Merry (semi-late) Christmas!

Hi all!  I hope you had a very merry Christmas!  I know my sisters and I did.  Our cousins, the Brooks, and our grandparents drove down to our house to celebrate with us.  It was very cozy in our living room. ;^)

 Guess what?  Georgia and I got a Wii, two controllers, and Wii Sports Resort (a game)!  We are having lots of fun making Miis, and even convinced Elizabeth to play with us a few times.  In the lovely picture of our TV you can see the Mii I made, playing Frisbee Dog.

Oh.  Georgia says to tell you that other than the Wii, she only got clothes, which doesn't surprise me.

Anyway,

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

My Birthday!

 Hi all!  Yesterday, May 14th, was my real, live, actual birthday!  Yay!

 That morning, I woke up to the smell of scones.

 When I came downstairs, the table was covered with gifts!

"Happy birthday, Chrissa!" Mom and Dad greeted me.

"Yes, happy birthday!" Elizabeth agreed.

"Thanks!  What smells so good?" I asked, taking in a deep waif.

"I made strawberry scones just for you." my mom replied. "Let's eat!

After breakfast, my parents said I could open two presents.

"Which one should I open first?" I asked.

"How about the one with the cupcakes on it?" Mom suggested, pointing to one on the top. "Could you grab it, Elizabeth?"

"Of course.  Here, Chrissa." my sister said, handing me the gift.

I opened it up and found a cute pair of jean shorts, just like I wanted!

"Thanks, Mom and Dad!" I exclaimed, giving then each a hug.

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

As I was opening the second gift, our phone rang.  Elizabeth picked it up.

"Hello, this is the Edwards."

"Hi!  It's McKenna and Kit.  Is the birthday girl there?"

"Yes, she is.  I'll put her on speaker phone."  Elizabeth replied, pressing the button and setting the phone on my gift.

"Hello?" I said.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Chrissa, happy birthday to you!" my cousins sang.

"We just wanted to wish you a happy birthday!" came McKenna's voice.

"How's it going so far?" Kit added quickly.

"Great!  I was just about to open a present when you called.  Oh- can you come to my party on Saturday?" (I would have had my party yesterday, but since it was a school day Mom suggested I wait until Saturday.  So, yesterday I was just celebrating with my family.)

"Check you email." was Kit's reply. "Bye!"

"Bye, and thank you!"  I ended the call and finished opening my gift.

"This tee-shirt is so cute!  Thank you!" I smiled.  "Now I know why you wanted me to open these two particular presents."

"Yes, so you could wear them today, if you want to." Mom said.

"Are you kidding me?  Of course I want to!  I'm going to get dressed right now." I exclaimed, running upstairs.

I love my new outfit!

When I returned downstairs, Dad had left for work, Mom was washing the breakfast dishes, and Elizabeth was cleaning up.  I asked Elizabeth to re-do my hair in a fun birthday style, and she agreed.

Since neither of us had school (Elizabeth had finished for the year, and obviously it was my birthday), we played together until lunch.  Mom made quesadillas, one of my favorite foods.  After lunch, Mom mysteriously told me to close my eyes, which I did.

When I opened them, there was a adorable American girl doll bed in front of me!

"Wow!!!!  This is amazing!!!" I squealed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!  How did you make it?"

"Elizabeth and I found a YouTube video tutorial." Mom explained.

"I think you should open the big pink one gift next." Elizabeth recommended.

"Okay."

"I made bedding and accessories for the bed." Elizabeth smiled.

"This is so wonderful!" I answered. "Do you want to play with me?"

"Sure."

It is so perfect for Nellie and Felicity!

For dinner, Mom, Dad, Elizabeth and I went to Olive Garden, because it's one of my favorite restaurants.  (And I love their bread-sticks!)  Afterward, we returned home, ate my birthday cake and I opened my last two presents.

I had such a great birthday!

How do you celebrate your birthday?

A Book and a Letter

 Hello, lovely readers!  I have been having a wonderful day, because first of all, we ate out for lunch, and secondly, Mother took Chrissa and I to the library!  I love going to our library, because it has so many books.  To me, it is so exciting to step through those library doors. 

 When we returned home, I opened a book and started reading.  Suddenly, Chrissa started singing Let It Go from the Disney movie Frozen.

"Let it go; let it go!

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go

Turn my back and slam the door!"  my sister blared loudly.

"Chrissa?  Could you please quiet down?" I encouraged.  "I'm reading."

"You would be singing too if you knew why I am." Chrissa hinted.

"Why are you singing, then?"

"Because ... we got letters from Libby and Marie-Grace!  Eee!"  Chrissa exclaimed, continuing to sing.

 "Really?" I asked, setting down my book ...

... and curiously heading down the stairs.

