Merry Christmas!

Since everyone went to bed so late last night, we were hoping for a late start to the morning.  I guess 6:30 is later than, say 5:00am.

MiniM.E. asked Santa for some surprises this year, so no one knew what to expect when we walked into the living room.  Looks like Santa wants the kids to be musicians, because he brought a drum, cymbals, a ukulele, a mini drum set and lots of small instruments.  The girls were so excited.  Our ears were to.  Who plays cymbals at 7am!?!?

It was hard to hold of the girls from the presents by the tree, but we convinced MiniM.E. to open the stockings and take a breakfast break.

It almost worked, but then MiniM.E. wanted to give LittleL.G. the present she picked out for her:

And she wanted to open LittleL.G.'s gift for her:

LittleL.G. wanted to try some shoes too

I got a new camera lens, which takes amazing photos... though I am still learning:

It was a pretty fantastic day.  MiniM.E. couldn't get through her presents fast enough, and LittleL.G. opened one present and didn't want to play with or open anything else all day.  But it worked out because MiniM.E. got to "help" open LittleL.G.'s other presents and everyone seemed happy to give and get and enjoy each other's company.  Not to mention the 65 degree weather which let us play outside, the fantastic prime rib dinner, and lots of cookies and snacks.  

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve!

What crazy weather for the day before Christmas!  Before church we went for a walk outside... without jackets!

Daddy needed a hat

 After church it was time for our traditional Christmas Eve gift opening.

Everyone was so excited about Christmas that no one wanted to go to sleep and everyone was up way past bedtimes.  We finally convinced MiniM.E. to get to bed because we were tracking Santa on NORAD and he was almost here.

Merry Almost-Christmas!

A Busy Saturday

Nothing says busy like the Saturday before Christmas.  Finish wrapping presents and picking up last minute gifts, get the baking done, start packing- if traveling is involved... and then for our last Saturday before Christmas, add in bowling birthday party, a last skating class with skills demonstration, and of course TWO trips to the grocery store.  It was indeed a BUSY day.

We started at the bowling alley at 10:30.  Cute idea for a party and turns out both girls love bowling, but there were so many kids and so many parents not paying attention to whose turn it was that there were not nearly enough turns at actually rolling the ball and much too much waiting.

LittleL.G. rolling like a pro

MiniM.E. so excited she couldn't stand still

We thought we would have time to kill between bowling and skating, but after the bowling and pizza and cake and presents and playing at the arcade, we had only just enough time to stop at the grocery store to pick up cookies for the last skating class (which invited spectators and snacks to share).

Since the last time I saw her skate, MiniM.E. improved drastically! I am so impressed at how well she is doing!!

After the skills demonstration, MiniM.E. was so excited to be skating that she wanted to stay for the entire free skating time too.  Which was great, aside from the fact that lots of kids and siblings were heading out... past the snack table.  And lots of hockey families were coming in for the upcoming game... past the snack table.  So that by the time MiniM.E. was out of her skating gear and we were ready to hit up the snacks, all the cookies that she was so excited to bring had been eaten.  

To avoid horrific tired, hungry meltdown, back to the store we went.  Where we quickly found a new container of cookies and proceeded to start eating them IN the bakery department.

It was a long day so I was feeling pretty lenient and as we stopped to talk to some friends, my one year old decided the best and only place to eat a cookie (at 4:00, right before dinner) was in the middle of the floor.  Complete with making sure all crumbs and sprinkles were cleaned off the floor and shoveled into her mouth.  "Mom of the Year"-worthy photo:

Even though it was busy, it was actually a really fun day.  Bowling was a blast, we got to see a barbershop quartet sing Christmas carols at the store, and MiniM.E. did a fantastic job at skating.

Playgroup: 2nd Generation

Our very first playgroup that we still get together with weekly has graduated to second generation playing:

Even though LittleL.G. has a friend close to her age, she still wants to play with the big girls:

LittleL.G. Lately

LittleL.G. is such a little girl now.  She watches MiniM.E. do everything and has taken to bringing her babies with her wherever we go.

She is so attached she will go to any length to be close to them, even when they are napping!

Other than dolls, she loves animals.  Yesterday I took her downtown to see the ducks while MiniM.E. is at school because a couple months ago MiniM.E. got nipped and is no longer a fan of the ducks.

Gingerbread Houses

MiniM.E. was really into decorating her house this year.  In fact, she wanted it to look just like the box.  She actually did a pretty respectable job, with some help.

LittleL.G. just ate a plate of frosting.

Sandbox in December

The weather has been beautiful lately.  I really can't complain.  I was worried that it was going to be a long, cold, snowy winter, but so far it has been very mild and we all couldn't be happier to still be playing outside.... without jackets!