The Metcalf Christmas

Julie's family is leaving town on the 23rd to go to Midland to be with the Metcalf family. Our Christmas with them was on Monday, the 20th. We had wanted to go to Bigz Burger's, only to find out they were closed, so we went to Longhorn. Marshall wasn't feeling well, and ate nothing, then fell asleep in Julie's arms. He had been coughing for a few days and lost his voice, so Julie already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the next morning. Here we are before we ate, with Mia in her new Christmas dress and the ever-present, Bear!

Macy had already guessed that the American Girl Doll Bitty Twins were in her big box under our tree. The girl has her coloring and the boy has Marshall's. Only one problem: Marshall really thought the boy doll was for HIM! But, he got lots of other toys and soon was happy about his Toy Story dolls that talk and his Trio blocks.

Papa is always ready with his glasses and screwdriver! Finding the place for Woody's batteries was a special challenge this year, but soon, he was working like a charm! The packaging on these toys was amazing. It took a good 20 minutes to get Woody and Buzz Lightyear out of their boxes!

Earlier in the afternoon, Macy and Marshall had to demonstrate their new bicycles, gifts from their other grandparents. Macy's is a Hannah Montana bicycle and is a lot bigger than the one she had been riding, but she adapted quickly and loves it!

Marshall bicycle is called "The Wasp." Here's why....

What's funny is that last summer, Marshall would run into the house if he ever saw a wasp. He was really afraid of them! Then, this is the bicycle he picked out! Such a brave little boy! Oh, and the doctor said he had a very red throat and some slightly swollen lymph glands, but the strep test turned out negative. Since they were going out of town, she gave them a prescription for an antibiotic, which they started today.

Macy's Weekend at Mimi's

Macy spent the night with us Saturday night. For dinner, she wanted to make a menu, so I wrote down everything we were having. She then wrote, "Mimi's Restrot" on the left. She's really getting pretty good with sounding out words and spelling. I love the way she comes up with words like "restaurant" which is clearly a very hard word to spell! She circled what Papa (Popoy) had for dinner, then made him pay for it. She charged him a dollar per bowl of soup. He had to make some play money and pay me.

Macy pointing to a package under the tree that has her name on it. She said, "It's too big for one American Girl doll, so I think it's the "Bitty Twins!" Darn!

When we got home from church, she wanted to go feed the fish in the park. We had heard the song, "Mary, Did You Know" at church and she kept singing it over and over again. She didn't know all of the words, so she kind of made up some of them. Then I downloaded the song by Kenny Rodgers and Wynona Judd on my cell phone and we sat in the park, on this beautiful afternoon, and sang this song several times. For the link to this song go to http://www.andiesisle.com/didsheknow.html. Macy has a beautiful voice, and I will always remember her sitting in the park singing this song with me.

Here is a picture of Macy sneaking up on a butterfly. When we got to the park, there were several butterflies flying around near us. She was upset about this and said, "Oh, no, the butterflies are supposed to be in Mexico where it's warm. We have to save them, Mimi! We need to find them some flowers." (This could have easily been a "Dora the Explorer" episode!) There were no flowers in the park, since we had had a hard freeze last week, but I assured her they would find the pansies in our yard and survive. We saw one butterfly that landed on the sidewalk, and here she is trying to sneak up on it and catch it. Of course, it flew away about the time I took this picture. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking her babies for a walk in the stroller and collecting special rocks which she wants to write blessings on to give as gifts. By the time we got home, we had a stroller with three dolls in it and a load of rocks!

The Little Blue-Eyed Boy, AKA, The Stud

Doesn't he just steal your heart?

Marshall Metcalf, age 5 1/2

More Thanksgiving Fun with Family!

Larry's boys, Hayden and Sam on the left, and Nan's kiddos, Barbara and Wesley on the right!

Hayden is in second grade, Sam is four, Barbara has two years of college behind her and getting ready to go to UTMB in Galveston to pursue a career in nursing, and Wesley is a freshman at Reagan High School!

More of Funny Ainsley

Watching a little "Word World" on tv.

Picking up acorns in the park and...

...feeding them to the fish! The fish didn't like them, but Ainsley thought it was the right thing to do.

She just stepped out of the bath!

Thanksgiving morning:

"Ainsley, look at Mimi, smile!!!" This is what I got instead! It's just too funny not to post!

Again, "Ainsley, look at Mimi, smile!"

And here, she's pulling the skirt off!

She really looked so cute Thanksgiving morning, but she wanted to play with her skirt and she refused to keep her bow in her hair, which is lost somewhere in our house. So, you'll have to use your imagination, and pretend you know what she'd look like with the skirt around her waist, a bow in her hair, and a smile on her face! It was a great Thanksgiving. We are thankful for beautiful children, their spouses, and grandchildren. See more pictures below!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THANKSGIVING!!

No matter how hard we tried, Ainsley insisted on putting her own spin on her Thanksgiving greeting. She recently had her birthday, so she just combined the two and would say, "Happy Birthday Thanksgiving!" It was a great Thanksgiving lunch with her cousins, Macy and Marshall, and the rest of the family.

The Kids' Table

My Broken Heart♥

This is what happened last Monday when Marshall, 5, broke my heart! I had picked him and Macy up from school and we went to their house. Marshall said, "Mimi, I have a girlfriend." That's when my heart began to crack a little. (See, I thought it was I who was his girlfriend, right after his mommy.) I calmly said, "Oh, really, who?" He said, "Sadie.....she calls me 'Marshmallow!'" I have often heard a little girl yell, "Bye, Marshmallow," when they get in my car after school. Then he went on to say, "I call her 'Princess!'" At this point, my heart was completely broken in two! To make matters worse, he said, "And I love her very, very, very much! I even love her more than God!" I said, "Oh, no, Marshall, you don't love anyone more than God. You love God above everyone else, then your mommy, daddy, Macy, and the rest of your family (me?)" And then Macy piped in...."and THEN your GIRLfriend!"