 "Of course!  Here's yours." my dancing sister said, shoving a envelope in my outstretched hand.

 Quickly sitting down, Chrissa and I read the long-anticipated letters.  E-mails are nice, but there is no replacement for a hand-written note.

What excites you?

Mail on a Rainy Day

 Hello, lovely readers!  Since it's raining outside, to-day was the sort of day that you feel like curling up with a good book, which is exactly what I did...

 ... until Chrissa ran up the stairs and barged into my quietness.

"Hey Elizabeth!  Great news!  The rain let up for a second, so I ran out and got the mail, and there were two letters for us!" Chrissa said excitedly with one breath.

"From Marie-Grace, Liberty, Lexie, and Melodie?" I guessed.

"Yup!  Isn't it cool how we almost always get letters from them at the same time?"

"Indeed."

 Here are the letters from our cousins.

 Eagerly, Chrissa and I sat down to read our pen pals' words.

"Elizabeth?" my sister asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to write replies to these awesome letters, like, right now?" 

"Sure, that sounds like a lovely idea." I agreed.  So, we dragged our letter supplies out of the closet, ...

 ... and began to write.

"What do you think?" I inquired, holding up a white card with two red hearts below the message Happy Valentine's Day.

 "Oh, how cute!  I like the Valentine's day idea." Chrissa said, while busily snipping some paper.

When we finished our letters, Chrissa and I addressed and stamped the envelopes.  They are ready to go!

How do you spend a rainy day?

Movies, Swimming and Cousins!

 Hi all!  Can I tell you something funny?  Our cousins, Kit and McKenna, are staying in Daytona Beach too, but we didn't know that each other were here until we saw each other's blog posts!  Since our hotels were not that far apart, our parents arranged for us to meet at the hotel my family is staying at yesterday.

 "Hey, Chrissa!  I haven't seen you in a long time!" Kit greeted me with a hug.

"Defiantly!" I returned the hug.

"So, what do you want to do?" my crazy cousin asked.

 "What about if we made videos, staring us?" I suggested.

"That's a great idea!"

"I'll go get my camera."  We made several awesome videos, but unfortunately blogger would not let us upload them.  :(  After that, we decided to go swimming.

 Elizabeth ...

 ... and McKenna laid on the pool deck.

 With a splash, Kit dove into the deep, blue water.

 I joined her, and we had a race (or two).

 "I think I might join you; that looks like fun." my sister said, pulling off her cover-up.

"Do you want to come in, McKenna?" I asked.

"Not right now."

 Kit, Elizabeth and I swam until our moms told us it was time to head in.

 "Okay, I'm coming." I said, climbing out of the water.

All in all, Elizabeth and I spent a wonderful afternoon making videos and swimming with our cousins.

Do you like making movies with your friends?

An Interesting Day

 (This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but for some odd reason it didn't work.)

Hello, lovely readers!  Today two interesting things happened.  First, Chrissa and I ate out for every meal! And second, Kit and McKenna, our cousins, started their own blog (You can see it at http://thebrooksadventuresdollblog.blogspot.com/).  For breakfast, our family ate at the Original Pancake House, because Father loves their apple pancakes.

 I ordered buttermilk pancakes with a yogurt parfait. 

 Along with her pancakes, Chrissa got a egg, bacon, and orange juice.

 Chrissa posed to show you her new shirt.  Do you like it?  After breakfast, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where I read and Chrissa exercised in the backyard.

"Come on out and play with me!" Chrissa said. "The weather is perfect!"

"I would really like to finish my book." I replied.  "Perhaps once I finish this chapter?"

"You always say that." my sister said unhappily. "See you in two years."

"Chrissa, would you like me to bring my book outside?" I offered.

"Okay" Chrissa sighed.  "I guess that's as good as you'll get."

 For lunch we went to McDonald's.  Nether Chrissa or I remembered to bring the camera, so I just reused this picture.  During the afternoon we spent some quality time with our grandparents, who treated us to dinner at...

 ...Boston Market!  

 Their home-made cornbread is very delicious!

 Chrissa mixed raspberry lemonade and Sprite to create what she called "Think Pink".

We arrived back at the house just in time to pick up the phone.

"Hello, this is Chrissa" my sister said into the phone.

"Hi Chrissa!  This is McKenna, and I just wanted to tell you... I STARTED A BLOG!!!!"  our cousin told Chrissa excitedly.

"WOW! What did you name it?" Chrissa asked.

"The Brooks Adventures.  Please look at it and tell me what you think." McKenna said.  My sister and I did, and we think it's very fun!  Readers, you should check it out too.  Again, their blog address is http://thebrooksadventuresdollblog.blogspot.com/. 

So, that was my interesting day.  

Have you every gone at to eat for every meal?