The Nutcracker

Not sure where the fascination with the Nutcracker has come from, I'm thinking the Barbie Nutcracker movie we rented a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, Kaeley is all about it! My mom was here last weekend and took Kaeley to Michael's. Well, first and foremost, she thought she had died and gone to heaven - Art Heaven that is! Rumor has it, she was trying to persuade Mimi to fight the traffic and head to the mall to the pottery place so she could do a little painting. She came across an unpainted Nutcracker at Michael's and told my mom this was her lucky day! That this was the best thing that could have happened. So my artsy/craftsy mom.... no, who am I kidding? This is not my mom at all, oh yeah - it's Mimi. Grandparents do things you never dreamed they would do! Ok, back to the story, Mimi bought the Nutcracker, along with paint and brushes ... now where was my camera for the art session that took place?!? Yes indeed, I was under the weather from having surgery, and it was much of a blur for me. I can still see Mimi with a paint brush in her hand thinking to myself - is that my mom? Anyway, Mimi was quite the trooper and Kaeley loved each and every second of painting! She didn't want to paint it the way it was on the tag, she wanted to do it like the Nutcracker from the movie, and so she did. She really did a great job! My little artist makes me proud! She had to take him for show and tell at school on Friday.

The Edible Gingerbread House

Perhaps I was deprived as a kid (yeah right!) but I have no recollection of ever making a gingerbread house. I've never attempted it as an adult...looked like a labor of love. This year I noticed these pre-baked, ready to assemble, Gingerbread House Kits in the stores made by Wilton. Well, that's a name I'm familiar with...all of my cake decorating stuff is Wilton. So I thought, how hard could it be? Well, a little harder than I thought. More time consuming than anything. Assembling 4 walls then letting them dry for an hour. Add the roof, a couple more hours - and then what the kids are waiting for - the candy! If they haven't eaten it all in the meantime. And the hardest part for me was resisting the urge to break out the cake decorating kit and tear into all my icing tips and really get creative! Remembering, this was a fun little project to entertain the girls, I took a chill pill and let them decorate! I assembled the house and put the icing on as per Kaeley's instructions on where to put the icing. The girls really had a blast decorating it! It was so hard for them to put the candy on the house and not in their mouths! It was almost dinner time and the no candy before dinner rule was in effect! Ella would not stop until all the candy was on the house. I kept telling her it was finished, and she said "no, not yet." Then out of the blue, she said "I'm almost finished with my Christmas shopping." That caught me off guard - I guess "finishing" the gingerbread house reminded her of "finishing" her Christmas shopping. I told her I didn't realize she had started her shopping! They were quite pleased with themselves and their house. Now I've heard from a couple of people that you can use hot glue to assemble the house - it goes a lot easier and faster. However, not edible. Kaeley, especially, wanted to be able to eat the house when it was finished. Seems like a lot of work to me to tear it apart... but there again... the temptation of something so yummy should be edible! So, my tip of the day, if you want an edible house - use icing - make it thick (as the box says toothpaste consistency) and use a lot. Ours "was" pretty sturdy. Notice the past tense... 3 little elves tore the roof off today while I was out shopping and started yumming it up!

Ella Beth's Christmas Program

We are SO PROUD of Ella Beth! Today was her Christmas Program at Preschool. Her teachers have been telling me that she really comes out of her shell when she's singing - she loves it! Even so, I figured come time to perform in front of all the mommies and daddies, that she would either cross her arms and refuse to participate or run down the aisle and out the door! I teased everyone before it started that I should stand at the door so I could catch her as she came running! Greg and I were both there and Papaw came too... we all had to see if she would really do it - and SHE DID! She was so happy! She did such a good job! Greg captured some clips on our camera and she has watched them over and over AND OVER this afternoon begging to go back to school! It's going to be a long break! After the program, Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped by for a visit. She climbed right up on his lap and told him she would see him soon! After Santa, they finished up with a little party in her class. She was thrilled to have me there! She got to decorate a star shaped cookie with icing and sprinkles, and called it lunch! What a treat!

Ella with Santa & Mrs. Claus

Ella with her friends

Ella having a great time decorating her cookie!

A little preview...

Santa Claus is in Town!

Yes indeed it's that time of year! Every Thanksgiving weekend, we make our annual trip to the mall to see Santa. The girls have been begging to go since last Sunday. I of course was decked out in my red sweater, just in case I was in the picture too...LUCKILY, the girls did great without me! Kaeley was a bit shy and nervous...Ella, well, surprisingly, she did GREAT! She climbed right up on his lap, and was smiling the entire time! I have some other pictures I took with my camera and she is smiling in almost every one of them. Kaeley asked for a Hannah Montana DVD, which Santa said "Hannah" is very popular this year. Ella asked for a Barbie Diamond Castle Styling Head, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD. She just couldn't figure out why he didn't give it to her before we left. Our easiest Santa trip yet! When you get in line to see Santa they want to know which photo package you want to buy. I always have to say I need to wait and see how they do. This year, I just bought the CD, before pictures were even taken - maybe that was the trick! And yes, that is Mama Pig in the picture!

Turkey Photo Shoot

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I decided to take a few pictures of the girls in their Turkey outfits today after church. Well, that's after church and lunch...so you can just imagine they wanted to take pictures when we got home! Especially both of them in the same picture. I managed to get one of them, it's not so great, but it's the best I could get even after bribing with M & M's. You can almost see that on their face - "Hurry up and take the picture so we can get our M & M's!" Ella was telling everyone at church what the turkey says "gobble, gobble!" and showing them sign language for turkey, which she learned at school. Their outfits are so cute! Mary, of Mary's Market fixed us up with these cute outfits! She made Kaeley's skirt and appliqued the turkeys. Just precious! You can find Mary at http://www.marysmarketofknoxville.com/

Ella's Birthday Party - Finally!

