Christmas Day

We had a lovely Christmas Day. It started with a laid back morning with my favorite people in the world and we ended the day at my mom's house. Brooke wanted to get her daddy this container of M&M's and she was so excited when it was finally time for him to unwrap it.

Books are always a huge hit.  I think this girl got 7-8 books for Christmas and she had finished all of them before school started back. Now she is going through withdrawal....

Oh how they love each other... most of the time. :)

Kayla traded out her old Pottery Barn chair for this more grown up one. It is so soft and comfortable that I may steal it.

This was a Little Live Pets and Shopkins kind of Christmas.

The girls also got new headphones for Christmas which they didn't think anything about.  We had an old portable DVD set up in the car and they have been using their earbuds.  But when we left to go to my mom's house they found out the reason they received those headphones. Fun surprises!

 

 

 

And in no time at all this is what my mom's living room floor looked like. 10 people make a lot of trash. ha!

The big hit of the day were the bow and arrows that all of the girls got. They have had fun shooting these off.

 The rest of Marc's family didn't arrive until the 27th so we celebrated Christmas then as well. The girls always have such a good time when they get together with their cousins.

And we finished up the family time with a friendly round of laser tag. I'll have to admit that I have never played laser tag before. I'm terrified of being chased. Marc learned very early on not to come up quickly behind me on the stairs. It wasn't good for either of us. I'm not sure if something traumatized me early in my life, but I hate it.  So I've had no desire what-so-ever to play in a dark room where people are running around trying to shoot me with laser beams. But, it's amazing what a mama will do for her babies. And I have to say, we had a good time.

Doesn't it look like Marc has his gun pointed at my head? hmmm....

Christmas in the Kitchen

The first few pictures were from some holiday baking we did earlier in the month.

 The girls decorated gingerbread houses - which by the way gets easier every year. :)

And they made and decorated sugar cookies. The sugar cookies won the first battle against me, but ultimately I won the war. Macy decided she wanted to make these cookies while at the store with her daddy.  So what does every great daddy do? He looks up a recipe and purchases the needed ingredients.  Then he lets the mommy make the cookies. No problem, I like to bake, but I quickly remembered how much I hate working with sugar cookie dough.  I just about dumped the entire batch in the garbage, but super fun dad walked in at that exact moment.  Instead of hurling it into the garbage I hurled put it back in the bowl and told him that he was now in charge. Bless him.  So after that nightmare he told me I had to make royal icing to decorate them. In several colors. His life was spared when he found cookie icing at the store. But in the end the girls (and us grown ups) had a fun time decorating. I'm just not sure it was fun enough to do it again next year.

  This was our 4th year hosing a Christmas Eve brunch at our house.  It's always such a lot of work, but it is so worth it.  We love opening our home up to family and friends, and there is always plenty of yummy food to eat.

Yum! Yum!

Christmas Pictures

Every once in a while I get a great idea. Sometimes my sister thinks it is great as well.  I always

 love taking my girls pictures in front of the Christmas trees at our church, but it is always so

 crowded on Christmas Eve and you feel rushed to take a picture while everyone is waiting. 

Kids + rushed pictures = no good.

So last year we took the girls the week before Christmas when no one was at the church and we had all the time we needed to take pictures.  This year my sister decided to do the same thing, so we managed to get a few cousin shots too. 

Oh man, how I love these girls!

Holiday School Happenings

There are so many fun events at this time of year.  We experienced our last kindergarten Thanksgiving play this year.  Brooke was an Indian woman.  Kayla was a Pilgrim woman and Macy was the turkey, so we have experienced all parts to this cute little play!

And I love that we are part of a school where the siblings can slip out of class to watch 

these special events. 

Macy and Brooke also had their Christmas concert, but as a 5th grader Kayla does not have

 music class anymore.

And then of course there were the class parties. The third graders had a photo booth as well as some relay races. I was able to catch a quick glimpse of Brooke swinging at the pinata, but I didn't take any pictures when I popped into Kayla's class. I'm thankful I'm there all day to peek in on the fun events.

We rounded out the celebrations with dance parties. I love these sweet girls and their friendship. They have been in the same class at school for 4 years and this is this year they are back in the same dance class as well. 

School's out for the holiday so the family fun times are beginning!

A Cabin in the Woods... or on a Horse Farm

Back in late summer Marc and I thought about getting a bunch of friends together at a cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  We all have season passes to Dollywood thanks to a wonderful friend of ours. Marc found a large cabin and we worked on a date that everyone could go. The girls and I worked super hard to get five days of school work done in only three days so we could get away without worrying about school.  My girls are amazing rock stars.  We were all pushed just about to our limits, but they wanted to be done more than I did. There is a reason that we usually take five days to complete five days of work. :)

There were five families going to Tennessee with a total of 15 children.  The baby and the teenager stayed with their parents, but all of the other kids stayed in this room.  It was amazingly perfect for them and they had the best time. 

How cool to have a horse in your room!

There were all of these cubbies along the wall that the kids claimed to keep their belongings.  I was shocked when I walked past Brooke's cubbie and saw this. This girl could care less about order and organization at home. 

 

The cabin was on a horse farm and the scenery from the back deck was beautiful.

Weekdays during the school year are the best time to go to Dollywood.  Lines were super short and the kids have a little freedom to run around without the crowds.

 We had so much fun hanging out and laughing.  Good friends are good for the soul. We had many funny moments together including this "three men and a baby" one.

Friday morning we woke up and the Johnson's (and Deidre) made everyone a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs. We then relaxed for a few hours before the park opened.  It was such a time of refreshment as us ladies rarely just sit on the couch these days. The Smiths headed out early so we didn't get them included in our pictures. :(

11:00PM bedtime with a 7:30AM wake up makes for a tired little girl.  She was out cold within five minutes of getting in the car.

Brooke isn't a big fan of roller coasters, but she was super patient while the big kids (and parents) rode many rides.  On Saturday we finally made it back over to the little kid rides.  While she was waiting on her sisters to finish a ride her daddy took her to play a game of tossing rings on bottles.  Apparently he has pretty good aim because the next thing I know she comes running back to me with a huge Pinkie Pie. It was a tight squeeze getting home in our new, smaller vehicle, but the joy on her face when her daddy won her this horse was worth every minute of it. 

It was such a refreshing few days away with some of the best friends we could ask for.  I am so thankful for the blessing of these people in our lives.  The kids are such great friends and I pray that they remain so for many years.