Christmas Drama

How was everyone's Christmas? Mine was about as crazy as Thanksgiving! I didn't get many action pictures. But here's one of all the goodies we made. There is chocolate chip cookies, red and green candy cookies, gingerbread cookies, and chocolate cake roll things.

On Christmas Eve, Mother, my sisters, and I went to the Wordworth household for dinner. Christmas Eve is when we do our big dinner and festivities. JJ's family was there, as was Jess', Molly's, and Samantha's. It was insane! But really fun. Us kids played hide-and-seek and then we hid upstairs while Santa brought presents. That waiting was the most fun. Our parents sent us upstairs way before Santa was to come so we took turns sneaking downstairs to see what the adults were doing. The reports went something like this:
"They're just drinking coffee." (Kit)
"They're eating cookies now." (Rebecca)
 "Emily's mom and Jess' dad are making out." (Hannah, Rebecca's sister)
 That was the end of sneaking downstairs since that put Jess off her rocker. She wouldn't speak to me the rest of the night :( I tried to tell her that I wasn't thrilled either but she just gave me the silent treatment. And when Jess does the silent treatment the temperature drops 30 degrees.
Eventually Santa did come and we all got to sneak downstairs and watch him put the presents under the tree.

Everything became crazy loud after that, as you can imagine with that many kids. Before presents there was dinner and pictures. Here's my favorites:

Elizabeth and Kit

Kit and ME

Gillian and Elizabeth

Samantha and Elizabeth

JJ and ME

Rebecca and ME

Elizabeth really likes getting her picture taken. I have some new people to introduce you to in future blog posts: my cousins Mac Scarlatti and Jess' little sister. Also some new pets my cousins received. How did everyone's holiday go? I could have done without the Jess Drama (thank you, Mother), but I'm learning to deal with it. Otherwise it was a great holiday! I got some new books and cowboy boots!

Christmas Preparations

Today we finally got a chance to put up our Christmas tree. But first we had to make ornaments for it.

 Kit started with cutting out Christmas trees.

 

 I rolled out clay for decorating. Do excuse my funky hair. Mother insisted on putting it in rollers.

 

 JJ was over to help. She started the delicate process of putting tiny ornaments on the trees.

 

 We made snowmen as well.

We also did stars, bells, and gingerbread men.

Then it was finally onto getting the tree up and our decorations on.

  

Of course, the pictures we took of the finished tree didn't come out. I'll have to try again later. The babies made a paper chain that actually turned out nicely. Gillian made paper snowflakes. Our stocking are hung and tomorrow we are going to make cookies.

However, there was one downfall to the day. I've been debating whether to post this or not, but I thought I better since it could become a big part of my life. I found out on Thanksgiving that Mother and Jess' dad Casey are dating. He called this evening to take Mother out to dinner. I really like him, but Mother has never dated before and it's kind of weird. Especially since he is Jess' dad (Jess is still furious about the whole thing). I think I hear Mother returning from her date. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Scarves

Mother learned how to crochet a few weeks ago so she has been busy making scarves for some of us girls.

 

Rebecca, ME, JJ, and Gillian

Nellie is supposed to get a scarf, too, but Mother hasn't been making much progress. I keep telling her she only has a few (2!) weeks left. She just yells at me :)

My New Boots

The girls from Bolton Girls Travel Journal had a photo contest a few weeks ago. JJ and I managed to win these totally awesome boots!

Neither of us has ever won anything, so we were completely ecstatic. We thank all the girls from the blog! The boots will get a lot of use this winter.

Family Pictures

I hope no one was truly looking forward to seeing pictures from my birthday. Mother's camera decided to die over the weekend. Oh, well, there will be plenty of Christmas party pictures to post I'm sure. 

Here's the pictures that were taken on Thanksgiving that I said I would post, like, three weeks ago. Time really does fly by. Anyone else think that?

Top row: Elizabeth, ME!, and Kit. Bottom row: Gillian, Nellie, Annie, and Morgan.
I think we all make a pretty good looking family. Though I think the little girls on the floor could have made a better effort to sit up. Such is life with a bunch of 8 and under sisters.

