Bubbles! (and other fun stuff)

Before I get to bubbles, here is a picture of Rebekah and Emilia opening presents from Great Aunt Sharon- Phyllis' sister. She and one of her sons (who attends Texas A&M- whoop!) drove in from Stockdale (1 1/2 hrs away I think) to see all of us. Pretty rare for for all 3 Malone siblings to be in the same house! Anyway, Sharon always brings the best, most age-appropriate gifts! The kids always love them and play with them- don't know how she does it! This year, they all got age-level games, which was a blast. She also brought a puzzle for the family to do together, which was neat to see. Thanks, Sharon!

This was the girls before we went to Chick-fil-A for Kids Eat Free Night- Emilia wore a dress, so it was essential for R to wear one, too. We only brought these tights and bought black ones, so I let R pick- the dress has a heart and the tights have hearts, so it was a no-brainer for her. :)

That night Rebekah enjoyed her first slumber party! The girls were put in bed at 8, and by 8:45, they were fast asleep. :) Sadly, tho, R came in my room bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 2 and 2:45am, the second time because we had forgotten to brush her teeth. NEVER skip something in her routine- it will not go unnoticed. So, we brushed her teeth at 2:45, then she went back to sleep. :) (I did not mean to skip brushing her teeth, by the way)

Before you cast judgment, you need to know that Luke hands me bows and pesters me until I put them in his hair. I think he likes the extra attention.

The girls also dressed up as kitties and bunnies. They had tails on their bottoms, too, but it ended up being an inappropriate picture to show the tails, so I deleted it. :) (a rare display of discernment, I know)

Onto the bubbles- Nana stocked up on awesome bubble gear a the end of the season last year. The bigger kids mostly did the big wands and the bubble gun, but Luke found the bubble source and a small wand- this was the result.

He is doing this face more and more, which I adore. We call it his "O" face (omitting the sexual reference from Office Space) and he often does it when he's being funny. He really does have the best sense of humor. :)

The bubble gun.

Everybody enjoyed chasing bubbles.

Happy New Year! This year, Rebekah will turn 4 in July, Luke will be 2 in April, Josh and I will have been married for 9 years in May, Josh will be 34 later in May, and I will be 31 in August. We will start our 3rd year (of 4) in Aberdeen in the fall. Wow.

As for right now, we have through Sunday here in Victoria, then we meet my dad half-way on Monday morning and wrap things up in Dallas. We will celebrate Christmas with my family on Tuesday and pack, pack, pack! We fly out on Monday, Jan 11th. When I told Rebekah we still had one more Christmas celebration, her response was an excited, "Jesus has another birthday!" Yea- I am doing ONE thing right- my daughter knows Christmas is for celebrating Jesus' birthday! I think I am going to get a cake mix and make Jesus a birthday cake with the kids to really bring ti home in their minds. This might be a new tradition- didn't think of it, but I can't remember who came up with it- the Kampmans maybe? Anyway, part of always traveling on the holidays is missing making traditions of our own. This is one easily done anywhere.