~Extension~

TONIGHT I request an extension on blog duties...I will finish today's post tomorrow. I am blaming the fact that I took too long to pick out my Christmas card, coupled with the fact that my laptop keeps freezing up!!

Christmas is here!

TODAY we got our Christmas tree. Remember our tree trouble last year? Click here for the details, but I can sum up by saying it began by our tree getting run over on the car ride back to the house and ending with a dying tree through the Advent season. We eventually threw it out the day after Christmas. I'm surprised our house didn't burn down in them meantime.

Last year, Calla loved decorating the tree: (notice the hair!)

below: Kelsey watched patiently from the jumper...

below: Calla putting up the ornaments...

Tonight I didn't do such a nice job documenting the decorating because I could not for the life of me find my camera. And I love putting ornaments up too much to waste time searching for the camera!

It was nice we had tree-decorating on the agenda today because otherwise our day was pretty boring! The girls are still on Eastern Time. I am guessing they will adjust to the time difference a couple days before we head back east for Christmas.

Actually I am not sure if it's eastern time, but something cruel is waking them up at 6:30. We were literally eating lunch at 10:30! And in the hours between, we headed to Kohl's for a return, Ultra for grocery shopping, and Target to spend my birthday gift card from Aunt Katelyn and Uncle David. Thanks guys!

Kelsey took a super early nap, which meant the girls' naps did not correspond. I guess that is just as well because it gives me more time to be productive! I cannot resist laying down if both girls are napping at the same time. There is just something so precious about a quiet house! I'd much rather try to make dinner with two energetic girls at my heels after taking a nap than working on dinner while they sleep and being tired just as they wake up!

We got our fall decorations down and had the leather chair moved away by the time Daddy arrived home from work, tree in hand (well not quite that easily). Calla had no recollection of getting a tree last year (although Jonathan recounted the tree-getting-run-over story for her and she repeated it throughout the evening). She was all about this tree though!

After dinner, and after Kelsey was in bed, Calla asked me very politely, "Can you do me a favor, Mom? Can you put up the lights?" Haha.

Calla helped decorate the tree...I should have taken a picture before I "adjusted" it. The bottom branches held multiple ornaments. She was very purposeful with where she put them....the branches were almost dragging on the ground under the weight. She seemed very relaxed about me switching around her decorating though.

It will be interesting to see how Kelsey reacts to the tree - namely, if she destroys it. The girls have a little stuffed-animal ornament that Calla and I put at the bottom for Kelsey to touch. I told Calla that she could mess with it. (Calla was very worried about Kelsey touching the "fragile ornaments." - her words.)

After Calla went to bed, our friend Bryan stopped over after helping at church with something to watch some Monday Night Football and settle the score. He had bet me a milkshake that the Bears would beat the Eagles and lo and behold they did. So I did not get a milkshake. )-: But we did enjoy his company....more specifically, the company of his brand new iPhone. I got to iChat with his wife, Ali, and am completely hooked. I seriously want to buy one for myself and everybody I know so we can video-chat all the time. Calla would love it. Haha. (She did love it!! She came out to "get a drink" while I was chatting with Ali and got to video-chat with her. She was very matter-of-fact about it - like of course she would be "skyping" on the phone haha.)

We are hoping our tree doesn't die this year. Send us tips, please. Since we are leaving for PA on Saturday the 18th, we will have very limited time to kill the tree.

p.s. Cyber Monday is over and I am officially done 80% of my Christmas shopping! Yay

Callaism~

~ I thought it'd be cute if the girls "exchange" gifts today. Calla wants to get Kelsey matching pink slippers for Christmas. GRANDMA, you gave her a hot pink pair for her 2nd birthday...I think from Good's. Anyway, she wants a matching pair for Kelsey. Do you know if they still sell them? I could pay you for them. Calla is insistent that this is what she wants to get her. Kelsey bought Calla a princess umbrella from amazon.com today. Shhh.

Kelseyism~

~ new word of the day: "again"

Photos in Review!

TODAY first off I am posting some photos I didn't get around to putting up yet....(don't even get me started on the Thanksgiving day documentary-in-photos):

below: Calla and Kelsey watching the Stoltzfus Fam hockey game (a family tradition)

below: Kelsey loved watching! Jonathan visited us when his "line" wasn't on the ice.

below: out on the ice...

below: all the hockey participants! (well, Calla and Kelsey snuck in there)

below: Aunt Rin, hockey extraordinaire.

below: after hockey, we ate lunch at Chick-fil-A. (Calla had applied lipstick for the hockey game.)

below: Uncle Caleb trying to lend a hand to the needy

OKAY moving on to Saturday pics. I took quite a few Saturday morning.

below: Uncle Caleb and Calla working on a craft together.

below: in the meantime, Kelsey was spilling glittery craft items all over Mimi's rug.

below: Pops and Kelsey playing around

below: Kelsey's latest favorite thing....coloring (look at her little ankles crossed!)

below: A pen is her coloring tool of choice

below: we attempted a shot of the two sisters. yikes.

Calla looks nice!

serious:

Kelsey looks like she is in a coma.

below: next we attempted a shot with the girls and Grandma and Grandpa. Kelsey and Grandpa weren't quite ready.

That's better!

below: ROADTRIP....Daddy and Calla ate at the kid table. This is Kelsey running....which eventually led to her split-lip fiasco.

below: Kelsey's first video game experience. She is already addicted. Jk

TODAY Calla woke up to find herself in the crib! Whaaat? Last night Corinne slept in Calla's bed and I put Calla in Kelsey's crib and then just put Kelsey in bed with us. A lot faster than blowing up an air mattress at 12:30 in the morning.

At first Calla was concerned but then she decided she liked the idea. At naptime, she requested she sleep in there with Kelsey!

This morning we met up with Uncle David and Aunt Katelyn! They are taking Corinne to Texas. Calla was THISCLOSE to going along. Just kidding. But she wanted to!

below: Aunt Katelyn, Calla and Aunt Corinne. Uncle David is changing Kelsey's diaper in the backseat of their car. (jk)

below: Okay, honestly, I am not sure where Kelsey is at this point. Am I holding her? Calla is wearing mismatched pajamas. We were excited to see Aunt Katelyn's belly, although it wasn't noticeable with her sweatshirt on! Boo.

Aunt Katelyn and Uncle David in Naperville, IL! Who knew we'd find them here?!??! (well, technically we did since we arranged it with them)

This morning we narrowly missed attending the first service, so we gave the girls baths and unpacked some before going to the second service. The girls were pretty sleepy! We kept them in with us during the worship part and barely kept them awake on our way home from church.

This afternoon, after lunch and naptime, we unpacked....

below: Kelsey hindering the unpacking process.

At 3pm, the girls tended to themselves while Jonathan and I watched the BEARS v EAGLES showdown. Most of the time I watched it in the basement while the girls played. It was better for us to remain separated haha. All I want to say about the game is that it will benefit the Eagles when they meet the Bears in the play-offs that they lost this game because you better believe they will be motivated for REVENGE.

Ah-hem. Enough with that - tonight we continued the laundry/unpacking/cleaning. Not really appropriate for a "day of rest" but it will make for a more restful week that we took care of it today!

Callaism~

~ Calla was really concerned today that her baby doll had a fever. She even took her temperature and gave her medicine. When I asked her what the cause of the fever was, she said, "Well she fell down when we were at the park. When she fell, she got the fever!"

Kelseyism~

~ TEETH update - Daddy thinks he feels a couple teeth breaking through her gums, which would explain her crankiness/fever combo. It's about time. I don't know how long she's going to get by with six.

Black Friday

TODAY I am posting this on our long journey back to Illinois. I was unable to post yesterday, thanks to little Kelsey who woke up at 11pm and took an hour and a half to fall back to sleep. Not sure what that was about. Maybe Thanksgiving dinner wasn't sitting well.

Yesterday morning the Stoltzfus extended fam had their annual ice hockey game from 9:30-11;30. Daddy, aunt Corinne and uncle Caleb played and so we went to cheer them on. There were four teams, two of which took the ice in 2-minute increments so we would spend two minutes cheering and then Daddy would hold the girls or come say hi while the other "line" took the ice. Its a fun game to watch!

After hockey, we all went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Mimi and the aunts and I needed to get our energy up for some Black Friday shopping that afternoon. Daddy and his friend Wes stayed at the house while the little girls napped and the big girls shopped (minus aunt Katelyn - we missed her!). I love the hustle and bustle of busy shopping days; its almost like you are getting stuff done even if you are just walking around. Haha. I got Calla a Christmas dress from Hartstrings (my favorite kids store ever) for 65-percent off.what a deal.