 

This is me with my sisters and cousins. Molly in on the far left and Rebecca is on the far right. Yeah, we're kind of a dweeby family. But it's awesome.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday! I turn 12 again. It came up so fast I nearly forgot. It kind of sucks having a birthday between two holidays. Oh, well December 1 is a great day. My party is this weekend so tune in then to see pictures!

Thanksgiving

Did everyone survive Thanksgiving? I just barely did. There was so many people at my house! I didn't realize we knew that many folks. I'll start with the guest list. Besides myself, Mother, and my sisters there was: Samantha Parker (Liz's BFF), Jess and her dad; JJ, her parents, older sister Jamie, and younger brother Jack; cousin Molly and her parents; cousin Rebecca, her parents, and sisters: Lila, Hannah, Bethany, and Dilly. It was amazing we had enough food! But we did and still plenty of leftovers, which are the best part!

 As soon as everyone arrived the line for food started. Molly kept trying to pull Sam's hair. It was hilarious!

 Nellie was first in line. She's the biggest foodie in the family.

Of course, while everyone is getting their food the babies--Morgan and Annie--are fighting with each other right in the middle of the room. They almost knocked my plate out of my hands! Sometimes baby sisters can be a real pain.

 I sat at a table with my friends and Kit. We discussed the first Thanksgiving and how basically everything we ate was not even at the first Thanksgiving.
"Like marshmallows!" Kit says. "You can't have sweet potatoes without marshmallows."
JJ and I agreed with her, but Jess said the marshmallows made them too sweet and she preferred sweet potato pancakes.

 I think Rebecca heard that comment (she loves potato pancakes) and decided then was the perfect time to make her entrance.
"I want to propose a toast," she says. "To family and friends."
We all stopped eating for a moment and held up our glasses to humor her. But we all really just wanted to eat.

 Which brings me back to marshmallows! Mother loaded down the casserole. It was the best part of the whole meal!

 "I'll say it again," Kit says. "You can't have sweet potatoes without marshmallows!"

 And then it was time for dessert (and you thought marshmallows were dessert, hehe). Nellie was, of course, first in line again. There was pumpkin pie as well, but it didn't photograph very well. Plus I would start drooling and wishing it was Thanksgiving again every time I looked at it.

 "SUGAR RUSH!"

Molly got a little to many sweets in her.

Yes, that's Morgan and Annie still fighting in the background. They really do love each other.
After all the food was eaten, I didn't feel much like doing anything. That's when I noticed Rebecca sitting all my herself. It really was the last thing I wanted to do, but I went over and sat down next to her.
"What're you drinking?" I ask.
"Tea. Are the parties always this loud?"
"Yeah."
"Oh," Rebecca says. She sounded so sad; I had no choice but to ask if she was alright.
"I miss Mac," she says, talking about our other cousin who still lives in New York. "I really wish her family was a hundred percent certain they are moving here."
I just nodded. I have never met Mac. And honestly I'm kind of tired of all these cousins moving here. But I could empathize with missing a best friend. "I'm sure she can come visit even if she doesn't move here," I says.
"Maybe."

 Even though it wasn't that bad to talk to Rebecca, I was glad to get away and hide with JJ and Jess.

 Unfortunately that lasted a whole two seconds! Morgan and Annie barged in. Morgan promptly jumped on me and Annie started screaming.

The rest of my cousins showed up. Jess didn't seem to happy about all the noise. But I was glad of it and especially glad for Molly to make Rebecca feel welcome.

 

 And that's most of the drama of my Thanksgiving. I'll get into having to take family pictures another time. Right now I'm exhausted all over again.

Two Words: Rebecca Wordsworth

Apparently I have more cousins then just goofy ol' Molly. One is Rebecca Wordworth, and another whom I'll meet this Christmas. Let me tell you, I fear for my life!
 

Everything started out fine yesterday. Kit and I played with our horses.

