More Playing - The Day After

We continued to play and hang out the day after Christmas, but we did get dressed. Here are some cute pics of the girls in their new clothes and playing with the new toys...

I've been meaning to get a cute picture on the blog of Sarah and Twilight and this one fit the bill. (o:

I LOVE this adorable smile (o:

Glittery Floam was a big hit from grandma.

Angela and her new "laptop"

Sarah had fun with her Lego Chum Bucket. Natalie got Mrs. Puff's Driving School. They kept them up on the counter and played out some hilarious Sponge Bob episodes. Sarah especially got into making up shows. I LOVED eavesdropping and listening to her voices and story lines. She has such a good understanding of the characters that they could actually be SpongeBob episodes! They were quite clever and funny. Above is Sarah's "Intermission" sign when she had to go to the bathroom or something.

Some other fun memories from Christmas and the day-after not pictured ...

Our yummy ham dinner on Christmas day.

Playing Boom Blox, our new Wii game - it is awesome! We played for hours and hours.

Watching Horton Hears a Who, TinkerBell, Narnia and Sound of Music again (we love that show!)

The delicious red, white and green dip from Costco!

Reading manuals for new electronic "toys"

Being together, laughing together and playing together. The girls have gotten along so well during our time off from school. They are quite the little buddies - it's so fun to watch them.

I think I forgot to mention that it actually snowed on Christmas day here - so it was an official white Christmas. Not that it was anything new after two weeks of the stuff! (o:

Ornaments

I got this idea from my friend and fellow-blogger, Heidi. (o: I have a lot of sentimental ornaments and wanted to post a few favorites and why... Believe it or not, this is a condensed number - I had pictures of even more! Sorry if this trip down memory lane is a little of a yawner for everyone, but me! (o:

Each year, the girls pick their own ornament to add to our collection. I encourage them to choose something that represents a memory from the previous year. The above ornament was from the year Sarah turned 4. That was the first year she was able to write her own letter to Santa. I liked the vintage look too - so I encouraged her to pick this one. (o:

One of our first Christmases Mo* and I were married, we bought a set of these little wooden ornaments. I picked them because they reminded me of the ornaments my grandma had on her tree. They're kind of old fashioned looking and I like that.

Sarah and I made this together at the Jackson craft make 'n take last 2007 Christmas.

A fun new addition to our ornament collection this year. Thanks Michelle! (o: Love it.

This one was made by my grandma when she and my grandpa were serving a mission in Nauvoo Illinois. I believe that was the year she knit us all hats too. I think, because they were serving in a church history area, grandma learned this cool ornament making skill using fabric and straight pins as maybe a "pioneer-ish" craft. I love it and the story behind it. Thanks grandma!

I have a group of friends that I made when we first moved to the northwest. We bonded quickly as we helped each other adjust to our new surroundings. This Santa came from an ornament exchange with these good friends a few years ago. I LOVE that the Santa is also a lighthouse - it goes well with a northwest theme.

This was the very first ornament I bought for myself back in college at the U of U bookstore. I hung it proudly this year - my University of Utah ornament. (o:

This large and rather flamboyant ornament always makes me smile. Natalie picked it two years ago - love the feathers. (o: It is still one of her favorites.

I rarely buy ornaments for myself, but this one was too cute to pass out. I love the whimsical look.

An ornament given to Jeb* and I our "first" Christmas (we were married two days after Christmas) This one is very sentimental.

Another fun ornament from an ornament exchange. The friends I mentioned above held these yearly for 3-4 years. Lots of people fought over this one and I won! (o: It's made of metal - sooo cute.

Ahh, another very sentimental one. I got this one back in college from my good friend Kori (we had been good friends in jr. high - attended different high schools and reunited at the U of U in the same sorority! By chance or destiny?) We have both always been HUGE Muppets fans. We even did a memorable number at our Miss Alpha Omega pageant/talent show. Using Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog puppets, we did a "lip Sync" to "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (Neil Diamond/Barbara Streisand). We were both crowned Miss AO that night - one of the proudest moments of my life. (o: We had the audience in tears. I think Kori's mom hand painted this adorable Kermit. This is one of my very top favorites.