Friday evening, Mimi and Pops and Aunt Corinne babysat the girls while Jonathan and I went over to my aunt Esther's. She hosted dinner for some of us older cousins so we could get together and catch up. (I have 9 cousins within three years of age as me - its a lot of fun!)

Aunt Rinnie gave the girls baths and put them to bed. We all got back and played games. I am trying to get my first win playing the Settlers of Catan (game) and so far things are looking bleak.

This morning we just prepared to leave - laundry, packing, organizing! Aunt Kelly and Uncle Josh, Grandma and Grandpa and aunt Kim stopped in to say goodbye. I hate saying goodbye all the time. I strongly recommend marrying a local person, wherever "local" may be (aunt Kel, aunt Kim and aunt Court are all taking that advice!).

We left Elverson at 1pm and plan to be in Wheaton at 11. We stopped once for dinner, which was pretty uneventful until Kelsey fell and split her top lip. I was in the bathroom with Calla so I missed it but Jonathan and Corinne said it was pretty bloody! it's already very swollen. It is good we don't have professional Christmas pictures scheduled!

I will have to post pics/videos tomorrow.

Callaism-

- Calla thought if Kelsey held the DVD player that she would "chip" it. "She's a chipper," Calla told Rin!

- Aunt Corinne is driving with us to Chicago, where aunt Katelyn and uncle David are going to pick her up on their drive from Michigan back down to Texas. Corinne will only be at college two weeks before her break starts so she told Calla that she should come to college with her! Well Calla has not forgotten this request and is constantly asking when "will I go to college with aunt Corinne and all the big girls??" I asked her if she would miss me and she said, "Yes but I don't want to miss you." Haha

Kelseyism-

- new word(s) of the day: stop and go

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody! Love, Calla and Kelsey

TODAY the girls were wished Happy Thanksgiving by Aunt Corinne! She got in at about 1am last night, and hugged and kissed the girls for the first time since she saw them in July! They were excited to see her.

This morning we got to catch up with Aunt Corinne....the girls played people with her and we ate breakfast and talked about her semester. Since Kelsey had gone to sleep late last night, we decided to put her down for her nap at 11am so she could sleep before Thanksgiving Dinner (at 1pm). She was crabby this morning, and Daddy said she fell asleep right away!

That worked great, because once we headed over to Mom-Mom's (my Dad's mom's) house, we stayed for a few hours. There were 58 people there! My Dad's six siblings, their families, plus a cousin of his and his wife and four kids. Mom-Mom's house has a large walk-in basement and a huge, long table that accommodates over 30 people. So fortunately there were seats for all!

There definitely isn't assigned seating or formal china - the food was set up in two buffet lines, and you find a seat where you can! Calla and Kelsey sat with Jonathan and I, and Aunt Corinne. And my cousins Adrienne and her hubby Travis and son, Ethan, who is six weeks older than Kelsey.

below: This morning my cousin Olivia, who is 7 (my dad's youngest sister's youngest daughter) came and played with Calla for a bit. Here they are talking and looking out the window at Mimi's swimming pool. Olivia is from Boston, but usually gets a swim in at Mimi's every summer when they are visiting.

below: some of the great-grandchildren! On the second row is Addy (my cousin Derek's daughter, age 16 months) and Ethan (my cousin Adrienne's youngest, age 19 months)....first row is Kelsey, Lyla (age 15 months) and Calla

below: Okay this photo has ALL the great-grandchildren except the two that live in Minnesota (my cousin Darin's), my cousin Kristen's son Logan (Kristen and her hubby are missionaries in the Ukraine) and my cousin Melissa's on, Henry, who had just left....

below: Kelsey and Ethan had so much fun playing together! Mom-Mom has lots of toys (probably toys that I played with growing up) so these two were very busy.

below: Corinne and I playing with the girls down this ramp...this ramp is a favorite of the kids. Nothing like pushing toy cars down the ramp.

below: Calla alternated playing with the big girls (Nadia, Olivia and Rachel) and hanging out with Aunt Corinne and Aunt Kim. Olivia brought her guinea pigs (all the way from Boston!) and so the girls spent lots and lots of time watching them. Here they are watching "Alice in Wonderland."

below: Aunt Rin and Calla, united again finally

below: Aunt Kim and Calla!

sisters (minus 2 - Kelly was with her husband's family and Katelyn was with her husband's family....Kimmi and her hubby celebrate with her husband's family on Saturday)

Most of the adults play games throughout the afternoon. We are definitely a game family. And with so many people, there were numerous games going on! Jonathan and a bunch of the college kids and some other young adults went and play indoor roller hockey.

