Merry Christmas!

We had a busy but fun Christmas. We had Christmas morning at home, went to my parents' house for brunch, came home for naps, had Carey's parents over this afternoon, then went to Carey's aunt and uncle's house for dinner. The girls did remarkably well with all the busy-ness and gifts and excitement. Seth, on the other hand, becomes a little fussy with a lot of hustle and bustle. He's much happier now that we are just at home alone, quietly relaxing.


Their stockings were stuffed with a book, princess cell phones, mini slinkies ("ninkies"), beanies, and mini lint rollers (they LOVE lint rollers).


What could be in this beautifully wrapped present?


It's a teeter totter!

What did Seth do during the morning festivities, you might ask...

He was lying on the couch smiling away!

Two Times Tradition

This year, for the second year in a row, my brother, Nathan, made gingerbread houses for us to come over and decorate. We went over on Sunday and had a fun time decorating...and eating candy. Haley did a really good job decorating her house (and asking before she ate any piece of candy). Abby did a really good job eating candy all day! Really, she put like two pieces of candy on the house and about twelve hundred in her mouth! She takes after her mom...I ate plenty of candy myself! Oh, and somehow, Carey ended up with his own house to decorate, and he did a good job, too!

Cuter Every Day

Oh Abby!

This morning I sent the girls into their room to get socks on (since it's freezing). Abby came out wearing this:


She had taken her pants off and put on tights, and if you look at the picture closely, you may think she put on purple socks, but those are actually gloves! Yes, she's a creative child. Free-spirited, you might say!

Super-Human Strength

On Friday, the girls were having a hard time napping, and I kept having to go into their room and remind them that it was time to lie down and sleep. At one point I heard a LOUD thud and walked in to find this:


In case you don't know, that is Haley's bed on the opposite side of the room, standing on it's side. The thud was them knocking her bed into the wall. I was so stunned when I walked in. I mean, what on earth were they even thinking! The good thing is, they are learning to work together (come on, that had to have taken some teamwork)!

Don't Under-Estimate A 3 Year Old

This morning the girls and I (and Seth, of course) went to Costco. I saw some men's slippers, which is something Carey has been mentioning that he would like. I had the girls help me pick out which color slipper we should get for daddy (of course they didn't agree, so we voted and the color I liked won...obviously since I was the tie-breaker). I told them it was a surprise for Christmas, but I figured by the time they saw daddy they would have forgotten all about it. Well, as soon as Carey walked in the door on his lunch break (about three hours after Costco) Haley said "We got you new slippers, Daddy. It's a surprise!"

Welcome Home Rodeo

Yesterday we went with our friends, the Orlandos, to Johnson's Tree Farm in Boulder Creek to pick out our Christmas Tree. At Johnson's Farm they have fun things to do and see, and, my favorite part is that they name every tree. We looked around and we found Squirt and Sheera, and we liked them, and then we saw Rodeo and we were sold.








Our friends Dana and Nicole Orlando


Notice the hay on the side of the tree. Haley was finding it on the ground and decorating the trees with it.



This morning, we let the girls decorate the tree. Their finished product looked great, with ALL of their ornaments grouped together on a couple of branches! I love it.