For those of you who are aware of Ella's birthday saga... she did FINALLY have a party! Yea! Let's see, it was Sunday, October 26th! The entire month was filled with sickness at the Morton household, and even the day of her party she had a lowgrade fever...gave her a little Tylenol and yes, life went on! Poor baby, there was no other choice! And now, she still talks about her birthday party "coming"...we've talked about it coming all month, so in her mind, why should it end? The party was great! We had it at Premier Athletics. I would have never thought to do a gymnastics party for a 3 year old, but we went to one back in September and Ella had a blast! Plus, they tell me at school that gymnastics is one of her most favorite things to do! It did take her awhile to warm up and lots of convincing to take her shoes off (she'd sleep in shoes if I'd let her!), but 20 or so minutes into the party, she was having so much fun! Here are a few pictures - as you can see - everyone had a blast including parents and grandparents!!!!

Halloween Fun

Let me introduce you to my Hollywood Movie Star and my Prima Ballerina! The girls just love trick or treating. I of course was worried Ella wouldn't participate this year because seeing others in costume can be a little scary and she's a little finicky and the combination of the two just isn't good. They both did really good running from one house to the next with Ella yelling "let's go to the next one" until Kaeley decided that Ella should have a turn ringing the door bell. I'm not sure what went wrong, seemed like a nice gesture, but Ella couldn't reach the door bell at one house we were at and then Kaeley caught on that this was something Ella really wanted to do so then she decided it was something she should do, need I say more? Well, it was about the next to the last house we went to and Ella just turned on her attitude. Greg was holding her because she had been upset and the man at the door tried giving her some candy when she flat out said "no, I want to go home." She said she needed to watch TV because it would make her feel better. I guess when you're done, your done! Kaeley had a blast and went on to do a couple more houses with her dad while Ella and I went back home.

Kaeley all dolled up...

Anticipation... what kind of candy will we get this time?
How many can we take?????Sweetie girl... was usually the last to get candy because all the big kids would jump in front of her. One man gave her extra because she had to wait.

We did see some scary masks, but all in all, Ella had a great time!

Kaeley with all her loot!

Ella enjoying a lolly pop right before bed time!
Happy Halloween!

Kaeley Wins 1st Place in Halloween Coloring Contest

Kaeley Grace Morton has won her first coloring contest! I'm so proud of her! I just happened to be flipping through the Farragut Press paper a couple of weeks ago and they had a Halloween Coloring page that you could submit into a contest. I asked her if she wanted to color it and she did. She did a pretty good job so we submitted it. We got the call yesterday that she won 1st prize in her age group of 4-5 year olds. She's entered 2 other contests and this is the first win! Her picture will be in the Farragut Press next week. Here are a few pictures I took today.

My Little Pumpkins

Today was a beautiful fall day... perfect for the pumpkin patch! Here are a few pictures of the girls. Ella wasn't so cooperative, which is pretty typical, and toward the end, she said she was ready to go home. Then when we were getting in the car, she said "we had FUN at the pumpkin patch!" Go figure! Kaeley had a blast running around checking out all the Halloween and fall decorations. We met up with Jessica and her trio - Miles, Mason, and Anna. Also her sister-in-law, Lee, was there with her trio of Jack, Abigail, and Cole. The kids all had a great time playing and we finished up with lunch at Burger King, which meant more play time on their indoor play area. That's not something I usually give in to, so needless to say, the girls had a blast!

Ella's Kitty Party by Kaeley

I can't tell you how proud my little artist makes me! Kaeley LOVES to draw! And recently has taken a huge interest in coloring. This talent comes from where? Not her mama... or her daddy, I can tell you that much! This is a picture that Kaeley made today and she titled it "Ella's Kitty Party". The detail is rather amazing. Last week we had a small family party with my grandparents and Mimi and Papa. Greg's family couldn't make the trip because Kaeley got sick the day before the party, yada, yada... it was a big mess. Party was delayed a day, but my family was able to make the trip up for a Sunday afternoon party. It was a beautiful fall day, and so for cake, we went out on the back porch. I covered my yucky green round table with a pink table cloth and overlayed it with a white crocheted looking vinyl table cloth for a little girly pizzaz. The cake, of course, did not look as lovely as Kaeley's picture, but it did indeed have 3 candles. We had 4 mylar balloons which matched the plates and napkins, which were silver and purple with a grey kitty on each one. In Kaeley's picture, notice the birthday girl standing beside her cake. Blonde hair and a bow. Minnie Mouse shirt with black leggings (which really are too short), this is EXACTLY what she had on today, and her pink crocs featuring her Minnie and Micky Mouse jibbitz. She even wrote Ella heart Kaeley in yellow, which is currently Ella's favorite magic marker color... why? Probably because she can never find a pink one around here! This was a very sweet sentiment on Kaeley's part. Today was supposed to be Ella's birthday party with a few of her little friends, and we had to cancel (yet again!) this time because Ella was sick last night.


Not a great picture...but "the table".



A few more pictures from the party...

The Sweetest Moments

It's been a REALLY stressful day, but it's ending on a sweet note. I went in to check on Ella and turn her light off, and walked in on the sweetest thing... Recently, I would say within the last week or so, she has started to want her covers. Since the transition from her crib, she's never wanted to be covered up with anything, so that made this moment all the more sweeter! She's covered herself up and Mama Pig! Earlier today I caught her reading to Mama Pig and her new Mama Kitty and baby kittens. It was pretty sweet too! She had them in one chair and she was in the other, "reading" outloud and flipping the pages of her new books "Ballet Kitty" and "I Love You All Day Long", which is about a Pig going to school! She had to take these books to school with her today. She told me that Ms. Jessica read them to her. She thought that was GREAT!