In which Christmas is celebrated.

I keep meaning to write this post; I have started it several times, but every time I do, I get overwhelmed by the sheer mass of pictures and information I want to share, then I promptly shut my computer and pretend those 130 pictures I took this weekend do not exist.  Denial is apparently my brain’s go-to avoidance tactic (followed closely by procrastination). 

But today, TODAY, I am determined to accomplish things I’ve been putting off.  I mean, what have I got to lose?  I’ve already spent the better part of my day in the dentist’s chair taking care of those, count them, three cavities that have been driving my molars crazy for the better part of a year (denial+procrastination).  I can totally handle a blog post of ridiculously ginormous proportions, right?  Right??  Yes.  I can.  And I am definitely not procrastinating beginning this behemoth by rambling on and on about random, inconsequential material that has no bearing on the subject at hand.  And I certainly don’t know why you’re bringing up denial after reading that last sentence.  Get off my back already, geez.

Sorry I got mad at you.  Can we start fresh?  Ok, thanks.

California FINALLY got its weatherly act together and gave us a gorgeous, warm Christmas Eve. 

The girls were so excited to finally be able to play in their playhouse.

Corisa (who maybe might kill me for posting pics of her in pajamas) had a little packet of Reindeer Dust for the girls to distribute in the front yard so Rudolph could easily find his way to the house.

 

My reading of the note attached obviously had them enraptured.  It’s one of my many, MANY talents.

On Christmas Eve, Sherri threw her annual Most Enormous Christmas Eve Party Of All Time.

Olivia loves her Nana.  Also, Olivia’s hair is getting out of control long.  And nothing makes me happier than pictures of pictures in inopportune places.  I love Alex, Craig, and Blake beaming over Sherri’s shoulder.  They love Christmas!

First of all, here are my sisters-in-law Dayna and Danielle.  (SEE? I spelled your name right again, Dayna.  And again right there, see it??)  Second of all, we laughed so hard we nearly cried when we saw this picture because Dayna is not a large girl.  In fact, she is a very small one.  But she was a victim of her voluminous shirt and being closer to the camera than her sister.  Oh man, I still giggle looking at this.  And I don’t even like the word ‘giggle’, but it’s the only one that really describes what I’m do when I look at this.

Here is try numero dos:

Much better.  But still not indicative of her actual size.  Dayna, it’s not you.  It’s my camera.

Here’s Olivia being the literal Star of the Nativity:

She sure knows how to make an exit.

Santa arrived early and dropped off our Christmas Eve pajamas.

Olivia was maybe a little excited.  But let’s face it, Lucy is the real star in this picture.  See her back there??  LOVE.

Olivia and the owl pjs.  I kind of love that she picked them out herself.  When she found them, she was in tears when we made her leave them in the store since they didn’t have her size.  When she saw these she said, “Santa found my size!!  He found 2T!”  Um.  I didn’t know that she knew her actual size.

Christmas morning:

Olivia got lots of fun, fancy gifts.  But her hands-down-by-far-without-any-competition favorite?  The ordinary flashlight in her stocking.  She LOVES her flashlight.  She LOVES having one that is all hers with which she can investigate whatever (and whoever) she pleases.  That girl.

Her baby and wagon.  I love this picture because it makes her hair look outrageously thick when really, she has the skinniest hair of all time.  (Sorry to pass that on, Olivia.)

Isaac’s grandma Sugar handmade blankets and those little dogs for the three girls. Only don’t call Pink Icicle, as she’s been named, a dog.  Olivia will insist she’s a “rhinosesis”.

Making a snake on Christmas day.

He ended up with multi-colored stripes which maybe freaked me out a little because I didn’t want her to mix playdough colors but I can relax and let her have fun.  I CAN relax and let her have fun.  I CAN relax and let her have fun.  I can.

Another big dinner party was held Christmas night.  I really liked my sweater when I was wearing it, even though it’s reading a little Mister Rogers while simultaneously making me look 10 lbs heavier here.  Whatever.

 

We had such a lovely Christmas.  Big thanks to Sherri and Craig for hosting alllll of us and giving us and our kiddos the greatest Christmas ever.

Whew.  I did it.

In which I post a thousand pictures.

Before I become (even further) inundated by (even more) pictures, I thought I ought to show you what we’ve been up to during the last week.

  Olivia wore her Christmas dress on Sunday.  What is with this serious face and pose?  But pretty dress, yes?

We took Olivia and her cousins Rylee and Lucy to see Tangled on Saturday.  Olivia was fuh-reaking out before the movie; we could hardly get her into the car, she was acting like a total monster.  I prepared myself to have to leave the movie early since I doubted she’d be able to handle sitting quietly in the theater.  But THEN!  A Christmas miracle occurred.  Olivia didn’t make a peep.  She stared at the screen entranced.  It was amazing.  By the way, have you seen Tangled?  It’s the cutest Disney movie of all time.  I maybe cried at the end. 

Here is Olivia pretending she is Rapunzel.  “I will put my hair down so you can climb on it!  Climb on my hair!”  Also, little Lucy Kate looking fancy in her nightgown.  

Olivia and Rylee.  The non-stop cousin parties have been AMAZING.

Coloring with Aunt Corisa.  Spider webs, obviously.  (I thought that phase had passed?)

Every. single. day. has been a literal torrential downpour here in sunny California.  The pool out back is filled to the brim with rain water, some streets are flooded to the point of closure, we saw cars driving through water that reached to the top of their tires today.  There hasn’t been a single moment I’ve looked outside and realized it wasn’t raining.  Rain, rain, rain, rain, for six days straight.  But tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.  Fingers crossed!!  (And of course we arrived too late to enjoy the 80 degree weekend just before the never-ending storm!!!)

