A budding songwriter

As many of you know, Alyssa is really into singing and performing. She decided she wanted to write a song yesterday when she got home from school. Below is the song:

Kiss My Brain

Kiss my brain
I see emotional, I see emotional
4 times, 4 times
Call you on the telephone
I see babe.

What do you think? Does she have talent? The tune is rather catchy and has been stuck in my head all day. What a trip that girl is!

Isaiah funnies

Although Isaiah keeps telling us he's going to marry Elliott in his class, he still has a thing for Tasha (from the Backyardigans). Here are a few things he told me this morning and afternoon about her:

"Mom, Tasha is sitting on my lap again. (this is while we are riding in the car) And every time we get out and go somewhere I have to carry her in, but she doesn't get heavy."

"Mom, Tasha snores when she sleeps, but I have these little things I put in my ears so I can't hear her." (I think those would be ear plugs).

As I am tucking him in for nap, "Mom, sometimes Tasha snuggles up with me in the bed so she can keep me warm."

Isaiah: "I wish Tasha was real."
Mom: "Well, maybe one day you will meet someone you like as much as Tasha."
Isaiah: "But, she won't look like Tasha and she won't sound like Tasha"
Mom: "She might sound like Tasha, but she probably won't look like Tasha, unless you are into hippos" (which evidently, he is.)

A visit to Santa and a CRAZY night!

Alyssa telling Santa about Jamie the elf! Santa could have acted a little more interested, in my opinion.

Santa giving Ella her candy cane.

The picture of all 3. They would not let us take our own picture from "inside the set" (LAME), so Tim was pretty far away and on the side trying to get a shot. Guess what Isaiah looks like!

MAMA! Look at big sis trying to comfort her:)

Well, our weekend has been very eventful. All in all, it has been great! One good thing about being in a new place over the holidays is that there are not nearly as many commitments or events to attend. Therefore, we have had a lot of family together time which is just what we all needed! Anyway, above are our pictures of our visit with Santa. As we suspected, Ella freaked out when we approached Santa, but we decided to scar her for life anyway and make her sit on his lap (it's funny how things change from child #1, huh). As soon as I picked her up, Santa handed her a candy cane and she said "Thank you" and has talked about Santa non-stop ever since. Sugar does wonders for a relationship with a child doesn't it!

Anyway, about our night last night! We decided to go to the Bristol Motor Speedway, which has its "Speedway in Lights" exhibit of Christmas lights each year. It is a tradition for people in this area and sounded like fun, so we headed out about 6:30pm to see it! Little did we know HOW MANY people would be there. NO exaggeration - we did not get home until 11:30pm!!! 5 HOURS to see some stinkin' lights. What was so bad was that once you got in line, you couldn't get out! We were TRAPPED. We didn't even get into the exhibit until after 10 o'clock. Ella conked out about 10 minutes into it and the other 2 made it all the way through! They had port 'o' potties scattered throughout the line and the lady at the ticket booth told us it was the biggest night EVER! We were part of history, huh! Overall, the kids did REALLY well, but 5 hours in the car! SHeesh! But, we did get to drive on the track, which Tim thought was cool! It's a guy thing, I guess.

Winter sickness has hit us

Isaiah has come down with some sort of sickness that has yet to reveal itself except through a fever and a very sick-feeling little boy. I am not feeling that great myself this afternoon, so am hoping I don't get it. It will be a miracle if he is the only one in the house who ultimately gets it. We'll see. As for now, we will just hang out in the house, sleep and try to get better!

A visit from Uncle Tony

Isaiah cutting out Christmas cookies. The boy has been a project machine the past few days. Some of you will be receiving some fruits of his labor!

Uncle Tony and his nieces! Alyssa had a crush on Uncle Tony for many years. I think it is over now, but it looks like Ella is right in line to take her place.

Tony reading "Mr Brown can Moo" to Ella. She is asking him "what's this" for about the 50th time.

Ella getting her groove on.

Look closely at Tim and Tony's hands in this picture. Alyssa is performing for them and required them to wave their hands in the air. It was hilarious! She her gettin' down!

Basketball and Christmas

We decorated the house last night for Christmas and put up the Christmas tree. The kids were really into their ornaments this year. Also, Isaiah is doing basketball this winter and he got his uniform this week. It is really cute, even though it is trojan green. Just wait though, the high school here in Johnson City is burgundy, white and gold! HA HA. Some rivalries never end, huh!


One of our little elves painting some Christmas ornaments.

Ella likes the Santa towel on the stove.

It has now become a tradition that Alyssa puts up the nativity set every year.

Isaiah had his first basketball practice this week. He LOVED it. Here he is in his uniform. It is very cute, but a little big.

Alyssa made a gingerbread house at school.

Chocolate chip cookie faces

Daddy made chocolate chip cookies after dinner tonight. We all enjoyed them very much, can you tell.

Jamie the Elf

This picture just cracked me up. It is a bit blurry but look at Mr. Intense on the computer. I probably should teach him how to use a real mouse because he has become a master at the touchpad.

A friend told me about the book "The Elf on the Shelf" a couple weeks ago. It is a book that comes with its own elf. The elf that comes with the book is sent to each home to silently observe the behavior of the boys and girls and report back to Santa each night so as to determine if they make the naughty or nice list for Christmas. The family must name its elf and the elf must be in a different place every morning for the kids to find. (Our elf is bringing candy each morning too, but that is not required. I know, great to start the day off with straight sugar! Mom of the year I'm not, huh!) Anyway, we read the book last night and our elf arrived for the kids to find this morning. They decided to name him Jamie, although Isaiah's first pick was Frankenstein. Alyssa was SO excited. I went to get the candy out of Jamie's lap and she screams "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" I forgot that is one of the rules in the book that his "Christmas magic" will disappear if he is touched. Woops! So, she calls Tim right away on the phone to tell him that the elf is here and what they named him and what he brought them and what he looked like. So cute. Later, I was dropping her off at school and as soon as she gets out of the car, she runs up to her principal to tell him about the elf. It was the cutest thing. He just smiled from ear to ear. It also made me SO happy to see some innocence in my little girl who seems to be growing up WAY too fast lately. I will forego mom of the year for a little elf magic with a bonus sugar rush.

Also, an Isaiah funny--Today we were coming home from the open gym we sometimes go to on Tuesdays and Isaiah was getting out of the car. He pants got hooked on something and started to fall down a bit and he says "Uh oh, my pants are cracking." HA HA!

Some pics

Oh yeah, Ella got her first haircut over the weekend. Thanks Grandma! She no longer has a rat tail in the back!

Some pics of the kids. Here is Alyssa in her matching jammies with her American Girl doll that Grammy and Papaw and Zach got her for Christmas. We celebrated with the Neals over the weekend for Christmas. It was a great, relaxing time. And here is just some cute pics of Isaiah and Ella. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!