Christmas 2012

We stayed at home this year and did the Christmas thing with just us.  It was fabulous!

Here are the girls tracking Santa on the globe as well as the internet:

Christmas Eve gifts.  Always jammies. 

 

Christmas morning.  Gifts and giggles and fun.

December Part 3

Caroline had a little Christmas program at her preschool.  oh. my. cuteness!!!

Hers was the voice you could hear over all others.  She was not shouting or anything.  She was just spot on in pitch, volume, and lyrics.  You could her her voice clear as crystal over the other kids mumbling (or just plain not singing at all).  Singing is her thing.  Definitely! 

Just a cute pic of Caroline in her "candy cane" outfit.

I've discussed my kids love of stuffed animals.  LOVE.  Here they are watching a movie with just a few of their friends.

Another room, another pile of animals. 

I spotted these pink sponge curlers wandering through the grocery store and nostalgia got the better of me.  The kids refused to sleep in them (don't blame em!).  They still enjoyed curls for a few short minutes after I took them out but curls didn't stay through the night. 

Still working on makeup application. 

December Part 2

Our little town does a very good job with their Christmas celebrations.  We have lightings, parades, Santa's workshops, Santa himself, caroling with warm fire pits to sing around and sip hot cocoa.  This year was absolutely freezing as usual but I was grateful there really wasn't any snow.

This tree's lights flickered and danced to Charlie Brown music:

The ice skating rink had performers for part of the event and open skating for the other part.  The girls needed their dad to get a good view of the skating:

Santa's reindeer:

Making a baggie of glitter oats to spread on our lawn Christmas eve:

Christmas crafting:

This little night out was such a great time but we missed a lot of the good stuff like Santa parachuting in, a certain singing group that was performing that night, etc.  It's going to take a few years to nail down the agenda in order to maximize the fun while minimizing the cold, crowds, and emotional meltdowns (mine as well as the kids).

December Part 1

A trip to WalMart.  She used to be so scared of this guy.  Now she wants to take a ride next to him.

Dinner out with Patrick.  Best. Food. Ever. 

We got a new car wash in town and the girls LOVE it! They call it the scary car wash.  It reminds me a lot of the car washes we used to go through as kids.  Big, loud, colorful.  In short, sensory overload.

Our neighbors invited us to join them for the Boulder Ballet's Nutcracker.  I'd been waiting for my girls to be old enough so I could start this tradition.  Caroline stayed home with Dad and I took Maggie on a date.  It was fabulous but it was still an awfully long time for Maggie to sit quietly and stay focused.  She was a trooper. 

Sometimes I get requests to take pictures of my girls doing random things.  This was one of those times. 

A Sunday afternoon at the park.  One of the perks of living in Colorado is regular nice-weather days all winter long. 

The Rest of November

What I've noticed: I'm getting way lazy on the picture taking.  I have next to nothing for most of November.

Here is the ONE picture I have of Thanksgiving.  We had the Crapos over for dinner.  It was so nice and relaxed!  Even though I was hosting I kind of just let the little stuff go and enjoyed.

As is our recent tradition, we stayed home on Black Friday and decorated for Christmas.  Here are the ladies getting a little bored waiting for Daddy to come down and set up the tree: 

 

 

We bought new stockings this year.  I have looked high and low for the perfect stockings--basically since Maggie's first Christmas.  I even contemplated making some.  I didn't want traditional Christmas colors or themes which was part of my problem.  Although I'm not over the moon with these, they are by far the best I've seen and will last for many years (I hope!). 

And just for fun, a shot of Caroline waiting for her carpool to preschool.  The little fist of happiness kills me!

 

 

First Part of November

I have wanted my kitchen island paneled for a while.  What builder does a drywall island?!? (I have MANY questions like that about our home--the trouble with not buying new and/or building to order I guess.) I have begged and begged my husband to do this project for over a year and...finally he starts!

He did a great job and I love it! 

Mags does homework in her new hat and mittens.  Pretty impressive to maneuver a pencil with mittens on!

The kids spent some time in the backyard playing.  And destroying.  When I asked them what happened they said "it just fell over".  Right. 

A nice afternoon chillin' at the park:

Maggie's school has a Thanksgiving lunch that parents are invited to attend.  She was thrilled to have her daddy us there!

Family Photo Shoot

We were on the ball this year and did our family photo shoot early!  No freezing our bons off while trying to act natural and smile.  These pics were taken by my friend Becky and we are thrilled with how they turned out.

This first one cracks me up when I look at the height difference between Patrick and myself: