Heading out to look at Christmas lights

Getting fabulous on Christmas Eve

 

Elaine got her hair curled and her fingernails repainted by Grandma Robin. 

 

Brank Christmas with Margaret

Hung out with some Branks (and Hopkins, Woods, etc).
My mom took the pictures, so everyone else could be in the photo together. Her trying to figure out each person's camera had us laughing! :)

Elaine's birthday

Elaine wore this birthday tiara to school on Friday. The last day of the school semester was the day before her 9th birthday, so they mostly watched Polar Express and played games.  My friends Codi & Jenna surprised Elaine at school, having lunch with her. They brought her a hamburger and sat at her lunch table to eat together.  Not a bad school day. :)

On her real birthday, Saturday, we took Elaine to learn rock climbing in Carrolton, TX. The rock climbing place was constructed inside a grain silo.

 

 

We let Elaine open one present before dinner/cake, so she could call her grandparents and thank them for it at a reasonable hour (different time zone).  She was very excited!

Lanterns on the table &  lantern cupcakes

 

Micah does NOT like silly string in his dreadlocks.  But he does like to cover the kids in it.

 

Tangled Barbie

We got her a Mp3 player and pre-loaded it with about 40 songs she likes. The mp3 player also came with a coupon for 35 free song downloads, so she gets to pick some out for herself.

Elaine was silent pretty much for the next two hours while she played her MP3 player. :))

planning for Lainey's bday this Saturday

Elaine really likes the movie, Tangled. For her birthday dinner I decided to make decorations that are Tangled-themed. She doesn't know! She'll be surprised. :)

Lanterns are a symbol in the movie for Rupunzel following her dreams. So it wouldn't be a Tangled birthday if lanterns weren't everywhere. These are how they look in the film:

 

Today I made these two lanterns to sit on the table.

I got little fake battery-operated candles from the Dollar General (3 for $1) for inside the paper lanterns.

I made cupcakes and mixed icing to look like very dark blue (light the nighttime sky) and put lanterns on top. I hope to find yellow star sprinkles to sprinkle around the lanterns on each cupcake.

Jimmy's Bday

My boss/friend, Rick, read this article in the Denton Record Chronicle 3 weeks ago.  It shows how the mall's new owners envision re-designing the mall's facade.

The sad news is that this illustration that went public 3 weeks ago shows our exact location to the left of the mall's main entrance, but without our store. That patio/grill is in our current location!

Rick asked the mall office about the architect's drawing, and they wont confirm or deny anything about relocating us. They just give him some BS about not discussing renewing leases with any tenants at this time. The store could be moved elsewhere in the mall, or even be asked to leave the mall all together! I pray that Rick has the strength to handle this move, whether into the mall or elsewhere.  In any case, I think the mall management is being really inconsiderate not giving us a heads up before seeing the design in the newspaper.

Rick says he'll tell his employees when he knows more about what the future holds. The costume store's lease isn't up until in the Spring.

Avast Matey!

 

Elaine is excited about a pirate-themed birthday party she and Allan are attending tomorrow. I borrowed from goodies from the rentals at work for them to get to dress up. 

Allan has been asleep most of the evening. He woke me up every 30-45 minutes last night with different reasons.... can he have a juicebox, his tummy hurts, can he watch netflix (at 4am!!), can he sleep with me, can he sleep in the living room? All night! Then Jimmy got a call from the elementary school today to pick up Allan because Allan was too tired. Of coarse he was tired; we were both up all night. Allan has been asleep on the sofa most of the evening, then Jim moved the little guy to his room. I really hope he stays asleep tonight and yesterday was just a freak occurrence.