New Years Eve 2010

This New Years Eve Daddy had to be out of town flying, but my parents and sister and brother were able to come over.  We had such a fun evening. We dipped pretzels, watched "Rudolf's Shiny New Year", played lots of games like Charades and Scategories, and made noisemaker crafts.  Ashley went to be at 8:00, but the older girls made it all the way to midnight.  Right before the ball dropped, Daddy called and we all got to shout, "Happy New Years" together.  We threw a bunch of homemade confetti and colored strips in the air and made a lot of noise.  Then we all said goodnight to Daddy and headed to bed.  All except Emily.  She was so wound from excitement she kept running all over the hose saying that she had a very busy schedule now that it was the new year.  She'd run and play piano, the run and get a drink, then run and throw more confetti in the air.  :)  I finally just turned the lights off and took her to bed.  She slept next to me and Ashley that night and after about 30 minutes of excitedly tossing back and forth, she finally fell asleep.  :) 

Christmas Day 2010

We told the girls they were not to get up until 7:00 Christmas morning.  At around 6:50 we could hear them whispering things like, "Lay back down, Emily.  It's almost time.  3 minutes left."  Then exactly at 7:00 they began to sing "Jingle Bells" for us to wake us up, even though by now, we were already awake.  :)  We got the cameras and went downstairs.  We noticed Santa had eaten the milk and cookies and that there were magic Christmas sparkles all over our floor and leading upstairs to our beds, where the girls had found candy sticks under their pillows.  We all took turns opening gifts and everyone got lovely gifts.  Santa always brings each girl 3 gifts each to represent the gifts from the 3 wise men and we also give each of them 3 gifts from Mommy and Daddy.  The girls each give each other a gift, as well.  Alexis received an Elizabeth American Girl doll, a Baby Alive doll, an art set, a rag doll and Little House on the Prairie Cookbook, a sewing basket, a knitting set, a fairy magnet playset, and a Feast and Famine board game.  Emily received an Emily American Girl doll, a Baby Alive doll, an art set, a play blender and mixer set, some lacing dolls and bears, a sewing basket, a little doll set in a cloth book house, and a Book of Mormon Guess Who game.  Ashley received a milk truck pull toy, a baby doll, a shape sorter, a play egg set with matching shapes, a peek a boo doll, a cloth bunny house, a Dora doll, and a little play piano.  Daddy received a new guitar, an amplifier, an precision saw, and a new book.  Mommy received a new book, a Home Sweet Home Shelf, a clock, and a lap harp complete with sheets of music.  We all received ornaments in our stocking for our tree, a few cute little toys/surprises, along with some candy.  Emily had also spent all month making gifts for everyone out of paper.  Things like cards and pictures and paper dolls and paper toys.  It was really sweet and she was so excited to give it to us.  The rest of the day we spent playing together, relaxing, watching Christmas movies, cuddling, and enjoyed a Christmas dinner.  It was such a relaxing, enjoyable day together as a family.  It was such fun watching the children play and playing with them.  I think I especially liked watching the girls playing with their Baby Alive dolls. They were so cute fixing them bottles and mixing up their food and feeding them and changing their diapers.  I need to hit the fabric store first thing on Monday to make these dolls some cloth diapers.  I also found a recipe for homemade baby doll food to mix up for them, as well.  We ended the day cuddling on the couch and reading from the New Testament.  The girls kept begging for more.  They love hearing the stories of Jesus and we stop after every couple of verses to talk about them.  It was definitely a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2010

This Christmas Eve we spent the day baking the cookies for Santa, wrapping a few last gifts, listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas shows, and playing games.  That evening we tried out a new recipe for homemade vege burgers and even Don, (who loves meat), liked it. :)  Then we iced and decorated our cookies for Santa.  The girls chattered excitedly as they meticulously decorated each cookie for Santa.  Then we read the story of the nativity and placed the felt board pieces on the board.   After that we turned off all the lights except for the tree lights and got our flashlights and took our annual walk to see baby Jesus.  We sang "Silent Night" to the baby and the girls took turns holding him.  Then we took turns bearing our testimonies of Jesus.  After that we let the girls each pick one gift to open.  Alexis chose Emily's gift to her which was an "Uncle Milton's Rainbow in my Room" toy.  She was so excited to get it.  Then Emily chose Alexis's gift to her which was a rag doll with yellow hair and a little pillow, which Alexis had sewn herself.  Emily was thrilled and gave Alexis lots of hugs and kisses.  Ashley opened Alexis's gift to her, which was a Dora the Explorer bath toy set.  She excitedly exclaimed, "Dora!" and gave it a big hug.  As the girls played with their new toys we sang Christmas carols together and Don played some carols on the guitar for us and Alexis played a couple of carols on the piano for us.  At the end we put our milk, cookies, and carrots out for Santa along with a note the girls wrote him.  Alexis also wrote him a story called, "The Goats Who Saved Christmas."  It was really cute.  :)  Then they all went to bed early at 7:30.  At 8:00 Don checked on them and said they were sound asleep.  I went up at 10:45 and Alexis popped her head up and asked, "Is it time to wake up, now?"  :)  Needless to say, it was a long night with both of them tossing and turning and getting up to get a drink or go to the bathroom.  But morning eventually came.  :)

