Letters to Santa

So moving has gone fairly smoothly since all the sickness. We are pretty much unpacked. The garage is still a bit disheveled, but the rest of the house is looking fairly put together, if I do say so myself. We even have things on most of the walls and Nate has been busy patching holes in the walls (from nails and such) and repainting. We have a few other minor projects; I'll be tacking one tomorrow while the kids are at daycare - removing wallpaper from the kids' bathroom. It will surely be a chore, hence why they will be heading out for the day, or at least the morning while I slug away at the wallpaper. This post will give you a glimpse at the basement, where we've been spending a lot of our time. The toys are down there, which pretty much means the kids are too. And with all the rain we've had, it's been nice to have the space down below to hang out. Not regretting choosing the house with the finished basement, not at all...

We wrote letters to Santa today. Tessa cut out some pictures from a catalog (a giant bounce house and one of the $600 outdoor blowup waterparks for your backyard). I managed to sway her to a simpler request, and one that I already knew Santa had for her.

The picture, in case you are wondering, is Tessa on the street trying to cross. And the lady in the blue dress? That is mommy, because little girls aren't supposed to be anywhere without their mommy. She also dictated a letter from Morgan to me. I like how she included the part about her wanting a bike...
Lucy watched.
And I took a few pictures around the basement to give all three of my readers a feel for the new basement. I made this growth chart for the kids on one of my sick days earlier this school year. I think it turned out pretty cute for my first one.
And here is one room of the basement. Love the message on the wall!
And to end, I'll share a cute story about Tessa. We got out the Christmas tree yesterday and Tessa was putting on some ornaments. Morgan wanted a drink, so I went to the kitchen to get his milk and while I was gone there was the crash and breakage of a glass ornament. I scooped the kids up and put them in front of a show so I could clean it up, the whole time thinking Morgan had assumed one of the ornaments was a ball and had thrown it. Tessa came to me almost crying and said, "Mommy, it wasn't Morgan who broke it. It was me, but it was an accident. I'm sorry Mommy." Man, I love that girl. Made me so darn proud of her for telling the truth. I'd love to say it will last forever, but I know it won't...so for tonight, I'll relish in her three year old innocence.