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!

she never stops

singing! We love it 98% of the time, but when she sings for 30-45 minutes after we put her to bed... not so great. So I decided to tape her singing some of her favorite Christmas songs to send to loved ones. Here was out first attempt. Maybe next time I won't have her sing in front of the tree or right after ballet. She gets a little distracted. :) Rick thinks it is hilarious listening to her try to hit the high notes. So to spread a little Christmas joy, here is Reagan:

ball game

I always forget that I have a video camera. Luckily my dad always reminds me that I should be taping this and taping that. One of the girls favorite games to play is a game where they race to empty their bucket of balls. I got the idea from Lindsay, and just tweaked it a little to fit my girls. It is a great way for them to burn off some energy and get some exercise. I normally put their buckets much further away, but modified it so I could catch it all on film. One of them is undefeated at this game, but I'll let you watch the video to figure out who...

thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving this year. We hosted it at our house for my parents, molly and her family, and my aunt and uncle. Then my cousins joined us after dinner to plan out our black friday shopping. It was only my second turkey, but I think it was pretty good. It was exhausting preparing for it all, because Rick injured his knee wednesday night and was pretty much out of commission. We managed everything, though, and were only a half hour later than my projected dinner time. The girls wanted to try on their Christmas dresses (which Reagan did NOT want to take off). So I managed to get a shot of them, in case I forget when Christmas actually gets here.

The thanksgiving spread...


We set-up the tables in the living room so we could all eat together.

My little pilgrim girl

The kids watching a little backyardigans while we cleaned up from dinner.


My camera battery died, so this was the only shot I got of my Indian girl.


Jill brought these adorable treats!


Black friday was ex.haust.ing. My mom and my sis and I were champs, and got basically everything we needed. Starting at Toys R Us at 11 (opened at midnight), crashing at Molly's for 2 hours, then hitting Target at 4. Then numerous other stores before we met up with my Aunt and Uncle for some breakfast. I did nap for about an hour when my girls napped that day. Then we hit up the light parade here in town. The floats were pretty cool, but man was it cold! Here are some of the floats.

The girls danced while the choir performed at the ampitheatre.

We met Rudolph's girlfriend.

The girls thought the reindeers were awesome.

Now to get our Christmas tree!