Christmas-Take 2

The day after Christmas we had big plans to leave Grandma and Grandpa’s house and drive to the airport to pick up Auntie Karen.  Unfortunately her first flight was so delayed she ended up spending the ENTIRE day in the Denver airport!  We felt so bad for her!   From the time she woke up till the time she went to bed was almost 22 hours! She finally arrived close to midnight. Poor thing!

Since we weren’t able to meet her at the airport that afternoon we ended up staying longer at Grandma and Grandpa’s and then heading to Noni and Papa’s in time for dinner.  T and I made the most of it by leaving as soon as I’d fed Peanut and having a spontaneous date night.  We did a little post-Christmas sales shopping and went out for Mexican food.

We went back, put the girls to bed, and then stayed up until it was time to head to the airport.  The girls were thrilled when they woke up and found Auntie Karen there the next morning!  Peanut loved meeting her Auntie Karen!!!

The three peach/coral outfits came from one of the ladies T works with…so sweet!  Peanut ended up ruining hers and having to change.  :P

As soon as Papa got home that night we started in on the 2nd round of presents.  The girls got so many nice things!

Here’s some Super Why books from Uncle Sean and Jen.

Giant pipe cleaners from Pawpaw and Nana…she LOVES these!

Buggy is so sweet.  I think gift-giving is one of her primary love languages.  She gets most excited when people open gifts she picked out for them, and she would go and give the appropriate person a hug every time she opened one of her own gifts.

Peanut got an adorable inchworm from Pawpaw and Nana!

She desperately wanted it in her mouth, but needed a little help.

“Get. In. My. Mouth. Inchworm!”

Karen and Mama bought the girls adorable personalized lunchboxes!  They will be perfect for all our backyard picnics!

Papa bought Buggy a very grown up artist’s set.  She was thrilled!

Aunt Karen and Mama also got Bug a Tangled chapter book and halo/braid.

Boo got Rapunzel’s wedding shoes.  Her look was wondrous.  She plays Rapunzel ALL the time. So happy!

Buggy giving Mama hugs.

The halo.

Boo wanted me to take a picture of her shoes.  She insisted on wearing them to church the following Sunday.

Auntie Karen and Peanut!

Boo also got a sheet of stickers.  She promptly decorated her shirt. :)

Mama painted Karen a beautiful picture in memory of Ty.

Aunt Wendy got Bug and Boo adorable animal hats, and Peanut a stuffed giraffe.  She was a little worried at first…

…but warmed up to him. :)

Boo had no such qualms about her monkey hat!

The Florida family sent the girls hats, bows, and coloring books.

Auntie Nina got Peanut this adorable red outfit!  Love it.

Noni got them personalized clipboards! They came from an online shop…Freckle Box.  It’s so fun to have personalized stuff since our girls’ names are too unique to ever find anything!

They got books from Uncle Jason and Auntie Heather and wanted to read them right away. Peanut got some adorable onesies.

Peanut also got a soft new blanket from Uncle Sean and Jen…perfect timing since I’d just ruined her other carseat blanket by washing it with some dark colors.

Boo got a cute set of kitchen items from Pawpaw and Nana, and Snow White Legos from Auntie Nina and Uncle Mike.  Bug got a Hello Kitty set from them.

The girls were thrilled with all their presents and as soon as we were done opening they started a rousing game of Tangled.  “Wapunzel, Wapunzel! Wet down your hair!”

Thank you so much for all the wonderful presents everyone!!!!  We love them!

Sledding

On Christmas day, after doing presents and having a late breakfast of cinnamon rolls, we all bundled up and went up the hill behind the house.  This first picture is taken from almost the exact spot where T and I got married!

The guys packed down a little trail, and then the fun began!

The tubes went a lot faster and smoother than the sled.

Uncle Wade packed down some snow to make a bump.  It’s kind of hard to see, but Buggy flies over it and wipes out in this next video.

I went down several times with Boo.  It was actually a LOT of fun!

T took the kids down too. 

It was quite a workout going up and down that little hill!  It was hard for Boo to walk since she was so bundled so I carried her up four times! 

T got the tractor out and started giving rides back up the hill.

After the kids got cold and tired the adults took a few turns.  Love the air time Auntie Nae gets when going over the bump!

And what better way to warm up after sledding than to go in the hot tub!  Here’s the three siblings with all their kiddos (minus Peanut).

So fun!

Merry Christmas!

After singing Happy Birthday to Jesus we went in the living room where “Santa” had come. :)  We actually don’t celebrate that way, but since cousin E still does we all participated.  I was afraid the girls would slip up and say something, but they did great!  I thought the Santa gifts looked so cute all lined up. 

Boo’s first glimpse.

And Buggy’s.

Boo got Cinderella’s castle and a Tag Reader.  We haven’t got it set up yet, but we’re hoping it will encourage her to start sounding things out.  She’s got all her letter sounds down and is just starting to put sounds together to make words.

Bug has been asking for Rapunzel’s castle for months and months. 

We hid Eugene inside the wardrobe so this is when she first found him. :)

Peanut wasn’t too impressed with her Weeble House. Hopefully she’ll grow to like it as she gets more dexterity. :)

The night before I was feeding Peanut, and Daddy had the girls all ready for bed when I got done so we just put them in bed, and then later realized that we hadn’t read the Christmas story so Grandpa read it before we dug into the presents.

One of our other traditions is, instead of buying gifts for all the kids, to all go shopping together (we’d done it a few days before) and let them choose a present for the person who’s name they drew.  We first started it when we were out shopping and they all wanted the fun Christmas toys they were seeing.  It helps them get the focus off of the getting and more on the giving.  Here’s Boo opening the gift she received from Waylon.

Bug got a Spiro-graph from E.  She’s actually using it, right next to me, as I type. :)

One day at Awana, when the kids were talking about what they wanted for Christmas, Noni mentioned that they could ask for a bible.  Since then, whenever we ask Boo what she wanted for Christmas she would say a purple bible. 

We didn’t really want to buy her a bible yet since she’s not reading, so we hunted around and found her this Children’s bible story/devotion book.  And it’s purple.  And sparkly.  And has a crown topped mirror on the front. :)

Peanut got a fun pull-apart caterpillar from Grandma and Grandpa.

The girls have been concerned that Peanut doesn’t have a “lovey” like Bug’s Koala and Boo’s Ruff Ruff so we went on a hunt for one.  You’d be surprised how hard it is to find the larger sized Beanie Babies!  We finally found one the day we were shopping with/for the cousins.

I think Peanut was more interested in her sisters than the elephant.

But she seemed to take to pretty quickly.

Grandma got all three of the girls cute new outfits.  They actually wore them today! 

I guided Boo as she picked out a present for cousin S, but she also saw this little Panda and REALLY wanted to buy it for her so I let her get it too. :)

The girls’ were pretty interested in the Weeble House…making up for Peanut’s lack of enthusiasm. :)

Every year I make a picture calendar for us, Grandma, Noni, Karen, and Mama.  Here’s Grandma opening hers.  Peanut helped.

So many fun presents!  Thank you everybody!!!!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

On Christmas Eve we made Jesus’ birthday cake.  Boo picked a white cake.

Then, after the kids’ opened their stockings, Waylon, Boo, and Bug frosted it with Grandma’s homemade chocolate frosting.

Sprinkles!

And candles!

Then next morning as soon as we got upstairs we went to the kitchen to sing Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Jesus! :)