Christmas!

We had a fun Christmas this year. We tried to cram a lot inot the last week we weren't sick. Movies, dinners, family, LOTS of hot chocolate, 16 dozen cookies, deliveries, lights, and music. Then came Christmas eve. We decided to go out with the girls. We made the last of three delivery trips, and headed out to Chili's.

Afterward we headed out to the lights at Thanksgiving point. Unfortunatly they closed early Christmas Eve and we missed it :( I was more sad than the girls. They took it like champs and we drove around different neighborhoods to look at lights. On the way back, I gave the girls a little treat of chocolate. This is what we found after a few minuets....

We got home, read the Christmas story in Luke, and opened their Christmas Eve present. They didn't get jammies this year since they own a million pairs, but they did get a new ornament to hang. Aubs got an Aurora one, and Soph got Ariel. Then we got some treats lined up for Santa on his special plate, and of course some milk. Aubree felt so special to pick out the spot where Santa would be able to find it. She decided (again) that right by the fireplace would be best. Then it was bed time. Aubree was itching with excitement. She couldn't hold her body still as she was getting in bed. Dave had to stomp around and let out a few "Ho-Ho-Ho's" to enhance their experience.
Christmas morning:

8:30, no word from the kids. We snuck in Aubree's room and she was calmly lying down, fully awake. She was too excited to even come down stairs. It took a few minutes to convince to get out of bed! (Soph was still out cold, so we let her sleep) Aubree feels emotion a lot stronger than most people. When she's overloaded (with excitement, anger, surprise, it doesn't matter) she doesn't know how to handle it...so she usually breaks down until she feels the emotion less strongly. It's taken us a while to figure this out, but now that we have life is a little easier. Anyway...she had a hard few minutes, then it got fun. We brought Sophie down and she was all about her new car Santa left. In fact she wouldn't leave it. Dave had to drive her in by the tree and she was presented with her gifts through the window!
Aubree was super excited that Santa knew how much she loved Polly Pockets, and brought her a HUGE set.
We all scored big! It was a fun morning.
Dave got:

A Jazz jersey, a set of his favorite hair care items, I-tunes gifts card, his favorite movie of the year How to Train Your Dragon, a San Francisco Giants hat, President Monson's biography, and $.

I got:

Beautiful albums of the girls made by Dave, necklace, perfume, gypsy (and accessories), cuttlebug, a bunch of new cartridges, embossing plates, A book my Dad wrote an excerpt for, a couple beautiful ornaments, and $.

The girls got:

polly pockets (lots and lots), books, blocks, new blanket, velour outfit, big stuffed doggie, car, $, new hair care items, beautiful temple pictures, princess memory, barbies, doctor kit, squinkies, zhu zhu pet, Tinkerbell, Bolt, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Toy story 3, fairies, stacking blocks, hat, gloves, candy, princess phones, princess silly bands, squishies, sippies, a new table and chairs, baby accessories, craft accessories, and probably more that I'm forgetting whew!!!!

We spent the rest of the day up at Grandma's..

with a delicious brunch including the famous cranberry bread his Mom makes.

Movies, and lounging..
and most of all PLAYING!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Tangled

**Spoiler Alert** If you haven't seen the movie yet**

Now that we're all better and cooped up, we decided to take the girls to see Tangled. I honestly had no desire to see it until I heard reviews from critics and friends. It's a good thing we did! We all LOVED it. Both girls sat through the whole movie with out any complaint.

Aubree really feels emotion, and this movie was no exception. During the lights scene she kept looking back up at me and had a huge grin on her face. She'd turn around and hold my face and smile, say I love you, and look back at the screen. She did that many times during that scene and I could just see how strong she was feeling the movie. The other scene was when Rapunzle healed (what's his face?) with her tear. When he woke up and they kissed Aubree had a look of sheer and complete joy on her face. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that look before. She talks about the movie all the time and we can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

Sophie enjoyed it just as much. She gasped, laughed, made sure they weren't too sad...and my favorite, when Rapunzle's hair got got cut off she said "Oh, no...hair go?" She was totally absorbed throughout the whole movie. It's a fun stage to be able to take them to a movie, watch the whole thing, and still not pay for either one!

I LOVED, LOVED the movie. The story, the music, the humor, emotion. Classic Disney. It was a little weird that Mandy Moore was the princess because I know her (as an artist, not personally :) But she did a really good job, so it didn't ruin anything. I just had to keep images of "A walk to Remember", "Princess Diaries" and various music videos out of my head so I could see her as Rapunzle and not as "Mandy Moore doing Rapunzle" if that makes sense...any way AWESOME movie and fun night out with the family.

Proud Mom

Aubree has really enjoyed her first month at pre-school. She has a cute new paper to bring home every day. And a fun advent for this month. Already I can tell she is learning. She's better at her shapes, spelling her name, and she now writes the letter "A". She has a crush on a boy in her class named Sawyer. And I finally got to meet her teacher and class yesterday (my friend Laci takes her every morning) and saw cute little Sawyer. He's totally the pretty boy of the class, he has golden curly hair and bright blue eyes, basically a boy version of Aubree. And she told me that he was going to grow up and be a handsome prince! It's so fun that this is my life now. School, stories, teachers, friends, and programs. She had her first program! And it was a proud Mom moment. She was too scared to sit up on the stadium, so I joined her for the whole program! But I was not the only Mom up there! They are all three and four so this is their first exposure to these things and they still need Mom, which is fine by me. Since Dave couldn't make it, I was sitting up by Aubree and her teacher with Sophie on my lap. And I was SO proud of both of them. Sophie happily sat on my lap the WHOLE program (which lasted an hour) and Aubree did really well. She was a cute little elf with a hat and a scarf. She stayed in her seat the whole time and participated. She didn't want to sing :) but she did ring her bells, and bang her sticks at the appropriate times. I couldn't get ANY pictures or video...but I kept her program for her.

