New Years Eve 2012

Being so pregnant I wasn't sure how much energy I was going to have on New Years Eve, but I did better than I thought and even made it to midnight. We had dipped pretzels, played games like hide and seek and Pinkalicious.  We hid glow bracelets around the house and turned the lights off for the girl's to find.  We watched Rudolf's Shiny New Year and at midnight we found a place online to watch the ball drop and played in confetti that dropped from our ceiling fan.  We're so excited that it's 2013 because as we talked tonight, this is the year our baby comes!  :)

Christmas with Grandparents and Cousins

We spent a couple of days with grandparents and cousins.  We enjoyed visiting with everyone and had a great time!

Christmas 2012

On Christmas morning at our house, we had some very excited little girls.  Emily, especially hardly slept at all that night.  She was up at 3:00, and kept pacing the hall and using the bathroom every 20 minutes.  :)  At 5:00 Alexis woke up and they kept whispering together.  Finally at 6:45 I told them we could get up and they woke up Ashley, who is still young enough to keep sleeping.  :)  We went downstairs and found sparkles, a note from Santa, an empty plate and glass, and a tree with presents galore under it.  Some of the favorites were Alexis' Harry Potter play set and robot, Emily's newborn baby doll and new dollhouse, and Ashley's princess doll and castle.  Don and I received some nice presents, too, including some very sweet homemade gifts from our sweet children.  After presents we all played and relaxed and watched Christmas movies.  Later in the afternoon we went outside to play in the snow for a little while.  It was VERY cold and windy so we were only outside for about 30 minutes.  Daddy decided it would be fun to fly a kite.  :)  After playing in the snow we had a yummy Christmas dinner and then we all went upstairs and cuddled in our bed and watched Miracle on 34th Street.  We told the kids they could stay up until midnight to see the "end of the world" - according to the Mayan calendar - but I don't think any of us made it past 10:30.  It was such a nice, relaxing Christmas together with our little family.

Christmas Eve

Thursday the 20th was our Christmas Eve.  We spent the day finishing up some Christmas baking and last minute wrapping.  After dinner we put the presents under tree and got jammies on.  Then we read the Christmas story and acted it out with our little nativity figurines.  The we turned the lights off, grabbed our flashlights and went on our walk to find baby Jesus as we sung "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful."  After that everyone unwrapped one gift.  Ashley got her Hello Kitty doll she had been wishing for since she saw it at Kroger's back around Halloween.  Emily got a Punky Brewster doll, and Alexis got a new blue bicycle basket.  After that we all sang our favorite Christmas carols.  Then the kids got out the milk and cookies for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer.  They wrote a letter for Santa and they even made gifts for Jesus they asked Santa to deliver for them.

Christmas Goodies

Our activity for Wednesday was lots of baking of Christmas treats!  We made Snowmen cookies, shortbread cookies, buckeyes, iced sugar cookies, chocolate pretzels, and brittle.  

December 15th-18th

I didn't take any pictures during these days, but on Saturday the 15th we had plans to go to the Lancaster Christmas parade. Unfortunately it was raining and so we decided to skip it and instead we played Rudolf hide and seek! Basically we turned out all the lights and gave each person - I mean REINDEER - a flashlight. One reindeer got a red flashlight and got to be Rudolf. Everyone else hid while Rudolf counted and then tried to find someone using his "red glowing nose". As soon as Rudolf found someone they would switch places and that person got to be Rudolf. We had a lot of fun with this game. Of course, Ashley decided she wanted to stay with someone the whole time. Being alone in the dark, even with a flashlight, is not something she was quite ready for, yet. ;) The next day was Sunday and we were going to pass out some homemade hot chocolate to some home and visiting teaching families, but again, plans got changed. Towards the end of church I started feeling a lot of pain in my lower abdomen and after getting home it got worse. I'm sure it was just muscle related because it only hurt when I walked or moved. So Don gave me a blessing and I went to bed for the rest of the day. He took care of dinner for the kids and brought me things. The kids were so well behaved and made me get well cards and Alexis and Emily made Don and I shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate for our anniversary - and they tasted great! That evening we all snuggled on our bed and the kids made popcorn and we watched Avonlea together. On Monday our activity was delivering jars of homemade hot cocoa mix to several families at church. We enjoyed visiting briefly with everyone and had a great time.  Then on Tuesday the 18th, our activity was a craft day.  We made a few different Christmas ornaments and crafts with the girls.  They turned out really cute.  My favorite were the Santa's with their hand prints as his beard.  :)

Ice Skating

Our family activity today was ice skating!  I stayed off the ice, of course, but had fun watching everyone, taking pictures, and handing out food from our picnic basket to hungry little skaters.  :)

Grinch Night

For Thursday the 13th, we had a Grinch night!  We made who hash, roast beast, and who pudding.  Then as we were about to say prayer the Grinch, (aka daddy with some very slimy homemade green makeup on - he's such a good sport), came into the room and began stealing all the Christmas decorations.  After a couple of minutes of squeals I suggested to the girls that may want to sing to the Grinch to soften his heats.  They sang the "Welcome Christmas" song and gave the Grinch hugs, and he gave all the decorations back.  :)  After we ate we introduced an idea I found on pinterest.  I drew a picture of the Grinch on poster board and then told the girls every time they do an act of service for someone they get to put a heart on the Grinch.  We had quite a few hearts on it by the end of the month.  :)  After they colored the Grinch we, of course, watched "The Grinch".  

Polar Express and Mommy's Birthday

On Tuesday the 11th the kids read their activity today and it said, "make a gingerbread house".  They were very excited and had so much fun making it.  Quite assured they had done their fun activity for the day they went to bed happy.  However, they didn't know we were surprising them with a trip to north pole!  After they were all tucked in we put on the part of the movie with the loud train whistle and turned up the volume full blast.  We figured that would get them downstairs.  However, all they did was shut their door.  :)  They thought we were watching a movie too loud.  :)  So Don got out their toy train whistle and blew it outside their door.  That did it.  :)  The squeals and excited giggles were so precious as we gave them golden tickets and told them they were boarding the Polar Express.  They got their coats and hats on and piled into the Polar Express - aka the wheelbarrow lined with blankets and tinsel attached to Don's riding lawnmower.  Don took the around the yard several times, still blowing the train whistle, before he arrived at the North Pole. I put on my Christmas apron and introduced myself as Mrs. Santa Claus.  We got them comfy and put on the Polar Express movie.  I baked some Christmas cookies for them and gave them hot chocolate.  It was definitely one of our favorite nights this month!  The 12th was my birthday and the girls baked me a yummy cake!  They even took some leftover icing from the gingerbread house and spelled out Happy Birthday and 35.  Alexis gave me some new salad tongs, Emily and Ashley gave me two pretty necklaces, and Don gave me a pot of gold!  He made a little black cauldron and filled it with golden dollars for me to use to buy new curtains.  :)  We then strung popcorn and watched Santa Paws together.  :)