House of Estrogen

A Little Christmas Spirit, Finally

I've been feeling a bit lazy and Scroogish so far this holiday season. My Christmas cards have been sent, and much of my shopping is done, but I just haven't been able to get myself geared up for the baking and decorating. The kids need a tree though, so putting up the tree was today's mission.  J.C. is the ultimate Scrooge when it comes to the tree. In his words, "It is a wasted weekend day putting it up, and another wasted weekend day taking it down. Bah humbug."  Nice. Clearly, I was getting no help from him. Elise and I tromped around the attic until we finally found the tree.  Those tree boxes weigh a ton. We managed to drag it over to the top of the stairs. Then I slid it down the stairs, nearly crushing Elise in the process. There's a nice holiday headline for you: "10 Year Old Girl Crushed by Artificial Tree, Mother to Blame."

Eventually, we got it standing and plugged in and got busy decorating.

Addie started off the morning trimming the tree as a ballerina... a Sugar Plum Fairy, perhaps?

At some point, she decided a Pocahontas costume was more appropriate for the event. Doesn't everyone have multiple outfit changes for these occassions?

Nina asked me to take this picture of her. I'm not sure what the expression means, but I obliged.

Although J.C. would rather not be at all involved in the tree decorating process, we force him to help put the angel on top. It would not be pretty if I tried picking up Addie like that. That headline would read: "Christmas Tree Collapses under Three Year Old Dropped by her Mother."

 

In years past, I have often hosted gingerbread parties; however, this year, our local Panera Bread was offering gingerbread decorating. How can I turn that down?

I didn't have to buy anything OR clean up the mess! Plus, a few of our neighbors were there too, so it was just like a party at home... kind of... well, if you ignore all the other people we didn't know who were there too. Really, it was just like home but better. Plus, they make lattes!

I think our day of Christmas cheer got me more in the Christmas spirit. I mean how can I look at this face and not get excited about Christmas?!

Only two weeks until Christmas! Are you ready?

Elise's Room Re-Do

We are finally finished with Elise's room redecorating. It has been a slow process fraught with much procrastination, but tonight we put on the finishing touches and called it quits. Before Addison was born, we moved Elise and Nina into a room together. They slept in bunk beds, shared a closet, shared space, and seemed to enjoy each other's company. At some point though, Elise decided she needed her own space, so she slowly and stealthily took over the guest room. She claimed it as her own, and we eventually agreed that she could have it. Although the queen size bed is really too big for the space along with all her stuff, she wasn't willing to part with it. She had gotten accustomed to sleeping with an ridonculous number of stuffed animals. In a twin bed, there wouldn't be any room for her, so the queen stayed.

I had the best intentions of posting before and after pictures. I thought I had before pictures from when we first decorated the guest room. I've spent the last half hour looking for them though with no success, and I'm giving up.  You'll have to go with mental before pictures: a tan/taupe room with a queen mattress on a bed frame (no actual bed), one chest of drawers, no lamp, a few paintings or photos on the walls, and a tan/light blue/white striped comforter on the bed.

Now... introducing Elise's new room - decorated in the ever popular polka-dot/sea turtle theme!

 

Polka dots and sea turtles, you ask? She chose the polka-dot comforter first, so I went down the path of polka-dots for decoration. Then, she changed directions on me and wanted sea turtles everywhere, so voila... the polka-dot/sea turtle theme was born.

 

The cool dots and monogram on the wall came from the Etsy store Planet Wall Art. I love the way they turned out!

 

Check out the cute bird!

 

What more could a nine year old girl want in her room than a turtle and tortoise identification poster? (She picked it out... I promise!) I got it at AllPosters.com. Here is a tip for you. When ordering a poster online, don't assume that it will be a standard poster size and that it will be easy to find a ready-made frame at Michael's to frame it. It may not be. If the whole cheap frame thing doesn't work out, don't assume that you can just take the poster over to Staples to get it laminated. Their laminating machine may not be wide enough. Take my advice and order it laminated. You will save yourself time, money, and headaches.

 

 

The American Girls seem to be enjoying the new room. I'm not sure what they are all looking at though. Lanie seems to be the only one willing to look at the camera long enough for a picture.

 

This cool sea turtle photo also came from AllPosters.com. It is really pretty.

 

One piece in the room is really special. My cousin Lisa painted this sweet little table for me years ago. I'm guessing I've had it for 15 years at least. It has always been a bright, fun little piece of furniture, but now that she is gone, it means even more to me. I think it looks just right in Elise's bright green room. I think Lisa would approve! 

 

Elise is now in sea turtle cental and loving it, and that's all that really matters.