belle-reading-bookI recently made a playlist of Disney music for Milly on Spotify and we spent a bit of the morning dancing to that.  When the song at the beginning of Beauty and the Beast came on, Milly, who was already in her Belle dress, got a book and wandered back and forth in the living room, just like Belle does in her first scene in the movie.  I thought it was pretty funny.

The Masons dropped Callie and Brynn off so they could go see The Hobbit around 10:00. Milly was excited to have Callie over to play with, but she was very talkative with Brynn, too.  Brynn has really changed quite a bit since Amanda was watching the girls in the summer.  She’d very talkative now.  I mean, you can’t understand everything and she’s not making sentences yet, but it’s enough that you can figure out what she’s saying, and most of it is decently clear.  Anyway, she was fun ti play with.

kids-making-christmas-cookiesAmanda thought it might be fun for the kids to make cookies (not to mention take up a good bit of their time), so she ran out and got stuff for that, including cookie cutters and small spatulas.  She also invited the Johnsons over, so Stephanie and Jacob helped out as well.

It went pretty well.  Once the cookies were out it was a matter of managing chaos as kids were spreading icing and trying to sneak in bites.  Brynn never got to the decorating phase and just ate her cookie straight away.  Callie ate three before we realized she’d eaten one.

Other than that Milly and Callie were upstairs and downstairs, pretending to be princesses or watching an episode of Little Einsteins.  Brynn was trying to keep up with them and got shut in Milly’s room by herself a couple times.  To their credit, I did tell the bigger girls to keep the door closed while Brynn was up there.

I think Greg and Allison were back around 3:00.  After they left we put Milly down for a rest.  She wasn’t into it at first, but Amanda finally got her up a little after 5:00 I think.  We let Milly pick dinner and Amanda made some really good stuffed shells.

Butler upset #1 Indiana today, which means Duke will be #1 come Monday.  One more thing to like about Butler, although I don’t think I’l ever forgive them (specifically Matt Howard) for being the team Duke was playing when Kyrie Irving injured the toe that took him out for almost an entire season and likely cost Duke another championship.  Revenge for Duke beating them in the tournament just a few games (and several months) before, I suppose.

Carolina also barely beat ECU.  This should be a fun season.

We’re all still reeling from the school shooting yesterday.  20 young lives snuffed out, not to mention six adults who cared for them.  So many Christmas presents that will never be opened.  Parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunts who will always think about their loved one every year when Christmastime rolls around.  I don’t know if we’ll ever know why it happened or if there could even be an explanation for such a thing.