Calla didn't nap, but did a great job being brave. I think it was exciting for her to have big girls to play with!

At around 6:30, Daddy took Kelsey back to Mimi's and put her down for the night. Calla and I stopped over at Grandma and Grandpa's to say hi and eat some leftovers from their Thanksgiving dinner. My cousins Olivia, Grace, Caroline and David were still there so Calla played in the basement with them (they are all MUCH older than her - David is the youngest and he is 12 - but they were sweet to play with her).

When we got back to Mimi's, Pops put Calla to bed while the rest of us played games. It was a great Thanksgiving.

We missed seeing the rest of our family this Thanksgiving and hope you all had a wonderful day! We are very thankful to God for blessing us with a loving family and countless other blessings that we do not deserve. "Give thanks for He is good; His Love endures forever." Psalm 118:1

Callaism * Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey discovered a porcelain baby doll laying around and carried with her for a while. I checked with Mom-Mom to make sure it wasn't a family heirloom, and she said no that a friend had given it to her for the great-grandkids to play with....Kelsey didn't have it for more than 15 minutes before she dropped it and the little head of the doll broke into numerous pieces! (I didn't realize until that point that it was an actual porcelain doll!) I didn't realize until the doll broke and little Olivia started sobbing that Mom-Mom had given it to her! I felt SOO bad! Later in the day, Jonathan drove to Wal-Mart and bought a $5 doll to give to Olivia as a feeble replacement for the doll Mom-Mom had given her. I think it helped! It definitely made an impression on Calla, because she turned to Jonathan and said, "Daddy, I have a plan. How about you go and buy me a fragile doll and then Kelsey will take it and break it and then you can go buy me a new one? Isn't that a good plan?" Haha.

below: Family Thanksgiving photo

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

TODAY Mimi took some pictures, but her camera is with her and she is currently on a trip to Philly to pick up Corinne at the airport with Pops. So I will post the photos in the morning!

This morning the girls caught up by playing with all of Mimi's toys. They got to wake up Uncle Caleb, which I'm sure he appreciated at 8:30 in the morning! We got some of the wear and tear from traveling out here off by giving them baths. Then at lunchtime we headed over to Grandma's for one of her big and fabulous lunches. She went to three grocery stores searching for Kelsey's (and Calla's) favorite pasta haha.

It was fun to visit - Aunt Kim, aunt Kelly and Uncle Caleb were there. We miss having aunt Katelyn in town for Christmas (she and her hubby David are in Michigan with his family; this is technically are "off-year" to be here). We also missed Aunt Corinne, who didn't fly out of Texas until 5:30pm CT (hopefully the pat-downs and full-body scans didn't add to the delay!).

Calla somehow convinced Grandma to give her an early Christmas gift (Grandma is easily convinced), and she was busy with a painting book for most of our visit. Fortunately Grandma shops for Christmas early!

The girls napped this afternoon (while all the boys went bowling - Jonathan returned in a fabulous mood which means that he undoubtably won). Aunt Kimmi stopped in this afternoon to play with Kelsey, who always wakes up earlier than Calla. In fact we had to wake Calla up at 4:30 - she was up snoozing in Aunt Rin's bed. She looks so tiny cuddled up in the middle of a queen-size bed!

Mimi served lasagna for dinner and then we all changed and got ready for the church's Thanksgiving Eve service. The Thanksgiving Eve service is one of my favorites all year - it's a service centered around being thankful (I know, a shocker) and focusing on God and not yourself. They usually incorporate a lot of testimonies about God's goodness, and tonight was no exception. We even got to hear Uncle Jon speak!

Calla and Kelsey were not feeling so thankful when we first dropped them off at the childcare. Actually, Calla was more than willing to join in on the fun but Kelsey was doing her best wailing/screaming combo when Jonathan dropped her off. Fortunately they never "buzzed" us back and Jonathan said both girls were laughing hysterically and playing "Red Light Green Light" when he picked them up. Sometimes Kelsey forgets to be a drama queen when Mommy and Daddy are out of sight!

