23rd

This morning I tried to take it somewhat easy and not move around too fast for fear of having a repeat performance of yesterday. Brian got ready for his outing and I did some stuff around the house and went out front with the girls. Brian took three of them to the park before he left. Eliza can now skip bars on the monkey bars and Libby went across for the first time by herself today! They were both so pleased with themselves.

After Brian took off for 4-wheel driving, we played outside a little more. Ellie loves being on our neighbor's motorized cars and her favorite right now is their motorized Harley. She looks so cute and little on it! She is funny to watch riding it. Later Ellie took a nap and the rest of us girls decorated for Christmas. Eliza and Libby put most of the tree decorations on and they set out most of the nativities and other holiday stuff. I went very simple and low-key this year. But it still looks festive and it's fun to recall the memories associated with all the decorations.

My parents came and watch my girls while I took some photos. I have been soooo stressing out and nervous about these but it went well and was easy. As I was pulling up to the place, I saw Natalie taking her brother's family's pictures. We had the same idea!

After that we all went to the mall. Whenever a grandchild turns two, he or she gets to go to Build-A-Bear to make a bear. At first Ellie didn't really get it and she was only interested in looking at the outfits.


After holding up each animal one by one asking her if she wanted it, she finally held on and said yes to the blue winter bear. She stood in line so cute waiting for her turn to have it stuffed.



She helped step on the pedal, then put its little heart inside.


I think her favorite part was "washing" and combing her bear, which was affectionately named "Snowflake" because of the snowflake on her nose.



She was very opinionated about the outfit she picked and knew exactly what she wanted.


After getting her dressed, she went back to the wash area, got the brush and cleaned her bear again.




What a fun time!




We hadn't eaten, so I got the girls some pizza to share, then we went to Bath and Body and probably drove everyone crazy there! But overall it was a great night and everyone had fun. Eliza got her unicorn stuffed some more so it stands up and she and Libby got to pick out a new outfit. They were loving that for sure!

...some pictures from yesterday:

The table before Thanksgiving feast at my parents' house.


Fun and games at our extended family gathering at my aunt's in Gilbert.




And from Ellie's birthday yesterday:





Off to have my own leftover Thanksgiving feast!