Chrismastime with the Cousins

We have been having so much fun celebrating the season with the cousins. One day both families ended up at Grandma's house after church and all the boys were randomly wearing their Christmas sweaters. The neighbor Chloe, gave Ellie and Mia some beautiful dresses so everyone was dressed up to decorate Grandma's big handsome Christmas tree. It was a fun afternoon.

We did our annual trip to Bass Pro Shop for a big picture with Santa. 

Auntie Angie bought Grandma, Chloe, Ellie, Mia and me tickets to go see the Nutcracker performance by a local dance studio. It was such a fun night. We read a few different versions of the Nutcracker, watched Barbie Nutcracker and talked about it a lot before the big night in hopes that it would keep the girls attention. They were pretty impressed with the show and wanted to meet some of the dancers after the show. Auntie Angie also gave them each a Nutcracker right before we left for the theater and they love them. The boys are a bit jealous because everyone seems to want a Nutcracker now.


Ellie and Mia's Daisy troop did some community service at St. Vincent de Paul so all of the kids came along.

 

We had a big sleepover at our house. It was so much fun. We went caroling, decorated gingerbread houses and watched the Grinch. They were pretty typical at bedtime. The boys were wrestling and the girls were on the other side of the couch taking selfies with Chloe's phone giving each other smooches. All of the kids did great at the sleepover and even slept in later than usual.



Nine Months

 

Quinn is nine months old and such a little cutie. She is catching on to things pretty quickly. I love it because it makes her smile when she is trying something new. You can tell she is pretty proud of herself. She waves, points, claps, and makes goofy noises by moving her fingers over her lips. She crawls everywhere and can stand up in the middle of the floor without holding onto anything. She just started walking around holding onto the wagon. She is showing interest in taking steps on her own. She tries, but right now it is more like a leap forward.  She loves her daddy and when he is home she wants him to hold her the whole time. She will stop what she is doing and crawl right over to his feet.  She has gotten better at sleeping at night although her two top teeth are coming soon so that might change quickly. She will certainly let you know when she is upset and will holler and shout at you one second and then blow a raspberry with her tongue the next to show she is just messing with you. We are predicting that she is going to be a handful. A fun little handful with her temper and sass that is already coming through. We love you, Quinnie!

The North Pole Experience

We took a trip to Flagstaff for the night so we could go to the North Pole Experience. They were so excited to be honorary elves for the evening. We took a big bus that passed right through a magical tunnel that transported us to the North Pole. Once we were there the kids were able to hang out with elves, make toys, eat Mrs. Claus's cookie's, learn at Elf University, see Santa's sleigh and visit with the big man. It was so fun! They had a great time. Ellie was questioning every bit of it and toward the end she really didn't believe we were actually in the North Pole but she still had a great time. We stayed at Little America Hotel and it was the perfect ending to the fun day. The Christmas hotel had beautiful Christmas lights all over a path that you could walk around. It was such a fun quick trip!