The Thanksgiving service was unique this year when a boy in the front row puked all over (projectile-vomited, Kelly clarified). Aunt Kelly and Aunt Kimmi were in the orchestra, and reported that the throw up narrowly missed them by an inch or two. Poor Aunt Kelly, 17 weeks pregnant, had to exercise a lot of mental will power not to vomit herself (Jonathan said her face looked very pale!) but she did it! My Aunt Carol got to clean up the mess during a song (lots of family at church ha).

By the time the service ended and we were done chatting and had returned home, it was close to 9 o'clock! I put the girls to bed right away. Kelsey took forever...I feel like the later I push bedtime, the harder it is for her to fall asleep. She was just overtired! Too excited about Turkey Day, I suppose!

Callaism~

~ Calla and Kelsey were sitting together on Grandma's couch and Calla was fiddling with a stack of coloring books. Kelsey was trying to wrestle, and so Calla moved and said, 'I am going to go over here by myself since I'm trying to do my devotions.' It was so cute.

Kelseyism~

~ New word of the day: we need to work on this! Would Thanksgiving be too much to ask? We worked on "Caboo" (Calla's nickname for Caleb) a while but to no avail.

Trip to PA, part 2

TODAY we woke up and headed back on the road! We had stopped in the Cleveland area at 12:30 at a hotel for the night (Jonathan found a great deal compliments of priceline). Of course on a morning when we would have appreciated the early wakeup call, the girls slept in! So we hurried once we did get up to makeup time (we actually hurried past the continental breakfast, planning on grabbing some bagels or something, but were stopped in our tracks when Kelsey discovered the waffles! - even I have a limit to the amount of mess we have in the car - no syrup!).

The morning went relatively smoothly - Calla continues to be a superb passenger. No complaining, no asking to get down from her seat, no whinning. She just sat there and did her sticker books, read some books, colored, watched a Barney episode, looked out the window, counted trucks...I think the magic ingredient is that we allow her to keep her pacifier which, let's be honest, is very ridiculous at 3 years old. I guess I have a high tolerance for the ridiculous.

Kelsey is not a very easy traveler - she sat quietly for the first half hour, watched Barney for 45 minutes (which would be unheard of at home), and then wailed and screamed. I could pacify her with food, so she ate a lot of it. And I sat on the pink potty and read books to her. Jonathan doesn't like me out of my seat so I just told him not to look back. Haha. Out of sight, out of mind.

below: Calla watching Barney, pacifier in. We had the earbuds in because Kelsey was sleeping at this point (yay for an early morning nap - complaining makes her tired!). She kept forgetting to be quiet and would sing along loudly.



above: Kelsey's morning nap. Praise the Lord!

below: Calla and her window mural. Hopefully the peel off easily. (What am I thinking? Of course they do! - that's for Daddy)

We arrived at Mimi and Pops' house at 2:15 local time (1:15 CT) and received a warm reception from Aunt Kelly and Mimi and Pops. We entertained visitors all afternoon (Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Kimmi) and the girls played and played. We ate an early dinner (well, it felt early on central time) which worked out well because the girls went to bed early. Calla didn't have a nap, so I think she'll sleep soundly!

Uncle Caleb didn't get home from art lessons until late at night, so the girls will be excited to see him in the morning. (-:

Here's Your Hat What's the Hurry

TODAY the girls woke up early (whaaat? I know so unusual) but it was all good because we had laundry to finish up and packing to do.

We took a break from packing to go to my friend Emily"s house with Suzi for a playdate. Calla was in dress-ups (Ashlyn had a Tinkerbell outfit yay) within ten minutes of our arrival. And Kelsey stayed busy playing hard with all the toys! Other kids' toys are always so much more fun! Yay!

We stayed for a couple hours before I took the girls home for Kelsey's nap. I wanted to keep Calla up so she helped me finish packing. She was sleepy though - she kept taking breaks to lay on the couch!

I needed Calla to stay up because Jonathan decided to schedule our Thanksgiving departure trip to Mimi's to begin at 6pm. Yikes! Moving time slots up can be a juggling act for procrastinators (namely, me)!

