Christmas #3

Next, we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house for more gift opening, spending time with adorable cousin Nora and SWIMMING!! (In Missouri today it was 17 degrees...oh, I miss AZ!!)

Christmas AZ style

Thank you Nana so much for taking us to the Nutcracker Ballet! It was SO beautiful and the girls really enjoyed it. Lizzie was a bit restless during the second act but she was still really good and Ali watched the whole thing and loved it!

Christmas Eve dinner at Nana and Poppa's house...what a nice time we had at their house!

Christmas #1

We got to go to AZ for Christmas with my family this year so we celebrated at home early. It was good we got to spread out the gift opening because these little girls got SO many presents...they are so lucky! (Today we were reading one of our gifts, one of the "Little House on the Prairie" books, and Laura & Mary only got 2 small gifts for Christmas in the book. I asked Ali how many gifts she got and she didn't even know there were so many!)

Actually, this picture wasn't of the very first present openings....the VERY first gift that was opened this year by the girls was accidental. In the middle of December we were sitting around the living room talking and the girls were running around. All of a sudden there was a new Barbie in the room and I said, "Where did that come from??" It turns out that Lizzie had opened one of her gifts a bit early!! The Barbie doll was in a gift bag and she just reached in and took it out while we weren't looking!! THANKS to Kirstin (Chris' cousin) for giving the girls two of her Barbies!!

They LOVE the new Mouse House playground and their new "wheels" that we put down in the basement!!

The 1st Gift of Christmas

Look a new present from Ali to Mama.... (this was all typed by Alexandra with a bit of help!!)

Ali made me a beautiful necklace at preschool. It was my very first gift from my daughter!! She also took the picture!

Ali mama lavethesitwt ali mant prficd i ali (Ali's mama loves it. Ali made it perfect. I'm Ali....typed all by herself.) Don't you also love her headband? :)

Breakfast with Santa

The High School theatre group had a Breakfast with Santa at the high school this weekend. It was well put together...we got our faces painted, made cute crafts, talked with Santa, and watched a cute little play about Randy the Red Horned Moose who wanted to fly with Santa! Very cute!

The only thing that Chris didn't like was that the breakfast wasn't as healthy as could be (donuts and bagels...the GIRLS loved it!!)....he is this super healthy guy now since he lost 20 pounds since last year. He is always looking for more protein in his diet...I've started calling him Mr. Jackman (did you see Hugh Jackman in "Australia"??) :) But I'm VERY proud of my healthy husband!! He motivates me to get up early and workout...I get up maybe 3 times a week but he is up at 5am five times a week!!

Neighborhood Christmas Party

We decided to go look at Zoo Lights this year with our neighbors! It was COLD but the kids wore snow suits, boots, and were all bundled up! It was fun and the kids did great!

All we are missing is snow! We really miss playing in the snow here...we keep hoping!

Here are all of the neighbors last year at our Christmas party...it's fun to have some friends to have traditions with!

Advent Calendars

Thank you to Uncle Colin & Aunt Elizabeth for the chocolate Advent calendar again and also to Chris' Aunt Vicki, Jim, Kirstin & Kris for the princess Advent calendar. The girls get so excited every day after lunch to open a new window and eat a "Nacky" (a treat in Lizzie speak.) Here the girls are sharing with our friend Lillian. What a fun tradition!

Here is Ali last year with the chocolate Advent calendar...this year she gets to share it with Lizzie!! :)