All I want for Christmas

After weeks of bugging Tori about wiggling her teeth, they finally came out. She was eating an apple when they fell out, one after other, saving a trip to the dentist. Like her brother, she was scared it was going to hurt, but it didn’t, and now we are hoping she does better next time. Her permanent teeth were moving in already, right behind the baby teeth, so she won’t even have any gaps. She got $5 for her efforts, although she missed the tooth fairy—sneaky little fairy!

Tori is all set for Christmas, and her heart longs for another dollhouse. She’s got a town building up in her room! She and I have a date Friday night to watch Frosty with a bowl of popcorn. Maybe Christian and Eli will join us!

Mom's Boo-Boo

I messed up Tuesday morning and slit my hand. As I pulled a bag from an upper cabinet, my really sharp bread knife came with it. The result—six stitches to close up a gap at the base of my pointer finger. I kept the wound covered most of the day. When Tori got home, she noticed the bandage right away. I told her what happened and let her look at it. She was grossed out by the stitches and the dried blood, and she let me know it. She is also fascinated by it, however, as she keeps asking for a look at it. She says she wants to become a doctor, but I don’t know.

To Sleep Perchance to Stay Up Late

Generally Tori has been a bear in the mornings and a whiner at night before going to bed.  Recently she's begun to understand, the better she is the more privileges she gets.  This past 2 weeks, she's been allowed to stay up 30 minutes later to play at night during school because she has been getting up in a decent mood and not throwing a fit about it.  She's also improved in how fast she gets up.  It used to take us 15 minutes to get her up, dressed and out of bed, leaving not time for breakfast.  So she would eat breakfast at school.  The last couple of weeks, she's been getting up and dressed and able to eat breakfast before we leave.  It is a Christmas Miracle!  I don't know if she'll keep it up, but we hope she will.  She's also stopped whining about things so much.  She doesn't throw as many tantrums as she used to and is easier to put to bed.  Maybe she's growing up a little bit.

Party!

Tori was invited to a party this weekend, and she is VERY excited about it. She has mentioned it several times, and she has asked us time and time again when it is. It is Sunday afternoon, and we're guessing she will get up early and get dressed, although the party is not until noon! On another note, we got an I-pad, and the oldest two are all over it. They love using it, and I don't think Huts and I have been able to use it for more than half an hour. Tori especially loves the Crayola program on it and kicked off her day off school this morning doing that. No doubt Christian has played with it all day at home. They are tech savvy and they are not even in their teens yet.

Tired One

Tori was a spider queen, and she loved every moment. She went trick-or-treating twice, and when that was over, she checked out all of the trick-or-treaters at the door. She zipped around, eating candy until it was time for bed. One night of rest was not enough, however, and Tori went to bed very early on Tuesday night. She woke up this morning happy as a clam, ready for a day of school!

Baby Sister

Of course, Tori wants one, but even she admits that she wouldn’t like to share anything with a sister. There are perks to being the only girl. Tori makes up for her lack of a sister with her dolls. She has tons of sisters that she hauls around the house and yard and plops wherever. When she found out she was having a girl cousin in November, the little one became her cousin-sister too. She is excited to have another girl cousin and can’t wait to meet her. Too bad we don’t live closer because Tori would surely take this new little baby under her wing!

Come Fly With Me

Tori is now a seasoned flyer.  We took 4 plane trips to Portland and back a few weeks ago and she had a great time.  We got in late and had a hard time getting back to the hotel, so we got to the hotel around 3 am our time.  She got a 2 hour nap on the 2nd flight and loved the in flight music selection.  She wasn't interested in the kung fu panda movie though.  She slept in late and went flower picking with all the girls and had some lunch.  Then back for a quick nap before the rehearsal and dinner.  She had pizza for dinner that night and had fun playing with her cousins and other kids.  We tried breakfast again in the morning at the hotel, but the kids weren't into it, so we walked to BK and had breakfast there.  We also had lunch at Elmers, which wasn't bad, but the kids needed a nap.  Tori and the girls took a decent nap and got ready for the wedding.  They all got to blow bubbles in the procession and were good for the ceremony and pictures.  They had a blast at the reception as you can see below.  We left a little early since we had an early flight and I took Tori and her cousins back to the hotel to get some sleep.  They played for a little bit and watched the cat and the hat and zonked out for the night.  I warned Tori the night before that we were getting up early and she'd have to get up when I woke her.  She got up, but was tired and crying a bit.  Once we got on the flight, she was ok.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any entertainment on the way back, but she still enjoyed the flights and only got a little ancy on the last flight waiting for it to land.  It took a day or so to recover from being exhausted, but she Overall, she had a good time and loved flying.  She can't wait to get on a plane again. 