I had scheduled a hair appointment at the spa at the sports center @ 3:15pm, which worked out great because Kelsey was up from her nap by then and a late afternoon trip to the gym childcare was a great way to tire the girls out.

While we were there, our area was on a tornado watch (according to the gym) and the spa ladies asked if I felt comfortable remaining there. Uhh yes? She was in the middle of my highlights - my hair was full of foil - the show must go on! I did think to ask if Calla and Kelsey were okay in childcare and they said oh yes the childcare room is actually the tornado shelter. How convenient!

It blew over and we were left with heavy rain. Which we are currently driving in as we make our way to Mimi's. Yikes. Fortunately the girls were tired enough that after feeding them dinner and putting them in their pajamas we got on the road and told them "Night! Night!" - which worked for Calla (she fell asleep while we were still on Roosevelt Road!) but Kelsey got a second wind in there and wailed on and on. She was crying "Mommy! Uppey!!" Which she always says when she wants "up." And there's no "up" during car rides so she had to come to grips with that - in a very noisy, flailing sorta way.

But now both girls are sleeping. Daddy is trying to see through the downpour. And we will drive three more hours to Cleveland, where we'll spend the night and finish the next morning. Pray for us if you think of it!

P.s. Promise I will post pics tomorrow

Recovery Day

TODAY was rough recovering from our big day yesterday! The girls didn't fall asleep until 10, and so I was hoping they'd sleep in but natural daylight wasn't cooperating I guess. Kelsey woke up at 7:15 and Calla woke up a few minutes later. Jonathan and I decided we'd go to the early service and play the second service by ear.

Well, what do you know the girls did great. Kelsey walked right into her class without a complaint. When I picked her up after the second service was over, the helpers said she didn't cry at all and didn't seem crabby.

I think the brave face had its limits, though, because shortly after I picked her up she was crying in the hall wanting to go home and get to bed! She fell asleep in the car.

The rest of today we just stayed around the house. I have some sort of weird cold that is making me feel absolutely lousy. So Daddy and Kelsey hung out while Calla and I took a long nap. When we woke up, we did laundry and started packing for Mimi and Pops' house.

Kelsey was beginning to feel like she was in the depths of despair by around 4:30 (her late night and short nap was catching up with her) so we put on thirty minutes of Yo Gabba Gabba. This is 30 minutes of about 15 different episodes, since they just watch 2-minute songs off YouTube. I finally had to just turn it off - I think Calla and Kelsey would sit there forever.

Daddy went bowling with some guys this evening in honor of our friend, Brian's birthday. I cannot think of a better birthday idea in Jonathan's mind - he loves bowling!

I put Kelsey to bed and then Calla worked on what was supposed to be a Thanksgiving card. Instead it was a piece of construction paper holding about two cups worth of glue. She discovered how glue dries on her fingers and loved picking it off throughout the evening.

In fact, I put her to bed about thirty minutes ago and she just popped her head out of her room to inform me that she did get all the glue off. Phew.

p.s. Sorry for the lack of photos/videos - we were all photo-ed out after yesterday!

Callaism~

~ Tonight before dinner Calla volunteered to pray but she announced, 'I am not going to pray the other prayer. I am going to sing a whole new prayer.' And then she proceeded to make up the cutest little melody ! The words did not make any sense, but the tune was so catchy. I wonder if she will remember it. At first (before I figured out the words made no sense) I thought it was a new one she learned at church!

Kelseyism~

~ new words: sock, out, uppey ("up"), down

A Birthday Party & A Wedding (in 1 Day!)

TODAY the girls slept in a bit (7am!) which was great because we had a busy day planned. We all went to the sports center, and then Daddy picked Calla up and took her to her first drop-off birthday party! (Drop-off means the mommies and daddies don't stay...I can't believe she's old enough to go without her mommy!)

