Sylvia's Tamales

We got our tamales for Christmas Eve dinner from Sylvia's in Arizona. We had the cheese and green chili tamales and they were good!!! They sent a second batch today, so we'll have tamales for our Rosebowl Party! I found Sylvia's on Chowhound. Upon calling them and asking if they often ship to the East Coast, I was told that Sylvia was just on the Today Show...and business was booming. So, how's that for luck! Sure enough, the tamales arrived right on time.

http://www.sylviascanasta.com/

Today show blog:
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/07/2144208.aspx

going to my first sleep over

Ainsley was just a little excited going to her first sleep over at Annie's. Kaley was just a tad bit excited to have Ainsley go to Annie's too. After we dropped off Ainsley, Kaley said "good, now it is just the three of us"!

Ainsley as a redhead

Ainsley did a book report on Anne of Green Gables and dressed in character. We braided this red wig and I tried really hard to be there for the report, but the teacher said "it is okay, we'll take care of helping Ainsley change into her costume"...so I didn't get to take a photo of her in costume :( But we have the red wig (we went to a vintage rental shop, and pieced the costume together) for dressing up.

Museum Center

The girls went to the Museum Center on Monday and had a blast. This was our second visit and still only made it through one of the three museums contained in the center. This time, we were in the Natural History Museum.

Kaley and Sophia are carving into sandstone.

Petting a black rat snake

Flossing some gigantic teeth

Inside the caves



Walls inside the bat caves.

Up on the rooftop

This area is fanatic about its' sports. We came around the corner to our house last night after dropping off Ainsley at Annie's house and when, what to my wondering eyes should appear on the neighbors' rooftop, but the words OHIO - not many duck fans here. My rebuttal....GO DUCKS.

Hiking at Caldwell Preserve

Santa brought daddy a book "60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cinci'. We used it the day after Christmas to hike at Caldwell Preserve. Can't waste a nice, sunny- no wind 34 degree day, now can we???

Inside the gate pole, we found a wasp hive.

Wake up announcement Christmas morning.

The time.... 3:00 A.M.
The place....mommy and daddy's bedroom
The announcement by Ainsley..... "HE CAME!!!!" "GET UP" "IT'S TIME TO OPEN PRESENTS!!!!"

It was a long day Christmas day, but considering that the girls had been up late ( 11 pm- bad parents) the two nights before Christmas (watching Christmas shows), and then being up so blasted early...they did great! Could it have been the karaoke machine and Wii,which Santa brought? Most likely!
Tracking Santa on NORAD. The girls were happy to be living closer to the East...that way Santa would come sooner.


All Saints has a "Santa's Workshop" the first week in December where the students can bring in a few dollars and "shop" for their family members. I helped set up and it was really quite an operation. The committee shops all year long and then offers these great gifts for the students. The moms do a really great job at finding nice, quality items and then offering them for $1 or $2. The kids had a ball. Kaley bought Ainsley a Red Panda stuffed animal and Ainlsey bought Kaley a stuffed animal hamster. Michael ended up with monogramed "dad" hankerchiefs (from Ainsley) and a "dad" pen from Kaley. I got a #1 mom purse sized notebook from Ainsley and a #1 Mom bracelet from Kaley. The girls were delighted to see our excitement over the presents they had "shopped" for. It was fun!!!

Sing with me "YMCA"....over and over and over and over....
The Karaoke machine is neat- it has a video camera so the girls can see themselves on the tv screen as they sing.


One very tired Ainlsey by the time dinner rolled around
!

Christmas Eve and getting ready for Santa

We had a very productive Christmas Eve. In addition to having everything come together...we also made cookies for Santa. Peanut Butter Brickle cookies. Lighting the last candle of the advent wreath at dinner with the Spatz family

There was no containing Kaley after Mass. She was so excited to be joining the Spatz family for Christmas Eve dinner. Thank you Spatz family. We had a wonderful time. The food was delish and the company was enjoyable. We appreciate you sharing your family with us.

.

Kaley's playdate with Ryan

Kaley had a playdate with Ryan on Tuesday, the same day we started Homework club for our 3rd grade v-ball team (we have two teams and we are on the Tuesday practice team). Because it was also the last day of school before Christmas break, there was no homework....so the eight 3rd graders just played. It was fun to see them still playing kitties and doggies down in the basement. I think the 1 1/2 hours we will have from the time school is out until the time we have to be back up at school is going to fly by...walking home, having a snack, doing homework, changing and getting back up to school. We'll see....

The girls could not wait to open their presents from Mrs. Hazel. Kaley thought the name of her book "Mooseltoes" was "peculiar (her new word)".

Family Christmas Photo

We attended the 4 pm Christmas Eve Mass and actually had time for photos beforehand. The tamales arrived from Arizona right as scheduled and the dessert to take to dinner with the Spatz family was frosted and ready to go. The entire day came together very nicely!

Holiday baking

We did our annual holiday baking, sticking only to fudge this year. Found cute little take out boxes at Target and delivered fudge to friends, neighbors and the teachers at All Saints. As usual, the girls were actively involved.

Chatting

on the phone.

Finally some snow we can play in!!!

We woke up Saturday morn to Ainsley coming into our room. We heard swish, swish, swish and yipee..."It snowed". She was all decked out in her snowsuit and ready to go play. Santa brought by a sled and left it under the tree a little early, so that was a surprise for her! We played out in the snow and had a ball.

Ainlsey loved examining the snowflakes. They were large enough where you could actually see them.