Christmas Top Ten

10. Two Adorable Girls in Christmas Dresses: The girls wore their holiday dresses on Christmas Eve. They looked so cute! We enjoyed spending time with my mom's side of our family. We went to church, had communion as a family (one of my favorite parts), and then played Bingo. This year we played Disney Bingo on the TV, the girls thought it was fun. Below Faith shows off some of her special Bingo prizes.

9. A Surprised Nana: This year we got Nana a Cricut. This wasn't on her list, but was something I thought she would really enjoy using for all those wonderful scrapbooks she makes us. The girls thought is was very fun she had such a big box to open. (for some reason even though its not that big it came in a HUGE box)

8. Snow & New PJ's: The girls were thrilled with the snow. Grace especially was concerned about having a white Christmas this year as she thought it was necessary for Santa's sleigh. Below they are checking out the snow the morning after Christmas in their cute new pj's from Cody & Erin. Grace took hers to put on in the bathroom Christmas night. She came back out to ask her daddy, "What do I do? It didn't come with a pull-up." They had fun playing in the snow with their uncles & Roxie.

6. Christmas Treats & Too Much Yummy Food: This year I did all of my Christmas baking in one day. It was quite the marathon. The girls loved getting to deliver the plates of goodies to our neighbors. We enjoyed all sorts of delicious food this holiday season. We had yummy appetizers on Christmas Eve, a huge meal at Grandpa Don & Grandma Kay's house, & Buffalo Wild Wings with Grandpa Rick & Grandma Leeanne. (a little late due to the flu)

5. Christmas Books: This year the girls had so much fun getting out and reading our Christmas books. Grace got a new Fancy Nancy one that I already have memorized from the short time between Christmas and when we put away the Christmas books! Jeremy and I got each of the girls and the baby a new Christmas book this year. One of Grace's new favorite things this year were the sticker books she received.

4. Special Gifts: The girls got so many fun gifts. Grace LOVED her dollhouse from Santa. Faith was very excited about her baby doll with stroller from Gramy & Papa. Both of the girls love their princess tent, easel, toy box, tea set & new movies. Jeremy's favorite gift was probably the nail gun he got from my dad & brothers. My favorite gift was from Jeremy and the girls, a mini-camera for recording video clips for my blog. (although it is still backordered)

3. Family: Due to the weather & sickness our Christmas celebrations ended up being a lot more spread out than originally planned. It was great to spend time with all of our family. We are VERY blessed with such an amazing family!

2. Sisterly Love: This year both the girls got to take a shopping trip to pick out a present for each other. Grace went with daddy and selected a baby doll & bottle for Faith. Faith went with Mommy and selected a Care Bear coloring book with some assistance. Then I let her pick out anything she wanted in the Dollar Store. She choose purple napkins & Grace actually loved them. She proudly told everyone that Faith got her purple napkins, her favorite color. We are planning to use them for her Birthday party.

1. The Simple Joy of Children at Christmas: This year I was reminded how simple and fun Christmas is when viewed through the eyes of a child. Christmas time can become stressful. Gifts are expensive, financial stress. Parties are a lot of work. Shopping can be tiresome, and the "to do" list is on over drive. But, my kids weren't worried about any of these things. They LOVED Christmas. They enjoyed going to see Christmas lights, opening our advent calendar, eating lots of yummy extra treats, spending time with family, and the pure delight of anticipating opening their gifts. Celebrating Jesus' birthday brought them joy and I loved seeing it in the way their faces lit up when they opened their gifts. Here were some of the great "faces" we captured.

Here the girls are playing with the packing material from Nana's gift. They have probably played with this stuff as much as their gifts. Simple joy-definitely!

Christmas 2009 was full of memorable moments, this "top ten" is only a sample of all the great memories we made.

Our Baby is growing up!

Yes, I crept in her room and took this picture the first night she slept in her bed.
Matching bedding to Grace's bed- they are SO excited!!

Faith is getting to be such a grown up little girl lately. I have been wanting to blog about some of her "new" things.

-Faith recently decided she lOVES pickles. She swiped one from the relish tray at Thanksgiving and hasn't looked back. When we had sandwiches the other day she ate her pickles off and then asked for replacements before she would take one bite of the sandwich. She loves them so much Grace will often get out the jar of pickles when she is setting the table and say, "These are for Faith-er."