Fun little homemade ornaments with a picture of little Sarah and baby Natalie. An ornament hand painted by a former co-worker from Franklin Elementary - where I worked during my college years at BYU. Good times. I LOVED that job and my friends there.

I bought this the year we went to Tolovana at Cannon Beach for my mom's side family reunion in 2004. Awesome memories. One year, the little playgroup some friends and I did when Sarah was little - we decided to have a little Christmas party and to make homemade ornaments for each other. (Heidi is was so fun to see the one we made for Zach so many years ago) This one was made by Rebecca. I love the darling little pictures. Sarah is top left. There are four more pics, I think, on the other side. Those were fun times. Thanks Rebecca! (o:

This was the set of ornaments that Angela picked at Fred Meyer. SpongeBob is very fitting for her this year! We love SpongeBob! (o: The snowball fight is also very fitting with all the snow we got this winter.

This giraffe and another clothe lion are some top favorites that I found at the Discovery Channel Store when Sarah and Natalie were itty bitty. It was a year we went to the zoo a lot, so I thought it was fitting.

I bought this TinkerBell ornament at Disneyland two years ago. Again, wonderful memories...

And last but not least a moose ornament for the year that we went to Yellowstone with Sam*'s parents during sabbatical. it has a broken leg so I got it for less than a dollar.

Ho Ho Ho!!

The best Christmas present our family got, by far, was the gift of daddy not being on call! We all recall last Christmas with a shudder and a bit of pouting (still) when daddy was being paged all morning and finally had to go in for a very stressful few hours and continued to be on call and stressed out for the days following - even though we spent some of those days at a beach house with my parents and sister. I wanted to flush that darn pager down the toilet. This year, we chose to have him be on call over Thanksgiving (which was eerily quiet the whole time) and enjoy a peaceful Christmas. One top of that he took the whole week after Christmas off and boy was that needed. We got Benji* all to ourselves for a good chunk of time and he got some much needed relaxation time. It was the best gift we could have received this year!

So these pictures are actually backwards - it drives me nuts how blogger puts them up opposite of the order you upload them and I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. Maybe someone out there knows a trick besides just trying to remember to choose pictures backwards.

Angela doing a little Christmas yoga. (o:
The kitty was in heaven on Christmas day - so many things to climb in and explore. Plus, Santa did not forget Twilight. She got an "exercise" rocking toy with rattly balls and dangling things, a book about Devious Cats (perfect for Twilight - although she already knows how to be devious) and the girls got her some kitty treats, a new food/water bowl and another toy. Grandma and Grandpa even sent Twilight a hilarious fuzzy, bouncy toy on a string that Twilight goes bananas over. We had a lot of laughs watching Twilight play on Christmas.

I love the expressions of the kids when they are opening gifts. Above and below...

After we look at what Santa brought, the girls play while I do the finishing touches on our yummy breakfast - EggStuff, Sticky buns and bacon. The same breakfast that I had ever since I can remember and that my mom still makes back at home. The EggStuff tradition was passed down from my mom's mom. Then after our delicious breakfast we head back to start opening presents under the tree. My personal favorite thing that Santa brought this year was Angela's cute Melissa and Doug wooden castle. (In the foreground below) It is adorable and the girls have played with it every single day since it arrived. (I am actually writing this on Jan 6) They use Playmobil dolls and their millions of Polly Pockets. Twilight likes to play inside, around and on it too. She pretends to be the big dragon that comes to take over and destroy the castle. The girls laugh their heads off when she comes to play in it too.

Santa came! Natalie wearing her robe he brought and Angela is listening to her "earphones" she asked for in her letter. I don't know many three year olds who would ask for that - definitely the influence of older siblings. All of the kids got "earphones" - Angela's were more of the toy variety, but she doesn't know it. She loves her fairy "IPod" (o:

We had such a wonderful Christmas. Opening gifts, playing together all day long, watching the Sound of Music (a gift to all of us), talking to family on the phone and staying in our jammies ALL DAY LONG. Ned* knows I love more than anything - photography paraphernalia. He spoiled me this year for sure. His GPS that I got him has turned out to be both fun and very useful at the same time. All our adventures the following week were thanks, in part, to our Magellan. And the cat owner manual he received was also a big hit and improved his relationship with Twilight over Christmas break! (o:

Now going backwards to Christmas Eve...

