The Best Week EVER!! ~ Christmas 2009

The Week of Christmas was a very BUSY week for us, as I am sure it was for everyone else! We did a ton of things so I am gonna try to condense it all in this post. being a parent it was really hard to only pick a couple of pictures to share, there are still a lot, but "condensed"! LOL!

Monday night we went down to the square in Fayetteville to look at all the Christmas lights. They do it up right in Fayetteville, PLUS they were very environmentally friendly as all the lights were LED! :) They also had Santa and real reindeer, carriage rides, pony rides, and camel rides.

Here is Audrey looking at all the lights in AWE!

Grandma and Grandpa with the Girls

It was quite cold out so we didn't ride all the rides, but we knew we had to take the girls on the "Princess" carriage! Nora totally loved it...of course!

And were off..Happily Ever After!

Grandpa took a shot as the photographer...Isn't he a natural?? Such cute shots and it isn't even of wood or glass buildings (LOL, inside family joke).

After our carriage ride we went and saw Santa. I don't have a picture to share b/c you couldn't take your own pics and we didn't want to pay for the picture either..I know, bah humbug!! ;) Anyway, we went for some Hot Cocoa to warm up and Audrey was so cute sucking down her "hot" cocoa that I had to take a picture, I of course had to take a picture of big sister, but THEN, Grandpa took the cake with his cuteness so I had to snap one of him too!! :) LOL!

So, after all was said and done we finally decided to take a picture of our family. Of course we waited until the kids were nice and crabby so this was the best pic we got!

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much a blur as were were trying to get all of our last minute gifts. Which, don't you think it's a joke to even start Christmas Shopping early?!?! b/c the last minute Christmas shopping is just gonna suck you in and your gonna end up spending about double what you intended. Does anyone else have this experience yearly too???

Anyway, Thursday afternoon Grandma and I took Nora ice skating. I took my Dad's camera so I don't have pics right now. But Christmas Eve night we had our traditional Rib dinner (our family started it when we lived in Alabama b/c it was nice enough to grill out on Christmas Eve. We now bake them for hours and they are delicious!!!). The girls then opened up their Christmas pajamas and then Grandma read them "Twas the night before Christmas". Nora really enjoyed that.

Grandma really kept them captivated!

I loved the look on Nora's face here...

We set out cookies and milk for Santa!

Thanks to my last minute Christmas Shopping splurge and Grandma and Grandpa, the girls had a very NICE Christmas!!!! Spoiled, I mean, Lucky little girls!

They went to sleep and then it started snowing. We all woke up to a White Christmas!!! I could bore you with TONS of pictures of the girls opening their gifts, but I won't...you can thank me later! :)

This little puppy was one of their favs. It was really for Nora, but they seem to share it wonderfully. It had a little remote to the dog collar that makes it bark and walk.

This was the BEST funny gift of the morning. My sister sent it too me. Let me explain.... last April my sister and her family and my parents were in town on their way to Alabama. We decided to have Audrey's B-day party while they were here. I had the house all perfectly clean and everything was in its place for all the guest to arrive. Then my Dad takes a shower and uses on of my decorative towels as his towel to dry off. It totally sent me over the edge. Yes, admittedly, I overreacted. But come on...If YOU just spent ALL that time making sure everything was perfect, it might have upset you a little too. ;) Even my hubby gave me a hard time about it... when I tried to complain to him he said, " I'm actually a little embarrassed for you right now" My sister ATE that up...It will be a story told for years to come. Anyway, that is the story of my "decorative towel"!! It actually cracked me up and it is hanging up in my guest bathroom RIGHT NOW. I think I may stay there for a while too. I really think its WAY funny!!!

Nora's Big gift of Christmas 09. Her own little bike! she l-O-V-E-D it!!! It was actually really cold and snowy out so she just rode it in circles around the house all day. With every loop she said, " Wow! look at me Mamma" (Daddy, or Grandma or Grandpa) whoever was sitting there at the time!! That's will be a fun little memory! :)

Audrey's Big gift was her own little bed. I scored a HUGE deal on matching bedding and shams from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. That was my "DEAL" of Christmas 2009!! :) She loved it and slept with no fussing at all that night. She probably is a little young, but she has been crawling into Nora's bed almost every night and she would thow a HUGE fit when you put her in her Crib. Se we went with it and she truly couldn't be happier!!!

Later that afternoon we went sledding at a nearby park. The snow had actually melted a little but we were still able to sled. The girls totally had fun. We didn't stay out that long at all b/c the wind made it unbearable to be outside. I am not even joking...My hubby is from Colorado and he admitted is was FREEZING. My parents who lived in Minnesota for years and then recently moved from Utah even said it was toooo cold. Seriously, the wind was BAD!!! :) But again...made for GREAT memories!!

The End!! :)

Next Year...

