Recap

We have been waiting for this day ever since we've hit the month of December! It was finally time to see Santa! The girls and I went shopping in the morning and afternoon but then we came home for naps so they would feel refreshed to see the big guy! Nate and us girls headed over to Easton so we could see the good Santa that we've seen ever since Aiva was born. I was hoping and praying that he would be there and he was! This year he was a few pounds lighter. My mom even made the comment that he was a skinny Santa this year. We waited in line for what seemed like FOREVER but we finally made it up there! Aiva asked for a Barbie car and Ana asked for a Dora kitchen. I'm a little nervous because neither of them are getting what they asked for. We have a kitchen now that they don't really play with and I'm waiting to get rid of some unused toys before I start expanding the Barbie collection! Hopefully they'll be OK with that they get...it's really cool stuff! After we saw Santa, we went over to Steak and Shake and had some dinner. Since the girls waited in such a long line to see Santa we thought it was OK to treat them to some milkshakes. We had a lot of fun and the milkshakes were tasty too!

Recap

On Friday we went out for Pizza and to Night in Bethlehem at our church. It was so awesome. The girls had a great time. Our church was transformed into the village of Bethlehem. There was an area where you could have your pictures taken with an angel or a shepherd. The girls love anything dress up so this was fun for them. They dressed up like Mary and Joseph and had a great time. I wish I had my camera for this...they absolutely crack me up! In the Family Life Center, was the actual "town". There was a place for the girls to make a clay pot and see an actual potters wheel. I think I liked this stop the best...reminded me of Color Your World...kind of! The next stop was the candy store where the girls could pick out their favorite kind of hard tack candy. They liked this stop the best - imagine that! We traveled on to the bread store where we got a piece of bread and then we went on to the Tin shop where we made a candle holder out of tin...it was noisy but a lot of fun! Next we went on to the card making station where the kids made cards to be presented at the temple. They put smelly fragrance on the cards and Aiva thought that was the coolest thing about this stop. Once we left the temple we stopped over to see the live animals. They had live sheep, goats and even a baby cow. SO much fun. Ana was determined to get to the cow but she was unsuccessful! She could only look from afar! While we were there we also made a necklace, played dreidel and got to see the baby Jesus. It made me remember back to when Aiva and Ana played baby Jesus the years that they were born. Time has gone so fast and the time had come to hand off the swaddling cloths and manager! Such a sweet memory! After it was over we headed home and read the Christmas story and it was off to bed for two tired little girls. We had a great evening!

Recap

Last night we made rice krispie treats and hot cocoa instead of having a red/green day and night. It was more of an event for me than the girls since it was a pretty sticky event but the girls loved the M&M's that went on the treats as well as the hot cocoa. Who can turn down hot chocolate! Not Ana!

Recap

We were a little late in decorating the Christmas tree this year but that's OK. It was actually a multi night affair! We had a couple complications with ornaments and lights but we got everything sorted out! we couldn't find the ornaments and I was about ready to have a fit but! I was at the storage unit and had about the whole thing tore apart and then finally I saw a box I hadn't yet opened. Sure enough...it was the one I had been looking for! Then the lights...I couldn't find all the strands of lights so we went to grab a few more strands at the store only to find them once we got home! Funny though that the news strands were the LED kind and I feel like I've got little flashlights all over the tree that illuminates that fact that we have a "fake" tree! Next year, we're either getting a real tree or getting a new artificial tree! It sure does look pretty though. More pics to come of the tree and our many flashlights!

Recap

Our 6th & 7th days of Christmas were a flop. Aiva and myself were very sick so we forfeited these two nights. I'm hoping that we can redo what was originally on our list for another night. I'll keep you posted though!

Recap

On December 5 the girls and I went over to Sunbury United Methodist Church. They were having their yearly Christmas celebration/breakfast so we decided to join the fun. Aiva was so excited because her friend Emma goes to this church and she was so excited to see her and her friends from school. The girls had a blast and I was so glad that I went despite Nate not being able to go with us. Normally I don't go by myself to things like this with both girls. It's too easy for the girls to go wild and me look like a fool so I tend to avoid things like this. I'm glad we went though. Aiva loved waving at all her little friends and Ana just loved being anywhere but home! Here are a few pics of the morning. We're defiantly putting it on the calendar for next year!

