Last Week

We had a busier than normal week this past week, mainly due to the fact that the Women of the Church committee (which I am on) sponsored a sit down dinner, and a Matthew Smith and Indelible Grace concert on Saturday! Nana volunteered to come help with the girls for the weekend while Jim and I were at the church all weekend (Thanks, Nana)! We had a great turnout and the concert was AMAZING!!

Janey had a big milestone this week in that she gave up the paci!! Yes, I was reading an article at some point a couple of weeks ago about how the best time to give up the paci is between 18-24 months...so with that I thought maybe we should try to get rid of it. She was only using it at nap and bedtime, but I was not looking forward to it because it was not fun with MV. I took Janey's pacis out of the bed when she was not looking Tuesday morning, and when nap time came around we just went in and got her blanket. She questioned, "paci?", and I just said, "Pacis are all gone". She went on to sleep after about 15 minutes of chatter, and NEVER cried about it!! WOW, that was much easier than with MV!! I still can not believe how fast her 2nd birthday is coming! March is only 2 months away!

Mary Varner had a fun week with her regular activities of AWana at church, and ballet. She was invited to a birthday party for a little friend that she has from church and preschool. They are big buddies and think that it is sooo neat that they have the same first name!! It was a skating birthday!! Mary Varner has not ever skated before, and it has been at least 15 years for me. She fell a few times, but soon got the hang of it. I did not skate because she really needed me to balance her and I knew that I could not do that very good on skates. We had a blast!!

Haircuts

Mary Varner had a hair appointment today to get her hair cut, and I thought that we could try to even Janey's out a little in the back (loose the mullet/tail)if she would sit in the chair! When we got there, MV went first and Janey was a little concerned about the lady cutting Sissy's hair. Janey kept saying "Sissy's hair" and pointing to the pile of hair on the floor that had just been cut. She actually told the lady to stop a few times! Once Mary Varner was all done, we asked Janey if she wanted to get in the chair to get her hair cut, and she surprised us by saying a very excited "yes". I really think she only wanted to sit in the chair and spin around because once Tanya started cutting Janey sat very still (which is VERY rare), and looked a little worried! All in all it went pretty smooth, and her mullet/tail is gone!!


Getting Ready!!


Bye Bye mullet


Mary Varner's new style

First Hunt

I am finally getting around(We have had the stomach flu) to posting the pictures of Mary Varner's first hunt! She has been talking about and planning her first hunt with Daddy for about 6 months now. Jim was very eager to take her as well, and they both had a GREAT time. They did see a young buck that some dogs chased out in front of the stand. This made the whole experience over the top!! SHe is already talking about the next hunting trip!

Playing on the 4 wheeler


Thumbs up this is FUN


Ready for the hunt

Christmas 2010

I have over 100 pictures from all of our Christmas celebrations. Do not worry, I am not going to post all of them. We had a great Christmas with all of our family in Mississippi. Christmas Eve morning we opened our presents to each other at home and then while the girls played we packed up the cars to head out after lunch. Santa found us in Mississippi at Grandaddy and Nana's house. Mary Varner was a little concerned that he might forget that we were there and not at home, but I reassured her that he would remember because we told him when we saw him at Bass Pro.

Playing with toys left by Santa!!






Nana with all 4 grandkids wearing the Christmas outfits she made them


Admiring their picture of the grandkids that all of us gave them


So much excitment while opening gifts with the whole Elder Family



Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus


Having fun at Papa Doc's house




More fun and gifts with B'B'








Lunch date with Papa Doc the day before we came home!!

Happy Birthday Jesus

I started practicing "Happy Birthday, Jesus" with Janey this afternoon. As you can hear, she is getting the hang of it. Now I hope she will sing it on Christmas night when we have Jesus' birthday cake at Nana and Grandaddy's house:))

Christmas Cookies

This year MV wanted to make Christmas Cookies. I told her weeks ago that we would, and got all the supplies (not slice and bake this time) together. Well, we had a "practice" run about 2 weeks ago, and I used too much margarine and the dough was too "wet", so we ended up doing drop spoon cookies, but still had fun decorating. This time I got REAL butter and was very careful to how much I used. The dough turned out perfect. Janey got a little "out of sorts" when MV started mixing, so I put her in her high chair with some flour. She "finger painted" with flour for a long time. All together we all had a great time and I think that we will start making REAL cookies as MV calls them more often!



MV using the mixer



Janey "protesting" the mixer sound


Working hard


This is much better


Flour beard


Janey did not understand the decorating...she just wanted to eat!!



Mary Varner did not leave one spot on the cookie without an inch of icing and LOTS of sprinkles


Some of the finished products

A Visit with Santa

We took the girls to see Santa Saturday night at Bass Pro Shop. We got there at 5:40 and as soon as we were getting up to the door all the people coming out told us that Santa was on his "lunch" break until 6:50. So, we decided to go get something to eat since by the time we waited on Santa to get back the kids would be starving and it would pass the time. Well, after we finished supper at a little pizza place in the shopping center, we walked back to Bass Pro. Santa was back but so was everyone else. It took us about an hour to get through the line, but Jim kept the girls entertained by taking them to look at the big fish tank and all the other "neat" stuff in Bass Pro while I kept our place in line. As you can see in the picture, Mary Varner LOVED seeing Santa, and told him she wanted a Princess Fishing pole(2 weeks ago she wanted the Barbie..Santa may have to do some exchanging) and a pink bath robe. Janey was saying "Santa up" the whole time we were in line ( meaning up in Santa's lap) and I would ask her if she wanted him to bring her a baby and she would respond "baby Maw-wee". She calls all babies (real or fake) baby Mollie. She was excited and totally fine until I put her in his lap and walked over to the side. She started SCREAMING!! She calmed down as soon as I got her back, and as we were walking out she said "Santa up" and waved bye-bye!

Counting down

8 days til Christmas, Mama!! Mary Varner really is getting excited about Christmas! She gets up every morning and puts another Nativity figure up on her Advent calendar and then tells me how many more days are left. This is the first year that she REALLY understands and remembers Christmas.

Christmas Tree

We put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. The girls were SO excited about the tree this year especially Mary Varner. She is old enough now to remember last year and the only thing she was confused on was why it was not Christmas day yet. She thought that if we put up the tree then it must be Christmas day. I explained that we put it up a few weeks before to enjoy the "Christmas Season". I look at our tree and laugh because we only decorated from about waist up because Janey kept pulling ornaments off, and then what is decorated MV would put four ornaments on one branch and only in certain areas. Needless to say there are lots of ornaments in some spots and many "holes" in others. I like it because it shows what "season of life" we are in!! Janey has gotten better at leaving the tree alone now that we have had it up about a week or so. Every morning when she comes into the den, she points at it and says "tee".