Christmas

It has been a crazy 2+ weeks here.  With Dan home, I didn't want to do anything but spend family time with him.  And so it's what we did.  Dan and I were able to go out and see a couple of movies and go out to dinner....Sherlock Holmes, Mission Impossible, (I also saw Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and we even had a little overnight get away.  Shannon came...the girls LOVE her of course....and we had Christmas with our little...ok...not so little family. 

Dan was able to take the girls on daddy daughter dates...the girls really love that one on one time.  Dan is so good about wanting to spend time with his girls.  Abs was loving on him by the end of week one.  She was reaching out for him and slobbering him with "loves" (kisses) and he was loving it. 

Hannah and I picked up my sister on the 21st.  She is such a trooper and stayed up while my girls asked her five million questions and climbed all over her. 

She also was willing to watch all of them while Dan and I headed up to York the day after she arrived.  We have been up there before but Dan wanted to go up there again.  We both love it there...we had an early start so we arrived around 11 am.  We headed to the railway museum, ate some lunch in the town centre, walked around the shambles...it was a beautiful day...headed into the York Minister and looked around...checked into our super cute bed and breakfast and then headed back out and grabbed some Mexican food at the "Mehicana" and did some shopping and more walking.  It was so relaxed...it was so nice just to be able to hold his hand and talk.  I really missed my best friend. 

We came back Friday evening and Shannon and I had some major shopping to do which we wrapped that night until 2:30 am...thank goodness we don't wrap Santa presents.  I was a total procrastinator this year and so I was shopping for presents on the 23rd and what we were eating for our Christmas Day dinner on the 24th!  Shannon and I then picked up Nandos for dinner...we ate, opened up our pjs, went for a drive to look at lights, watched movies and then the girls went to bed. 

Christmas Day was fun...all up by 6:30 and the girls loved everything they received.  Phew...I was a little worried I was going to have some melt downs...roller blades didn't come this year...hello...we live in England...when and where are they going to roller blade outside?!  Madison was so excited about her secret password journal...Hannah her Figit...Bells her doll house and Abs her pink car. 

Dan sadly had to go back yesterday...27th....it was a night flight so we left our house around 5:30 pm.  None of the girls wanted to go so it was just the two of us.  The girls were a mess and we left Shannon with them.  I fell asleep on the way there for a little bit...I couldn't sleep the night before...but we arrived early and sat at the coffee shop and spent about 45 minutes before he had to start heading to the gate.  I was a wreck...I have been pretty strong and not one to cry during these last 5+ months of him being away...I think it all caught up with me yesterday.  I made it home through tears....Dan made it safely back to where work is.

Today was a challenge.  The girls were in moods I was not wanting to deal with.  Madison was being a pill....oh that girl...I love her but holy cow.  Hannah was a wreck...we both decided it would be best if she took a nap...she and I fell asleep in my bed.  Bells is looking for her dad and Abs I think was just reacting to the vibes people were giving off.  Shannon is a saint and let me sleep in this morning.  It was so nice...so nice.  Tonight Madison is sleeping in my bed after I gave her a hug and she cried about her dad...she's in my bed and fell asleep to me telling her stories about when she was little.  She doesn't really cry...it breaks my heart she's so sad.  It was so nice to spend Christmas with Dan.  I am very grateful...seriously...best present ever.  I just hated seeing him have to go again.  Like I keep telling the girls...the last 5 1/2 months went by pretty quickly...I'm sure the next 6+ will too.  Hopefully.

Home!

The girls had no clue! It was hard, very hard keeping this secret but so worth it. Bells has not wanted to leave his side. He took a shower and she was so happy when he came back downstairs... She jumped right back into his arms and has been like this ever since....

Disco

It was that time again...where music blares and it's like a sauna in the gym. The girls had their school Christmas disco. We all went. Let me tell you, Bells is a dancing machine. She danced pretty much the whole night...we'd hold hands and dance (I still had Abs in my arms). She danced with her friend from school, Madison's friends, Hannah's friends...or by herself. She was loving it. I just had a smile on my face the whole time...well except when I needed to leave the room and get some fresh air. She even had a little girl crying because she wouldn't take her hand to dance...she was busy dancing with her friend. It was so sweet. When I asked Madison why she wasn't dancing she told me, "I don't dance. I talk with my friends and I buy things." Hannah was, "It's too embarrassing to dance." She use to be my dancing machine...I remember THIS two years ago...

And Abs was rocking out in my arms as well. And they still played Cotyon Eye Joe and the Macarena...

Pictures

Vanessa took the girls' pictures...of course I LOVED them! She's so patient with my girls. Madison was being Madison...not being very photogenic and Hannah was loving the camera.

Do you see my little doll? She looks like one. There have been numerous times people have mistaken her as one. My favorite was the guy at the Commissary who jumped after he saw her move and said, "She's real! I was wondering why a grown woman was strolling around a baby doll!"

The Bells...always on the go...

Hannah...she hardly ever takes a bad picture...

Madison...she's growing up way too fast....and way too pretty.

Oh I forgot!

I went out a few days later for my birthday with some friends. They took me to see Breaking Dawn...oh how we had the giggles. I think I laughed through the entire movie. I kept getting asked if it was good...well to be honest...I have never thought any of the movies are great...it's entertainment. The acting is horrible and it's so cheesy but it's nice to watch something like that once in awhile. And to be honest...Jacob did not take his shirt off enough in this movie. HAHA! It's even better when you watch it with friends who can take a joke and laugh. I will always have the memory of what I asked during the honeymoon part...the laughs that came after for awhile...and how my friends apologized my gift didn't have one and I then said that it could work. Yeah...bet you don't get that but I totally understand and it makes me laugh out loud right now...even more so since the gift is right around the corner. Then we had a delicious dinner with some great conversations. I love having friends you can just talk about anything to and not get this weird glance when you have the strangest, random thoughts and just laugh. It can get crude....funny...but crude. It was a great way to spend my 30th.

Name changes

Today, Madison asked me if I knew any moms with the name of "Madison." I thought about it and told her no. She then said, "That's it. I HAVE to change my name now. My new name will be Elizabeth."

I told her she could just not have kids...

Hannah then interjected and told me she would NEVER change any of her names. Not even Brown since she's never getting married and going to live with Dan and me forever. Lucky us....

Bells now says, "Ohhhhh Mom!" It's pretty cute. It doesn't seem as cute when I type it but hearing her little voice is the cutest thing. Which reminds me...a boy in her class has nicknamed her, "Ewok." One of her teachers told me a couple of weeks ago. While I was dropping her off last Thursday the little boy was dropped off by his dad...it was Thanksgiving...and he says, "Dad, that's Bells...the one who talks like an Ewok. Look at her hair...she kind of reminds me of one too." I laughed...I told his wife today that I think it's adorable and a great description of how she talks when she gets into her ongoing gibberish babble thing. I never knew how to describe it...and then a 5 year old thought of the perfect description. Got to love kids.