End of 2012

Here are some pictures from the last week or two of 2012.

Eleanor and I went to see the Nutcracker ballet and she loved it!

As we were walking back to the car afterwards she looked up at me and said, "Mama, that was just great."

Trying to stand up on her toes like the ballerinas.

All ready for church on Christmas Eve!

After we got home, we put out "reindeer food" that Eleanor prepared at school.  It's oats and glitter.  The smell of the oats attracts the reindeer and the glitter shines in the moonlight to help them find your home.  :)

She covered the yard!

Not a great picture, but once they were both ready for bed on Christmas Eve we went on a walk to see Christmas lights.  We did this several times throughout December and they loved it!

  

Santa came!

That's a barn for Arthur and a pirate ship for Eleanor.  I made the mat under the pirate ship - it's an ocean with an island on one side (not too exciting) and green with woods, a farm, and a lake on the other side.  I think the green side is much more interesting but it stays on the ocean side with the pirate ship for now.  I'll have to post better pictures of it sometime.

Eleanor has been wanting a Compsognathus for months and she finally got one.  I love how "Santa" set him up!

Spotting her pirate ship from the top of the stairs

Happy girl!

Arthur went straight to work with his barn

I think she actually played with the trampoline more than the pirate ship

  

The dinosaurs are eating the pirates.

It didn't take long for all of her dinosaurs to make their way to the pirate ship and climb on board.

Jump to our anniversary trip on Amelia Island!

The first morning we were there we borrowed bikes from our B&B and rode them to Fort Clinch State Park, a 9 mile ride round trip.  It was so pretty biking through the state park!  The fort itself wasn't terribly exciting since it's a Civil War Fort where nothing ever happened, but it was fun to walk around.

After lunch we took a boat tour that was definitely the highlight of our trip!  My pictures aren't very exciting, but the tour was very interesting with lots of history.

This is the house where the Pippi Longstocking movie was filmed.

Wild horses on Cumberland Island

Here's the courtyard at our B&B at night

House across the street from our B&B, supposedly the most photographed house in the Southeast.

Where we stayed

The many faces of Arthur

Pictures galore

Besides losing all of the contents on my hard drive (!!), I have had trouble with uploading pictures to my blog.  Apparently I've used up my quota of free space or something, but if you make your pictures small enough it doesn't count against you...bottom line is more work for me to upload pictures here.  Anyway, I have a ton of pictures from both my phone and computer to share, and it uploaded them in a very random order and I'm too lazy to sort them all out.  So, this post is sort of all over the place!

Hunter recently went out of town for a week so the kids and I found ways to keep busy.  We went to Harvey's Groves and got this huge bag of "#2's" (blemished oranges) for just $11.  They had been picked earlier that morning, and this was around 10:30 AM.  It was cool for the kids because they got to see all of the trucks being unloaded and stuff.

Riverwalk Park in Rockledge...so pretty.  We also enjoyed the nature center there with turtles and tons of fossils, snake skins, feathers, etc. for kids to look at.

One day we had a picnic at Riverfront Park in Cocoa

This later resulted in a "picnic" at home

This is how I found Eleanor's toys one day after quiet time.  I wonder who won this battle?

We made a popcorn chain for the Christmas tree one day when Eleanor stayed home sick.  Correction: I made a popcorn chain and the kids ate popcorn.  I was surprised by how much they liked stovetop popcorn with no butter or anything added.  I was hesitant to give Arthur any at first because I was afraid of him choking, but he did great.

Arthur got a pretty serious haircut today!  It's a bit shorter than I would like, but I know it will grow back quickly!

We got Poinsettias for a few of our neighbors and Eleanor decorated the pots with stickers.  Today we delivered a couple of them and hope to do the other 2 tomorrow.

He would *NOT* wear this hat for a recent photo shoot, but apparently he likes to wear it on walks!

Eleanor made this Christmas tree out of an ice cream cone and frosting at MOPS.  She was so excited about it!

Little Chef Arthur (this is from about 2 weeks ago)

Hunter made them a cave with the couches

I had a great helper with my Christmas cards 

She stamped almost all of my cards

Arthur got his own set of "stamps"

He LOVES wearing these antlers!  Also, we were at a friend's house recently and I found him wearing antlers that he had found and put on by himself.  So funny!

Helping me make buckeyes just like I used to help my mom make at Christmas time

She found the empty bag of powdered sugar when I wasn't looking

On another neighborhood walk, complete with reindeer antlers

Eleanor likes to collect acorns on our walks to "give to the squirrels"

Attempting to lift weights like Daddy

November fun

I recently posted a picture of Arthur sleeping where it looks like he's swimming  Maybe now he's dreaming of running?

Picnic in the park!

On the train at the zoo

This ended up being a much longer ride than it's supposed to be because one of the camels was on the tracks and would NOT move away!

Taking care of animals at the zoo.  She weighed him, measured him, listened to his heart and lungs, gave him a shot, gave him medicine, and sucked the snot out of his nose.  What a good little vet in training.

Somebody likes to talk on the (pretend) phone!

At the park

Close up of Eleanor's cheek.  In the words of her gymnastics teacher, it "made contact with the balance beam."  Poor girl.

Cousins at dinner together after gymnastics

Catching up

I've had some of these pictures for a while now, but finally posting...

Helping Mama take out some trash

Look who fell asleep on a walk

Arthur "helping" me with the dishwasher

I gave Eleanor a toy catalog and a crayon and told her to circle the things she might like for Christmas.  She went through every page - dolls, blocks, kitchen stuff, etc. - and didn't circle anything until this page.  She looked at the pirate ship and said, "I LIKE this!"  Then she picked out a few dinosaur things too.

I'm not even sure which recent trip this is from, but it cracks me up.  Maybe he's dreaming about swimming?

Eleanor had a little Thanksgiving party in her class yesterday.  They were all wearing their turkey headbands and turkey tshirts when we walked in and they sang this little song.  Eleanor told her teachers that her turkey headband  has red, white, and blue feathers because "turkeys are from the United States."

(Excuse the hair in her face...I was experimenting with a headband but apparently that doesn't work well.)