Christmas prep

TREE:CHECK

our Christmas tree has been up for weeks (more like a month) and I finally took a picture. It is not that big of a tree and has always looked a little akward or dwarfed in our apartment but we really don't have room for a bigger one. So this year I propped it up and I think it works.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE: CHECK

Riley was not happy to pose for another picture, but she did want to make sure her little gingerbread house made the photo too.

SNOW: CHECK

Can you see all the snow outside? The snow I mentioned in a previous post, was just a skiff compared to want dumped down on Thursday morning and almost daily since then. Wow, maybe we'll finally have a white Christmas.

SANTA: CHECK

We saw Santa at 3 separate parties and the girls sat on his lap every time, but sadly this is my best picture. (We've never gone for the pictures with Santa at the mall, with the long lines and picturesque background and high prices.)

PARTY: CHECKCHRISTMAS SWEATERS: CHECK

usually tacky, I know, but aren't they adorable on the girls? matching, yes, but for $7 each, I couldn't pass them up.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: CHECK

With a week until Christmas, we headed to our parents to spend the holiday (it took forever with all the compact snow and ice on the roads, but slowly but surely we arrived safely). The evening of our arrival, Grandma gets out a special tree just for the girls to decorate and play with (clever ploy, I must say, to keep their attention off the big tree).

KIDS' TREE: CHECK

We've had a blast goofing around and doing all sorts of things to prepare for Christmas.

SUGAR COOKIES: CHECK

Making the family recipe and frosting them with my dad is always a must at this time of year. Riley even got her own little rolling pin from the grandparents.

The crew and final product.

SNOW ANGELS: CHECK

well it just kept snowing, but sun finally came out so the girls, grandma and I took the opportunity to play in the snow.

SNOWMAN: check?

does a snow heap count? The snow just refused to pack and we refused to give up so we comprised I suppose.

SHOPPING: DONE

I starting shopping really early this year in prep for early Christmas, I got almost all my presents before Thanksgiving. I just kept getting the toys, books, etc when they were on sale and hiding them away. I had a hard time stopping when I was finished. It felt weird not to participate in the 'holiday rush.'

WRAPPING: COMPLETED

I really like wrapping presents!!

WE ARE READY AND EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

COLD

day 2: still snow on the ground, still freezing
but that won't keep us from enjoying the holiday festivities

we found a way to get free tickets to ice skating Monday nights, we weren't sure how Riley would do, but for free, might as well try.

our backs are a little sore, but we mostly had fun and even gave Emma a short turn

what a cutie!

We then ventured over to Snowflake Lane and watched the drummers drum and dance. They even made it snow a little from the top of the buildings, which was quite anticlimactic considering there was still a little real snow on the ground. (unheard of!)

snow, Snow, SnOw, SNOW!!

I can't believe it snowed here, last night. Even more unreal is the fact that it stuck around all night long to play with in the morning. So we bundled up and ventured out, briefly...

it was a little cold

but we had fun anyways.
SNOW!
(does anyone else like that song from White Christmas?)

3 holidays in 1 week

does it get any better? birthday cake, pumpkin pie, & Christmas presents in just a few days.

yeah it was a little busy but totally fun. jessica had a birthday that we had fun celebrating, repeatedly (thanks friends & family!).We had 2 yummy thanksgiving dinners and more fabulous pie than could possibly be eaten (thanks mom!).

Riley was in heaven because she got to help, with everything.

All of Michael's siblings joined us for Thanksgiving but will be with in-laws for Christmas, so while we were all together we decided to celebrate Christmas early.
So we decorated the tree togetheracted silly together

opened LOTS of fabulous presents together
took family pictures together
and apparently wore matching outfits almost constantly.
Thanks to our fabulous families for a wonderful Thanksgiving, birthday & early Xmas!!

tis the season

if you need a little help getting into the spirit of things, here is a little caroling from last year to get you into the mood.

not bad for a 2 year old. I can't wait to see what she'll do this year!

thank you Thanksgiving

complied by Riley and Jessica
Riley is thankful for friends: Ginny & Kallie
Jessica is thankful for Riley, who stopped sucking her thumb-woohoo!
a husband, who is handsome , patience and full of love
Emma who is darling and smart and growing and learning so fast
Riley is thankful for Jesus, (Jessica is too!) We are so lucky to have the true gospel of Jesus Christ and so grateful for the light and knowledge and happiness and comfort it brings into our lives.
Riley is thankful for mommy and the blankets and daddy and Emma and Grandma & Grandpa.
Jessica is thankful for wonderful Thanksgiving dinners and lots of fun birthday dinners--I haven't cooked in like a week!
Jessica is grateful that Mike is in school and will someday be a wonderful provider for our family. I am thankful for my awesome job.
I am thankful for my wonderful family who spoil us rotten all the time.
We are thankful for our home and our health.
Jessica is grateful for the friends that enrich my life.
There is much, much more we are thankful for, but Riley is begging me to read her a book and I'm thankful for that. My girls loves books and I think that is great!

spun out of control

check it out...give it a little time to get to the good part

I hope you needed a good laugh.

really?

yes. really. more lame breakdowns at our house. It's almost funny now, but mike is seriously in mourning about our TV. Yup, the nice big one, is dead. We knew it might have issues when Grandma replaced it with a new one 3 years ago, but we took it and tried to make it work. And it did work most of the time, until now, the picture is fuzzy and blurred. Oh well. We have another TV, which seems so small in comparison, but it works, so I'm happy.
Break down #2: my cell phone, only 6 weeks old stopped working all of the sudden. Luckily I got it replaced under warranty, but what are the chances? beware....

Halloween came and Halloween went

FINALLY.

