it's the most wonderful time of the year...

we have had a FABULOUS christmas...and i am sad that our trip in the south is drawing to a close...times flies when you're having fun!

i fully intend to post a detailed outline of our christmas experience (for starters...let's just say it involves more pictures than should be humanly allowed...and a bit of a santa catastrophe), but for now i will leave you with a few nuggets that highlight our trip across the country, visits with family & friends, christmas, and maddie's 2nd birthday party!

leggy. sonic playgrounds. 20 hours in the car...with perfect children. (i can only say that because for two littles who were strapped in the seats for previously mentioned amount of time...they deserve the perfect award!!!!!) all day outside. hugs from friends we miss. food poisoning. christmas lights. amazing cornbread. cousin love. christmas parties. excitement. love. deli casino. last minute trips to toys r us. anticipation. reindeer food. faces on christmas morning. naps. seeing movies with great friends. my family. train parties & hot dogs. wizard of oz. johnny's pizza and m&m's...all rolled in to one...to celebrate one special little "m&m" of our own. independence bowl.

to put it simply...good times with great people.

i promise to give the play by play adorned with pictures...but for now...i am going to go continue enjoying some of those great people...

hope you and yours had a very merry christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

rudolph the red nose reindeer...

had a very shiny nose...that is, until maddie ate it!

ella & i decided that we were going to make "reindeer food" for her class & maddie's! feeding rudolph and all his buddies has become a tradition on christmas eve in the price household...we love spreading the goods out for santa's helpers...just in case they need help spotting our house!!!! *wink * wink* so we thought it would be neat to share our fun with their classmates...

and then my friend laura told me about some rudolph cookies that her mom had made...and i just knew that needed to be added to the christmas happy!

it wasn't what i needed to do to minimize my ever growing list of "to do's" before we leave town...but it was well worth it - as the cookies are yummy - and ella & i had fun getting glitter EVERYWHERE! i am pretty sure i will still be finding christmas glitter at easter! maddie was sleeping while the festivities were taking place, however, it became her sole mission to eat as many noses as she could upon waking...seeing as the "red nose" was in fact an m&m!!!!!!

ella & maddie have their christmas program tomorrow and i have the video camera locked & loaded...the music teacher stopped me in the hall the other day and told me that madeline sings all the words...here's to hoping that stage fright doesn't take over...and that we can capture this memory forever!!!!!! if all goes well, we just might have to post our little stars' performances!

in the meantime, i am going to go snack on a few of the "noseless rudolphs" and pack.........

*sigh*

on the first day of christmas...**

(you must "sing" this post to the tune of the "twelve days of christmas"!!!!!!)

my children said to me...we want something to eeeeeeeeeat!

on the second day of christmas my children said to me...

will you play hide & seek?...

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeat!

on the third day of christmas my children said to me...

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the fourth day of christmas my children said to me...

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeat!

on the fifth day of christmas my children said to me...

where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEE!

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the sixth day of christmas my children said to me...

can we move to toys r us?

where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEE!

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeat!

on the seventh day of christmas my children said to me...

are m&m's for breakfast?,

can we move to toys r us?,

where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the eigth day of christmas my children said to me...

why are you still painting?,

are m&m's for breakfast?,

can we move to toys r us?

where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the ninth day of christmas my children said to me...

mom, i just spilled sprinkles,

why are you still painting?,
are m&m's for breakfast?,
can we move to toys r us?
where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!
can i make my wish list?,
where is leggy?,
will you play hide & seek?,
and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the tenth day of christmas my children said to me...

are you in love with target?,

mom, i just spilled sprinkles,
why are you still painting?,

are m&m's for breakfast?,

can we move to toys r us?

where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the eleventh day of christmas my children said to me...

can we stay up till midnight?,

are you in love with target?,
mom, i just spilled sprinkles,

why are you still painting?,
are m&m's for breakfast?,
can we move to toys r us?
where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!
can i make my wish list?,
where is leggy?,
will you play hide & seek?,
and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

on the twelth day of christmas my children said to me...

we will not take more pictures,

can we stay up till midnight?,
are you in love with target?,

mom, i just spilled sprinkles,
why are you still painting?,

are m&m's for breakfast?,

can we move to toys r us?

where is daaaa-DEEEEEEEEEEEE!

can i make my wish list?,

where is leggy?,

will you play hide & seek?,

and we want something to eeeeeeeeeeat!