 "It's a werehorse!" Kit practically yells. She is completely over the moon (bad pun) about werewolves after my friend Frankie and I's discussion on our club blog. Kit wants to go hunting for werewolves. And she's been searching Mother's jewelry box for silver to melt into bullets. However, Mother is a cheap-o and doesn't have any real silver, which I think is very lucky for all the werewolves out there. Anyway, getting back on track.

In walks this girl, and she says: "Your mom said I could come up. I'm Rebecca. Which one of you is Emily?"
I said I was (what else could I do?) and she offered to shake my hand. Those perfect curls! Ugh! Why does everyone else have such pretty hair?

 I shook her hand. She blathered on about her life. We're going to be in the same class! We're cousins! And when our other cousin moves here we will have so much fun together! Somebody save me!

She starts looking around my room and points to my totally awesome poster.

 "Who's that?"
Are you kidding me? Of course I couldn't say that. "Joshua Jackson from Fringe," I say. "It's one of my favorite shows."
"Never heard of it."
Are you serious?

So Rebecca makes herself all pretty and comfy in my room. I just want to scream my lungs out. Don't get me wrong, she seems like a nice girl, but she is totally no Jocelyn or Jess. I need to be around people who like to get dirty and play toys. Her perfect hair and white shirt don't scream that to me. But maybe we will learn to tolerate each other. Or at least that is what I hoped until she got up to leave.
"I'll see you in school tomorrow," she says. And pets me on the head!

 

I can only hope my other cousin will not be this crazy. Anyone else have cousin horror stories to help me out?

 

Cake Making

I'm a little late in posting these pictures. We made the cake for Halloween. But better late than never, right?

Here we are all ready to start mixing. Jess, my sister Kit, Jocelyn, and myself.

"I got the eggs!" Jocelyn yelled.

"No!" I said. "You can't just throw them in the bowl. You have to crack them. We don't want shells in our cake!"

"I'll pour the milk in," Jess said once we got the egg crisis sorted out.

Frosting time! We decided Jess was the one most likely to do a fairly neat job.

"We can't forget the sprinkles!"

The finished project.

  

Yeah, I don't think any of us will be pursuing a career in baking. But we are good at making a mess!

Fast Food!

Yesterday Mother took Jocelyn, Jess, myself, and Kit out for dinner. Since Mother is so cheap (love you Mother!) we went to McDonald's.

Jocelyn and Kit had hamburgers, Jess had chicken nuggets, and I had a sausage/egg sandwich. I'm just that awesome.

 Of course I had fries too. Who goes out for fast food and doesn't have fries?

 

We also got ice cream! Which in hindsight I think was a bad idea. Kit was already pumped up with Halloween candy, and Jess must have been as well. This is what happened:

It could have been worse, I know. But we were in public! Sometimes I don't know what gets into Jess. She usually comes off as the sweet, innocent, quiet girl. Then she acts like one of my sisters.

Who's Excited for Halloween?

Me!
The J's are going to spend the night even though it's a school night. But we had to promise Mother we would not stay up too late and that we would get ready for school without throwing a hissy fit (remember that Jess!). I posted this pick on my other blog, but I'm going to post it here too because I can.

We made chocolate covered marshmallows for a Halloween goodie. They were so good we only had a few left to take pictures of!

Anyone going trick or treating? I live in the middle of nowhere, so I won't be, but Mother bought enough candy to make it more fun to stay home. Plus the J's and I get to help her make a cake! And we still get to dress up. I'm going as an FBI agent. Mother made me an awesome badge. JJ is going as a hippie and Jess as a colonial girl. That was the closest thing she could find to a princess costume. She's big with princesses right now.

Exploring with Jocelyn

 

So, the other week Jocelyn and I decided to see what we could find out in the wilderness. We found are favorite cave and decided we needed to get to the top to climb the tree.

 "We're almost to the top!" I told JJ.
"It's a long way down," JJ said.

 Maybe a bit of a drop.

 "I can make it," I said. "Hurry up, slowpoke."
Nothing makes JJ go faster than that. She climbed right over me and made it to the top first.

"Now how do we get down?"