Shot Time

Tori went for a checkup yesterday, along with Eli, and sadly, they had to get shots. I thought there shot days were over, but it turns out there are a couple of new shots. Tori, apparently, took it in stride, not even crying about it. She came home with a bright pink band-aid and stickers. She is doing well and growing fine. Eli, too. Unlike his big sister, he did cry. By the time I saw him, however, he was doing well with his band-aided leg. He told it hurt, and that was that. My babies are all grown up. I don’t even have a toddler anymore. Sad, but not sad enough for us to want another kid. We are done! The sight of infants doesn’t even move us anymore. Travis is having a girl in November, and while Huts and I look forward to meeting her and holding her, we also look forward to handing her back! We are so done with babies.

Happy Camper

Unlike her brother, Tori was a pure delight on the first day of school. She got up without a fuss and talked non-stop at breakfast, though she was a little teary when she learned there would be new kids in her class. Huts took her to her line, and they found it right away. After the fuss with Christian, I walked over to Tori and gave her a big hug. She was so excited to be there and even more so when she got off the bus. “That was fun!” she echoed Christian as we walked across the street. She had a great first day. The only downer was the 15 minutes of reading with her dad. She was not interested in that at all, but she survived and we will do it again tonight!

Ready for School

Tori got a mail teacher, Mr. Jacobson, for her first grade teacher. She was upset at hearing the news. She wanted a female teacher. Once she saw his picture and heard how nice he was, she got excited to start first grade. She's all ready to go to meet her new friends.

She also got to meet a kindergarten girl named Kayla who lives in our subdivision. She is getting some of Tori's old school clothes. They both seemed to like each other and want to play together right away. Kayla didn't stay long the day she came to check out the clothes, but they both were excited to setup a play date in the future after school gets rolling. Maybe they'll get to play together soon.

In a couple weeks, Tori gets to take her first flight to Portland for her Uncle Samm's Wedding. She's a bit scared about the flights, but she'll be fine after the first short leg of our trip is over. She'll get to dress up and fawned over at the wedding, so she'll be fine once we get there. The trip back is going to be a bit more difficult. We have an early flight and Tori is not an early bird. I may be carrying her through the airport zonked out. Hopefully it goes well and we can do it again in a few years to Disneyland.

Tori does not yet know her teacher for first grade. They are still sorting everything out. One of the first grade teachers passed away recently, so that and the coming and going of students has resulted in some shuffling. Christian promises not to say anything about his teacher until we know Tori’s. She wants a woman, but there is a possibility that she will end up with Mr. Jacobsen. She is terrified of that, but all will be ok. She is looking forward to having her own desk and using all of her new school supplies. Wish her luck!

Readers

Along with our trip to the bank, we visited the new library. Christian was not impressed, but Eli and Tori had a good time looking at the books and playing with the blocks and puzzles. We spent about an hour there, much to Christian’s dismay. Tori brought home a book about Olivia—she is on an Olivia kick right now. She has the house that turns into a pirate ship and the family. She also watches Olivia every chance she gets! Anyway, the book she borrowed folds out, and she has done a good job of keeping it away from Eli. Way to go, Tori!

Wowww!

