Anna's Party

From Dec-Feb

I guess I only uploaded one picture from this night. We had a little birthday party for my niece, Anna. It wasn't a particularly big event, but like I've said before - all these "little" moments we get to spend with family are still so precious to me. I love that we get to celebrate birthdays with our families. We did the usual cake and presents thing, but the most memorable part of the night was when everyone - kids and adults - played the ring game. We put three of the guys' wedding bands on a long piece of yarn and tied it together. Then we had to sneakily pass the rings around the circle and the person in the middle who was "it" had to guess where the rings were. It was hilarious! The kids were cracking us up and we laughed a lot. We must have played this for an hour. A few things surprised me - how good Angela was at this game, how much the kids liked to be "it" (so they didn't mind getting caught with a ring - bonus!) and how much having a ring flung at your hand can hurt if you aren't ready for it. (o:

Good times.

Oh and did I mention I ran into my sis-in-law Emily while we were looking for a present for Anna at Target? Now that never happened in Oregon! (o: So fun!

Gingerbread House Party

From Dec-Feb

Natalie's teacher holds reading parties about every 6 weeks to reward the kids who complete a reading challenge and project. In December the kids had to make an ornament that related to one of the holiday books they read at home. (Nat made a cute Christmas fairy using a Polly Pocket and gluing on wings and decorations to make her look like a fairy in one of her books.) They brought their decorations and decorated a class Christmas tree. The reward was a sugar and candy filled Gingerbread making party. They actually just decorated small milk cartons, which I thought was pretty clever since graham crackers often topple and can be frustrating for little hands. It was fun and the kids had a blast. The picture above is Natalie with her friend, Ruby.

From Dec-Feb

I had to include a picture of this piece of work. It was a girl named Isabella, I think. I am pretty sure this little girl left a trail of candy behind her the whole way home. All I can say is ... Wow.

December 16

From NovDecFavorites

Just a relaxing night, working on Christmas cards for friends . . .

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

and goofing off with the cat . . .

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

Eventually Twilight gives in and lets Natalie snuggle. (o: I've got to hand it to Natalie, she's persistent!

Twilight's Spot

From NovDecFavorites

Twilight thinks we put the tree up for her. After we get it up, she parks herself on this flannel tree skirt and is in heaven. I am so glad she doesn't try to climb up the tree like I've heard some cats do. She is content just hanging out below and is fairly good about leaving the ornaments alone. (Fairly)

Santa Makes House Calls?

From NovDecFavorites

One of my favorite new friends, Lara, told me that Santa was coming to our neighborhood and gave me a heads up to watch for him. He actually came to our house for a visit! We felt so special. He was in a particularly funny mood and had us laughing quite a bit. The girls were pretty surprised and wondered how we were so lucky.

From NovDecFavorites

From NovDecFavorites

What an awesome treat! Thanks Santa!!

The Nutcracker

From Dec-Feb

I cherish all of these special "treats" we get to have with family being so close and hope I never take them for granted.

We have always wanted to take the girls to a Nutcracker performance, so we looked into Ballet West. So I did a little research online and holy crap - it was going to cost over $300! And that was for crummy seats. I was telling my mom about it and she suggested a local company that performed in Sandy. The prices were much more affordable! We could actually pay to go out to dinner as well! (And we wouldn't have to tell Santa to come back next year.) (o: So we made it a date with mom and dad and Chrissy. We began our evening at Sweet Tomatoes.

Grandma and grandpa bought the girls licorice ropes at the refreshment stand outside and the girls were in heaven before the show even started. (O: We got there early enough to get front row seats. I think the girls really enjoyed all the pretty dresses and dancing. They weren't sure what to think of all the boys in tights. (o: And at one point, the magician character accidentally threw his cane out on the floor right in front of the girls. They thought it was so funny and weren't sure what to do. I think they wanted to run it up to him. It really concerned them that his prop was right in front of them.

It wasn't a Ballet West caliber performance, but it was perfect for the girls first ballet. The performers did a great job, a couple of them really stood out and were fabulous dancers. What a fun night!

From Dec-Feb

Christmas Dresses

From NovDecFavorites

One of the fun parts of having all girls is doing stuff like this. This tradition is a favorite of mine - finding matching Christmas dresses. I always look for a good deal and I was so excited to find these at Dillards for under $30. Not bad considering what good quality dresses they were and all the froufrou underneath to make them puff out. They got lots of compliments at church. I wonder how many more years I can pull this off before they protest. I'll enjoy it while I can!

So Pretty, But Worth It??

From NovDecFavorites

Look at this cute, Christmasy house! So fun to look at and makes me feel all holly and jolly except when I remember what you don't see in this picture. You don't see Neil* hanging over the edge and me standing down below looking up helplessly, but very concerned. We spent an ENTIRE Saturday getting these dang things up. Actually, I didn't do a darn thing, but throw up an occasional extension cord and worry endlessly that Neil* would fall and break his neck. And the part where I threw up extension cords wasn't even that helpful, because sometimes it would take me (no kidding) about 8 tries to actually get the cords up on the roof. That part was quite comical and even got comments from a couple people driving by. I have a TERRIBLE arm. I would be laughing so hard about my horrible aim that my throws would just get worse and worse. We're lucky I didn't break a window, actually.

For those of you who don't know, I am terrified of heights. Or rather, terrified of falling - which requires you to be at a certain height. Even if I am not the one up high, I obsess and worry. My neck was sore by the time this project was done because I could not stop looking up. As if I could will Neil* with my eyeballs to defy gravity should anything happen.

There are a few imperfections to our decor due to many of the lights not working. Neil* got about a third of the way done with the lights when several just stopped working. We had to buy a bunch more, and start again. However, those new ones were wound up much tighter than our old ones and hung differently. Then there was a section on the right that just would turn off and then on when it felt like it. By the end of the night - it was dark when we finished - we just called it good. I think it turned out pretty cute - imperfections and all. By the end of the day, I was thinking that it might have been a pretty good deal to pay someone to put them up. I was so stressed out.

We'll probably forget by next year, though, and do it all again.