Aimee

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without out my sister! This is her 4th year coming to Maryland and the truth is Christmas is just that much better with her! We shopped, we ate A LOT, we played games, watched movies, enjoyed Christmas day together, went to Mt. Vernon, and downtown D.C.--all that in just one week.

I love that my kids and Dan adore Aimee. On Saturday Dan and Aimee went shopping and took all the kids, for hours.  So, while Clara slept I slept. Best present ever! Dan said the kids did great. When they started to fight Aimee waved her magic wand of distraction and made the grumpiness just go away. Amazing.

Sunday we finished making our cookies and went caroling to neighbors and friends. Aimee is the sugar cookie queen. With her help Tess and I made and decorated the best sugar cookies I've ever done! Yum. On the cookie plate we had gingerbread men (my mom made when she was here), buckeyes, gingersnaps and sugar cookies. It was fun to go out and sing as a family. I'm excited for when the kids are a bit older and we can do more than one song. I love Christmas songs!

Tess got a mini cupcake maker from Jake for Christmas. Dan helped Tess make them and Aimee sat and frosted them so Tess could decorate them.

Playing Clue

Clara loved Aunt Aimee from the moment she met her, which is saying something! From feeding her baby food to getting her to sleep--Aimee spent the week taking care of Clara for me!

Mt Vernon

 D.C. American History Museum

Now if only we could always have Aimee around!!!

Christmas Day

Tess ended up sleeping in our room because of a tummy ache in the middle of the night. She woke up at 6a.m. but thankfully stayed quiet until 7 when the other kids woke up. We had our traditional glass of juice before lining up to head downstairs. Tess was not a fan of the healthy prerequisite. I remember feeling the same way when I was her age!

Highlights:

--Tess really wants a REAL dog, but I love her excitement of the stuffed one Santa brought. And her camera.

--I loved that Tess wore her new t-shirt while holding her camera in one hand and her big dog in the other as she ran around the house chasing clues and string.  (Aimee found this shirt at The Children's Place and couldn't pass it up, it's a dog holding a camera, which are the two items Tess asked Santa for.)

--Abby played with her doll house all day, singing her make-believe songs as she went. She named her little doll house girl Lewis, of course.

--Jake was very concerned on Christmas Eve that we had enough yarn for everyone. Aimee took care of a very long yarn hunt for him leading to this gift. Jake's expression and excitement with his new electric helicopter from Aimee was AWESOME!

--Clara was completely taken with Aimee. It was so nice to have a break from constantly being the one she wanted to hold her.

--Aimee's Better Off Dead themed gifts preparing her for her trip this Summer to Thialand.
--Mom and Dad were way too good to us this year. We all got gifts from them and then to top it off they sent us a dehydrator! Perfect for our year food supply goals!

--We made our traditional big southern breakfast. Yum. Dan bought me a new griddle which was heavenly to use. After 10 years of trying to cook the white sauce/gravy on my own I think I finally mastered it. 

--We ate lots of treats and leftover mash-potatoes and meatballs!

--We stayed in our jammies all day, played with the new toys, watched our new family shows and jsut enjoyed each other.
--Dan took the kids out to play in the snow.

--Dan opened his last treasure hunt gift after 7pm.
--At bedtime Dan heard Abby singing a song about how much she missed her dad and wished he'd come back. As he walked into their room Abby exclaimed, SEE TESS, IT WORKED! Of course Dan went up a three times to give hugs and kisses again.
--The night ended with the adults drinking soda, eating Cheese Cake Factory cheese cake, and and watching Inception.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve it SNOWED! So we were in for a white Christmas. Dan took the kids out to play in the snow in between cooking and cleaning. We had the Warner family over for dinner, fondu, and the nativity. This year Dan made PioneerWoman's meatballs and mash potatoes. They are pretty time consuming but are the best meatballs we've had. We did chocolate fondu and dipped lots of fruit and marshmallows for dessert. I love our nativity costumes from China. Benny and Tess were Joseph and Mary, Lydia and Abby were shepherds with CC as the angel, and Bonnie, Jake and I were wise men. a Dan was the donkey and Aimee held Clara while taking the pictures. We started the festivities early so that by 8 the kids were in their new PJ's and headed to bed. Santa's helpers stayed up so very late.

Our friends, the Rogers, passed on 'the red ball' tradition they do each year. They wrap lots of little surprises into a ball and each person has to share what they like about someone else as they unwrap a layer.  The kids loved it.

Pre Christmas

We had two weeks in between having company and Christmas. In those two weeks we went to the Nutcracker as a family, made lots of cookies, did lots of shopping (online), went to Williamsburg to enjoy the Great Wolf Lodge, and Abby had her preschool Christmas program.  WOW. That's a lot. 

Abby's Christmas Program

The water park at the Great Wolf Lodge was awesome. Tess and Jake tried every single water slide. Tess went easily, Jake took some warming up to each of the slides. I was really impressed with them. Having four kids at a water park with just two adults had Dan and I worried and cautious.  Abby and Tess had life vests on the entire time but Abby still needed constant watching. We all had a great time. I can't handle roller coasters because of my weak stomach but man do I love water slides.

After checking out of the hotel we went to Colonial Williamsburg and then to Jamestown. The weather was perfect, I only wish we had more time. 

Oh, and I turned 32.

A week with Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad came Thursday night, 29th, so Friday mom and I planned menus and shopping lists and off we went to SAMS. Mom was a huge help planning and preparing all the food we served for Jake's baptism and then feeding 20 people for the weekend. Abby is a great little shopper. She was excited to have Grandma and Grandpa to herself while Jake and Tess were at school.

Saturday was Jake's baptism and then Sunday we had family over after church. Lucky for us Mom and Dad stayed for a week so we had time to play and relax. We spent an afternoon out at the Bishop's Mountainside Day Camp. We hiked around and then the kids spent a good 45 minutes sliding down his huge slides.

Monday night we decided to go to the D.C. temple. We got their and decided to stay for the performance of Jenny Oaks Baker. She is a beautiful musician and was a treat for me to listen to. 

Tuesday Tess had soccer. We all went to cheer her on. She reminds me a lot of Aunt Liz! She runs around smiling the entire time. She is the kindest, noncompetitive child there. I hope she felt special having us all their just for her. 

Thursday night we made gingerbread houses. 

Abby sure loves her grandpa!

And then Friday we took them to the airport. Their visit went by way to fast! We sure love them.