I love Christmas!

I finally understand why my parents loved Christmas so much! It was probably one of the most exciting days in my life. The girls were so fun to watch! They were genuinely happy with everything, and would have been content receiving just one gift! I really tried to focus on the giving aspect of Christmas. I took the girls shopping with me to pick out some presents for a boy and a girl that we sponsored. They also helped me make cookies, truffles, and chocolate covered pretzels for our neighbors, and loved caroling to them. I also really wanted them to understand the meaning of Christmas, so we spent a lot of time learning the Christmas story. We re-enacted it on Christmas Eve with my Parents and Aunt and Uncle (pictures to come). We also decided to give the girls three gifts each, like the wisemen gave to Jesus. Then Santa brought each girl just one gift and two gifts for them to share.

Santa delivered two school desks with new school supplies to prepare them for homeschooling. (We got the desks for free thanks to my high school English teacher.)

Then they got a new dollhouse that fits their new princess barbie dolls perfectly.

This was a last minute buy at Aldi when it was marked down to $30, but I am glad I found it!

The girls loved the magnifying glasses they got in their stockings.

They are so funny with their "my-fying" glasses.

Playing ballerina in their new tutus!

My biggest surprise was getting a new TV for Rick. I bought it the day after Thanksgiving and managed to keep it hidden until Christmas morning. He was pretty excited!

Reagan really, really loves her Leapster!

Kennedy having fun with her new Little People that Granny sent her from NC!

Playing their new instruments (thanks Grandma and Grandpa) in their new fort from Santa.

Getting ready to open gifts at Sunshine and Grandpa's.

This is fun! Thanks for all the great presents!

Dancing in our new leotards!

Helping mommy vacuum up all the needles after we took out the Christmas Tree.

Now the house is mostly organized with all their new stuff. We went to Princess and the Frog yesterday and enjoyed it! Kennedy even managed to sit through the whole thing. She did end up playing with a water bottle and a straw for the last 30 minutes or so, but I didn't have to take her out of the theatre. We hope you all had a delightful Christmas!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

(I'll post Christmas Eve pics once I get them from my Mom and Aunt.)

counting down the days

Every morning when Reagan wakes up (which seems to be getting earlier by the day) she asks me what the date is. Then she tells me what we are doing every day until Christmas. The girls are definitely excited for Christmas, but I am pretty sure I am even more excited! Everything about this time of year is absolutely wonderful! We played in the snow yesterday and investigated the foot prints we found in our yard. We decided some were Santa's reindeer's prints and some were bunny prints. We sledded and threw snowballs, and walked around the neighborhood looking at Christmas decorations.


We also played in our house and had fun going super fast down the icy slide.

I finished this fort last night for the girls. I haven't figured out where we will hang it yet. Probably in the toy room, but not until Christmas Eve so the girls can find it when they wake up in the morning.

Enjoying some yummy candy canes!

I don't know if it was more fun eating the candy canes or more fun saying "sticky" over and over and laughing hysterically every time.

We decided to make a Gingerbread house, this is the side the girls decorated.

This is the side Ben and Cindy decorated. Kennedy did the front walkway, she was very proud.

2 more days, I just can't wait!!

more presents

I love getting ideas for new creative presents. Plus I love hip2save.com (which is apparently undergoing some techinical work right now). This is a sweet idea she linked to. I stuffed these pop bottles with items I got for super duper cheap for my sis-in-law and fiancee and my cousins and their fiancees. It has stuff like deodorant, razors, candles, chapstick, laundry detergent packs, etc... They were sooooo cheap to make, but totally practical. Hopefully they love them once they figure out how to open them!

santa and 'her' elf

The kids wanted to play Santa today. So Kennedy is Santa and Reagan is an elf. We packed our bags with toys for our friends and delivered them to each of their 'houses.'

I put their friends in various places in the house for them to find. They would then sing a Christmas song to them and give them a toy.

Each friend needed two toys, one from each of them.


Picking out a toy to give.

She thought it was easier to find the right toy if she stuck her head in the bag.

Then once every friend had two toys, Reagan and Kennedy would go fill up their bags again while Swiper (Mommy) stole all the toys. Then they would make their friends happy again by singing and giving them new toys. We've done this three times so far. When Reagan laid down for her nap she said, "I wonder if Swiper will swipe all the toys again." Yep, he did.

a few Christmas projects

I have been pretty busy making things for Christmas, and still have more to do. But here are a few of the things I have mostly finished. These are just things for the girls, because the recipients of the other gifts read the blog. So I will post those after Christmas.

A fabric carry along dollhouse for Kennedy.

A matching doll for her house.

The doll in the house, with the fold-out lawn. Thought about making furniture and another doll... Maybe when I finish the rest of the gifts.

The fold up scenery that can fit in her dollhouse.

Cut from the jacket covers of some of her books.

The other side of the scenery.

It folds up.

Ballerina tutu.

Had to make one for both girls.

The stockings I finished awhile ago, but never posted.

more to come...

It's the most wonderful time

of the year! Except for the weather, that is. We are loving all of the fun things we get to do at Christmas time. Here is a little re-cap of what we did last week. (In reverse chronological order, since that is how I uploaded them - oops.)

We got our first real snow of the year, and the girls insisted on playing in it. Even though it was freezing! They wanted to 'help' me shovel the driveway. They managed to find a rake and a broom in the garage and went to work.
Before that, Reagan was helping me shovel using her little sandbox shovel. She thought it was great fun to fling it into the yard.

We played in the backyard first and rode on the sleds, but it was much more windy back there.

It was so cold that I had to put scarves around their faces. (Again, going outside was NOT my idea, the girls were very demanding...)

Reagan actually liked wearing her scarf, whereas Kennedy only wore it because Reagan had one.

Now in case you were wondering if they were warm enough, here we go with the layers. Snowpants (don't you wish they made adult ones like this?)

"Kendy do it self!"

They were really anxious to put their snow boots on, and repeatedly put them on before they had enough layers on.

Yea, really anxious. She thought she was ready simply by taking off her jammies and putting on her boots. Silly girl.

We also made Christmas cookies. Bet you can't tell who did which ones...

The girls really just wanted to eat their handiwork.

We let Reagan eat two, she was thrilled!

Kennedy's masterpieces before she ate one.

Reagan's masterpieces. Notice the huge pile of frosting and sprinkles?!

Christmas coloring and crafts.

Making pictures for our families.

We decorated our tree last weekend. (Its a 9-footer! I LOVE IT!)

The girls preferred giving the ornaments rides in their free wagons they made at Home Depot.

Their favorite ornaments are the instruments.

Playing the Violin ornament.

Playing the French horn.

Grandma and Grandpa brought us these antlers so we can be reindeer.

Now it's time to go have more fun! Happy Holidays!