A "Gingerbread" House

Every year at school, we make small gingerbread houses, and I bring home some of the leftover supplies to make a house with Katie. This year, I got her all excited about making her gingerbread house, and we got out all of the supplies, only to realize that I forgot to bring home graham crackers.

At that point, Katie was so excited that she didn't want to wait until I could get the graham crackers, so she said, "Let's just use those white crackers!"

I've never thought of making a house with saltine crackers, but Katie wouldn't give up on the idea. We gave it a try, and it actually turned out pretty cute. Maybe we should continue making Saltine Houses in the future!

 I was ready to go even though we didn't have graham crackers!

I experimented different ways of holding the knife. It was hard to use when I held it at the very end. 

I also tried using both hands before I perfected my technique. 

I was pretty good at putting my crackers on the house. 

I didn't even get upset when I got frosting on my fingers this year! 

I decorated with M&Ms on some sides, and... 

…marshmallows on the other sides. 

It was fun to decorate! 

Every house needs a green sprinkle sidewalk. 

It also needs Christmas sprinkles around the outside. 

I thought it looked pretty good! 

What do you think? 

I wanted to make sure to point out the doorbell I insisted on adding. 

I love my Saltine House!

A Decorated House

This year, my mom and Jennifer surprised Katie with a decorated house again. I left our undecorated house with Katie and took her to a birthday party. When we returned, Christmas had hit! Katie loved it, and like last year, spent a lot of time examining the tree and playing with our piano music box.

I couldn't believe it when I saw a Christmas tree in my house! 

I examined all of the ornaments closely. 

Then I just admired it. 

Every year I love to watch the snowmen dance on the piano as the music plays!

I also liked to dance with the snowmen throughout the season!

A "New" Room

When we returned from Disneyland in the middle of the night, Katie walked upstairs to discover her early Christmas present from Garyldine, Jim, and Aunt Jody…a redecorated bedroom with a Frozen theme. As she walked in, she was shocked and speechless. She would look at one thing, scream in excitement, look at another thing, scream in excitement, and so it continued.

Since getting her gift, she asks me almost every night to take her picture with Elsa! It's pretty obvious that she loves her new room!

This is the best room ever! 

Elsa and I are pretty close friends ever since I went to Disneyland! 

Sometimes I even wear my tiara, so I can look like a queen too. 

Thanks for my new room!

Merry Christmas, 2014!

Leading up to Christmas, Katie was so excited for Santa to come. Every night, she'd ask me, "Why is it taking Santa Claus so long to get to our house?" Eventually, she just came to understand that she was going to have what seemed like a very long wait.

After getting so used to waiting, Katie woke up on Christmas morning, completely forgetting that it was the big day. After awhile, I reminded her that Santa had made his rounds the night before. Her eyes got big in wonderment, and she excitedly exclaimed/asked, "It's Christmas day?!" That's all it took before she wanted to head down the stairs.

Katie is always funny when she sees her gifts. She's excited to see them, but it's almost like she doesn't believe the gifts are hers. She looks at them from a distance and squeals over them. Then she slowly approaches them, carefully touches them, and eventually she knows they are hers and she plays and plays and plays!

Merry Christmas!

I was excited to get downstairs to see what Santa had left! 

After looking around, I stopped to take it all in. 

Then I squealed in excitement! 

After awhile, I got comfortable enough to touch my new toys. I've been dreaming of Shopkins, and here they were!

Santa also left me a doll house! 

 Then I found a stocking! Santa gave me a beautiful Elsa necklace!

I was faster at opening presents this year. I was happy about all of them even if I wasn't sure what they were at first. 

I was so happy to get  a fairy doll set! 

I got a Hello Kitty ambulance from Uncle Jeff, Aunt Grace, and Ian! They must know I like to fix up my dolls when they get hurt or sick. 

Aunt Debby gave me some Barbie roller skates. I'm happy anytime I see the word "Barbie!" 

After I got dressed, I played a lot with all of my toys together. I used my new Barbie and fairy dolls in my dollhouse. They vacuumed the whole house. 

Then they went shopping at my Shopkins store and made dinner. It was a fun Christmas!

Christmas Eve, 2014

We celebrated Christmas Eve this year the same way we usually do. We had Garyldine, Jim, and Aunt Jody over to our house to eat pizza and exchange some funny gifts with one another. This is the night that Katie always gets to share her gifts that she chooses when we go shopping at the dollar store. It always excites her to hand out the presents that she chose for people. It's also funny to see what she sometimes views as the perfect present.

At the end of our celebrations, I convinced Katie to get into her Christmas pajamas - only to discover that her pajamas had arrived a little mixed up. The shirt was the right size, and the pants were two sizes too big. So much for Christmas pajamas. After several selections, it was not too surprising to see that Katie chose to wear Elsa for Christmas morning.

Even though it was late, Katie still insisted on her bedtime stories before bed. We quickly read stories and got into bed, where shockingly, she fell asleep pretty quickly!

My Christmas Eve started with a card from my cousin, Ian! 

He sent a picture just for me and gave me a Winnie the Pooh card! I loved it! 

While I waited for our party to start, my mom let me open Grammy Noreen's and Grandpa Joe's present one day early. I couldn't wait! 

I was so happy to get a Look and Find Frozen book! 

I started looking and finding right away! 

I also got a Dora coloring book, and... 

…an Elf on the Shelf coloring book that came with stickers! 

I had to take time to read the card! 

I always love cards! 

I couldn't believe what I found last! 

It was an Elsa Christmas tree ornament! I played with it for a long time before I even considered hanging it on the tree. 

At dinner, I had a few of my leftover potato chips, but mostly I ate peppers. I love peppers! 

My friend, Ella, gave me a flying fairy! It was magical! 

Jim was the perfect recipient for the beautiful snow globe that we had! 

I was excited as I waited for Aunt Jody to open the beaded necklace!

I knew that Garyldine would love the pirate sword that I found at the dollar store. It lit up and everything! 

My favorite gift I got her though was her $1 pack of eye make-up. When I was shopping, I saw the make-up and automatically said, "I know who needs that!" I took a long time to pick the perfect colors for her! 

Jim liked his special straw that we gave him.

After opening gifts, Jim read my new Frozen book. Somehow he turned the story into a story of struggling Mexicans working in the fields. I thought it was funny! 

At the end of the night, I made necklaces for everyone and then got prepared for Santa to come visit!