Leading Up to Christmas

Before I get to Christmas here are some things that have been going on.

Lily has been terrorizing us all on a daily basis.  We love this wild girl and her frankenstein walk has turned into a run.  I swear she moves so fast.  I barely know where she is one minute from the next.  Actually I do know where she is.  She is somewhere causing trouble and getting into things.  Busy busy busy.

 We had a little party with some of Audrey's little friends.  They made a craft, decorated cookies and exchanged a gift. I think Audrey only cried once so overall a success.  I made them pizza and gave them oranges but they mostly just ate puffy cheetos, had orange dust all over their fingers and ate cookies.  So I sent them home healthier and happier.

 Audrey sat on this bench and put her knee in her shirt and told me to get the camera and take a picture.  After I took it she asked me if she could look at it and was mighty pleased with the results.

 Bryan and I went to an 80's White Elephant party.  It was such a fun night.  I had a great time going to the second hand store trying to find something to wear, getting funny looks from the cashier as I made my purchase and getting all dressed up.  Bryan actually won one of the best costume awards because the host said he looked EXACTLY like a boy she went to a dance with.  She said it was a serious blast from the past.  I won an award for doing the running man to Vanilla Ice.  Unfortunately someone took a video and posted it.  It gives me great pains to watch that video.  I need to remind myself that any award isn't worth the humiliation.  Ugh!  So embarrassing.  But you know that music starts and I just can't help but get my groove on.

 Bryan gets a weekend off here and there and with the stress of a new job we have decided we need to do something fun when he has time off.  So we went and explored the Boise Aquarium and I must say I was pretty impressed!  It was actually really fun.

 The girls touched the manta rays.  This was super concerning for Julia but she eventually got over the sliminess of it all.

 Lily was ready to swim with the manta rays.

 Julia loved the sea turtle.  They had talked about it in school and she was thrilled when we finally saw him.

 Sharks are always a hit.

 Part of your world....Look at Bryan's six pack!  And all of that weight lifting has made his neck enormous!

 I love getting my girls Christmas dresses.

Oh that squinty eyed smile is just my favorite.  This Lily is growing up too fast.  She is making animal sounds, folding her arms for the prayer, saying thank you when we give her things and calls for "dadeeee" the second he walks in the door.  I just need to slow it down!

 I sure do love these three.  It has been such a great Christmas break to have them all home with me for a while.

White Elephant Dancing

We had a little white elephant party at our house.  It was a hilarious night.  We planned it right after we received an invitation for a HUGE white elephant party a family in our ward throws, so some of these party goers had to do two white elephant parties.  Oh, well.  You really can't have too many of these if you ask me.  

Bryan whipped out the classic panda sweater.  No bah humbug here.  Bryan is filled with Christmas spirit.

 The gifts were so funny.  My face was hurting by the end of the night.  And we had too much good food.  I had to roll my big self to bed that night.

 You all know you need disposable underwear right?  Never know when that is going to come in handy that's for sure.

 And just when you thought the mumu was comfy for only one...

 Well it's pretty darn comfy for two as well!

 Bryan was thrilled with his crafting with cat hair book.  We can't wait to get started with some great little cat hair finger puppets.  Is this book for real?  You better believe it.
We have been so lucky to have such fun friends already here in Idaho.  The whole night was hilarious.  We learned more about each other than I think any of us bargained for.

 Audrey had a dance recital.  She was so excited to wear the outfit and wear real makeup.

 While the other kids went rogue and were dancing to the beat of their own wild drums, Audrey stayed on track and followed the teacher.  I was really proud of her.  Dance is something she really enjoys.

 She insisted that Bryan take her to the practice.

 The most beautiful ballerina.

Christmas Going-Ons

  One of the most important things I feel I can give my children is a love of music.  Julia has been taking piano lessons and I couldn't be more thrilled with how it is going for her.  She really enjoys it.  She had her first recital and did such a great job.  I could tell that she was really nervous but she played her songs so well and stepped up to the challenge.  I have to admit it was nice to just be worried about one child at the piano recital rather than the whole group.  I used to get some serious anxiety the week of my own students' piano recitals.  Her teacher is a perfect fit for her which makes me so happy.  I can't tell you the joy I feel to listen to her music fill our home.

 She looked so cute.  Her teacher says all we need to do now is get her to smile WHILE she is playing.

 The light display they have down town here is absolutely amazing. We went expecting some pretty lights but they definitely exceeded our expectations.

 The river runs through the lights and they play Christmas music on the loud speakers.  It was such a magical time.  I think we will go back several times before the season is over.

 The bridges were so impressive.

 We also decorated gingerbread houses for Family Home Evening.

 I glued the houses together with hot glue,.I know it's cheating but the inevitable frustration that would result in trying to assemble them with frosting isn't worth it.  I have images of girls laying on the ground, "They won't stick together, it keeps falling down!"  Instead the houses stayed very much together and the girls had the best time.  They were very creative with their houses.

 This one just whined and begged for candy.

 The finished products.

 And one more light picture.

Thanksgiving.

I know Thanksgiving was a while ago.  Whatever.  We had a good one.  It was so relaxing, full of good food and my parents came to spend it with us which was perfect.  The girls and I made little turkeys full of nuts for the table.  The girls absolutely love doing things like this and even though it is really busy, and I often don't want to,  I have to stop and remind myself to do things like that with them every once in a while. I will say the cinnamon nuts we put in the cups were delish. 

 Ready to stuff our faces.  Some years I undercook the turkey or have some other mishap but I must say this year I nailed it.  Everything tasted good.  So I insisted that the entire family refer to me as the "Cooking Goddess" for the rest of the weekend.  I felt I had earned it.  I would have gone for "Baking Goddess" but I didn't earn that one because I used Texas Roadhouse rolls.  And I didn't make a pie or homemade stuffing.  Okay so I didn't bake much but whatever I created tasted awesome so I'm sticking with "Cooking Goddess."

 We set up the Christmas tree.  Our home is a bit bigger this year and therefore the 20 dollar and 20 year old 4 foot tree wasn't going to cut it.  I found a tree online and went for it.  To my amazement and wonder when I pulled it out of the box the branches were on hinges and it just unfolded magically before my eyes.  We had the whole thing up in no time.  I was in awe.  Don't you love it when you take a chance on the internet and your purchase exceeded your expectations?  Well I sure do.

 I wanted to do completely different colors than I have in the past.  So I went with gold and blue.  It has already brought loads of Christmas joy into our home.  And Christmas massacres by a certain 12 month old that has learned to frankenwalk all over my house.

We did some other things like went on some walks, did a little shopping, played some games and went to a couple of restaurants.  A big highlight was watching Ohio State beat Michigan.  Overall it was a wonderful holiday.  We have so much to be thankful for and I love that there is a holiday completely dedicated to remembering the things we have.  Thanks again mom and dad for coming to spend it with us.