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!
there's always the next 16 years!!!!!!!
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!
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!
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...
she mysteriously had all these bumps develop on her tongue yesterday afternoon...and fearing that we may have some kind of contagious disease...i decided we shouldn't risk it...and made an appointment with the doc! however, we'll call her "tina"...was expected at school...so we had to federal express her there before our trip to the doctor!
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as the docent begins her speech about the caverns and we learn about the stalactites and stalagmites...we begin to hear madeline...or should i say we begin to hear some tunes coming from her diaper. seems that right about the time we get into the deep cavern where things echo...the sugarless gum that madeline got into before we left home (that's a whole other story for a whole other post!) began taking effect...thus causing her to be, well - let's just say - more "tootiful" than usual!!!!!! 2nd obstacle - check.
we viewed the first exhibit...pluto's ghost...and then comes, you guessed it - obstacle #3...check. the opening (aka doorway) to walk through did not seem big enough for me to push the girls between...so jeffrey, who by the way is pushing granny in her first wheelchair experience of all time, begins to lift the girls through this rock doorway. what he doesn't understand until it is way too late...is that i am ATTACHED to the stroller by that strap you can use for running (yeah, i have never used that feature because i never run...but you get the picture)...and he is literally dragging me along with him!!!!!!! the entire group of people on the tour with us are staring in our direction at this point...so i felt the need to announce that everyone should just ignore us...but how - we are making a total spectacle!!!!!! *sigh*
i don't know what next weekend will bring...but it certainly can't bring any more obstacles!!!!!! 
when it comes to ella & madeline! this afternoon after the girls came home from school...we decided to get creative...or should i say - the sweet peas in the family decided to get creative and form a club!!!! together they created a "club house" with crayons, markers, & stickers...and proceeded to order a snack to eat at their first official meeting!
they play so well together and it was so funny to listen to them laughing and having fun while decorating this cardboard box...who needs toys anyway?! 
