Christmas break

(Yes, I said Christmas break. I am so not PC.  HA!)

Elle started vacationing even before school was officially over by making a snowman the morning of the last day.  

Because it snowed like, an inch, they had the kids start school two hours late.

(standard procedure around here)

What did Elle want to do on her first day off?

First, breakfast together at Panera.

 Then straight to Payless to try on funny shoes!

Elle said she's someone right out of Bazaar Magazine.

As you'll notice, she has an impassioned look on her face and her lips are slightly parted just like a real model.

(The shoes actually match her outfit!)

Then she tried on some clothes at Ross

Guess she should have taken it off the hanger first. 

Then, she spent the afternoon playing her cello.  She amazingly had a Christmas piano book in front of her and read the treble clef notes, but played them as bass clef on her cello! 

Mind blowing to me!

(click to view--I think)

: http://youtu.be/WjxEa7fzLQw

And playing Christmas songs:

(I have no idea why there's a weird icon below the link)

 http://youtu.be/I-6VthvdqPM

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Sunday Dress and Hair

Happy December!

Elle decided to start the month out right by wearing her Christmas dress

She requested that I give her a bun!

Since her hair is so short, I had to do the best I could.

Sunday dress and hair and glasses

She Chose. . .

D!

I vant to suck your blood! Bleh! Bleh! Bleh!

Happy Halloween!

Our little vampiress :

(that really is what it  said on the package)

Even vampires have to go to school

Here's more Halloween fun:

Chris and I brought these little monsters and mummies to a Halloween party

We carved pumpkins for FHE

Roasted pumpkin seeds

(some with seasoned salt and some with cinnamon sugar. 

 1 tsp. oil to one cup seeds)

And enjoyed the beautiful leaves!

Glasses! Glasses!

(You'll understand the title if you've ever played Brain Age on  Nintendo DS)

Yes, Elle is in the market for some glasses.  

We need some opinions!

Please rate each pair in order of preference  #1, #2, #3, #4--not just which one is your favorite

(example A-#1  D= #2  B=# 4 C= #3)

Does that make sense?

(and don't let her expressions be any indications of how she feels about them.  It was awkward for her to try on glasses in front of eager saleswomen.  I jut happened to make her laugh in two of the pictures)

A:

B:

Here they are side by side

C:

D:

And side by side

Your opinion matters!  ;)

Elle's Birthday Part 2

Elle's birthday was a success!

Here are all the good things that happened at school on Elle's birthday:

1- It was Wednesday which meant it was a short school day and she got to sleep in
2- Her friends decorated her locker and gave her gifts. (she got one gift Tuesday!)
3- Her friend bought her a yummy drink at lunch
4- She found out she got 100% on her math test
5- She didn't have math homework
6- She found the double mint gum in her math binder
7- Her science test was canceled and she got to start her homework instead
8-She didn't have to dress down for PE
9- The Principal came to orchestra to learn cello just like Elle
10- Her orchestra teacher played "Happy Birthday" on her violin
11- One of her classes which has 6-8th graders sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

To finish up the celebration:

She had double snacks waiting for her (but she only ate 1)

We had her favorite foods for dinner:  Macaroni and cheese, brussel sprouts, and shrimp.

(Strange, but hey, when it's your birthday you can have whatever you want too)

We played the annual pin the___ on the ___

This year we did Pin the Facial Features on the Face (pair of ears and eyes and 1 mouth)

The features were in a bag and we had to fish out the correct pairs.

Chris was responsible for covering our eyes so we couldn't see

Then we played the candy bar game.  We took turns rolling the dice and when we got doubles we put on a hat, scarf, and gloves then used a fork and knife to open one of Elle's favorite candy bars: Kit Kat

I wanted to do a Double Dare game (without the green slime, of course). 

 I had two types of questions to answer  1- the answer was one word with a double meaning and

 2- the answer had the word "double" in it

Then I had some minute-to-win-it activities.

It wasn't really like Double Dare, but we pretended it was.

Then it was time for presents!

I think the highlight was the new watch.

And finally, double birthday cakes!

With double scoops of ice cream, of course :) 

I think you will agree that the Double Birthday theme worked out after all!

*photo courtesy of Chris and his awesome Photoshop skills

Happy Birthday Elle!

Today Elle is 11!

She wants "double digit" to be the theme for the day.  She says 10 isn't a double digit, 11 is because there are double 1's.

It was really hard coming up with "double" ideas.  Thank you to everyone who helped me think!

Here are a few "double" things we did this morning.

I put Double-mint gum in her backpack

I set out two plates, cups, forks, knives and napkins at breakfast. (she had a fried egg on toast with syrup)

Chris and I each said "Good morning" twice and sang "Happy Birthday" twice.

I gave her two hugs an two kisses.

When she opened her bedroom door, she came through 11 balloons hanging from the top and two 1's on her door cut from wrapping paper.

I wrote "Are you seeing double? Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!" on her bathroom mirror and set out two headbands, two hairbrushes, two soap dispensers, two toothbrushes and two tubes of toothpaste. (she conveniently already had two bottles of lotion out)

We put up two birthday signs.

I put another backpack next to hers so there would be double.

In her lunch, I put in double of all the food she requested: (small) Double salami sandwiches, pears, and snickerdoodle cookies.  I also put two birthday cards in--one signed by me and the other by Chris.

More fun to come after school!