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!

A Christmas Party

I thought it would be fun to host a little party this year.  I have two sisters in Utah, and an Aunt who is like a sister, both in age and relationship. So we had a little get together.  I asked everyone to bring their favorite treats. I made a little banner to add to the festivities.  

The treats were sooo yummy.  Cha made a red velvet cake from scratch!  Kels and Guy brought Hello Dollies, Jenni and Corey brought the BEST cake bites,

and I made smores' cups.

I also set up a tiny hot chocolate bar, with yummy fixings.

And of course some cider, made with my favorite Williams Sonoma muling spices :)

My kids were spoiled with everyone that came, THANK YOU ALL.

We didn't have any grand plans while the kids were still awake.  Just eat, talk, and enjoy.

Kelsey and Guy were the only one's that kissed under the mistletoe.....

Almost.

When the kids went to bed, we played a really fun game that Kelsey and Guy brought, called Scribblish.
Then Cha and Eric re-in-acted their egg and sperm interpretive "dance" since Dave missed the last show.

Apparently he was enjoying, since he joined in!

Then we watched Elf, a family favorite, and called it a night.  It was really fun, and great to spend time with my family for Christmas. 

A day with no kids

At 12:00 noon, I met my MIL at Costco to drop off the kids.   She's keeping them all day, night, and all day tomorrow.  This is the first time EVER Dave and I have been together, away from the kids, overnight.  I'm excited/anxious/apprehensive/giddy etc...I feel like Rapunzle with my bi-polar mixed emotions.  

It's turned out to be a really fun day, and I only called them twice :)  We kind of just hung out for a while, enjoying the quiet, while being home.  But then we decided we better take advantage.  So we went to a movie, right smack in the middle of the day.  And just because we felt like it, and we could.  What a liberating feeling. We saw Mission Impossible.  Which was a-mazing...  Then we decided we wanted to go out to dinner, we invited my sis's along.  Only one could make it, but us four had a great time. After dinner we went to see the lights at Temple square.  We didn't make it last year, so it was fun to be able to go this year, even if it was with out the girls.  We also went inside the visitor's center for the first time in a long time, and it is very different.  It's really neat, and I want to take the girls at some point.  

We got a quick shot of the four of us.
 

I have decided a few things...life with out kids would be SO MUCH easier, quieter, less stressful in many ways.  It was actually kind of boring at times.  I haven't been truly bored in a long time...like 5 years....but it wouldn't be nearly as wonderful.  I have some grand plans for tomorrow with out a husband and kids (mostly neglected projects) but I sure can't wait to see their cute faces!  Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, and sadly sometimes it's what helps us appreciate what we have.