to Bella and had the sweetest 5-minute conversation I've ever seen.  I'll love him for the rest of my life.

Speaking of Bella, this little crazy-pants in the too-large goggles slipped away from Sara (poor Sara!) while I was nursing Maddie and had to be retrieved from the "Lost and Found."  Sara felt horrible until she watched Bella disappear 7 or 8 more times, including one expedition to an open elevator where she nearly transported herself 3 floors away, and another adventure in the boys' bathroom.  

We made some trips down the Yule Slide.

Santa whispered the secret of the slide to the big girls--the one on the left is faster.

We were lucky enough to meet some more friends from Bloomington.  It was loads of fun.  Maybe we'll all have to fly back in next Christmas?

Six Years Old, and Looking Good!

Now, for all of you who are acquainted with Mimi, it will come as no surprise that her sixth birthday was filled with highs and lows.  Ultra-highs and ultra-lows, as is par for her course, really.  

We started with breakfast.  Hootenannies are her favorite (HIGH!), but then Olivia remembered--darn her--that the ward party was that morning, and I had already made the executive decision I would not be dragging my four children to a breakfast/service project, so Mimi was sad about not seeing her friends (low).  But then Daddy got to come home since call was slow (HIGH!), but the two big girls had forgotten about Mimi's motion sickness "issue" and had played Spin 'Til You Drop in the family room, and Mimi was pale and clutching a puke bowl for an hour (low). 

But then we opened presents and went out to lunch! (High!)  And bought balloons and tiaras at Hobby Lobby! (High!)  And then her tiara broke (low), so I traded her for mine (high!), which also broke (low).

She made her own cake with her new cake kit from Aunt Annie and Uncle Pete.  (High!!  So exciting!!)

She was quite pleased with herself in her new beanie from Nana and Big Grandpa.

Olivia made her a "wish box" which collects all her wishes until she can find a star to wish upon.  And Maddie and Bella gave her a Zhu-Zhu Pet and some card games.  (That Monster Mashup game is LOADS of fun!)

She also got a Polly Pocket and some sparkly shirts (someone must know and love her very much), a pair of sassy pink boots, and some little tiny stuffed animals that have been accompanying her on her bus ride to school every day since.

Since the highs and lows come with Mimi's territory, I think we had a more than satisfactory birthday.  I just can't believe she's six!

The Last of the Leaves

Midwestern autumns are beautiful, aren't they?  All those leaves changing colors and covering the ground.  And there they are, so pretty, on the ground and the roof and the driveway, and I love to look at them, and then I remember that all those leaves are the responsibility of the person whose lawn they have landed on, and then I remember that that means us.  And then I get depressed.

This year, however, was awesome for two reasons:

1) We just caved and paid for that leaf service to vacuum up the leaves.  This meant no more leaf bagging, just raking them into an enormous pile at the front of the lawn.  Yay!

2) By "we", I mostly meant John and the big girls.  I supervised from inside.  Double yay!

The last time we had beautiful weather, they looked like they were having so much fun, I just had to go out and take some pictures.

 We had FOUR piles this size when it was all over.  Mimi could actually stand full height where the leaves met the house and be completely covered.

 Don't these guys just look like they have been working their hearts out?

 Bella kept messing up the piles.  When John would say, "Bella, that's not helpful", she would repeat, cheerfully, over and over, "Not helpful!  Not helpful!" and mess up more piles.  Gotta love her!

 Disappearing into a big pile of leaves is one of the best parts of being a kid, no?  And then you grow up.  All I can think about now is all the itchy bits of leaves and stems that would be stuck between the various layers of my clothing.

 The best part was when John took the leaf blower (thank you, Kelly!) to the roof.  The girls were delightedly dancing in the "leaf rain."  That look on Mimi's face is one of my favorite things about her.