Beagles

Just a preview of all the fun things to come! Keep checking!






*Also, Eric & I have decided that the next beagle we get we're just going to go ahead and name it Beagles. 

Anyone missing a camel?

I noticed Sarah Grace was missing all of the pieces to her Nativity set. It's a good thing I'm observant. See, this is what happens when I'm not home with the girl.

Holiday Fun

She did an awesome job helping me with the sprinkles.

 Just another glimpse of Charlie the Christmas Elf.

I'm getting behind on my blogging again so I get to play catch up today.  We've been trying to fit in some family time amongst all the chaos that the holidays can bring. Sarah Grace and I spent a couple of days baking cookies and cinnamon rolls. For whatever reason the rolls would not rise and so those failed miserably. I was pretty upset over all the wasted time and ingredients, but oh well, life goes on right?! When all the goodies were finished we wrapped them up and delivered them to neighbors. Sarah Grace loves going through the different neighborhoods and looking at all of the lights, it made the deliveries that much more exciting for her. On Saturday we took Sarah Grace to our Cultural Center in town to see The Polar Express. The Theatre is gorgeous inside and we picked up little drinks and popcorn before the movie. Santa even made a quick appearance before it started. Gracie loved the movie and to be honest it was the first time I had seen it all the way through. We loved it! In the lobby they had trains set up and Sarah Grace had so much fun bouncing between the trains and watching them move along the tracks. We also went out to eat that night to celebrate Eric's birthday. Sunday Sarah Grace got to wear her special Christmas dress and has not taken it off since. I'm not kidding, we've had some meltdowns over this dress and the last two nights she has fallen asleep in it. Monday night we had a small dinner party. Eric and I made a spanish feast and added another birthday cake to finish it off. We also snuck in a trip to Trader Joe's and World Market. Last night my company had a little get together at The Melting Pot. It's a delicious fondue restaurant and Eric had never been. It was fun experience, but its quite pricey so I can't imagine we'll be going back any time soon.  I think the rest of the week will be filled with last minute touches for Christmas, finishing up my list of movies, and more baking. I hope everyone is enjoying this season.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day...or Monday afternoon?

It all started a few weeks back. It was Radley's night to stay with me and my parents were walking him down. (We have joint custody of this beloved dog.) They couldn't find his collar so they put a jingle bell necklace around his neck and connected the leash to it. Very effective. This little bell necklace has now found its home at our house and Sarah Grace enjoys playing with it. Last night Sarah Grace put it around Scout's neck. I could hear every move the dog made. It was kind of fun at first, but when 4am rolled around and Stephanie and I were ready for bed, it was not so fun. I was afraid Scout would wake everyone up so I took the dang bell off of her. Now today rolls around and its going to be a hectic one. We have cleaning to do, painting, shopping, and cooking that needs to take place. We are having a small get together tonight for Eric's birthday and I baked a cake this morning. Sarah Grace's eyes have been glued to this cake ever since it left the oven. Fast forward to this afternoon when I bathed Sarah Grace and put the bell around her neck. Please forgive me,but I knew I was going to be busy and Sarah Grace is constantly getting into and climbing things. I just figured if I put the bell around her I could at least somewhat keep track of her. I mean it worked for the dogs right?! Well I was upstairs taking care of some laundry when I heard the bell on the move. It was pretty steady at first so I kind of just stood there for a minute, but then I heard a lot of commotion and I was on the move. I ran into the kitchen where I found a little blue Ikea chair pulled up against the cabinets and a cake layer that had finger pricks and dragging lines in it. I guess thats going to be the bottom layer now. I asked Sarah Grace why she did it and she told me, "um because I wanted it." Good response. Thank you bell for informing me, the damage could have been much worse! 

Anatomy Talk at Target

I had to run to Target Tuesday night for some last minute birthday surprises for Eric. I of course brought Sarah Grace and my brother Jacob tagged along too. Everyone knows that the stores this time of year are chaotic and full and Target was no exception. Sarah Grace was loaded up in the buggy and we started walking along one of the main aisles. This particular section is somewhat close to the entrance and is filled with bras and those sort of lovelies. As we were passing them Sarah Grace blurted out, "Mom, those are for boobies." Great, I'm pretty sure everyone heard her. I'm trying my hardest not to laugh and explain to her that we don't talk about those kind of things in public and its not appropriate. Jake however is off to the side cracking a rib from laughing so hard. As soon as I finished my spill, she yells out, "they're for big boobies." Well she definitely has that figured out. At that point our buggy was booking it through Target. I tell you, that girl is all laughs. Unfortunately I had to take her to the doctor today and she has Strep throat. She's handling it like a little trooper and the doc says we caught it really early. My Mom has it too and we're pretty sure Jake is getting it. So much for being healthy for Christmas! Here's to an overload of Amoxicillin for the next ten days.  Merry Christmas.

Dirty Thirty (Eric kept repeating that today.)

My favorite guy turned 30 today! Happy Birthday Eric! We love you so much and are so grateful for all that you do for us.


Love,
Danni & Sarah Grace

Christmas Movies

The Christmas cards I ordered came this morning, I'm super excited to send them out. I had some made two years ago and then never sent them because I kept forgetting to buy stamps. Last year I was just a slacker, but this year I'm on it. I have cute Christmas stamps sitting on my fridge waiting to take their place on the envelopes. I'm predicting that tonight we'll make Holiday Rice Krispie treats and I'll probably throw in one of the above movies to watch while I write addresses and stuff the envelopes. These are my favorite Christmas movies minus the cartoon classics of course. I could watch them over and over again. Tonight should be fun!

Our Masterpiece

My Mom was kind enough to buy Sarah Grace a gingerbread kit this year. Monday night Eric and I thought it would be a great idea to do it for FHE. I prepared the icing while Eric was supposed to be reading the instructions. Sarah Grace could hardly wait to get started and had most of the candy opened before we were ready. To be honest I've never made one either so I was just as excited.  Unfortunately though we really had no idea what we were doing and Eric didn't bother with the directions. There was a little fussing between the two of us and it reminded me of early Christmases when my parents would argue over the tree. Good times. I laugh just thinking about it. So although we didn't follow the instructions, our house turned out perfect. We had fun spending time together and eating the icing. I told Eric that night, that we'd probably never do one again. But I've really enjoyed looking at Sarah Grace's creation all week and I'm thinking that it may be on the holiday "do" list from here on out!

Where Charlie hangs out.

Our little friend Charlie hanging out in our tree a few days ago. I think we're enjoying this.