**an ode to our children...christmas is sweeter because of YOU...crazier, but definitely sweeter!!!!! your daddy & i are blessed beyond measure...who needs gifts when you have an ella & a madeline!!!! we love you!

leggy's been busy...

just wanted to give a holiday update regarding our little friend, leggy! he's been an awfully busy elf...he seems to like many of the same things that i do around christmas time! what a guy!

hope everyone is having a holly, jolly christmas! we are SOOOOOO looking forward to the holiday season down in the south...

merry christmas, y'all!

wordless wednesday...

a season of healing...

my heart is heavy tonight for a dear friend of mine that is suffering a loss. she & her sweet family were expecting their sixth family member...and God chose to take that precious soul back to heaven. He gives & He takes away. such a hard thing to understand when the taking is not what we planned.

there are few words to make any situation of loss easier to endure. while our bodies, for the most part, quickly recover...our hearts are left trying to heal...and unfortunately, there is no "quick fix" to speed up this process. we see others that are seemingly "more blessed", see others smiling, watch the dates on the calendar approaching those milestones that we fantasized about...and the wound in our heart continues to hurt.

it is in these times, that we have to turn our attention to the ways in which we are currently blessed...and search for the ways in which we are given peace in such a somber situation. the hugs from friends that last a little bit longer than normal, the meals made with love because that's the only thing we know to do for the one that is suffering, the hugs from our children when they don't understand what's wrong...they just "feel" that mommy or daddy is hurting, the knowledge that "no valley is forever", and the promise that we are never, ever alone.

we are all guaranteed to feel pain in this life...but God equips us with "medicine" to help numb some of this pain. He gives us our spouses that know just when we need a break, He gives us our children...who can make us laugh in the face of sadness, He gives us our family...who love us through to the other side.

my friend...you may never know why this has happened to you...but what you can be certain of is that you are loved, there is always tomorrow, and you are blessed beyond measure. while your heart is healing, know that i am always just a phone call away...and my arms are reaching across the miles to hug you...just a little bit longer than normal.

Weekend with Daddy... (Guest Post)

Well, for those of you who didn't know, my sweet and beautiful wife decided that her business needed a boost that could only be provided by a "Shreveport party." Thanks to her friends there, she was able to have a painting party this weekend...the one catch was that Daddy had to watch both girls for the weekend.

As much as I love spending time with them, I also know my limitations and my skill set...let's just say it is less than house-wife material. However, like the good business partner that I am, I told her ok. Last week, she was very stressed over getting everything ready for the party and I told her that I would do anything she wanted in order to lessen her stress...and somehow she thought I was being serious. She asked me to do some deep cleaning of our house (i.e. bathrooms, mopping, throwing out junk, etc.) and even left me a list. I thought about posting some pictures of the house, but I knew Meredith would kill me. Seriously, it looked like someone broke into our house, started to burglarize it and then decided it was too dirty to finish the job. wow...it has been some work!

In the meantime, the girls and I found some fun things to do in between all of the cleaning. It was freezing cold up here (literally, the high was 32), but I read about an old school dairy farm that still delivers door-to-door in glass bottles up in rural Maryland, so we decided to brave the cold and give it a go. They allow you to come tour the farm and watch the whole milking process. Talk about a hoot...

Maddie loved the calves, until I put her down to get a closer look.

Ella thought the calf shed stunk (which it did, and she held her nose the whole time)

Ella was actually intrigued by the milking process and actually touched the cow's "boob" (her word, not mine).

She also gave each cow a name, while Maddie just wanted to stay close to me (I asked her which one was Ella, and she pointed her out).

Maddie loved the fresh yogurt and Ella loved the ice cream. We took home some raw milk cheese, a thick glass bottle of 2% milk and a bottle of whole chocolate milk.

They also had a large hay stack with tunnels and a slide...the kids spent a while out there and even convinced me to crawl through with them (do you know how bad hay itches when it gets in your pants...no? well, I do.)

Today, we woke up to a light dusting of snow so we just stayed in and did lots of cleaning in the morning (except for the obligatory snow angel in our pajamas) and then I packed up lunches for all of us and we took the subway into DC. We were planning on having lunch at the air and space museum and then taking in a 3-D IMAX movie, but the girls got hungry early, so half of our lunch was eaten while waiting on our train.