Christmas Eve in the traditional new pajamas! I'm gonna have a hard time finding matching ones next year - Sarah is outgrowing the little girl sizes. (o: Since they've figured out that their Christmas Eve present is always pajamas (you'd think they'd be bummed) they are sooo excited and can't wait to find out what they'll look like each year. Every Christmas Eve we eat our traditional cheese fondue (a fun idea I stole from two good friends a few years ago). We check online to see where Santa is and have a little story or scripture reading about the true meaning of Christmas. This year, we have been reading the scriptures and using the pictures from the "scripture a day" activity in the Friend magazine for children. There was a scripture reference for every day of December that followed Christ's life through His resurrection. It was neat to study and remember His entire life, not just the time when He was born. In typical "me" fashion, we weren't totally consistent and had to catch up on Christmas Eve! I loved the idea so much, we read all of these and used the pictures from the Gospel Art Kit for our Christmas lesson in Young Women's. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae20e975d2a2b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0

We did a fun advent calendar this year. It was a Playmobil Princess one. Not very Christmas-y, but a huge hit. When I first gave it to the girls on December 1st, Natalie didn't get it and thought it was a boring present. Once they caught on to the idea, however, it was the highlight of each day. Angela, especially, would ask several times a day whether or not it was her turn to open a box. This just happened to coordinate very well with Angela's castle she got from Santa.

Rod Hill Fans

Those of you Oregonians might recognize this guy. The weather man of all weather men. This guy is something else. When there is a big weather event in the Portland area, we tune in to Rod Hill. We became fans back in the January 2004 Deep Freeze. That was when we discovered his enthusiasm and LOVE of weather. This guy LIVES for weather - and you can tell he loves his job. Now I am partly making fun and partly very inspired by this guy - I think it is awesome that he has found his calling in life. He was born a weather man - I bet his first words were "storm front". He really does his homework and presents the weather in an entertaining way. (My favorite - his report cards on himself to show us how well he predicted the current weather. He's really very honest. Love those.) When he gets those weather maps up and there's something exciting coming, he gets so pumped up. He looks like he is doing a choreographed dance as he shows us the direction the warm and cold fronts are headed. Sometimes Bob* and I have to rewind our TVo (how do you spell that?) 3-4 times to watch his snazzy moves over and over. It is inspiring. (o: So for those of you who don't know Rod Hill, I am very sorry. You are missing out. He is a favorite in our household, like an old friend. Especially when the weather turns bad - like this week - he becomes practically family. That's partly because the news channels out here go bonkers when exciting weather comes around. They can't stop talking about it, showing pictures of it, speculating, commenting, oohing and ahhing ALL DAY LONG. Seriously - it is pretty funny, but guess what? We sit and watch it and eat it all up - so whose being a hypocrite?

Keeping Warm and Entertained

Those are the two big challenges these days - "I'm bored" is the theme this week and trying to keep the kids busy has been tricky. They have done pretty good, but after a whole week it starts getting ridiculous. Here's some of what we did...

Silly Santas

We have some secret elves bringing 12 days of Christmas surprises every night. These were the "Four Calling Birds" horns. Sarah is determined to figure out who the secret elves are and the girls love when they hear the knock at the door each night.

One afternoon, my brave friend, Amy and her girls had an adventure in the weather and walked to our house. They were freezing and wet by the time they arrived so we warmed them up with hot chocolate and had a fun visit. It was a nice break from the monotony.

Dress ups are always entertainment at our house rain, snow or shine.

Ice Storm of 2008

Well, the weathermen/women/people were right - we got an ice storm. We were glad that we ran our errands yesterday to prepare. We are all ready for Christmas, which is a good thing because apparently we are in for more of the same for two more days. And it sounds like the white stuff will stick around for an official WHITE CHRISTMAS! Our very first one in 9 years!!

Natalie using her butterfly net to gather snow. (o:

Sarah and Snow - A Perfect Pair

Sarah LOVES the snow as you can see by some of her expressions. She can't get enough and won't stop asking to go back outside.