We took the kids to a ball game late on Sunday night to catch the fireworks show. Tori had a blast. She got some fries, played at the playground and watched the fireworks show in awe! She loved every boom, unlike Christian who slunk down into his seat and covered his ears. She thought it was spectacular and watched most of it with her mouth open in awe! She had started to tire out, but the fireworks woke her up and she was oh so ready for more once we got home. She played outside for an hour lighting up the night with sparklers and went to bed after midnight! This morning, she was a bit tired but happy to go off to the sitter’s with toys in tow for whomever else might be there.

Birthday Party

12 was the magic number for the birthday party on Friday night. Owen showed up to play with Christian, and Tori had nine little girls to play with. There were also a few parents who stuck around to help. They played for an hour bouncing on nearly everything, and then they were off to the green room for pizza, ice cream and cake. Most must have eaten beforehand because there was quite a bit left. Oh well. Tori opened her presents, got a hug from Monkey Joe and took off for another half hour of play. Shop closed up at 8, and we were back home by 8:30 with three tired kids and a sack of presents. Many thanks to all who made this birthday so special for Miss Tori.

Diva Turns 6

Tori’s birthday was this Friday, and she had a blast shopping at the toy store. She collected all of her money—thanks to everyone who contributed—and bought:

Pillow Featherbed Lala Loopsy doll

Four mini Lala Loopsy dolls

Lala Loopsy doll treehouse (NEW!)

Lala Loopsy cat to dress up

Zoobles carrying case

Zoobles figures—for those of you who aren’t familiar with these, Zoobles are like Bakugans for girls.

Monster High Jeckyll and Hyde dolls

Tori is all set and spent much of this weekend playing with her new loot in her room. She doesn’t realize it, but this Friday is her party and she is sure to receive a few more gifts, including the cat above that she had me wrap for her party.

All of the Lalas and Zoobles came in, and out went the majority of the My Little Pony stuff. Tori is growing up, and her interests along with it!

Birthday Girl

It’s hard to believe, but Tori is turning 6 on Friday! She is getting so big now. Not only does she have her own way of doing things, but she is starting to talk like an older kid, telling us jokes and relaying stories of her friends. She even went to camp by herself this morning—yes, she was a bit scared but off she went without big brother Ollie.

She is fortunate enough to come from a big family, which means she will be receiving quite a bit of birthday money. This is presenting a problem in the shopping—she can’t make up her mind what she wants to buy. More than likely, some of it will go into savings until a later date. Got to make sure she leaves something for Mom and Dad to get her!

Out of all the people she gets cards from, Aunt Lucy and Lily (not Brent, sorry Brent) are her favorite. She looks forward to their card—probably because Lucy was the first to send her a musical card that she remembers. Lucy also sends gift cards, which Tori adores! Thanks, Aunt Lucy, and to everyone else who sends Tori a card or gives her a call. She loves to talk on the phone and will not doubt be pleased with everyone who calls her!

Birthday Girl

Tori will turn 6 on Father’s Day weekend, and yesterday, we booked a party for her at Monkey Joe’s. In addition to two hours of playtime, Tori will get pizza, cake, ice cream, a gift and goodies bags for everyone. She is not thrilled that she gets the green room for her party, but she will live. We aren’t sending out invitations until school is out to avoid the hoopla.

Since we can’t have the party on her birthday, we are going to have a little party of our home. Tori gets to choose where she wants to eat, and we’ll get her some gifts. I haven’t asked her if she wants to pick out her own gifts. We’ll see. Anyway, she is looking forward to her big days and will probably drive us crazier the closer we get to them.

Please

Tori has been asking for a lot of new toys lately. We didn't really know why because she got toys often enough to placate her. We found out why this past week why she was asking for more toys. Usually the kids take toys to before care to play with in addition to the toys they have there. Apparently Tori's "friends" like them so much that they decide to take them home with them. They tell Tori that they don't get new toys or toys that are that pretty, so they are going to take them home. Once we found this out, Tresa discussed it with Tori and they decided that it would be best not to bring toys to before care for the rest of the school year (about 3 weeks). Tori seemed happy with this arrangement and hasn't asked about taking toys to school since she decided. She seems to be happy about the whole thing and so far her "friends" haven't said anything that we know of. She's such a nice girl that she couldn't say no. We may have to work on that a bit as she gets older, but for a 5 year old, its pretty much expected.