Ella loved the glasses, but wasn't too sure about the stuff coming out of the screen at her (it was a movie on the Sun...actually, quite interesting from my perspective).

Maddie just wanted to get down and wander around the museum...which we did.

It was actually a great weekend to be with my girls...I hope they will have memories of all of the special times that we spend together...I know I will. I really can't imagine a world without my two princesses...they make my heart complete!

Even though we had lots of fun this weekend, I think we all miss mommy and can't wait to have her back home....and she even gets to enjoy not having to think about dirty toilets and messy floors...for about one day, at least!!!

Jeff

tea for two please...

it wasn't really tea...it was hot chocolate!!!!

ella & i had a special date today and attended the "gingerbread christmas tea" at the george washington masonic temple. it was SO much fun...i really needed to do that...for her...and me. it was a nice break - and although we missed madeline & made her some of the crafts - i find that my alone times with ella make for some extra sweet memories. she is growing up so very fast...and she is so much fun to be around. when we talk & giggle & act silly...my mind flashes forward to when she & maddie are in high school and we are lying on their bed talking together...is that "gooby" or what. i. just. love. my. girls.

simple. as. that.

anyway - back to the tea! ella made a drum ornament, a candy cane reindeer, a snowflake ornament, a christmas tree, and colored lots of coloring pages! the children got to drink their "tea" out of real "china" and there were little tea sandwiches, petits fours, & cookies in unending supply!

the main attraction was the fact that "the man in red" made a stop...and allowed some wish lists to be shared...and some photo ops to be gotten! this is when i really longed for miss madeline to be there with us. however, i have a sneaking suspicion that santa is going to be told where to go and how to get there by our second born...santa. no. thank. you. get BACK! (you really must hear her do this sometime...priceless!!!)


after almost two hours of "big girl fun"...we decided to say goodbye...and my "baby" promptly fell asleep in the car. what a gift that little girl is to me.

i am leaving them tomorrow so that i can go to shreveport for my "painting me happy" party. i could not be leaving them in better hands...but i HATE to say goodbye to my family. at. any. time. i held on to maddie for extra snuggles tonight...she just smelled so darn good...she fits just right...i'm going to miss her. ella wanted me to tell her a bunch of stories tonight...her birth, of course (she always wants that one)...and i asked her "do you know who made me a mommy?"...she looked at me kinda funny and said "God?"...i said "well, yes...but that's not who i'm talking about"...and i pointed to her.

i've said it a million times...and i'm likely to say it several trillion times more...my daughters are fulfilling my life's purpose...and i am so thankful that i am their mommy...

so on days like today...i can have a real life tea party...with one of my special little girls!

amazing...you gotta check this out...

this is HUGE!

there is a blog that i read quite frequently... "my charming kids" & they have just experienced a pretty amazing miracle!

anyway, she is hosting an amazing "give away"...just in time for christmas...go check it out & donate because let's face it...what's better than helping others out...with the possibility of taking even more pictures of your precious, amazing little ones!!!!!!

i think you will find her story to be one of faith, hope, & amazing grace!

FYI - a custom camera strap & a super fast SD card are on my "stocking stuffer" list...just in case you win & don't feel right about keeping all the goods for yourself...he,he,he...just kidding!!!!

yummy new winter soup recipe...

Southwestern Chicken Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
3 (10 ounce) cans rotel
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded

shredded cheddar cheese (optional as garnish)
sour cream (optional as garnish)
crushed tortilla chips (optional as garnish)

dump all the ingredients in a pot...bring to a boil & simmer...the longer the better i think!!!! this can also be done in a crock pot for about 5 hours!

i made this soup for us on sunday night, and it has fast become jeff's favorite! he has eaten it three days in a row! it has a "kick" to it...so i would suggest if you don't like "hot", use mild rotel or maybe only use 2 cans! also, i HATE beer...no worries...i couldn't taste anything of the sort...but the flavor of the entire soup was fantastic!!!!!!

if you try it...let me know...i would LOVE to hear how everyone else likes it! happy cooking!

oh how we love your branches...

but not your bugs...oh yes, folks - i must explain! (lori d. - this ones for you!)