-The other day we were reading a Christmas book. Faith took her "pink" (her beloved blanket) and patted it on the picture of baby Jesus saying, "Baby, baby." She will also pat my belly with pink when she gives the baby hugs and kisses each night before bed.

-She has grown VERY attached to her blanket. She drags it everywhere. When she eats she insists on it being on the back of her chair. There is nowhere "pink" doesn't come along. If I do need her to do something without pink she will give her kisses before handing her over. And getting it washed is always a challenge!

-While we were in Michigan Grace discovered she could help Faith out of her pack-n-play. They transfered this skill to their bedroom at home. Grace proudly helped her sister out of her crib twice. She would calmly explain, " I stacked up these toys and Faith-er climbed down the vacuum." Oh, my! I didn't think I was up for a broken arm so we finally got Faith's big girl bed set up. As you can see from the pictures she was thrilled!!! Even though I was dreading this transition it has gone fairly smoothly. Of course the girls LOVE playing together, but they eventually quiet down and go to sleep. (With a little help from a baby gate outside their door so they can't vacate their room.)

-Faith loves to take off her pants, her socks, and occasionally her diaper. Sometimes I'm not sure why I get her dressed everyday. At the end of rest time I am never sure what I will find the girls wearing. The other day Grace was in her swimsuit and Faith had on a skirt and her sister's tennis shoes (oh, and no diaper!)

-The girls have both enjoyed doing a Christmas Advent/Countdown calendar. Each day they open a box with a fun activity. Faith will shout each night at dinner, "Calendar. Calendar." (over and over)

-Faith has also become quite the mama's girl as of late. She loves to be held and sit on my ever growing belly. She is VERY excited about being a big sister so we will see how these two things play out when the baby actually arrives. For now Faith is very helpful with our daycare baby, Regan. She helps feed her, gives her the "bink" and says "sleep" and even shares pink with her when she thinks she needs a blanket.

-Faith LOVES sugar, she has quite a sweet tooth. When we made our Christmas treats I think she would have eaten them till she was sick if I had let her. I had to get everything put away off the counter. I would take one stool away and she would go and find something else to climb up and snatch treats. She was very determined.

Faith,

I love you SO much. I am enjoying seeing how you are growing and changing. You can really make your dad and I laugh. You remind me so much of your daddy. Consequently, you are very good at charming me. You and your sister are developing such a sweet friendship and I love to watch you two pretend together and be silly together. You are such a wonderful blessing to our family.

Your Mama

Christmas Ornaments

When Jeremy and I were engaged we decided to start a tradition. (which means I basically coaxed him into agreeing to it-he likes to tease me about how much I love traditions) We would get a "couple" ornament each year. We would take turns every other year. He took our first "engaged" Christmas. Although we actually have two from that year because I ended up buying one too, because I was so excited about the idea I didn't want to wait a whole year. We both laughed when we hung them up this year because they both had mistle toe on them. Each year we've had more fun with having our ornament really reflect the year or us as a couple. For example last year I got an ornament that said Mexico in honor of our anniversary trip. Well, this year Jeremy really went all out and ordered a personalized ornament for me. I LOVE it!! It is hand painted on a shell and represents our time at Blessing Ranch this fall.

When Faith was born we decided to start getting the girls an ornament each year as well. We have tried to choose things that reflect their year as well. Grace was very excited about "her" ornaments this year. Anyone who would come to our house she would gladly point out which ones belonged to her and which ones were Faith's. Previously we have always opened our ornaments with the rest of our presents on Christmas. However, this year we decided to make it one of our Advent Calendar activities. This was fun because we had time to really enjoy opening them and then enjoy them on the tree during the remaining days till Christmas.

This year Faith's ornament was a purse that said "The Bag Lady" on it. Faith really loves purses/bags and will load her arms up with them. When we leave the house if I don't let her take one of her own purses she will insist on carrying mine, even if it is so heavy she has to drag it.

Grace's ornament this year was a puppy that played music. Grace has decided she LOVES dogs this year. She adores my brother's dog Roxie. She even picked her out a Christmas present. She would really love if Roxie could come spend the night. Along with this love of dogs her new favorite show this year has been Clifford the Big Red Dog which inspired her being Emily Elizabeth for Halloween. So we thought an ornament involving a dog was perfect for this year. (On a funny side note it plays the song Bad to the Bone)

I think even Jeremy would agree this has become a really fun Christmas tradition!