{my favorite things}

I forgot to include my favorite gifts this year for Christmas.  The gifts the girls make us are always our favorites.  This year Bailee wrote us both a poem, painted Mark a picture and made me a picture CD.  Karsyn made us pottery in art at school {Mark already filled it with special rocks:}and an ornament at church.  Emmrey made us a card with her hand print, two ornaments, and a Recipe Book compiled of favorite recipes from the Kindergarten classes.  These are the gifts that are cherished most....

Christmas 2012

We began our Christmas festivities by delivering meals to elderly shut-ins in the community.  The recipients were so delighted to see these little "elves" {as they were called} delivering some Christmas cheer along with their food. I really wanted to offset the "gimme gimme" focus with an opportunity to do something for others.  This was such a rewarding experience that I hope will feed the desire to serve others.

 

We did make some time for Gingerbread House making.  This year we cheated a bit and used graham crackers:}

 We made sure Stewey got some Christmas cheer as well as a little treat.

 The girls opened their PJ's and books they have come to expect from Mom & Dad {although they are still just as excited to open them}

 We tracked Santa's whereabouts.....

 And then sprinkled the magic Reindeer dust in the freshly falling snow....a white Christmas after all:}

And of course we put out our Santa key before nestling the children in bed:}

Christmas morning began at 5 am when Karsyn woke up sick:{  After she crawled in our bed, we all slept until 8 am....a little late for us, but much more reasonable than 5.  What started out looking like this....

Eventually looked like this....thank goodness!  Major bummer to be sick on Christmas:{

 The girls lined up on the stairs .....

Our girls are always excited, but are not the kind of kids that just run in and tear it up.  They don't act overly impressed initially....pretty casual at first.....but the excitement grows as the morning/day go on. Bailee had wished for books, and lotions/gels.  Seriously ...that was it!!  Santa brought her a few other things like a speaker for her ipod, snowshoes, swimsuits, and a phone.  She didn't ask for a phone, nor has she ever.  But Santa felt that it was a good idea as she is becoming slightly more independent.  Bailee may be the only kid out there who has to have a phone "forced" on them;}  Even though she didn't ask for it, she was still thrilled and even played around on it a bit.  Karsyn had requested a puppy this year.  In fact, she said that was the ONLY thing she really wanted.  Although Santa felt that she deserved a puppy, he made the call that this was not the best time for such a gift.  She received a cute little buddy of the stuffed sort....for now.  I know she was disappointed, but didn't act it.  She had some other nice gifts to offset that.  She got a new bike, DS game, Wii bucks, LEGOS, RC Helicopter, games and more.  Emmrey desperately wanted a Marble Ramp.  Santa left her one and she was thrilled!  She also got a changing table with accessories, a pink sled, AG camping set and twin baby girls.  By the time she opened gifts from grandparents and cousins, she had a total of 4 new babies in the family....YIKES!!  Needless to say, she was in baby heaven.  These girls must have been pretty darn good this year..... 

Now we can just relax for the rest of our break.....yeah!!  I love this time at home doing whatever we want...no schedules. Our girls always play really well together during these breaks too....so as long as that keeps up, I will certainly not be anxious for school to start again!!  

Best Wishes for 2013

Farewell Puck

Our elf Puck has been busy this season.  His days are long.. .. . hanging out on the shelf ....keeping tabs on all of us.  Then he somehow manages to pay Santa a visit every night to report, and still finds time to make it back to our house in time for morning.  He must try to squeeze in a little "play time" before we wake up, because we usually find him anywhere but the shelf.. ..he must run right out of time!  Here are just  few of the things he has been up to while visiting our house this year.

Sadly, the time has come for Puck to head back to the North Pole.  He hitched a ride with Santa on Christmas Eve.  He did leave us a trail of peppermint marshmallows that he got into, and a noted telling us he would be back!  The anticipation of looking for Puck each morning will be greatly missed...Farewell Puck!!

Christmas Tree Sleepover

Last night we had a sleepover under/by the tree.  We threw down the pads, sleeping bags and blankets and got comfy.  We spent the evening watching Christmas movies and enjoying the glow from the tree lights {one of my favorite things about the season}.  The girls were anxious to do this, but wanted it to be a family event.  The girls and I lasted all night....Mark did not!!  It's so funny to me that he can sleep on the dirt in the mountains, but at home he needs his bed:}  Oh well....it was fun anyway!!

Christmas Books

One of our traditions is to read lots Christmas stories during the month of December.  We read one every night before bed... ...occasionally we miss.  I have tried various ways of doing this.  I have a binder full of stories I have collected over the years, that we often read from.  Last year we did a book countdown...unwrapping a book from the basket every night.  This year I just filled the basket with our Christmas books and did a different countdown.. .The Twelve Stories of Christmas. 

 

Each night, beginning on the 12th {we do something else for Christmas Eve}we read a story and opened the corresponding "treat" from the basket. {This one is packaged to be sent to my uncle Neil}

The girls loved this...although if we do it again I would switch out some of the stories and maybe change some of the "treats" for something besides candy/goodies {by the end we were all sugared out}. 

 

Of course our favorite book to read {listen to} is the one Grampa & Gramma sent last year.  The girls love to hear Grampa Wayne tell the story of The Night Before Christmas just for them:}

Gift Giving

We got the last of our gifts delivered this week.  Good thing, because we are down to the wire:}  We decided on books as gifts for the girls "closest" friends this year.  We got all of the same books {for each set of friends} and our plan is to have a little book club party of sorts in a few months so the kids can get together and discuss the books they {hopefully}read.  Bailee got her friends The Book Thief.  I have heard such good things about this book and am anxious to read it myself.  Bailee also made them each a beaded bookmark....they all like to read, so I think this is a gift they will really appreciate.