Home

Our 25 days of Christmas will be returning today! Sorry to leave you all hanging! After Saturday morning things started to go downhill. Both Aiva and myself had gotten sick so the last few days haven't been so fun. Poor Aiva and Aiva keep asking for the envelope and the present for the day but I've just been so week and felt yucky to get into the envelopes. Hopefully tonight we're going to jump back into it. Hopefully! Despite being sick and feeling absolutely awful the thing that continues to stick out to me is that I really miss being home with the girls. I've been planted on the couch for countless hours and have had to watch Disney and NickJr more than what I really care to stand, but I've totally enjoyed watching the girls dance and talk. I've been more in tune to them these last few days because my mind hasn't been caught up with work or even the real world. I got this burst of energy about an hour ago so I had them come to the kitchen table and we played with the play dough. We had a great time making Christmas stuff and sharing and using kind words. It seems that when I'm busy with work and life that I see more negative than positive with them. When I get home from work I always hear and see them fighting and I go into discipline mode. It was good for me to have this time with them and be able to enjoy seeing them talking nice to each other and acting nice to each other. Even though I've been sick, I'm so thankful that I've had this time. Thank you God for these two precious angels!

Recap

Tonight we were supposed to get pizza and watch Frosty's Winter Wonderland but we had a slight change of plans. When I got home from work Nate said he didn't feel good so it was just me and the girls tonight. I asked what they wanted to do and they shouted "PIZZA!". Come on...can't we do something other than pizza?? I got them to change and we went to Dairy Queen instead. YEAH! While I was there I ran into a friend of mine from high school and her kids. Amy, you always have such great hair! While we were leaving I past a kid I used to have a crush on in high school too. How funny that time goes so fast. Makes me laugh at the ideas I had in my head! Next up was our next plan for the evening. We were supposed to watch Frosty but isn't a tree lighting so much more fun??!! They were lighting the tree in uptown Westerville so we decided to hang out in Westerville and watch the fun. They had caroling, the band played Christmas songs, and Santa even came! The girls loved it. I'm sure everyone really enjoyed hearing Aiva sing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs too! I just looked at her and looked around at the others wondering who's kids she was! Once it was done, we bolted and headed home to see if we could catch the end of Frosty but it was too late. We settled for Wonder Pets :) That's good enough. Ana loves Nick Jr! OK...time to get the kiddo's in bed. Hope you have a great weekend!

Recap

Yesterday was day 3 of the 25 days of Christmas! We watched Polar Express and had hot cocoa. I made breakfast for dinner so we made another batch of cocoa and enjoyed the movie. Aiva loved the movie but it was a bit long for Ana. Overall it was a lot of fun. My favorite line is always "CARIBOU!". If you didn't see the movie last night, be sure to catch it sometime this Christmas season!

Recap

Last night we made paper chains and had a great time. I think I cut an overabundance of strps but that's OK...we now have paper chains strung from the tops of the walls and it does look pretty festive! We used some glitter glue, stickers and markers. We wrote things we think about at Christmas time on some of the chains. baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Jingle Bells, etc...it was fun thinking of everything that comes to mind when you think of Christmas!

Recap

So Game Night was quite the sucess. I wish we would have gotten started earlier but that's the way the cards fell...no pun intended! I guess my lesson learned from last night was that we needed to do dinner earlier so we could get to the game or activity by at least 6. At least I had the girls in their jammies and ready to go to bed after games. Here are a few pics and a video. Enjoy!

Halloween

I know this is incredibly late but I just found this on my phone and I just had to post it. Aiva was so proud of her song that she had to have me record it and then we sent it to the family. Enjoy!

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Today is finally the first day of Christmas! Today the girls opened the envelope of what were doing today and what they found was "Game Night" They are so excited because Nate is taking them to Target this afternoon to get a new game. I went through some boxes last night trying to get things organized a bit and one of the boxes had a lot of Nate's and my old games in it. Aiva was in heaven...she immediately wanted to go through them and play them all. She told me this morning once she saw what we were doing that "I knew you were going through the games for a reason!". She's such a smarty pants! She'll tell you too if you ask her! So... if you're celebrating the first day of Christmas what are you doing today?