Sleeping Pretty

Unlike her brother, Tori LOVES her new bed. She couldn’t wait for us to get it together, and unfortunately for her, we started with Christian’s first. By the time we got it together and everything put away, it was lunchtime. Poor Tori. She so wanted her bed up.

Finally, we got it together, and we started putting things away. Tori was a huge help. She carried in all of her clothes from the family room and put everything where she wanted it under her bed. She loves her new space under her bed and tacked up a blanket not too long after so she could have a real hideout.

There have been no complaints from her about the height, not even when I was helping her get dressed this morning. The beds are a little harder to make, but she is happily doing her best. Whew! One child satisfied.

Field Trip Finally

Tori has been waiting all year to go on a class field trip, and yesterday was the day. She visited a farm and saw lots of animals. She had much to tell us yesterday, and she can’t wait for the next field trip.

On another note, she had lost interest in dancing and is now into MAD. She loves to watch the show with Christian. It keeps them laughing and they always come downstairs with recaps!

Busy Week

Things have been crazy around our house lately. Grandma Vickie is in the hospital—has been since last Wednesday. She is still in ICU so the kids cannot visit her. Tori did tell me to tell Grandma that she loves her. They may transfer her today. If so, the kids and I may be visiting Grandma tomorrow.

In addition to that, we’ve been preparing for our subdivision’s yard sale. We thought it might be this Saturday, but the sign never went up. Then we got a notice in the mail that it was this Saturday, so we have to set up for it. Good thing we have everything priced and moved downstairs.

Uncle Frank is also coming down to see Grandma Vickie, so we have to get ready for that. Tori is hoping he brings his girlfriend’s daughter Destiny. We have grocery shopping to do, and the kids’ rooms are a mess because they are getting new furniture next week and their old furniture is going into the yard sale. Tori and I worked on that this morning, shoving her doll stuff into a laundry basket for the time being.

Busy, busy, busy, and Tori is looking the part. She is very tired, but hopefully she will pep up as soon as she gets to see Grandma and gets her new bed.

New Dollhouse

That was the highlight of Tori’s Easter—a new purple dollhouse to go with her pink one. She had more than enough furniture to stock the two and made some steps out of Legos. The house is small enough for her to carry, and she did—to her room, downstairs, upstairs, etc. She says she is going to put the black family in the new house and the white family in the old house, but last night, she had all kinds of dolls in the houses, along with Eli.

She also got the first-ever boy Lala Loopsy and the Frankie Stein Monster High doll, plus some play jewelry, tiara, etc. Right away the clothes came off Patch the Lala Loopsy doll and went onto another Lala Loopsy. Patch now has on some Builder Bear clothes. Frankie escaped the clothes switcharoo, but not for long I’m sure. Tori was absolutely thrilled with her Easter basket—thank you Easter bunny.

Back Home

The kids are back home now and back in school. This week is Spirit Week, and Tori is having a ball. Today was Fashion Disaster Day and she dressed for it—yellow shirt, green and purple dress, Hawaiian shorts, mismatched socks and crazy hair. Christian is sitting this one out, and tomorrow’s Career Day too. Tori wants to dress up like a fashion designer, so we’ll see what that entails. Maybe her new pink outfit with a tape measure or a feather boa around her neck.

Excited and Weepy

Tori was so excited to go to her grandparents for the weekend, she was up and dressed at 6:45 am on Sunday morning. Considering she doesn't usually get up until 8 am on weekends and we weren't leaving until 8:30, this was a miracle. She was ready to go! On our trip down we stopped for drinks and snacks and I told the kids if they had to go to let me know so we could stop. About 10 minutes after we stopped in Springfield, Tori told me she had to go. Luckily there was a rest stop up the road. We stopped and got out and I told her to meet us by the flag pole when she was done. Christian and I came out and she was dancing by the flag pole. She exclaimed "ha ha I didn't have to go". So we stopped for nothing! We hit the road for the rest of the haul and the kids were excited to try the head phones that came with our car so they could hear the movie, while I could listen to anything else but the movie! We got to Wentzville and the kids had lunch at McDonalds. Tori showed her Grandparents her color book and they were off.

