Christmas 2011

Christmas morning started bright an early, though I was able to convince Cadence 6am was still bedtime and get another 45 minutes of laying in bed before we actually started Christmas morning. The night before, the girls helped me make cookies and set out a plate for Santa. They got new pajamas to wear and I made the pumpkin pies and spinach dip for Christmas day.

The girls were initially unhappy when I didn't immediately give in to demands for breakfast as they wandered out into the living room, but eventually they discovered the treat-filled fuzzy stockings Santa left on the couch for them to go through an feasted on a few chocolates before we confiscated the rest. They also got to open one present each before we did bathtime to get ready for church. Can you guess what Cadence's present was before she opened it?

As messy as the living room was after going through the stockings, it wasn't half the mess it would be a few hours later:
After a quick bath, the girls got dressed into their new Christmas dresses. I picked out Megan's, but Cadence chose her own. We went to the store Friday morning and when she saw the blue, sparkly dress she refused to accept any other and begged for the blue one. How could I say no? The glittered ended up all over the pew at church, but we were able to dust the worst of it off before we left.
After church, we came home and unwrapped the rest of the presents. The girls had a large number of them, thanks to family and friends adding to the mix. Included into today's haul: "Cars" and "Finding Nemo", magna doodles, oversized stuffed animals, a writing toy for Cadence, a remote control car, a talking Mater truck, and a walking, talking toy puppy for Megan.
James and I enjoyed our presents as well. :-) James bought me the entire Harry Potter collection on DVD, plus Ella Enchanted on DVD (I obviously already own, and still read often, the book), plus some beautiful chenille scarves to wear when it gets really cold outside with the wool jacket I got last year. The girls and I bought James a pocket knife he's been wanting for awhile, plus a few DVDs and a new game to play.

Oh, and James got a new chair, though, that wasn't Christmas. That was just because we wanted one, lol. Picked it up Friday after work and we're already in love. A La-Z-Boy rocking chair. None better! (Really, this is just an excuse to post a picture of my handsome husband interacting with our kids. He's so great with them!)

Christmas dinner was another success, though the girls have torn the place apart with their parents distracted. Ham, sweet potatoes, rolls and stuffing. Pumpkin pie awaits once our stomachs settle. We have three of them sitting in our fridge... Leftovers, anyone?

Playing in the Leaves

The tree in our front yard decided to drop most of its leaves over the past week or two, leaving our front yard covered in leaves. The girls love the leaves crunching under their feet whenever they go outside. Cadence recently learned how to open the front door on her own and the two of them escaped into the leaves the first chance they got and were having so much fun with stomping through the leaves, kicking them and throwing them around I just had to take a few pictures to share their enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, it rained pretty hard last night, so the leaves aren't quite so crunchy today. They'll dry out though, and the girls will get to enjoy it again soon.

Awaiting Christmas

We've had quite a week around here. Aunt Robyn came to visit. Wouldn't you know it? I didn't get a SINGLE picture of her with her nieces! We're both such slackers. But we had a blast nonetheless. The girls adored having someone else to give them nonstop attention. They didn't seem to care when Aunt Robyn walked away at the airport but when we got back to the car and she still wasn't with us, they realized something was now different again and were both rather sad as they repeated "no more Aunt Robyn" while getting buckled.

We didn't do anything spectacular. Robyn babysat one day so James and I could sneak way for a child-free date. We went out to lunch and a movie and did Christmas shopping for the girls. On Monday, we did go check out Ikea and then Yogurtland (at Robyn's request). The girls LOVED the frozen yogurt. Too bad the nearest one is too far away to be a regular thing. Totally affordable and tasty.



Monday night, we did a little more holiday inspired stuff. I spent Sunday night snarling and throwing things as the icing refused to set up, but after taking a break and letting the icing set a bit more, I was then able to successfully assemble the house so it was all ready for the girls to decorate. We opted for just smearing the roof with icing and letting the girls go nuts. They had a blast.




Christmas is only a few days away! Looking forward to it. We've been very blessed this season. Several others have thought of our family and the girls are going to be very spoiled. I should remember to snap pictures Christmas morning. We'll be doing stockings first thing in the morning, then church (just Sacrament meeting), then home for the unwrapping of the rest of the presents.

Christmas Tree & Other things

As promised, Christmas tree decorating pictures! Okay, not exactly as promised. I'll be honest. We decorated Sunday night and I totally forgot to take pictures as I untangled ornament hooks and re-hooked some ornaments. However, I never put the bin the ornaments go in away, so Monday morning Cadence decided she was "done" and began putting the ornaments away for me.

So these are actually pictures of Christmas tree decorating, take 2 (okay, so take 3, since Cadence attempted the exact same thing the night before, so we'd decorated it twice Sunday night)

Megan's contribution to the whole ornament hanging thing:


The completed project (though my flash makes the lights look pathetic, lol). There are a lot of them though and they're multi-colored. There's a green jingle-bell ornament near the top that is Megan's special ornament. And the big blue one near the center of the tree was Cadence's pick. The rest are the boring ones we had leftover from previous Christmases.
Anyway, about a week ago the girls and I went to get pictures taken. Originally, I intended the whole thing to be James's Christmas present, but after a fiasco with my coupon and me ending up spending more than originally expected and then using the refund to pay for holiday cards, I told James about the whole thing.

Speaking of, Lifetouch, whoever they're associated with, generally have good customer service. When I complained to them about our experience at JCPenney awhile ago, they sent me coupons for MAJOR savings as an apology. And when I emailed them about the problems with my coupon at Target, they sent me a check for the amount I shouldn't have paid (Of course, by then I'd already sorted the situation out, so I'll be taking the check right back to the studio when it arrives). It may take them a few days to respond, but they DO respond.

