Playin'

It's been fun to watch them play with all their new toys.  A big hit was the HUGE palydough kit. Hours and hours of fun!   

I loved this, waffles with syrup and blueberries!

Another big hit is their HUGE doll house.  With a working lamp, a toilet that flushes, a piano that plays, an elevator, windows that open and close, decks, sky lights etc...I'm kind of jealous...it's fun to see how they use it.

This is a "Polar Express" party, with Helen and Annie, and yummy food.  So cute :)

It's Christmas!

Sometimes I feel like I'm not really in the moment when I'm taking so many pictures.  So I didn't take any until after all the presents were open, so I could really enjoy the time with my little family. 

We heard a little pitter patter around 7:30.  It was so fun to lay in bed with Dave and hear Aubree's discovery of Santa's arrival.  The tree with presents, and the stockings are in different rooms, and I kept hearing little feet running between them :) We let her have her moment, and then got Soph and went down to join her.  It was such a fun morning.  

Sophie loved all her presents.

She was here for at least an hour:

Then found her sticker book,

and coloring book

I was SO PROUD of Aubree.  After our incident Christmas Eve with her one present, I was really nervous for this morning.  We have always had hard Christmases, and birthdays with her Low Emotional Threshold.  We did have a long talk the night before about appropriate reactions, and how we can help her, etc...and she did AWESOME.  She figured out that she was okay as long as no one was watching her open the presents.  As soon as she discovered what it was, she invited us to look too. :) We didn't have ANY eruptions, and she actually wanted MORE presents, which has never happened.  It was amazing.  Small victories :)

She was super excited to find flarp at the bottom of her stocking.

And she had so many new toys, she didn't know where to start!

She was very appreciative, happy, and sweet.

After presents, we got ready and went to Sacrement.  I was proud again when they didn't put up a fight to go to church on Christmas!  They did bring as many toys as they could hold, but they were great the whole time :)  Then we went up to Grandma's and did it all again :)  We spent the day there.  And this is where my favorite memory happened.  We got Dave's Dad, 17 Miracles, for part of his present.  We had never seen it, and during nap time he put it on.  Aubree didn't have to take a nap (Sophie wanted too, or she could have skipped too) and so she ended up watching it with us.  My favorite memory being this: comforting Aubree as she was just sobbing after watching the movie.  It took about 30 minuets to console her.  This is one thing I LOVE about her emotions.  She feels the spirit stronger, and the emotion in movies.  She was so concerned about us dying, and the characters in the movies.  She felt their pain and loss.  At first I was a little scared that it ruined her Christmas.  She just wanted to be held, and go home.  But after letting it ride it's course, and a little encouraging, she was up and playing again.  It was a precious moment I got to share with her, and I am very thankful for it.  

The rest of the day and evening was fun, normal, and restful.  I got to talk to my family, wish them a Merry Christmas, and instead of being sad that they're far away, be grateful that I have them.  It was a FABULOUS CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas Eve Celebrations

Christmas Eve turned out to be a really fun night.  We have a couple of traditions we do and it set the tone perfectly for Christmas.  First was their present after naps.  I had Dave give them a bath so they were nice and clean.  I purposefully didn't dress them.  They each got their box and went to town...

Aubree has a challenge that we have to work with.  She has Low Emotional Threshold.  Which basically means that she is SUPER sensitive to emotions.  She feels it A LOT stronger than kids her age.  She doesn't know how to handle it most of the time, and she ends up "exploding" from what she's feeling inside.  This happens with good and bad emotions.  And one of her challenges is opening presents. (funny to us who don't have it, but it really is a hard thing for her) The surprise is too much for her little body to take sometimes.  This was one of those times.  She opened the ornament just fine, Belle, but as soon as she opened her other one she couldn't take it. 

So while she was on break, Sophie found out what was in her box:
a little pee wee pet hornet, and new pajama's.  Do you think she liked it?

And a new ornament, Cinderella.

Once Aubree got control of her emotions, she was all smiles.

After presents (and dinner) we took our reindeer food (that we got from our cute neighbor)
and let the girls sprinkle it over the lawn.

Then it was time to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point.  We had never done this and we were all excited.  The girls had so much fun!  And we had just as much fun watching them.  

They especially loved going under all the tunnels.

After you pull out of the lights, the road leading you back, is lined with pictures and quotes telling the story of Christ's birth.  The girls thought it was pretty neat, and I loved having another chance to tell them the story.  

And at the very end was the nativity.  On the way home one of my favorite Christmas memories happened.  It was simple and sweet, but impact full (if you were there) The girls wanted to sing carols.  We got into it, and at one point we were all singing, all the words, having fun, laughing...it felt like a scene from a movie where everything was going right.  Again it was simple, but what I felt made it one of my favorite memories!

Then at home we made Santa some cinnamon rolls, and frosted them with yummy cream cheese frosting. Mmmm, lucky Santa.  We put them on our special Santa plate, got milk in his special cup,

and found the perfect place to put them. 

After that, we read the Christmas story in Luke, and bore our testimonies to the kids.  

They were really excited but went to bed on time, and were placated a little with their new pajamas and pillow pets.  It was a fun filled, emotional, great night.  

Fun Times

I forgot to blog about a neighborhood party we went to earlier this month.  It was really fun, and a fun story came from it.  We had a white elephant gift exchange at the end of the party.  The one Dave got was this picture that our friend Jordan took of himself, framed, and signed.  We were all laughing SO hard.  Then I realized that Aubree loves him, and it would be fun to see her reaction to it, so I made sure we went home with it!  Sure enough Aubree just LOVED it.  At first it went everywhere with her, on the couch to watch a movie, at the dinner table, the counter for snacks and activities, etc... then the other day she got excited and told us she found a home for "bullseye" (as she calls him). She took me up to her room, and this is what I saw.  

Funny, funny girl.

And I had to take pictures of them opening their present from my Mom and Dad (early)

Meeting Santa

Tonight, was a trip to the Mall to meet Santa.  Aubree was very impressed that the "for reals" Santa would be at our mall.  Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea, and we waited in line for an hour and a half!!!!!  But they actually did AWESOME.

Sophie LOVED the train, and got excited each time it drove by.

When we got close enough, there was a little play station to entertain the kids.

Santa was amazing. Sophie sat down right by him.  Aubree stood up in the farthest corner away from him, but still eying him very carefully.   The first thing he said to Aubree was about the EXACT specific toy that she wanted THE MOST for Christmas.  She was in awe, and so was I.  At that point she scooted and sat right by him.  He knew exactly the right things to say, and the girls were just tickled.  Aubree promised to make him some treats and leave some milk for him.  We had them take pictures just to see how they turned out.  Well we had to buy this shot because it was just so cute.   Another successful family outing.

Gardner Villiage

Today we went to see the Elve's at Gardner Village.  We originally planned to go with the Lasko's and Millers.  But the day of our original plans, Aubree and I were up all night throwing up!  So it worked out that we went alone.  Our girls didn't even know the difference, and we had a blast.  I downloaded the form on-line, and we were ready. 

The girls loved looking for the elves, and finding all the funny things they were doing.

We went in the afternoon, and it was nice and sunny.  It only got real cold toward the end.  It was a beautiful day.

We found them all, and got their complimentary candy stick.  I had to get a family shot on our way out...

And since we were sitting under the mistletoe elf....

It was a success!