Christmas Vacation.

The kids have had this week off, which has been a nice slide into the holidays. We've gone to the YMCA every day, as we do. Adam is always enthused, Ellie always whines, but they have a good time once they arrive, since they get to see friends and hang out with a bunch of nice folks (Adam calls them the "teachers.") He always goes straight for a book about garbage trucks, and Ellie immediately sits down to work on a coloring sheet. She made my heart crush up into a little ball this week when she took the "letter to Santa" holiday coloring sheet and wrote that for Christmas she just wants all her family together.

Monday evening we had a bunch of neighbor ladies over for a cookie exchange and a decorating party. The kids enjoyed making a bunch of gingerbread shapes with me in the afternoon, which none of them seemed very interested in decorating, save for Ellie. The nice thing is we had leftover frosting and supplies, so we've made cookies with anyone who visits this week, including Ellie's old pal Clare.

THEY GROW UP SO FAST!

2012 versus 2016

Since it's so rainy today, we decided to go and curl up in a movie theater. We picked up Auntie Sara, got ourselves some popcorn and saw Sing this morning. Adam actually sat through the show pretty nicely for a small boy - Ellie insisted that she was tired and had to snuggle with me, but I suspect that she was just cold because she ignored me when I suggested that she might want to wear leggings. The movie was really cute, and all of the music kept the kids engaged until the end.

Such comfortable seating!