A Little R and R: November 2009

This year I decided to start a new tradition in the Hall household. Meet Sammy.

Sammy came in an adorable box straight from the North Pole! We opened him very carefully and Reese got to meet her new friend that she named Sammy. Sammy is an elf that works for Santa. He perches in a spot in a room and watches over the behavior of little girls and boys. Every night while Reese is sleeping he flies to the North Pole and tells Santa if Reese is a naughty or nice girl. He also tells Santa any secrets that Reese tells him. Every morning he comes back to a new place in the house. Reese wakes up each morning and dashes to find where Sammy ends up. Sammy doesn’t talk to Reese; he only talks to mommy and daddy. Reese also can’t touch him because that will make him lose his magic!

When I explained all of this to Reese she looked at me and said, “Mommy, I like your hair. I like your pants, and your shirts, and your shoes, and your……….bras” I said to Reese “Wow, thank you sweetie. You’re such a nice girl.” She responds with “Yeah..” The next day she sees Sammy in the living room and turns to me and says “Mommy, I like your hair. I just like all of you.” I then asked her why. Her response, “Because I’m nice.”

I love Sammy. I only have to remind her that Sammy is watching.

The entire concept is pretty cool and it comes with a cute book. The mother/daughter team is from Georgia and the daughter actually went to West Georgia like me.

http://www.elfontheshelf.com/

Reese and I flew to St Louis to celebrate Thanksgiving with Christie and Colleen. Ryan and John went too (on a different flight, I had NO help) along with all of Colleen's family. Reese did pretty good on the airplane. She did start yelling because her ears started hurting, but once I gave her some gum she did pretty well.

We got there Friday night and went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I got the biggest plate of fajitas I have ever seen in my entire life. There is no doubt in my mind that 3-4 people could have eaten from this plate of fajitas. But, they just give you 3 tortillas. Why is that???? Anyway, I digress. Saturday we slept in (just to clarify that means like 8 AM, I do have a 4 year old) and got dressed for a day at the zoo. THE ZOO IS FREE! We scored on free parking too. We drove through some of the most beautiful parks on the way to the zoo. I can't wait to go back so I can take some more pictures.

I loved this blue frog. So beautiful!

Reese and Ryan checking out the sights.

The zoo had a good exhibit of penguins. They had an outdoor and an indoor exhibit. Ryan was over the moon. For those of you that don't know Ryan she has a strange obsession with penguins. She must have spent a good 15 minutes talking to the zoo person standing at the exhibit. She made me take a million pictures of her and John in front of said penguins.

I do have to admit I thought this penguin sunning himself was really adorable. Or maybe this is a girl...

We went inside and OMG it stunk SOOOOOO bad in there!! So imagine walking into a freaking nasty freezer. But, we were in there so long (because of Ryan) that I actually got used to the smell.

Ryan and John with penguins...again. You know, because these ones were different....

I tried so hard to get a picture of Reese and Keira (Colleen's niece) together but Reese wanted no part

Our next stop was the carousel. Ryan has brainwashed Reese so much that Reese INSISTED on riding the penguin. She really does love her Aunt Ryan...

The girls were so cute together!

They were slowly sliding off

Me, Christie, and Ryan

Stopped for a snack

This cat was quite comical. It was walking bath and forth with a real low growl. The next thing you know he starts hacking trying to get a hair ball out. It was like an overgrown domestic cat! Can you imagine what kind of hairball this thing would have gotten up? Unfortunately it was a false alarm and we didn't get to see anything.

I thought this little guy was so cute!!!

Inside the zoo there was a Build-a-Bear Workshop so I let Reese pick something out. She of course picks out the most expensive one there. But, she was happy with Frosty.

Picking out the heart

She kissed it and then put it in

Putting the stuffing in

And giving him a bath after his birth

We came back from the zoo to have the Thanksgiving dinner. Colleen did an amazing job and cooked a TON of food. All of it was sooooooo good!! Thanks Colleen!

Colleen bought the girls a gingerbread kit for them to do together. I have such a funny story on this! I come down the stairs before we leave for the zoo and Reese and Keira are waiting for me at the bottom. Reese says, "Mommy, Keira wants to ask you something. Go ahead Keira" she pushes Keira forward and Keira just stares at me. I said "Yes, Keira?" She continues to stare. So Reese says "Mommy, Keira wants to know if we can do the gingerbread house." I start to say no because we're going to leave for the zoo. Reese pipes in quickly and says "I'M not asking mommy. Keira is. Keira, ask her." I had a good laugh from that one! I'm going to take that entire episode as Reese being really smart :-)

April and I start to get everything ready for the girls to put it together. We quickly realize that it's too much work so we whip up the icing and let the girls each decorate a piece of the roof.

Sunday we made a trip out to the Arch. I really enjoyed this and it is such an amazing structure. I was scared to death riding up to the top (surprise, surprise) but it was definitely worth the heart palpitations. That thing is 63 stories! I thought the video was very interesting (even though it was made in the 70s, update it people!) and was happy to hear no one died in constructing it.

Reese and Colleen