Christmas Baking

Helping bake treats is one of the girls' favorite holiday traditions.  Alexis and Emily was such wonderful helpers and really made the baking quite easy.  Ashley was old enough this year to get really into it.  She especially loved adding sprinkles to things.  She would shake her little jar of sprinkles and say, "Spinkle Spinkle Spinkle!" over and over.  I think the children's favorite treat each year is our little snowmen. It's really simple and I got the recipe from my mom.  All you do is take 2 Ritz crackers and spread peanut butter between them.  Then you dip it in white chocolate.  Then you use mini chocolate chips and M&Ms to decorate the face.  If you want a tall snowman you can add 3 pieces together and add pretzel sticks for arms.  They taste REALLY good.  We also tried 2 new recipes this year that Don LOVED.  One was a creamsicle fudge and one was a cookies and cream fudge.  They were delicious.  :)

Nativity Craft

I bought these cute little nativity ornament craft kit.  The girls were excited to do them.  I t did end up being slightly more difficult than we thought and so I had to do a couple of parts but most of it they did on their own.  It came in a set of 12 so they each made one for themselves and then we made some for little gifts.  We loved seeing another Nativity on our tree when they were finished.  :)

Decorating Our Tree

We put our tree up on the first of December this year.  We usually put it up sometime in the first few days of of December, depending on Daddy's flying schedule.  This year Ashley didn't remember the tree from last year so she was very excited when we put it up.  When we turned the lights on she kept saying, "Wow!  It's BOOTIFUL!"  She couldn't seem to get the ornaments on quite by herself so she decided she'd delegate.  She would hand me an ornament and then point to where she wanted to hang it and then I would hang it up.  :)  The girls were also very excited to dig out all their favorite ornaments and reminisce about when they got different ones and which were their favorites.  After we put up the tree we watched "Rudolf" and had hot cocoa.

Merry Christmas 2010

"It's the most wonderful time of the year....." I have to admit that autumn is actually my favorite time of year. However, Christmas is a close second. ;) I love the focus on Christ this time of year. We have lots of fun family traditions that we do this time of year. Here are some of our favorite things:

1. We act out the Nativity.
2. We bake lots of holiday treats.
3. We read from the 4 testaments every night for scripture study time.
4. We focus on trying to find little acts of service to do for others.
5. We sing one or two Christmas carols every night before bed.
6. We decorate our home with festive decorations.
7. We have a scripture advent calendar we read the scripture about Christ and then put the ornament on each day.
8. We make Christmas crafts with the girls.
9. We watch favorite holiday classics like "Small One" and "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer."
10. We put a "manger" under our tree (It's actually a little wicker basket), and pick out a doll to be baby Jesus all month. Then on Christmas Eve we turn all the lights off and hold flashlights and go on a walk to find baby Jesus as we all sing "O Come All Ye Faithful" Then when we arrive we sing "Silent Night" and then everyone who wants to bear their testimony of Christ.
11. We anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus who always brings each child 3 gifts a piece to remind them of the wise men bringing 3 gifts for Christ.
12. We'll bake goodies like homemade bread and cookies and deliver them to neighbors as we sing Christmas carols.
13. We have a family Christmas party where we play games together, sing carols, read stories, and usually end with a treat of some sort and a holiday show.

We're looking forward to a fun and cozy month together as a family as we remember our dear Savior.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

This year we spent Thanksgiving Day at Grandma and Grandpa Lee's house.  We woke up early that morning and got to Grandma's in time for the parade.  The men and children played and watched the parade and the women spent the morning cooking and preparing the feast.  Alexis and Emily also assisted a bit in the kitchen helping to prepare different dishes.  Alexis has decided that next year she wants to be in completely in charge of one dish all on her own.  We all feasted on the yummy food.  Emily's favorite was the mashed potatoes and the dirt pudding desert.  Alexis' favorite was Mommy's pumpkin cheesecake I brought, and Ashley's favorite was the corn on the cob and the rolls.  The rolls were a bit more oval shaped so she kept calling them "hot dogs".  :)  After we ate and cleaned up Alexis and Emily did a Thanksgiving play for us that Alexis wrote.  It was all about the pilgrims and Indians and it was really cute.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing and visiting.  We spent the night and then headed over to Nana and Papaw Grammer's home in the morning.  They were out of town Thanksgiving Day visiting Great Grandma Flo.  We ate there and visited and Don helped his Dad with a few projects.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and it was nice to get to spend time with both sets of grandparents.

Sleepy Pictures

One day Ashley simply would not fall asleep for her afternoon nap no matter how hard I tried.  Later in the afternoon around 4:00 I noticed she was being very quiet. So I looked around and found her on the playroom couch fast asleep with some little stuffed friends. 

Another evening Don went up to bed before me and he called me upstairs.  He wanted me to see Emily and Ashley.  They were fast asleep and holding hands. 

A Sunday Walk with Firefly and Rosebud

Since I didn't get any good pictures of our walk with our goats last time I thought I'd grab my camera this time.  To be honest they seem to enjoy walking with us so much we've actually taken them out quite a few times since then, but this is the first I've remembered my camera.  The girl's also took a couple of carriages out and some dolls to walk as well.  Ashley decided she wanted to walk some dolls too, but we didn't have another carriage, so Alexis shared hers.  Between the doll carriages and the goats we were quite a site and Don decided that maybe next time we should take either the dolls or the goats, but not both.  Even though there isn't much traffic on our street every once in a while a car will go by and trying to get a toddler, two little girl's with doll carriages, and 2 goats on to the side of the road did prove to be a bit much.  ;)