We called Tuesday to check on the kids and they were having a blast with their cousins. Tori talked to us and got a little weepy when I was talking to her. She missed us a little bit, but I'm sure she perked right up after I got off the phone with her. They had a big week planned and it sounded like it was in full swing!

Almost Time

Christian and Tori are headed to Marie and Steve’s this Sunday for a whole week. Lucky for them, the weather is going to be good, if not great. Eli is not going though he keeps saying “I go.” He would miss Mommy and Daddy way too much.

Tori is the most excited. She can’t wait to spend some time with her grandparents and cousins. She thought she was leaving tomorrow and got really excited. I don’t know if we will be able to contain her excitement tomorrow. We have clothes to wash and bags to pack. She will probably be over the moon!

Everyone Loves Tori

We met with Tori’s teacher, and she had nothing but good things to say about Tori. She is a real delight, and all of the first grade teachers want her in their class next year. She has mastered most of the skills and is working on her numbers to 100—moving from one group to another, 69 to 70, and saying them backwards. We were thrilled to find out how well she is doing and got Chinese for dinner to celebrate.

Dancing Queen

DWTS started last night, and Tori couldn’t wait. She was all excited when the first pair came on and danced her way around the living room. Huts and I looked at each other at one point and said she needs to be in a dance class. Today I am going to look into some dance classes. I might find her one soon. She also wants to go to camp this summer, so we’ll see.

That's Just The Way They Are

Christian and Tori go to latchkey run by the Y every morning and afternoon. With Mom living with us, they could ride the bus, but they don’t want to. They like going to latchkey; the people there take good care of them.

The kids receive an afternoon snack at latchkey, and yesterday, Huts and I brought in drinks and cupcakes in lieu of their usual snack. The kids loved that, and the staff was all over us. Guess we’re the first parents to bring in snacks. They were so grateful that Tori and I are going to do it again for Easter.

Apparently when the staff was passing out the items, one of Tori’s teachers was there. She told the Y people that “that’s just the way they are.” Tori’s teachers always call us generous. Huts and I never thought much about it, but I guess we drop by a lot of stuff from wipes to play-doh to cupcakes to goody bags for the party. Just goes to show you that the smallest efforts mean a lot.

Miss Wants-A-Lot

Tori has now decided that she wants another dollhouse, the Manor, so that she can separate her dollhouse families (one white, one black). The Easter bunny was going to bring her a handheld game, but now it looks like he will be bringing her another dollhouse. This one is two stories with a purple exterior—how lovely next to the pink and green, three-story Victorian dollhouse she already has. This smaller one is less expensive—a good thing for the Easter bunny’s wallet. Two dollhouses seem a little excessive, but at least now, Tori will be able to put all of that dollhouse furniture to use.

Of course, Tori has a jillion other things on her list, including all of the Monster High dolls she does not have. Those can wait until her birthday, and lucky for us, she will never remember everything she asked for this Easter. If she did, we would never hear the end of it!

On another note, we brought in drinks and cupcakes this morning for the latchkey kids. Nothing green about them—more springy that anything, but they will have to do. I couldn’t even find green plates—
just blue and yellow. And the cupcakes have confetti on them. Oh well, no one seems to care they have nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day. They are just glad to have a cupcake and a drink. Usually all they get is a bag of crackers as a snack.

A Bed Full

Tori has so many stuffed animals we strung up clothesline around half of her room for her to hang them from. Last night, she decided to take all of them down and throw them into the floor. I was going to put them back up this morning, but then I decided to just pile them on her bed and leave it to her to do tonight. That should keep her busy for a while! She’s always looking for something to do, and tonight she will have plenty to do!

Last night did not go smoothly with Tori either. She has several goals she has to complete for kindergarten. We have been practicing and made it through much of them. Then she lost focus, and that was that. She just started guessing on her sight words, and words she had read just moments before became something else entirely. At this rate, she is never going to get those sight words down pat!

