Baker

Over the Christmas break our friends invited us to their parent's cabin to spend a couple of days.  It ended up being such a great time.  There was lots of snow and lots of playing in the snow.  It is perfect because this family also have three girls that match up pretty closely to our girls.  It's nice for them to each have a playmate.  Here's Julia and Ellie laying in the snow.

 Audrey and Peyton doing the same.

 We did a lot of snowmobiling, pulling the tube behind the snowmobile and lots of hanging out in the cabin eating delicious food.

 Here Julia and I are taking a spin on the snowmobile.  They had four of them so we were all able to enjoy riding in the snowmobiles.

 Ann and Peyton taking a spin.

 Julia was super brave on the tube.  It took a great deal to get her to let go.  She also liked being on the outside because it gave her a faster ride.

 Lily and I took a spin.  I'm not sure how much Lily liked it.  She sure wanted to be a part of everything but I think she would second guess it once we started moving.  She was a super trooper though.  She would hang out and play in the snow and let us all have a good time without too much complaining.

 It is so beautiful up at their cabin.  I love being in the trees and in the woods.  I think it's good for the soul.

 Bryan, Julia and Lily.

 I even rode with my sweetie for a minute.  We each took turns riding with Ann and Dallas up this big mountain.  I'm not going to lie.  I was a little nervous for my life a couple of times.  It was a dang steep mountain!  Thankfully Ann was super patient with me and let me go really slow.  Once I got a feel for it I did a little better.  Julia definitely does not get her daredevil ways from her mother.

 These face masks were a life saver for my girls.  They hardly complained about the cold.

 A family shot, minus two children.

 Audrey riding with her daddy.

 The great family that made this possible.  Thanks so much Jensens for such a great time. You guys are so awesome.

Christmas

There are no words for how fun it is as a parent to see your children's reaction to a sight like this.  No words.  It is pure magic.  All you want to do is sit back and watch their little eyes light up.  They were spoiled rotten.  

 I think a big part of the magic was this little beauty that has currently become my best friend.  He lives in the garage.  Whenever I need him all I have to do is say, "why don't you go out in the garage and jump on the bounce house," and he is there for me.  He inflates in about thirty seconds and provides hours of fun.  Best. Present. Ever.

 It was love at first sight.  They would open a gift or two and ask if we could turn the bounce house back on for more jumping.

 The opening begins.

 The highlight for Lily was a new baby doll and a baby carrier.  The baby came with a binky.  Lily loves binkys.

 Audrey has wanted a bathrobe like her sister in the worst way.  That Santa is so smart.

 More and more jumping.  They couldn't get enough.

 We had a delicious breakfast of eggs benedict.

 Lily absolutely loved drinking from the fancy plastic glass.

 It's funny how plastic goblets make a regular breakfast a "special" breakfast.

 For dinner it was surf and turf.  Oh that surf.  Delicious.  These were some of the best crab legs I have ever had.

 We were filled with lots of love by the end of the day.  Group hugs were in order.

 Finally matching robes!

It was such a wonderful day.  I am so blessed to have this family of mine and so thankful for Christmas and all the things we are able to celebrate.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve started with making cookies.  I hadn't made them the entire Christmas season and poor Santa needed something to eat!  My Aunt Joan always sent us shortbread, so in her memory and in carrying on the Phillips' tradition we made shortbread.  The girls were very helpful.  If Julia appears to be pained in this picture, well she was.  She accidentally touched the pan and got a little burn.  Thankfully she held it together enough for a quick photo and thankfully it left no more than a small red mark.  

 We added red and green sprinkles because we're pretty sure that's the way Santa likes them best.

 Bryan just worked a half day so we went and picked him up and grabbed lunch at Wingers.  Bryan set a really good example for the girls and shoved a piece of popcorn up his nose for this photo.  Apparently he does not remember Audrey shoving a popcorn kernal up her nose and my panic hoping we could get it out.  That dad is always so crazy.

 The girls loved the little outing.

 We then came home and had a quick dinner.  I have decided that I refuse to spend the majority of Christmas Eve cooking.  I have way too many other things I want to do with my night.  So we had a quick dinner and made fancy drinks to go with it.

 We then headed downtown to walk around the lights.  We did this last year and I think we are starting our own little family tradition.

 We had quite a bit of company so I think there are a few families that have this tradition.  It wasn't too cold so we were able to really walk around.  I loved getting outside for a bit and I think it was really good for the girls to run around and get some energy out of their systems.

 The moment the girls were waiting for.  They open pajamas on Christmas Eve and then I have them exchange gifts with each other.  I think it's important they think of one another and I like their gifts for one another to be separate from the craziness of Christmas morning.

 Their cute jammies.

 They prepared a plate of cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  Julia wrote a nice letter to Santa and then they sprinkled "reindeer food" (oatmeal and glitter) outside for the reindeer.  Then they bounced off the walls and ran around giddy for the next little while.  Oh the excitement of Christmas cannot be beat.

I thought for sure they wouldn't sleep a wink and would be up until really late.  Audrey kept telling me how worried she was that Santa would see her if she had to leave her room to go to the bathroom in the night.  I think she is honestly afraid of the idea of Santa, a complete stranger, being in our house.  She asked me lots and lots of questions about the whole operation.  Thankfully they fell asleep very quickly and allowed Santa to work his magic.

Leading To Christmas

We got quite a bit of snow before Christmas.  It was so pretty and I was actually really glad to have a white Christmas.  We finally got the girls some snow pants and boots that actually fit so they were excited to be out in the snow playing.  It was pretty cold and Lily didn't last too long but they had a great time.

 Lily went down the slide by herself with her snow pants on and she was literally launched five feet from the bottom of the slide.  When there's no friction you get moving pretty quickly.  I laughed and laughed.  It was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while.  She wasn't quite sure what had happened.

 Laying down in the snow.

 They helped Bryan shovel the walk.  Bryan loves this hat more than anything.  He wears it everywhere.

 Audrey had her winter dance recital and looked so cute doing it.  She wore tap shoes this year and got to hold a little teddy bear while she danced.

 This is after the recital.  She is such a skinny little stinker.  I don't think I realize it until she is next to other girls her age.

 Bryan and I attended the annual white elephant gift party at our friends this year and the theme was "pajama" party.  Bryan picked up these sweet Duck Dynasty jammies for us.  It was particularly fitting with the exciting controversy going on.  It was a really fun night and good to get away and laugh with our friends and eat tons of food.  It is a party we look forward to every year.

 The girls wore their adorable Christmas dresses the Sunday before Christmas.  They sure did look pretty.

 We took a drive one night to go and see the houses with their Christmas lights.  This is something my family would always do before Christmas and I always enjoyed it.  We filled sippy cups with hot chocolate, had a little treat and drove around to all the homes.  It was kind of a spur of the moment decision but I love making little memories like this with my kids.

 This particular house was amazing.  They had this huge life size Santa staring out the window.