Karsyn's group got The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo.  I read pieces of it as a class read aloud when I was subbing.  We LOVE her books and have read most of them, but not this one yet.  Emmrey decided on The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School.  It's for emerging readers, so it should be just right for these little ones.  They also both got their friends a blanket to snuggle up with.

For teachers we did a few different things.  For the Middle School teachers we made Peppermint Candy Cane Sugar Scrubs{females}, Peppermint Hot Chocolate Mix {males}.  

For Emmrey's teacher and helper, we did the Sugar Scrub with Aloe Socks and a Starbucks gift card.

And since we didn't think Karsyn's teacher would appreciate the foot scrub {well who knows:}, we made a Santa jar filled with M&M's and a gift card to Starbucks.  She also wrote him a personal card about what she likes about being in his class{really the best gift you can give a teacher}

And for our neighbors/friends, we did frozen cookie dough.  You know how many goodies you get this time of year?  Unless you get yours delivered really early it just seems like another plate you need to nibble at,  no matter how yummy it is.  So they can put this in the freezer and pull it out to bake when they are ready!!

I am glad we got these all taken care of....and not a minute too soon. 

 I hope they all enjoy!!

Snow{shoe} Day!

Mark has been traveling a lot over the last month...which has been hard.  The good part is that he usually ends up with quite a bit of time off at the end of the year {over Christmas break:}. Tuesday morning was originally supposed to be a "serious prep day" for the big event, but with fresh snow that had fallen the day before, we opted for a day in the mountains.  We dropped off the girls at school and then headed up toward Pahaska to do some snowshoeing. 

  It started to snow as we got higher up, and it was COLD.  But once we got moving we warmed up pretty quick!!  We hiked along the river and saw all these cute little summer cabins.  It got us talking about how great it would be to have a little place like that to escape...or live:}

 It was such a fun way to spend the day....even if we did have things we needed to do.  Sometimes it's worth it to be able to sneak away and have some time together. 

All too soon, it was time to load up and head back to reality.  I could really get used to days like this:}

PUCK returns!

As we were pulling into the driveway after our "Holiday Light Tour", the girls {Karsyn}noticed that there was something hanging on our porch.  We opened the front door to find our friend Puck{who had apparently bungee jumped off the roof;} 

In his little hands was an envelope marked "Special Delivery". 

 

Of course we opened it up right away....

In the envelope were these tiny little seeds...and a letter from Santa!!

After reading the instructions, we got the magic seeds planted in the sugar right away. 

Now we wait for two nights.

Oh, the anticipation of what will become of them:}

Christmas Light Tour

For all the many things we LOVE about Cody, there are a few things it lacks.  There is no where to go to see really amazing Christmas lights.  We do have a little Lane that gives a great effort every year.  Last night we took the girls on our own version of a Holiday Light Tour....basically we just drove around town and looked for houses that were all decked out while listening to Christmas music:}

 

We even found some!!

 Mark was the camera man, and by the end he had grown impatient.....thus the pictures taken before I could stop the car:{

 The girls thought it was fun...or they pretended.  Especially since we went home and baked cookies!!

 

{Physics?}

We try to make education a priority around here.  The other night the girls were doing a little experiment with Static Electricity.....one of them couldn't get enough:}

This girl keeps us laughing!!

Arise and Shine Forth

A couple of weeks ago we had our YW in Excellence.  The girls were asked to share a way that they "shine forth" in the world.  Bailee decided to talk about her experience volunteering with the Special Olympics.  She created a poster to display pictures of her and the athletes during the season.  She said that one of the things she loved most about working with the Special O team, was that she was able to help them "shine". We are so proud of this girl of ours.  She is a shining example of treating others as Jesus would.

All I want for Christmas is my .. .. ..

....TWO FRONT TEETH!  

We went from this {one hole}.....

 to what we called the  "Nanny McPhee" ....because it was so loose it was literally hanging over her lip.....

 

.....and finally to this...all within 3 weeks:}

 She was really hanging on to that second tooth for a few days and then it ended up falling out in her sleep because it was so loose....yikes!!  Good thing she didn't swallow that baby.  It is so cute to "lithen" to her talk without those front teeth.  It's funny how it changes the sound of their speech.  It also changes the look of their face...suddenly when they don't have all their baby teeth, they seem like less of a baby....makes me sad!!  All our girls have liked to leave notes to the Tooth Fairy, usually asking her to leave their tooth.  They also like to ask questions.  Last time Emmrey asked what her name was and she responded in cursive.  This time she specifically requested "No Cursive"

 Let me translate.....Hi I am Emmrey.  I lost a tooth ...two.  Name________ {NO CURSIVE} 

{heart}Emmrey {picture}Elf *{more} on back.....

 

from bottom to top.......Please leave my tooth here:}

Out with a Bang!!

Bailee has rounded up another season of middle school swimming.  She had conference last Saturday and she went out with a bang!!  Some of her best times ever for her very last Cody Middle School meet..{all these "lasts" are making me want to cry again}

At conference, she took 5th overall in her 50 Back and 6th overall in the 100 Free.  She cut some serious time off both these, and they seemed to be her strongest events of the season.  She tried the 200 Free for the first time this year, and placed 3rd in the Triangular meet.  She even made the paper doing her 50 Back.....we are so proud of her!!

A little video of her 100 Free at Conference.  I love that you can hear Emmrey cheering her on:}

These two are such great sports.  They sit at these meets{which are sooo long}and never complain...okay very little.  They have gotten pretty good at entertaining themselves {a little game of rock, paper scissors}.

Swim season takes up a lot of our time, but I do start to miss it when it ends.  One thing I won't miss is the loads of towels I was washing every other day:}