Rainy Day Fun and Looking Back on Christmas

We stayed in our jammies today until Abbey's Chinese lesson late in the afternoon. We set up the princess tent and had a cheerio, cheese and Otter Pop party with Abbey's babies. Later I heard her singing Happy Birthday to MLK and having cake in there. She also told me she was writing her own new Bible book today (in a princess journal). It says, "Jesus you are great. You are a blessing."
She has had a factory going in her room all weekend and had called me to come buy some toys, but when I came she had hung up a sign on the door that said Sorry, which meant it was closed. She is just so funny. Do other kids play factory all the time? Ever since she was two years old she has been setting up assembly lines and putting people to work.
Last week she was over the moon to go to a Barbie birthday party with a bunch of second grade girls. Each girl was given a Barbie (something we had successfully avoided until now) and had to create outfits out of toilet paper. Of course Abbey's was a bride. She kept telling me at Christmas that Santa was going to put a Barbie in her stocking and I kept explaining that he doesn't give those to four year old's. I am hoping I can tuck Barbie away somewhere in a week or two and she'll be forgotten about.
Little Miss Muffet also cut a hole today in my Pottery Barn duvet cover. She was mortified after she did it and was literally wailing. I was trying to talk to her about how it happened and whether or not it was an accident. When I suggested that it might have been on purpose she let out a terrible shriek. I started crying because of seeing her so upset and told her that she's more important than any blanket and to forget about it. It was less than an inch long and near a seam, so I quickly stitched it up. I feel bad that she tries so hard to do everything right and is so worried about making a mistake and being forgiven. I always tell her that there is nothing she could ever do that I wouldn't forgive her for. Little sweetheart.

So even though it's long past Christmas I just had time to load my photos and want to do a little recap.

We had an incredible time at the Nutcracker ballet. Of course she wore her Sugar Plum Fairy outfit. It was just magical to be watching it with her for the first time. She had a little fever from some shots, but we sat in box seats and it felt like it was just her and I. When it started "snowing" on us she was just in awe. I think it was a great connection for her to see the beautiful results that ballet lessons can lead to.

All through the season she was focused on Mary, saying she was Mary, looking for her in every Nativity scene, asking about her in songs we would hear. When I would ask her why she liked Mary so much she would always say it's because of her "bridal", meaning the head covering cloth. Abbey is so into anything relating to weddings or brides. A few weeks ago she told me she wants a bride birthday party. I was about 24 hrs into trying to wrap my brain around how I could pull that off when she changed themes. She is currently saying she wants a Jesus birthday party with angel napkins. We'll see if that sticks until April and if it does maybe I can find some Easter things to make it work.

One of the things I loved about this Christmas was her pronunciation of it. She says Chrit-mas, without the first "s". I still love the last lingering baby-ness to her speech...it's just really sweet. We always play a game called Rumikub, but she calls it Barbeque.

So she did get a little wedding play set at Christmas but what she asked Santa for was race cars. She loves her little racetrack. I got her a Geo Trax train set and a Leapster and she is loving both of those as well.
She loved being at Auntie's house and running around with cousins and friends. It really is as good as the North Pole there. Cookies, candy, and presents everywhere.