The More Girl

Christian has just a couple of collections, Legos and Bionicals, whereas his sister has many. Tori likes all kinds of things, and every time we go out, she tries to get a toy out of us. Like this weekend when we went to K-mart for a new microwave. They all looked at toys, and Tori decided she wanted another monster doll. She already has two, which she rarely plays with, so that wasn’t going to happen.

When she figured out that she wasn’t getting anything, she changed to the Easter tune. Can you put this on the list for the Easter bunny? (The kids usually get a couple of toys for Easter.) She has quite the list going, but lucky for us, she will forget most of it and be happy with whatever the Easter bunny brings her—the last two mini LaLaLoopsy dolls and a handheld game.

New Beds? Perhaps!

After a few trips to the local furniture stores, Christian and Tori have settled on the same loft bed, just in different colors. Tori would like white, but the bed comes only in natural and black, so she is opting for natural. We’re going to girlie it up with stick-ups, etc. She is getting drawers underneath and at the end of the steps, plus a bookshelf. If we move the bookshelf under the head of the bed, she will have some cubbyholes to crawl into and hide her stuff.

Furniture shopping with Tori is very interesting. At first, she was all wound up and excited about it, begging us for a bed that she would outgrow in a couple of years. Then she settled down a bit and zeroed in on the bed with steps yesterday—with some help from us. She is in the middle of this “I don’t know” stage, so we have to work hard to get her to focus and make a decision.

We’ve got some things to do on the house and then we may order a bed for her and one for Christian. It just depends upon how things go with the work on the back of our house (new door and some deck repairs). Wish us luck if we get them new beds. They will want Huts to have everything together in an hour!

Valentine's Day Girl

Tori had a ball yesterday. Not only was it her helper day, but it was Valentine's Day. She made some crafts, played some games and came home smiling with all of her loot. She glued lots of things together last night and made her own little box for her valentines. It was a cute box to begin with, but Tori has added her picture, stickers and lots more to it. She has also stuffed it with her valentines. She took it to school this morning to show off to the people at latchkey. Tomorrow is spring pictures, and she can't wait to dress out of uniform! Goodness knows what outfit she will come up with!

My Birthday Book

Tori is all about making books these days. She steals the computer paper and either staples the pages together or has her dad do it. Sometimes she tapes up the pages. Then she bugs us for hours on end how to spell certain words. She decided to make me a birthday book, nothing about birthdays persay, just a bunch of scribbles about whatever happened to be on her mind. A nice gift, but very much a Tori gift.

Ready To Go

While Christian was bellyaching about all of the writing he had to do, Tori was watching everything, looking forward to the report she will have to one day do. She loves doing homework. She’s my little eager beaver, and as her teacher says, we don’t worry about Tori because she tries so hard we just know she will get it. Yep, my little Tori is always ready to go to school and do whatever her beloved teachers tell her. She loved making her poster for the 100th day and can’t wait to do her homework each Monday. If she could have, she would have written Christian’s report for him! At least I know she won’t be bellyaching when she has to write about the man or woman she chooses for Black History Month.

What a Mess!

Tori has always been messy, but lately, she’s gotten worse, at least at school. Every day that we have picked her up this week, we have found her backpack empty and her stuff everywhere. We generally know what she takes to school so we usually manage to collect it all. Yesterday, we weren’t so lucky. Tori had gotten another shirt for school, but none of us knew it, and we ended up leaving it at school. Again, she had everything from her backpack scattered all over the place, and in a hurry to get to the book fair, we left the new shirt and Christian’s hat. Fortunately, it was all there this morning when Huts dropped off the kids. Tori changed into the shirt and was happy as a clam.

On another note, they are having a pajama party in after care today. School let out at noon, and the Y decided they would let the kids bring their pjs and watch a movie in them. Christian and Tori are in their pjs right now having fun. If they want to go to the toy store, they are going to have to change.

