decorating the tree

this year, the girls had fun decorating the christmas tree with us.  i let my control freak perfectionist self {mostly} go out the window and didn't move all of the ornaments around.

 

the girls added the balloons as ornaments too.

they didn't stay on too long before they had to come off :)

little man slept through the whole thing...

christmas: part two

since christmas was with the m family this year, we had christmas with the k family tonight.

 b got to help grandma decorate her christmas tree.

the k grandkids.  poor j is the only boy.

how this girl manages to pull off being cute still even with all the clashing colors is beyond me. 

this was probably my favorite part of the night.

grandma and grandpa n (my mil's parents) moved out here a few months ago.

grandpa n has had a few strokes, so he (basically) is just like a kid.

all day on christmas, he kept asking when his christmas was going to be.

poor guy had to wait a couple days for santa to arrive at his house.

but i would say it was worth it for him.

just look at that face.

priceless.



christmas 2011

this year, we changed christmas a little bit.

we decided that we were going to be home since the girls were a little bigger and we didn't want to pack up christmas.

so, the week before christmas, the m family all got to spend a couple days together at the cabin.

we had a blast and always enjoy seeing grandma, grandpa, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

and i didn't get any pictures while we were up there.  bummer.

we got back home on christmas eve.

just in time to open the traditional christmas eve gift - jammies from grandma m.

b is thrilled with her jammies.

can you tell?

and i couldn't get either one of them to cooperate.

they were *way* too excited to have santa coming to their house.

we wrote a letter to santa and scribbled a little bit on it.

we left him some cookies and milk and the girls went off to bed.

the next morning, we awoke to see that santa had indeed found our house.

and he had helped himself to the cookies and milk.

we opened presents.

and santa brought b the doll that she informed me that santa was going to bring her - after santa had already done all his christmas shopping.

good thing he still pulled through.

after we opened presents, we got ready to go to church.

it was the perfect way to spend christmas - remembering the true reason for the season.

after church, we headed up to grammy and poppers to have christmas dinner and the cousins' gift exchange.

overall we had a good christmas.

the girls are already asking about next year.

i think it's going to be a long year.

santa 2011

the girls got to see santa again this year.

last year was a success.

neither one cried.

b liked seeing santa.  we talked him up all week, and she was okay with seeing him.

she had practiced telling him what she wanted for christmas (a boy and a girl doll, just like m) but when she got up there, she wouldn't talk to him.

but no tears!

and m was a different story:

maybe next year she'll like him again?

christmas 2010

the loot...see the unwrapped silhouette in the corner that santa brought me?

b seeing the presents for the first time...still not 100% awake

m was so excited...too bad the picture is blurry!

opening their presents from uncle justin and aunt "chicken"

at grandma k's house

b with her new castle from grandma and grandpa.

her favorite thing about it?

not that it's a princess castle.

that it came with "bad guys" and a dragon.

christmas eve 2010

christmas this year was with the mr.'s side of the family - which means very low key on christmas eve and alot to do on christmas day.

so christmas eve was spent at our house with our little family.

we may or may not have crashed the party next door and ate breakfast for dinner.  YUM!

after dinner, we came back home, read the christmas story and opened the traditional christmas eve gift of jammies!

and the girls wouldn't cooperate very well for a picture of them in their jammies...that shouldn't be a surprise to me!

christmas dresses

this was our attempt at a christmas dress photo shoot:

i think this was the best one we got.

  

this was how most of them turned out.

santa 2010

the best picture i have of the girls with santa is this one that i had to scan in.
neither one of them cried!
i love the look of wonder on m's face.

blocks

i made some christmas blocks with my cute sister-in-law.

then, i made the mistake of putting them where little hands could reach them.

she had fun with them for a while.

she's gonna love what santa is bringing her!

christmas

this year, christmas was at my parents house.

we headed down the morning of christmas eve and got to spend the day with all of my brothers and sisters and their spouses and kids.

i don't have any pictures of all the grandkids in their pajamas (why i don't know...i guess i was being a slacker).

in fact, i only have a few pictures from christmas day.

enjoy!

b with her new tractor.

she loves that thing!

b sporting her new sunglasses.

i think we left them at grandma's house though (can you check under your couch mom?)

this was how m spent her christmas morning....asleep

merry christmas!

i know, i've been awful at updating lately, so updates and pictures of our newest bundle of joy to come soon!

merry christmas!

christmas dress

b wore her christmas dress for the first time this past sunday.
i know, i know
she should have worn it the sunday before christmas.
i wasn't thinking about it until we got to church and all the other little girls were wearing their cute dresses. then with our trip to oregon (we left earlier than planned), we didn't get to wear it there.

 i really wish this picture wasn't blurry.
i like this one, but she won't sit still long enough anymore to get a good picture.

i've gotta tell you, i think this is why i love dresses so much on little girls.

i love the bare legs and feet!

christmas with the k's

this year, it was the k's turn to have us for christmas.
the mr. had to work christmas eve, so we were going to leave after he got off work at 5.
it was snowing and the roads were getting bad, so we ended up leaving around 1:00 instead.
it snowed pretty much the whole way there and at some points, we could barely see the road.
we made it okay though and had lots of fun while we were there!

every year growing up, we would get pajamas from grandma m and open them christmas eve after we would read the christmas story so that we would be wearing them christmas morning.
my mom has continued that tradition and these were the cute pajamas b got for her first christmas.
thanks grandma m!

b also got christmas pajamas from grandma k.
the pajamas make b look like a christmas gift.
you can't see it very well in this picture, but the red stripes are like the ribbon on a gift.
m's finger is covering where a bow is on the pajamas.
b was the best christmas gift we got this year!
thanks grandma k for the super cute jammies!

the mr. took this picture of b and i sleeping together.
i love this picture because this is the only time i get to snuggle with her!

b with great-grandma k.
she was soo exhausted in this picture.

us with great-grandpa and great-grandma k

 us the sunday we left to come back home.
i think this is the first family picture we have of all of us together.
sad, huh :(

 oh how i miss rocky.
he's been living with the mr.'s parents the last 7 months.

thanks for letting us spend christmas with you guys!
we had fun!