Merry Christmas!

Oh joyous day!

The most wonderful time of the year...

We have been loving every minute of Christmas break. Yesterday we had breakfast together, the kids played nicely, and we played Candyland. Today we went out to breakfast, played at home, had naps, saw Santa, went to dinner, and saw the lights!

Lia has been adorable. She says that the lights are princess crowns. She thinks one of the Christmas songs us beautiful for princesses. She was friendly and sweet to Santa and had outstanding manners. When he asked her what to bring her, she said presents.

Looking forward to the big day!

Merp

Nerp is Lia's word. She uses it when she honks your nose, is bored, or poking you. It's so cute I can't stand it! And she's too busy to be bothered by pictures these days...

Break through

Time outs have gotten to be a real battle of wills. Like seriously nutso. One minute of silence took 45 minutes of yelling and crying. And it wasn't getting better. We knew it was a battle we had to win, but at what cost. We were all upset about it.

Enter the glitter bottle! This little gem has been on the web and I was skeptical. But turns out I was also desperate enough to try it.

Ah-maze-ing! In one try we were done within 5 minutes, then the next time it was just the two minutes. And no crying. Did you here that? Me either. Ahhhhh.

So there's a picture of the miracle bottle and Lia with her gift from Ulysses this morning. Note the "biggest smile" she's giving me there!

Ulysses D Elf

Ulysses D Elf has been here for a week now. He has decorated the Christmas tree, turned our milk blue, and hidden around the house. Tomorrow when Lia wakes up She will find some North Pole Snow from Ulysses and Santa.

I love to watch Lia's reaction to him. Happy to find him each morning but slightly worried when we ask her if Ulysses saw her doing something naughty. Can't wait to see her reaction tomorrow!