...Our house will look like this!!! I am gonna be honest, I have NEVER liked a lot of lights on a house before. I think it's just horrible! But, I am afraid my children are changing me for the worse!! You see, last night we went driving around looking at Christmas lights. And the girls would hoot and holler when we drove past a gaudy house like the one above. We would have to pull over and stop in front of the house so the girls could have a good look at it. Audrey would just scream, "lights, lights," in the most joyful high pitched voice ever and Nora said, "I want our house to look like that next year". They just love those horrible houses. Our next door neighbors and our neighbors across the street both have gone a little "over the top" to say it nicely. The girls run outside at night or stare through the windows so they can see them. The are OBSESSED with Christmas lights. And I have to admit, I feel a little bad that they aren't excited about our house. So, I guess next year we are gonna have to go ALL OUT GAUDY!! ;) Post Christmas sales heeeeeeeeere we come. If your in the market for a 10 ft Frosty the Snowman or 100's of feet of colored lights too, you better watch out! :)

I guess they were really really good!!!

I don't know how it happened... if you read my blog at all then you know that my two little girls are Naughty Naughty, especially when I am in the shower (thanks Heather for noticing the trend)!! :) But some how Santa felt they deserved an early Christmas. OK, so Santa was really Grandparents and I guess from a grandparents perspective little girls are ALWAYS good. So Grandpa Wes and Grandma Kim sent some Christmas gifts. Did I say some, I mean about a truck load. I seriously had THREE boxes at my front door full of stuff for Christmas for all of us! Since my parents will be in town in a couple days we decided to let them open their gifts from Wes and Kim. That way they would know who gave what and it would be special for both the girls and Grandpa Wes and Grandma Kim. They are SO organized...they shop all year picking things that they know we would like and buy things for us one by one. Wade and I have tried that in years past, but just aren't that organized and disciplined. Gotta give them props for that!!!

Anyway, we put cookies in the oven, opened Christmas presents while listening to Christmas music, then decorated the cookies, that ate them up. It was a fun night and made the girls super excited. Wade and I decided to keep our gifts until Christmas day, but the girls opened their gifts and loved each of them. One of the amazing gifts were Cabbage Patch Gifts. They look like the original, I don't know how they got them, but they are Awesome. Grandma Kim assured me they want them to play with the dolls, but I just wanted to put them on a shelf as they make me reminisce about the days I had a cabbage Patch doll. So they have played with them and the dolls have been stripped down and even colored on with marker. Don't worry, I constantly redress them and clean them b/c I can't stand the thought of them getting messed up. Honestly, I don't know how long I can keep an eye on them, but I am sure gonna try!! They also LOVE the wonderful tin lunchboxes. Again, just like the ones I carried when I was younger. Nora says it her jewelry box and Audrey just stuffs things in it and sits on it. But no matter how they play with their new toys they love to play with them and we are very thankful for the generosity of Grandma and Grandpa!! :)

Just a couple pics of their gifts they got and the cookies we made. Before they started opening the gifts we showed them a picture of their Grandparents whom they only get to see about one a year. But they have their picture in their room!

The stockings that Grandma Kim made for us. She gave them to Wade and I when we were first married and made the girls one as they were born!

Cookie Eating time!! Doesn't everybody think their kids are cute no matter what they are doing???

Seriously, look at all they sent! More than we deserved!


Our tree!!

Family Fun Day

As I have blogged about before, life for us this fall has been HECTIC!!! We are all so busy going a million different ways, so we haven't been able to spend quality time together as a family very much lately. Recently I had to take my car into a volvo dealership to get some things looked at. Well, the closest Volvo dealership is in Tulsa, OK (an hour and half away). So Wade decided to take a day of work and away from the apartments and we all went to Tulsa together as a family. It was REALLY GREAT! Family fun day is kind of like a good date night with the hubby. Once you finally take the time to have it, you realize how much you needed it and how enjoyable it is. Anyway. We dropped the cars off, went to eat lunch, played and the Children's museum, and then hit the mall to check out the apple store and get an orange julius (Wade LOVES those drinks). It was truly SO refreshing!! Here are some highlights!!

When we dropped the car off they gave us a loaner and it was a Volvo Wagon! I had to take a picture of it b/c we L-O-V-E'd it!! Nora even said, "I Love this car mom, it's so clean" to which my reply was, "Well, ya know Nora, you can help mommy keep our car clean". B/c let's be honest. Most of the mess in my car is due to toys and spilled drinks and crumbs of food. Before I had kids I SWORE up and down I would NEVER have a mommy car. I told myself that I was totally going to keep my car clean... spoken like a true newlywed with ZERO kids!! ;) Anyway, here's the car, it really was beautiful!

We had a BLAST at the Childrens Museum. It wasn't anything over the top. Honestly as an adult, you walk in thinking, "is this it???" It's just a bunch of separated rooms set up as different environments such as; a grocery store, doctors office, beauty salon, post office, CSI lab, a play house, and a big fun zone play area. It's sounds really cool, but it was pretty "low budget" looking. BUT, for a kid...doesn't matter! To a 3 year old and 22 month old it was a giant FUNLAND. we spent 3 hours there easy. We only left b/c we had to as it was closing!!

So here are some shots of the girls at play!!

Even Wade's inner child came out while we were there! There was this little area where you made "ball run" for a lack of a better word. You just organize these little tubes and mats that a ball can run through...like a perfect little path. "lil"Wade worked really hard on his! ;)

During Construction

The Final Cut

I truly can't say it enough, It was a GREAT day!!!