My friend, Andrea, has three boys and her oldest, David, turned 4. They hosted the party at "Safety City," which is a building within the park district which has an adorable outdoor track that kids can ride on tricycles...the whole track is built within a "mini-Wheaton" - they are "buildings" about 8 feet tall which can be found around downtown Wheaton (there's one representing Wheaton College, a church, the train station, etc.). Andrea put pics up on facebook which I borrowed here:

below: David, the birthday boy

below: all the party goers in a line...look how short she is (although she was the youngest there)

below: Calla, Norah, Braden *in orange) and another boy working on a craft.

below: Ellie, with the red curls and brown tracksuit, is who you've been praying for ! (Calla is in the background)

below: Craft time! How fun! She took it home to add to her collection.

below: apparently she kept her sticker on from the sports center. ha

below: the birthday cupcakes! Calla talked about these the whole way home. She said she had one of the railroad track ones.

below: all the kids lined up with their bike helmets on, ready to go outside. (Calla is second from the left)

below: see the mini buildings? how cute. The kids are all lined up and ready to go - Calla is in dead last position!

below: Andrea said she had a hard time because she could barely reach the pedals, but Andrea's brother was visiting from out of town and helped her around the track!

below: back in side for story time

While Calla was at her party, Kelsey and I got some laundry done. But first, she did some snuggling with Maverick.

below: I took this picture of Calla with her present for David ("Candyland") before she headed out the door. She looks so old!

below: Sissy watching Calla

Calla was in a great mood when I picked her up, but when we got home she must have reached her limit. She was very cranky! We gave the girls baths, fed them lunch and put them down for an early nap.

I really didn't want to have to wake Calla up, but I ended up having to do that so we could leave for Shalome's wedding. Jonathan decided to stay home with Kelsey (we couldn't picture her sitting quietly in the pew!) and meet us at the reception. So the Moo's picked Calla and I up (we all squeezed into the minivan).

below: Erik, Norah and Calla waiting for the wedding to begin.

below: Norah wore her adorable Christmas dress. Calla wore her Indian dress from Sharon (SHalome's sister/maid of honor)

below: We sat in the very back of the church! Haha. I didn't want the girls and Erik to be too loud.

below: Ready for Christmas

below: Norah took this picture of Calla and I in the pew

below: waiting for the wedding to begin (with Jenny's sister, Katie, and her husband Isaac)...and waiting we did - it began 45 minutes late, which I think is a cultural thing

below: Shalome and her new husband (Sharon is standing in the picture too )

below: Norah and Calla standing on the pew and clapping while the new couple recessed.

We had an hour between the ceremony and the reception, so Jonathan and Kelsey met up with us at around 6 at a little pizzeria nearby. We all split one pizza, which was our way of preparing in case the reception only offered Indian food (which actually isn't bad tasting in my opinion - it's just SOO hot my tongue can't take it!).

below: first dance at the reception - Shalome wore a white and gold sahri

below: Kelsey and I at our table - fortunately she wore lots of the Indian bracelets which doubled as a toy.

below: Sharon, whose dress coordinated the girls!, giving her maid of honor speech

below: Sharon and the bridesmaids (they wore matching sahris for the wedding and then changed before the reception)

below: Calla and Kelsey messing around at the table. It says "reserved" because there were tables with those signs (I think four of them!) to indicate to the servers that we got "American" food not Indian food. The American food was chicken, potatoes, vegetables, salad.

below: The bride and groom and their parents - getting ready to cut the cake. In the Indian culture, both sets of parents also feed the bride and groom the cake.

below: Sharon and Calla! Calla was so happy to see her.

(Kelsey looking dishelved)

Family photo, except obviously the girls didn't notice

The reception was very different than any I've been to - it was like a talent show/reception mix! The bride and groom sat on chairs in the front of the ballroom and numerous cousins took turns singing or dancing. It was very entertaining for the kids to watch.

below: the kids dancing

sisters (-:

below: they played CHa-Cha Slide especially for the kids

below: Luke helping with the Cha Cha slide (the "MC" requested him haha)

watching Luke

below: our big dancer. She would literally cry when I took her off.

below: four cousins doing a dance.

below: more cousins doing a dance:

below: the dance floor is open to all! Sharon dancing with the girls...

below: Sharon had asked Calla for the first dance weeks ago! (-:

below: the flash wasn't working - but Daddy dancing with the girls

We did not recognize one song (they were INdian songs) but there were lots of enthusiastic dancers so it was fun to join in!

below: Daddy and his dancing girls

below: Daddy and the girls in the middle of the people. It was very body-to-body ha

We wanted to stay long enough to personally greet the bride and groom (they were gone often to change clothes, and then to eat, and then there were also lots of speeches) so we didn't leave until 10! Yikes! I am not sure how church is going to work out tomorrow morning. We may have to miss Sunday school!

Goodnight!

below: some dancing cousins: