This Christmas, I loved...

...Christmas Eve. I loved just our own little family, being relaxed and not rushing. I loved our birthday party for Jesus, praying over our World Vision gifts (a goat and two chickens, picked out by the girls.) and for our sponsored child Francis, watching a part of the Nativity movie, and Christmas Eve service. Symantha was so excited to finally be chosen to be a part of the Christmas story (she was one of the angels).

...my animated girls and how they show their excitement and joy over presents - giving and receiving.

... how Addi rocked this outfit the entire time she opened presents at Nana's house. So glad the tutu was the first present she opened. I only wish she had a shirt:)

...the family joke at my Mom's house of it being our "turn" to get a tv for Christmas. I wish I had a picture of the poem she had the girls read us and the surprise when we received it. 

...matching nightgowns made by Grandma for each of the girls. They think they are like Laura and Mary wore in Little House on the Prairie and they LOVE that.

... Beanbag heaven from Grandma and Grandpa D. Especially since they double as a landing pad for Addison.

... special presents handmade by the girls and the thought that went into who they were going to give it to. They both did a sewing project with Grandma (thank you grandma, since I can hardly sew a button on a shirt:)). Symantha gave hers to me, and Hailey gave hers to Nana. I know it was a tough decision for them!

 

... this picture, as we were trying to get a good family shot. This was not set up, just real life:)

Even though THIS is a little more of what we were actually going for.

Thanks so much to our family and friends for helping make this Christmas such a wonderful one. I loved it all.

In search of the perfect Girls Breakfast picture

Every year we take pictures at our annual girls breakfast - it's been going on for I think 13 years (ask Amy Jo, she always knows). It's always a process of how we are going to do it, since all of us are in it. And it is usually pretty funny, whether we are surrounded by presents in a booth at Coco's Restaurant (about 10 years ago) or surrounded by babies/toddlers or just racing to get in the right spot with a self-timer. I didn't take the time to scan any of the really old ones, but here are a few from past years... they may kill me for some of them, but they crack me up.

 2004

 2005

 I especially love this nice primping one. Classic.

2009

This year's photo shoot was no exception, and I love the "pre-perfect shot" pics I got. Sorry girls, but I really love these and they make me laugh. Especially the laughing one. Because that is generally what we do throughout these photoshoots.

 Until we get a decent one and finally call it good.

Looking forward to next year's shot already!!

I love these girls.

Ryann's baptism

Last Sunday, my sister Ryann made a commitment to Christ and was baptized at our church. I was so glad she decided to do it here so we could see it, instead of Spokane where she now lives! She asked Derek to baptize her, which was so cool. We are excited to watch her journey of faith and we know that God is going to do some amazing things in her.

Congratulations, little sister! We love you!

A beautiful ballerina

The big girls and I got fancy, complete with scarves and purses, to go to Amanda's Nutcracker ballet performance. They were so funny picking each accessory and deciding what needs to be in their purses. This is when we were finally all ready to go...

We went to Red Robin for dinner, and then on to the show. It was a dessert theater and the perfect length for shorter attention spans (about 45 minutes of ballet is all Hailey can handle!). Plus, you get cookies during it - huge bonus.

I LOVE these pictures of Amanda. She did such a great job!

The movie theater returns

Aunt Patty and Uncle Scott returned for a visit and Scott was even MORE ready to set up a theater in our house. He had curtains to block out the light and everything...  it was extremely well thought out. We had a little early Christmas with them, ate some pizza and then started the show!

Here's Aunt Patty with the girls. They were so excited to see her and they loved the special dolls (along with everything else!) she got them.

And then our own personal movie theater...

Thanks for coming to visit, Aunt Patty and Uncle Scott!

These are a few of my favorite things

Matching Christmas PJ's

Gingerbread Village 

Way better when each kid can do their own

New Advent Calendar 

Since we have never had one, I am loving doing "actions" instead of gifts. The girls have been doing things like random acts of kindness, sending notes to our world vision child, making cards for people, etc. along with all the fun days of playing with shaving cream "snow", painting Christmas pictures, or having little treats.

Christmas Dinner with friends

Reader's Theater of Christmas Story 

Complete with awesome costumes, designed by them

Santa's Naughty or Nice Test

Good thing the girls passed! 

Christmas Planner

To keep it all together. Made by Sara for my birthday - will definitely be using something like this again next year! You can see it has been getting a lot of use.

Hailey's award

Hailey was Student of the Trimester for her kindergarten class... way to start out her school career! She was so cute up there, while the principal read the little blurb her teacher had written for her.

The award reads, "Hailey is a great friend to all. She is flexible and always does the right thing at the right time. Hailey loves to read and has been reading books on her own. Keep up the great work, Hailey!"

We are so proud of her.

  Her friend, Ethan (also from church), was given an award too. He is right next to her.

And Symantha was sitting with her class, cheering Hailey on too.

Great job, Hailey!

Homespun Christmas

I love fancy Christmas decorations. Christmas trees that look like they should be in a magazine, perfectly stylish decorations all over the house, etc. I think that I want this, but then I start pulling out the decorations I currently have. And listening to my girls get TOTALLY sentimental over each glittery, pipe cleanery, beaded, handmade or picture ornament. You should hear all the, "Oh, Mom!"s and the "I remember this!" as we decorate the tree. And I love that too... actually more than perfect decorations. 

So, it looks like I will continue to have ornaments like this on my tree... totally mismatched, but totally meaningful. That blue one is Derek in the third grade. The girls LOVE that one:)

And we will continue to put up the ugly angel that was on our tree when I was a little girl. Only we have to do it three times, so each one has a turn.

And all the other sentimental things we pull out of the boxes will be thoroughly enjoyed.

 I will have plenty of other years to "deck the halls" as I would like to. For now, I think I'll appreciate the sentiment.

We ♥ Amanda

 My niece Amanda came and stayed the night with us last Friday while Derek was out of town. She babysat the girls for a while, then after the kids went down we had a girls' night, chatting and watching a chick flick. She's pretty great and I was glad to spend some time with her.

The girls think she is awesome, too. I love that they have cousins, especially such a great older example like Amanda. Amanda curled Symantha's hair in the morning, and they said they were twins. Pretty cute.

 

Of course, Hailey then needed a twin. So, her and Addison had to match.

They are pretty cute, too.

Ten on Ten: December

Day Ten

Getting crazy with rice

Girl's Club

Gingerbread houses

Finishing touches

Blanket Fort

Getting Fancy

Hostesses

Ready to Serve

Baby's hungry (cutest belly ever)