Christmas Morning

Cookies & chocolate milk left for Santa - looks like someone decided to help themselves to some frosting.....

The finished doll house!

I was waiting for the classic Lo freak out when she first saw it. I was waiting in the kitchen with the video camera. She ran in, stopped, looked at the dollhouse, then at me and just said "CHEESE!" Hilarious.

She ran to her stocking first, and quickly emptied out everything, and wowing about everything Santa brought her.

It took her a while to really grasp what was going on and that it was hers.

Lo's "room" is on the left of the bathroom in the upstairs

And B's is on the right. They are painted like their rooms in our house, thus hindering any confusion the 3 year old might have on whether the dollhouse is "hers" or "theirs"

A little pop-up tent for the play room. B thought it was the greatest thing ever, she played in it all morning.
And did not enjoy when Lo decided it would be fun to join her.
This was my Christmas surprise from Bryan - the impossible to find boots that I've been wanting for months, but would never in a million years buy for myself. They are backordered until February. He's good.


And the family present - FINALLY getting our family pictures that were taken in August up and on the walls. There are more than just these, but I just haven't taken pictures yet. Stay tuned.

This was the first year that we decided to not go anywhere Christmas morning. Normally we go to my parent's house, but last year Lauren only got to play with her presents for about 30 minutes all day, so I decided that we needed to simplify things from now on.
So our parents all came over in the morning at different times and hung out, ate, and played with the girls for a bit. We didn't have to be anywhere until 2:30, which was perfect with B's naptime.
We went to Bryan's mom's, had more deliciousness to eat, more fun presents to open, and then to his grandma's, repeat of previous statement.
It was such a relaxing day, but it felt strange because we're used to running like crazy all day long. I very much prefer the relaxing day.
Then the day after Christmas we had my whole family over for dinner, exchanged gifts, played some Wii, and had a fabulous time.
But to be honest, I'm quite ready for Christmas to be over this year. It's been so much fun having Lauren get so excited about everything, but I'm exhausted :)

And sorry there are no more pictures - I dropped my camera and busted a piece off of the smaller lens (the 18-55), and I didn't want to mess with the frustration of trying to take a bunch of pictures with the zoom lens. I hate my clumsiness.

Weekend O'Fun

Some hilights from our weekend o'super busy fun:

Taking Bryan for his first Trax ride

Temple Square lights

Making Christmas cards for Daddy with friends in princess dresses

New biscuit recipe (mmmmm)

Getting babysitters for lunch AND dinner on the same day (do I feel guilty? NO)

Grilled salmon

Worst waiter EVER at Tepanyake in Lehi. Seriously. Worst.

Sophie in a Bumbo

Ponytail in a perfect curl
Chloe in a Bumbo
New sugar cookie recipe (double mmmmm)
Christmas carols at Grandma's house
Seeing all of my girls (though not all at the same time)
So many hilarious moments
Laughing til my stomach ached
Wish EVERY weekend was like this one

The Spirit of Giving

Ahhh, yes. It is Christmas time, the time of giving, of being selfless, of thinking of others.
I think it's a little too much for a 3 year old to grasp quite yet.
Yesterday we were at Target and I told Lo she needed to pick out a present for B.
She told me that B really wants a Snow White dress, and she walked me over to the Princess/Barbie aisle and showed me which one.
I asked her if she thought Mya really wanted that, or if Lo did.
Lauren said she'd "share it with her".
I'm sure Mya would be absolutely thrilled to have Lo give her a princess dress twice her size that she is so willing to share with her.

Also, we tried to get Lauren to sit on Santa's lap at our ward Christmas breakfast. There was much coaxing and bribing - from us and from her friends, but to no avail. Santa is officially scary.
When I was little, my mom would call Santa.
Yes, my mother has Santa's actual phone number.
And now I have it.
I told Lo that we are going to call Santa tomorrow, because how is he going to know what to get her if she doesn't tell him?
She said she doesn't want to talk to him.
"I'll tell him when he comes in our fireplace on Christmas"
Makes perfect sense to me - he's magic, he should be able to produce your desired presents right there, on the spot.
I just smiled and told her we will call Santa tomorrow.

Have I mentioned how much more exciting Christmas is this year now that she understands (mostly, of course) how it all works? And I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning - I get all gooey just thinking about it!

And PS - pics of the finished dollhouse coming soon - turned out better than I imagined! That Santa's helper sure is one good little worker!
And we still haven't figured out what "the toy with birds on it" is that Lo keeps saying she wants. Hopefully when she sees the dollhouse she forgets all about it.

Walking!!

Before I forget, B is officially walking!!
It's strange for us, because Lo never did the thing where they take a few steps and fall down, get back up, repeat. She looked at me one day, got up, and walked. And that was that.
So I haven't really known when I could say that Mya was walking. She's been doing the few steps thing for about 2 weeks now, but the last couple of days she's kicked it up a notch or 2, and has been walking everywhere. She still holds on to the wall a lot (especially when she's on the hardwood - she really hates to fall down on it....can't say I blame her), but for the most part she tries to walk wherever she's going.
It's such a relief, and just like we thought - she's SO much happier to be walking! She's still needy, but so much better than she's been. She just wants to be a big kid!
A couple of months ago I had predicted she would be walking by 16 months, and here we are, just 3 days shy of that mark.
Yay B!!!!

Santa's Little Helper

Since we have the perfect little area for spraying set up in the unfinished portion of our basement, I guess one of Santa's helpers has decided to work on a very large, very heavy Christmas present down there instead of at the workshop in the North Pole.

I snuck a peek at the work in progress last night.

THIS is why I'm so excited for Christmas I can hardly stand it.

Santa's helper does pretty good work, eh?

And on a little side note......

I caught a glimpse of this certain helper last night as he was caulking

He's kind of hot :)

Randomness of the Littles

Just a few funny pics that don't necessarily need their own post!

What? You've never given your kid the part of a head of Romaine lettuce that you normally discard and see if she likes it? I thought every parent did that. And no, she didn't like it. But she kept going back for more. Crazy B!

This is what Mya does now when she sees the camera. She has learned this from her sister, because I have taken the advice of a few photographer friends and have NOT taught her to "cheese". I'm pretty sure I didn't teach it to Lo, either, but I'm not the only one who has taken her picture. All it takes is one cousin/aunt/grandparent/uncle, and you're done. Cheese forever.

And I love this kid more than anything, but usually her "cheese" looks more like she's growling or about ready to bite something.

Now, I don't know if any of you have ever wondered what Lo's hair looks like straight, but I have, so I thought I'd try it out one day.
Wow.
Mullet anyone?
The sad thing is that on the sides, right in front of her ears - that has NEVER been cut. My kids are definitely not blessed with an over abundance of hair.
After it was done I told her we needed to put it in ponies because I didn't like it. She kind of whined about it, so I told her to go look in the mirror.
So she ran over and looked, ran back and said "It's not very cute. I don't like it"
Me neither!

I'm just going to end this by saying how excited I am for Christmas this year! I truly feel lke a parent this year - I haven't thought about anything other than making this as magical for my kids as possible. Every day is spent making preparations and doing fun activities and trying to teach Lauren about Santa (which she finally understands this year) as well as the true meaning of Christmas. We talk about the 3 nativities we have in our house, we read books about the birth of Christ. I couldn't wait to get out all of my decorations and put up our tree - I lugged that huge thing up the stairs myself the day after Thanksgiving because I just couldn't wait for Bryan to get home. I've always loved the holiday season, but there is nothing like this time of year when you have kids old enough to enjoy it.
But secretly - I think I'm more excited than them!