after much lamenting on my part because we were breaking our 7 year tradition of visiting motley's tree farm in little rock, we headed out friday morning to pick out the "price family" christmas tree...sounds simple enough, right...not particularly.

for those of you that know jeffrey & me up close & personal...you will know that we LOVE huge christmas trees...most years, we actually have to end up cutting the top of our tree off in order for it to fit in our living room! well, this year our ceilings are about 20 feet tall...so we knew that having a tall tree would be no problem...for us. however, virginia does not seem to have a high demand for the tall christmas tree types...thus began our hunt!

with the girls donning their first christmas outfits of the season, we headed out to a tree farm that was initiating into the "tree farm" world...no trees over 6 feet tall. no problem...that's just one place. we ventured on down the road a little bit to a farm that was to have some spruce & pine trees...there were some slightly "less vertically challenged" tannenbaums...but not a great fit for us! while we were in route to our THIRD tree farm of the day, i called to see if they had any trees that were about 10 -12 feet tall..."oh yes, we have exquisite frasier firs" - that should have been my first clue that this may not go as smoothly as we thought - yes, they were in fact exquisite...to the tune of...hold on to your hats people...$225!!!!!!!!!!! let me just spell that for you...two hundred and twenty - five dollars...for a christmas tree! we kindly "oohed & aahed" over the staggeringly expensive trees and got in our car. defeated.

this was one of the few years that we did not have our tree the day after thanksgiving...and i could just feel the christmas season hours dwindling down...i truly LOVE having a tree in our home!

so we got back on the horse yesterday morning & headed to our fourth and FINAL tree farm...moose apple tree farm in berryville, va to be exact! they had some beautiful trees and we did our usual dance of "ooh, this one's good...but look at that one...ok, let's go back and look at that other one...ok, this is the one...are you sure...we're going to cut this one...i don't know..." and so on the story goes...every year.

our children were melting, even though it was 40 degrees outside, so we chopped her down and loaded her up!

we get home and are putting our beauty in the stand...i am holding it straight (still in the netting) while jeffrey secures it in the stand. this is when the saga continues...i am studying the tree because it is right up in my face...and i notice LOTS (i say 100's - jeffrey says "no way"...i very much disagree) of SPIDERS AND BUGS! that's right, folks...the tree that we waited to find for two days is what i like to call "infested"...to say that i was freaking out would be an understatement. i immediately "front lined" emma...and called the tree farm to see what we could do. their suggestion...take the tree out and spray it with bug spray...

friends...we are talking about a 10 foot christmas tree. not an easy thing to just carry outside...but that is exactly what we (uh-hum, jeffrey) did. i made jeffrey use an entire can of bug spray and shake the devil out of this christmas tree. i don't' know if i am crazy or stupid...but after several hours on the front porch, i allowed him to bring this bug motel back into our home. that is how desperate i am to have a normal holiday this year. bye bye lovely pine smell...hello bug spray.

so far, i haven't seen any on the tree...but i am inspecting santa's beard to see what nests are being built!!!!!!!!!!

the girls had such a great time decorating the tree last night...especially ella! she was sweet hanging all of her "favorite" ornaments...since she has been doing this for SO long...she kept exclaiming that "she just loved christmas"!!!!!!! jeffrey and i love making these memories with our girls...it truly makes the holidays even more special.

we are so excited about spending the actual christmas holiday in the good ole south...but for now...i will spend the next 432 hours enjoying this tree...and looking for bugs!

he's back...

that's right, folks! leggy...our trusty, dusty "elf on a shelf" made his 2008 debut tonight! ella is totally pumped about having this little guy pop up in different places this year - she was already talking to him & trying to figure out just why he couldn't respond!

maddie, on the other hand, has a love/hate relationship with leggy! she desperately wants to touch him...as evidenced by her immediate rush to get a step stool in order to check him out up close & personal...but she did her signature "back" (picture her saying this while pushing an imaginary something back with her hand)! we knew that she would love the idea of looking for the elf every morning...and it should have been no surprise that she will have to warm up to the idea...however, our recent bookworm did not want to sit and read the book...

there's always the next 16 years!!!!!!!

for now, leggy will remain a part of our immediate family for the next 28 days...even making our cross country journey - jeffrey & i will probably need the elf to encourage us!