Watching movies in eye-boggling amounts of leopard print.

Blake’s parents (Rylee and Lucy’s other set of grandparents) were kind enough to invite Olivia and the girls over to decorate gingerbread houses.

 

Olivia adding “doorbells” to the front of her house in mass quantities.

Rylee’s, Olivia’s, the one I should have pulled out of the picture because it’s 2 years old and was serving as a template for the newer ones, and Lucy’s.

The girlies had the opportunity to help decorate the Christmas tree, which I happen to be sitting next to currently and it smells DIVINE.  All the ornaments miraculously survived.  In fact, the only mishap was when Olivia inexplicably forgot she’s potty trained and peed all over the floor.  What the?!

 

Love.  And very tired eyes.  See how she is staring??

Nightly hot cocoa and cookies with Nana.

+ whipped cream.

Today we braved the pouring rain to get some sushi.  The sushi place had these perfectly rigged chopsticks for kids.  Ohmygosh, this was the answer to all Olivia’s prayers.  She always wishes for chopsticks that she can use when we go out.  I’m not even kidding, I’ve heard, “Aww, I wush I could hab chopsticks of my own!” countless times.

She was ridiculous with those things.  I couldn’t believe the tiny grains of rice that she picked up like a pro!

She ate 5 whole pieces in their entirety.

Now, cousins spinning.

I have a mystery friend.

So, if you are my Facebook friend, you likely saw the little thank you I wrote to my Mystery Friend.  But then I got thinking, what if my Mystery Friend ISN’T one of my Facebook friends??  Then their generosity and kindness would go seemingly unnoticed and that certainly is NOT ok. 

Yesterday morning(-ish)(maybe closer to the afternoon by the time Olivia woke up), we walked outside and found a bag sitting on our stairs.  Inside we found a package of My Little Ponies for Olivia and a $100 gift card to Runner’s Corner for me. (Also a black button?  Do you know you left that button?  Olivia thinks it is fantastic, so thanks regardless!)  I cannot tell you how excited I was when we received it.  I maybe cried a little.  The gift card is perfect- had it been to anywhere else, I would have found a way to spend it on Olivia, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need any fancy running shoes or a pedometer, so I get to spend it only on me.  I’m kind of really excited for my runner’s shopping spree.  Thank you, friend.  You win first prize and I love you.

We left yesterday to California for our nice, long Christmas vacation.  For whatever reason, Olivia decided driving in the car was an exciting adventure, so we survived beautifully. 

She also thought this huge chair at a gas station was spectacular.

But it was freezing outside.  Can you tell?

I think we maybe brought the cold weather with us since it is chilly and rainy here, but we don’t care.  We just happy to be here (and out of the car!!!). 

Olivia is really into hobo-princess chic.  What is hobo-princess chic, you ask?  Observe:

You see?  Also, poor Roxie, right??  It’s going to be a looong couple weeks for her.

This wasn’t the first time Olivia has experimented with this particular fashion statement.

Ahhh, yes.  The trash bag dress.  Her own brainchild. 

I love that word, brainchild.

Please take note, Santa Claus and all others, including Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Olivia is now residing behind this Tinkerbell blanket inside a closet.  Her new address is as follows:

Olivia Scout Ellsworth

Closet Behind the Tinkerbell Blanket

Hemet, CA

92544

p.s. Tomorrow I am going to make sure that blanket is right side up because its upside down-ness is hurting my eyeballs.

It’s 2 a.m., no biggie.

Some things about this week:

-I took my finals.  And got all A’s.  Woo! 

-My brain remains intact, thank you.  It’s just a little sore.

-We leave for California tomorrow for the rest of the year.  I love December because the possibilities are endless for dramatic phrases that don’t really have dramatic meanings.  Like today when I told my brother, “Give Olivia a hug!  You won’t see her again until NEXT YEAR!”  or to Isaac, “This is our last day at our house for the WHOLE YEAR!”  See?  Drama without real drama.  It’s perfect.

-We had my brother in law Alex come stay with us for a few days before he went into the MTC to prepare to serve an LDS mission for the next two years.  In this case, the dramatic phrases were indeed quite dramatic.  The ones like, “So, the next time you see Olivia, she’ll almost be in kindergarten. Wahhh!”  It was sad, but exciting, too. 

-Since we’ll be gone UNTIL TWENTY-ELEVEN (those will never get old), my parents wanted to do a little Christmas celebrating with us.  Olivia got to come over and help decorate the tree.

 

Olivia’s contributions included that bear stuck into the middle of the tree and about a bazillion ornaments all placed on the same two branches.

Emily and O.

 

 

We also gave my parents some of their presents.  Among other things to come, we gave my Mom a picture of Olivia.  You know, to tide her over until we come back NEXT YEAR.  And p.s., that lady’s got cheekbones, am I right??

Today, my Mom had us over to give Olivia her Christmas presents.

Olivia hasn’t even seen Tangled yet, but all she can talk about is Rupunzel.  When she opened her present, she knew immediately who was inside.

And it made her HAPPY.

 

Elder Ellsworth and I.  Also, my poor little Uggs.  They are a little worn, but their snow-repelling and feet-warming capabilities keep them firmly in my closet.

Olivia was NOT having pictures.  Not at all.

The snowball was the only way we could get her to smile for this one.  Hooray, Alex!

Lastly, tonight we went to dinner with our friends Malia and Brad to Tucanos.  Look carefully at Olivia’s plate.  Yeah, yeah, she has rolls and a couple pieces of sushi, but that little reddish-brown thing?  That’s a chicken heart.  Isaac suggested she try it (which made me want to die inside, but whatever) and she said she really wanted to, so she did.  And she loved it.

So typical.