But here is the last little bit. These pictures were irresistible.
The cutest pumpkin ever!

Thanks for the great pictures Raya!

Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating.
We were practicing saying "trick-or-treat!" and Emma did this:
Who could say no to this face?
Our family at the closest mall trick-or-treating!
Riley and Ginny, I mean, Tinkerbell.
our two pumpkin pals: Violet & Emma
Thanks Wilson family for sharing in our Halloween Fun!

and of course a video for the grandparents:

Serenade

grandparents: I couldn't help but posting Riley's most recent performance right away. She sang multiple verses of this song during our entire Sunday feast. So Nate learned it from her and accompanied her on bass. Sweet. Wish you could've been there. This is the next best thing.

"is it Halloween-time yet?"

that is what our darling Riley has been asking me repeatedly since we bought her costume in September and started getting out the decorations. (Thanks Erica, for capturing our darling Riley smiling AND looking at the camera--miraculous!)

Yes, Riley it is almost Halloween time. Here is a few of our decorations and more of celebrations in addition to the pumpkin patching we did.

We made haunted houses with the Wilsons

and I've had the smell of gingerbread wafting through my house for 2 weeks. Sweet!

What a great and fun idea, Bri! Thanks for making the gingerbread.

Then there was the Halloween costume party with a few of Mike's fellow dental students and their families. We won the costume contest for best family.

on the DL: I never look forward to dressing up personally, which is stupid, because I enjoy it when other adults dressed up and once I do it, I'm glad I did. I guess it is hard because all the affordable adult costumes for women are just slutty--sooo not my style. So either spend a lot of money or have a great idea and the skills to produce it out of thin air (I have very limited skills and creativity). I procrastinated on what mike and I should do until the week before. I THOUGHT I had bought myself a Halloween t-shirt was just going to wear that instead of a costume, but I search and could not find it. So I caved and decided to make something, but was without a clue what to do. So I stole an idea from my mother-in-law that did when they were in dental school: toothpaste. Kind of silly and little lame, but cute, right? I guess it depends on the crowd or if you can read the sign on the back.


Riley had a great time and she also won Best Kid's Costume. (don't have a pic of her in her costume at the party either--she got too hot and kept taking the monkey suit on and off) The prize: a Halloween coloring book. She is so in love with it, she takes it to bed with her every night.


She even won a cupcake during the cupcake walk for the kids. Pretty neat, I mean, spooky cupcake.

Spooky is Riley's new favorite adjective. Everyting related to Halloween is "spooky."

Anyways. All in all a fabulous party with great people, food and fun.

(I found my Halloween shirt on Halloween night at like 10pm--too late to do any good this year--oh well. There's always next year.)



Then there was a trunk-or-treat event at church. So fun to see all the kids dressed up. It was chilly and dark, but it made it feel more like the trick or treating from my childhood.

Riley, the monkey, and her friend Kallie, the mermaid.

Here is the crew carving pumpkins! Mike & I haven't done it in a few years, but my sisters taught me how the right tools and a good pattern the result can be
Pretty great,I mean, SPOOKY!
Another cute pose, from our pumpkin model.

We had two more Halloween parties.
One was held at a cabin on the lake with a really SCARY spooky alley. Riley was so frightened, and I don't blame her, it was REALLY spooky! But I forgot my camera and I also forgot just about everything as I scarfed done almost a dozen home made spudnuts. A-ma-ZING! So much fun. Thanks for inviting us, Whitney.

The next was at Riley's preschool. They invited the families of the kids and it was pretty cute.
Riley and Kallie sporting some the treats from the pinata.
Emma was invited to join the kids at the table for a cupcake. She acts like she's a big kid too!
The teacher invited Emma to join at the table for treats.

The little monkey getting her groove on.

the first birthday, the second time

So the actual birthday of Emma started out with pancakes w/a candle before we got Riley off to preschool. I thought this would be a special treat for her birthday breakfast.
She didn't like them and wouldn't eat a bite...arrgh. So I got out the cold cereal. I mean it is HER birthday, I gave in, and let her eat an almost healthy breakfast instead of the unhealthy 'special' one. oh well.

We tried to take time to make her birthday special, so Mike took a break from school and studying to hang out with us at the park. We wanted to do something that was fun for Emma, but we all had a blast!We all took a turn on these--way cooler than a merry-go-round.

Daddy and Emma on the slide!

"What?! she's going down alone!?!" as I drop the camera to catch the birthday girl flying down the slide too high and steep for a 12 month old.

After naps, we had my sisters/party guests over for dinner and the party.
Monica & Nate are pictured here, Auntie Erica was there too, but was busy being our photographer. Thanks Erica!!

After dinner we opened presents and Emma was so excited for everything she got, wrapping paper and balloons included that I could hardly get her to sit with me to open the next gift.

Then it was cake time.

I was excited for a repeat performance of tearing into the cake and eating up the sweetness.She looked excited enough about it, but when I set the piece of cake in front of her and gave her a bite, she wasn't so sure and just looked at it and rejected bites for about 5 minutes.

Weird.
Until...
Riley started feeding her. Then she couldn't get enough!

Look I can eat with no hands!

I guess it was plate-licking good after all!

Emma you are such a great kid! Thanks for giving us such a wonderful reason to celebrate and for providing us with such great entertainment! I can't believe it has been a year already. You are a huge blessing and ray of sunshine in our family. We love your sweet skills, like walking and dancing. Emma can already do a sippy cup for about 90% of her liquids. Pretty soon she'll say goodbye to the bottle and before we know it she'll be in high school. WE LOVE YOU!!

I couldn't sign off without a video or slide show and since I don't have time to upload a lot of individual pics for a slide show, here's a quick video.