That was proud moment one. Number two is this:

I have been getting so tired of the same movies OVER and OVER with being sick, and the other day I told the girls I was putting on a Christmas movie and that was what we were watching...so I got out my favorite one: ELF! And both girls LOVE it. They now request it in their list of favorite movies! It makes me so happy :)

Being Sick

This time of year rolls around and I am so excited to enjoy all of the holiday traditions...and then it hits me, EVERY YEAR. And every year I forget until it happens again! Between all four of us, we've been sick for about two weeks now. Luckily it's only kept us down for a few days, but it's that ANNOYING cough that won't relent. So this has been us for pretty much all of December... Pajamas

blankies..movies..
and snuggling..hopefully we're all on the upswing and can enjoy the rest of the Holidays!

Sophie has never been a binky baby..never had ANY interest until a couple of months ago. Well, I was not about to let her get stuck on one now..but grandmas house is stocked with them and she somehow is able to sneak some out with out us noticing...so I have to pry them away when they make their appearance..
Sophie has become quite the little cling monkey. Mostly to me, but if I'm not available..Dave decided to get out the baby bjorn. Since my 21 month old weighs the same as an average 1 yr. old, she fit perfectly! I'm not sure how well she liked it, but it helped Dad get the dishes done.
For some reason Sophie has decided that any article of clothing with a zipper, needs to contain surprises inside. If I'm wearing a zip jacket, she'll unzip it, shove some toys..or whatever she can find..and zip me back up. This drives me crazy! But as of late she's been doing it to herself. Since we've basically been living in pajamas, she has plenty of opportunities. And this is just one example of what Iv'e found while going to change her diaper...
So far I have found (on different occasions): bottles, binky's, an assortment of toys, paper she has drawn on, clothes, sippie, an assortment of food..and random nick nacks. I have to make sure and check her now when ever she wears this kind of pajama..

Sophie's words are growing every day and it's too hard to keep track now..so this will be the last update on words...and these are just my favorite new ones, not all of them:

Santa

Snow

Elf

Honey (which she calls me and Dave)

I want it

I need a baba

I got paid for groceries!!!

On one of the two shopping trips I made this week I was actually handed money back, as I carried out a few bags full of groceries! Yay! It's so fun. So for the weeks tally...I spent $60.45 TOTAL for a weeks worth of food!!!! And I saved $92.50! Again, I don't have pictured the meat and produce since you don't get great savings on them...but everything else I pictured...

From my first trip to Smiths:

What I got:

Pillsbury crescent rolls (2) and sweet orange rolls (2): paid $0.50 each

Cool whip (2): paid $0.49 each

Tub margaine (3): paid $0.79 each

Scope mouthwash (1): paid $0.99

Dozen medium eggs (2): paid $1.04 each

Cuties clementines (1): paid $3.00 (produce doesn't normally have coupons, but sometimes they do and it is wonderful!)

Betty Crocker cookie mix (4): paid $0.50 each

Reynolds baking cups (2): paid $0.29 each

Texas Toast croutons (5): paid $0.49 each

Dawn hand renewal dish soap (4): paid $0.49 each

Pretty good right? Well how about this? These are all from the same trip, but these were all my free items or I GOT PAID for them!

Free items:

Ronzoni garden delight pasta (2)

Carmex lip balm (2)

Martha White muffin mix (1)

Krusteaz cookie mix (8)

Bumble Bee Tuna (5)

Morton Salt, got paid $0.21

Powerade, got paid $0.21

And now for my favorite part....I would have done all my shopping in one trip, but I had to come back because they were out of a lot of items. I was debating all night if it would be worth it to go because I had to go at 11:30 at night (when they get their new shipment, but before midnight when the sales end...) which meant missing the gym the next morning..but I'm glad I did because I walked out of the store with $0.75 in my hands and all these groceries!

No-yolks (4)

Banquet pies (4)

Yakisoba instant noodles (5)

Cornstarch (3)

Carmex lip balm (3)
And that was my week of food!

This month we..

looked at LOTS of bubble pictures on the computer..

watched movies..

had injuries..

built toilet paper towers, over and over..

finished up some Halloween candy..

Got a trim from Aunt Cha..

played with Aunt Kels..

Made a beautiful tea cake with Brody..

and gingerbread houses..

played dress up..

went to the dentist..

snuggled with daddy..

drank from a squirt bottle..

read some books..

and started pre school..

Sophie's new words:

off, fall, snow, dangit, hair, ear, please (finally), Lion King, "Guy" (bowler hat guy, Meet the Robinsons), up, down, walk, play, stop, yes, no (my favorite), horse, phone, shirt, look, tent, run, do it to it, good to go, I don't know, and what the heck (hh-hh-heck)

can identify:

hair, head, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, ears, tummy, fingers, hands, bum, private, toes and feet.

I've slacked on animal sounds. She has to re-learn them all :( but she's so smart..it won't take long.

It's been a long and crazy month...and we're ready for another one!