Miss Writes-A-Lot

Tori is learning how to read and write, and she shows off her budding skills by taping and stapling together computer paper and writing words on them to create little books. After using up much of the tape and staples, she likes to follow her dad around, asking him how to spell this and that. Sometimes she asks me too. We deal with it fine for the first hour or so. Then it starts to get tiring as Tori loses focus and we have to repeat letters. Eventually, we shoo her off to find something else to do for a while. Right now, she has two books—one of which she took to school and got a sticker for it. She also has a “diary” notebook she has filled with scribbles and is down to one coloring book. That girl loves to scribble, paint, color and do arts and crafts of all types!

Up and Ready To Go!

Tori got a last-minute birthday party invitation to one of the babysitting kids’ party. She was all excited and couldn’t wait for 4 o’clock on Saturday. We got the little girl a gift and told Tori that the party wasn’t going to start until late on Saturday afternoon. She picked out her outfit on Friday night, got all of her stuff ready and drove us crazy until we wrapped the gift. Then she flew out of bed and got dressed early on Saturday morning. She was all a-dazzle in her pink sequined shirt and pants…at 7 a.m. She drove us nuts the rest of the day wanting to know if it was time to leave.

Because she got up so early, she was tired, so I tried to persuade her to take a nap, but she was having none of that. We distracted her as much as we could until the magic hour arrived. She came home all happy and slept in the next morning. All of that waiting and partying wore Miss Tori out! She was all ready to go this morning, though, for her last day off school at the sitter’s.

Fashionista

Tori is still the little fashionista. This morning she insisted on wearing a shirt under her school shirt (for looks of course). Then she had to wear her scarf that her Aunt Lucy made her last year tied in an extravagant way (her way)! She's been sleeping with her sleep eye cover nightly since she got it at Christmas. She also wore the headband that her Aunt gave her yesterday. I don't know how much it actually was worn, but I'm sure it was in and out of her hair all day. At least she's stopped styling her hair like she was a character from Star Wars. On weekends she'll change clothes several times a day for the fun of it, just like she changes her doll clothes. She has fun doing it, even though she comes up with some crazy combinations in our eyes. She wants to pose and prance around for all the pictures and people around. She's her own fashion show and our house has become the runway!

Sickly Christmas Again

Tori's Christmas started off rotten again! She seemed to have gotten the bug that Christian had earlier in the week, except she got sicker than he did. Christmas morning she felt miserable and laid on the floor with a blanket and pillow. She had some milk before we opened presents and a few minutes later barfed it up. After getting a quick bath she rallied to open presents, but spent most of Christmas day in bed cuddling her lalaloopsy doll and watching movies. She felt better on the 26th, but still wasn't very hungry.

On the 27th we all headed to Grandma's for their Christmas and Tori seemed to be back to normal. As with her brother she got to go to Monkey Business, but since she was asleep when we left and needed her 2.5 hr nap, she only got to go the 2nd time. Of course she had to wear her Christmas dress to play in and she got hot, so that slowed her down a bit. For Christmas from Grandma, she got dolls, clothes and doll clothes. I'm sure there was other stuff in there, but it was mostly clothes and dolls. The trip back wasn't bad and she had fun at the last holiday gathering, but it exhausted her. She was in bed by 6 pm on Thursday and slept almost 14 hours. She missed dinner, so she was starving for PANCAKES...her favorite breakfast. She attempted to stay up on on New Years, but didn't make it either. She was just too exhausted and made it to 11 for the New York ball drop.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and playing with her dolls and brothers. We ran a few errands and got soaked when we went to the grocery store, so Tori warmed up with a bath on Saturday after we got home and dry. She lazed around yesterday, but seemed to be ready and excited to get back to school. We'll see how tired it makes her when we pick her up today.

Please Don't Sell Them!

Tori has a small room, which she fills up fast. This Christmas, she decided she was done with Dora and all of that stuff went into the yard sale pile. Yesterday, I mentioned to her that she had lots of new dolls that she has yet to play with. I was just wondering what her thinking was behind that. She got upset and pleaded with me not to sell her new dolls. Poor girl. There’s no way I would sell them. I just wanted to know why she was waiting to play with them. Guess I better leave that subject alone for a while. She’ll play with her dolls when she is ready I guess.