Anyway, below are a few pictures. There are more of the girls, of course, but the cutest ones are included in the holiday cards I ordered (If you want one, make sure I have your mailing address! Send me an email or a memo on facebook or whatever). The bottom picture is the picture we ordered for James, so he could have a picture in his toolbox at work.

Dewberry Farm Christmas Trees (More Pictures)

We originally intended to go to Dewberry Farm for the Christmas experience the day after Thanksgiving, but since James had to work we had to postpone our plans. Luckily, he gets a 4 day weekend this weekend, so we decided to take our trip today! We showed up not long after the farm opened which means we were like one of 10 people there. It was pretty windy, which made it feel colder than it was (about 50 degrees), but we still had fun.

We started off playing at the little park. Complete with a couple slides and tire swings shaped like horses.

Next it was on our way to the larger fort playground (pictured behind Cadence). However, we had to get a picture of the girls with these statues. Megan wasn't too keen on the idea but Cadence was. She wouldn't hold the "how" sign long enough to snap a picture, but she smiled well enough.
After a few trips down random slides, the girls rode the "Black Mamba". Last time we went this swing was constantly being used by older (aka rougher) kids, so they didn't get a chance to play. This time, with how quiet the place was, we got to ride on it.
The "Black Mamba" couldn't hold a candle next to the hay mountain with its rope swings, though! Megan immediately began "swinging" by holding on to the rope and rocking/running back and forth with it. It was too cute! Cadence, who loved the swing last time we went, was more interested in climbing the mountain than swinging this time around.

Afterward, we hopped on the hay ride to get to the Christmas Tree fields, to wander around and maybe find a tree. Cadence loved running through the trees, but the novelty wore off for Megan after she'd fallen down one too many times.

We admired a few trees, but in the end, we decided not to cut down our own tree this year. I think most of the good ones had been taken already. Maybe next year we'll go for one of the Arizona Blue Ice ones if we show up early enough to get a good one.

We rode the hay ride back to the main part of the farm. By this time, the girls were getting a little too tired of the cold wind, so we checked out their fudge shop and their country store before leaving. We had hoped to see Santa, but he wasn't going to show up until after lunch time. Next year, we'll see him, though!
After we left, we ended up at Fazoli's, a fast food Italian restaurant I fell in love with during my first trip to St George, Utah. Mmm. Unfortunately, there's only one in Houston and it's about 20 miles from our house, so it's not an option. Luckily, it was on our way home from the Christmas Tree farm, so we were able to go there for lunch! (Oh yes, as a rare treat, we let the girls pick what they wanted from the soda fountain. Normally they get the watered down "juice" option if they get a drink at all. Both girls choice? Dr Pepper. Oh yeah.)

After lunch, we stopped at Home Depot and bought our tree from the parking lot. Got a good one, if I do say so myself. We'll put the lights on it tonight, but we're not really decorating it until tomorrow night. The girls are LOVING the tree. We have it in the garage set up to let the branches drop a bit before we shake out the rest of the dried needles and bring it inside. The cats will probably love it too once they see it.

Naturally, pictures of tree decorating will be posted in the next few days.

Tis the Season!

First and foremost, look what I made for Thanksgiving! That's right, it's eggs! This plate is a testament to how much I love my husband. For those of you not aware of my picky eating habits, I HATE eggs. I try to give them a fair chance and try them every now and again and I'm okay with scrambled eggs (never going to make myself a batch of them because they sound good, though) and I tried a deviled egg last Thanksgiving. But, nothing has changed. I'll still turn up my nose at any egg-only dish and pick them out of my macaroni salad.

The deviled eggs were my first accomplishment, but I managed to make an entire meal on my own. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and the girls only picked at the meal in the end, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Thankfully, I'd gotten lots of practice by helping my mom over the past few years.

Never made a turkey until this year, though. I was a bit apprehensive, but it turned out okay (even though the flash on this picture makes it look gross and undercooked). Notice the sage leaves under the skin? Yup, I went all out, lol.

With Thanksgiving behind us though, it's time to look toward another amazing holiday. I dragged out our Christmas things and realized we have next to nothing as far as decorations go. I'm not one to go spend a lot of money on "frivolous" things without James's approval, so after talking to him last night, I went shopping today! A little fir garland to go with the tinsel one we had created a nice window treatment. Last night it was just the tinsel garland and lights and looked so pathetic. The fir garland really helped.

The last bit was our fireplace. The amazing advent calendar I made during our Super Saturday last month replaced the picture that normally hangs over our fireplace and I simply wrapped a 2x4 piece of wood we had in the garage to place over the mantle. The little tree is waiting for the tiny ornaments inside the advent calendar as we count down to Christmas. As for the shotgun shell Christmas lights on the fireplace screen? James has been wanting a set since he saw the set his grandfather had. I found them and decided I might as well splurge a little. I think they look great, don't you (Other than the green plug which has been tucked behind the screen since taking this picture).

Next weekend, James is spending some vacation time to get a 4 day weekend, so we're putting off getting a tree until we can make a day of it. Next Saturday, we're going back to Dewberry farm (the pumpkin patch we went to in October) to enjoy their Christmas tree farm. We probably won't buy from them, given their asking prices, but we're going to make the most of the atmosphere and then probably buy a tree from Home Depot on our way home (then pick up Aunt Robyn that night at the airport, wee!).

I did, however, buy lights to go on the tree and the girls each picked out an ornament. I'll probably do this every year for awhile. One of the workers at Walmart suggested I put their name and the year on each ornament as well and then give them to them for their first Christmas out of the house and I think it's a genius idea I just might use! After all, potpourri trees are so much better than ones with matching ornaments, don't you think?