there are likely to be lots of tantrums & griping going on...from the kids too!

christmas time is here...& i am lovin' every minute!!!!!!!

thankful...

just want everyone in my life - family, friends, "blogging buddies" - to know how thankful i am for YOU today! i can't imagine my life without all of my good friends and amazing family!

not a day goes by that a smile is not brought to my face...by one of YOU!

i hope that this day of thanks finds you feeling special & loved! i look forward to seeing many of you during the coming holidays!

happy thanksgiving from one full family to another...we love you!

the great big city of fruit...

or so ella has named the "big apple"...otherwise known as NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!

we just returned from a girl's trip to NYC...that centered around taking my first born to see "the little mermaid" on broadway! watching ella's eyes light up was worth the trip in itself...but seeing all the christmas decorations and feeling the hustle & bustle of the holidays was fabulous too!

we left sunday morning on the luxury "bolt" bus...bundled so heavily that none of our arms really worked!!!! we looked like three black marshmallows...with a tiny pink marshmallow on top! we stopped by the hotel to check in and we were off to explore before we headed to the theater for the main event! ella was so afraid that we were going to miss it...& she was thankful to get out of the cold...she spent lots of time underneath her fleece blanket!

she LOVED the musical! when mom, brooke, & i were in NY in june...i bought the "mermaid" CD for the girls...so ella had pretty much memorized every song...her favorite being "she's in love" that the guppy, flounder, sings!!!!! her eyes were brighter than the stage lights...she was mesmerized!!!! honey bought her a "clam purse" & she was set...& then came the bonus! we waited outside for the cast members to come out so that we could meet them...needless to say, they fell in love with ella just as much as she loved them!!!!! flounder, a little 11 year old boy, was flirting with her and asked her if she wanted a hug...ella was smiling so big (she was NOT smiling about the flirting...i'm sure of it...i think)! then came sebastian, one of the eels, scuttle, & then the biggie - ariel!!!!! we were all so excited for ella...the experience was perfect - with only a minimal amount of squirming!!!!!!!!!!

it was extremely cold...but we made our way over to rockefellar center to see if the tree was lit...it's not...but it was great fun to see radio city music hall & their big tree! after a quick bite to eat, we waddled our way back to the hotel to warm up and catch some zzzzzz's! as you can imagine, being in a hotel with lots of snacks is really fun for a 4 1/2 year old little girl!

on monday morning, we hit the ground running because we only had a little amount of time to get a lot accomplished! our first stop of the day was F.A.O. schwartz! we decided we were going to let ella spend as much time as she wanted in there...and as she said on the way home - "there were 50 rooms!!!!" she was like a kid in a huge toy store...oh wait, she was a kid in a huge toy store!!!! we all had a blast! you don't have to be a child to have fun...ella bounced from baby dolls, to dress up shoes, to books, to the big piano, to barbie dolls, to candy, & back to baby dolls! we will be introducing some new members of our family in the not so distant future!!!! we stayed for about 2 hours and then headed out to look at the store windows...the christmas displays are amazing!!!!!!

our last stop on the "kid in NYC" train was the "american girl" store...we went in with the idea that we were just going to make a wish list...and we came out with yet another member of the price family! we needed to weight ella down because she was flying high!

after a quick bite to eat, we taxied to the train station and headed back to D.C.! ella made friends with two little 13 year old girls that she ended up sitting with and playing hide & seek with...they promised to be her "pen pals" & made the end of her trip amazing!


i will never forget this trip with my little girl. i have dreamed my whole life of making these types of memories with my children...i can't wait to do the same thing with madeline...

as ella and i sat together on the train ride home, i watched her knowing that i would always remember "our first trip to new york"...i would always remember her face & her excitement...i will always remember how much i love her (& maddie)...

i will always cherish the blessing of being their mommy.

my sweet ella,

thank you so much for making this trip one that i will never forget. your incredible spirit & zest for life are just a couple of the reasons that make you one of the most special little people i know...& i get the privilege of being your mommy. i hope you feel how loved you are...whether you are on the streets of new york or just coloring at home. you are one amazing little girl and i love you more than these words can possibly convey...

i look forward to many more "big girl" trips...and watching you smile...

you are one in a million!

mommy