Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Years Eve

Lisa and Wendy

Anna and Josh

The whole crew at midnight!
GrandMary and GrandpaAl organized a Court Whist card tournament for 12 on New Years Eve.  We took a break at midnight for a toast, a few photos and then it was back to finish the last few hands. 

Lisa and Andrew
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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Visiting GrandMary at work

GrandMary spent one day working while we were there and we went to visit.  Adley is checking out the fish while she waits to ask GrandMary if she can feed them.  Somehow she remembers feeding them from last time.

Cana couldn't handle the excitement.  That, or we left the house right at nap time. 

Getting ready to go.  Thanks for the balloons GrandMary!
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Horse Time

Rootbeer - grown up and with a winter coat.

Adley spending some time with Nell.
GrandMary and Uncle Noah each took a turn with Adley and the horses.  Adley enjoyed getting reacquainted with each of the horses.  Uncle Noah worked to lead Rootbeer around with a lead rope.  The training has begun.

Adley would have gladly spent more time with the horses, but she had the flu a couple of days, and there were a couple of days it was too cold.  We'll make up for it when we visit next - Adley can't wait.
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Monday, December 26, 2011

More Christmas in Iowa

Once all the presents were opened it was Barbie time.  The girls love their 6 new barbies.  Thank you GrandMary, GrandpaAl, Auntie Anna and Uncle Josh!  

Cana is a true toddler and especially loves all the itty bitty, teeny tiny, choking-hazard accessories.

Adley meanwhile has named hers and is developing plot lines for each of her new characters in all of her imaginary dramas.  She has a such a wonderful imagination and can be quite engrossed in the action.  

After a dinner break it was time for stockings.  Wow!  More fun stuff.

And more Barbie time!

After a quick assembly of the new table and chairs, Uncle Drew gave the girls birthday presents.  New coloring books, crayons, etc. Plus, they were able to decorate the new table with stickers which was an event unto itself. 

Thanks for helping with the decorating Auntie Wendy!
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Christmas Presents in Iowa

We opened presents in Iowa, the evening of 12/26.  And it was fun - with 15 adults and 2 children - there was a lot going on.  Adley could read the To: tags and opened her own presents while Mommy did her best to determine the From: portion of the tags.  Cana didn't bother with tags and despite Auntie Anna's best efforts at playing elf, Cana opened presents as she found them.  A couple of times we had to piece wrapping paper back together to find out who the intended recipient was.  Fun times!  

The girls hard at work.  These pictures hardly do the chaos justice.  Also, the photos suggest that there were pauses in the action.  Note to reader - this was not the case.

Cana opening presents on the move.  Not bothering to check the To/From tags, of course.

A chisel set from Uncle Deed

Uncle Drew's present from Jared - a screwdriver in a wooden box screwed shut. It took him almost half an hour to get that one open.

A table and chairs set from Uncle Drew - or "Dr. Drew."

Stepstools handmade by Grandpa Al and personalized to boot.  

And yes, even Cana can tell which one is hers without knowing how to read.


A basket of food to cook in her play kitchen at home.

Still waiting to see what's inside the handmade crate.
At least he found a screwdriver to open it.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve 2011

We attended the family service at 6:30pm and then stayed between services to have dinner with Daddy at church.  The girls  were very well behaved during the Christmas service and in awe of the candlelight during Silent Night.






Merry Christmas!

To Do List

So this is my to do list for today...
and this means I'm done, right?
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Christmas Presents at Home

Christmas Presents at Home this year took place on Saturday morning, Christmas Eve.  This worked best for us with Christmas on a Sunday and our planned departure for Grandma and Grandpa's house in Iowa shortly after Christmas Day service.

The stockings were hung under the TV with care...
The girls woke up at their usual time unsuspecting.  They found the presents and went wild. We did get a couple of quick pictures in front of the tree (under duress, of course) before it was present time!

Adley in her new bathrobe so we could all open presents warm and in style. 

Post-present tea party with their new musical tea set from friends the Nettletons and tent from Grammy and Paka.  We had so much fun, that by 9am, the girls were well distracted by all the new things to do and they didn't mind that Daddy was ready to leave for work. 


Friday, December 23, 2011

December Fun

Christmas Party at Preschool 12/22/11

Mini Pillow Pets - a gift from a friend
Baby unicorn and Mommy unicorn

And baby ladybug too.
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Monday, December 12, 2011

Cana's Birthday Presents

How old are you?
TWO!
Posing with the presents before we get started.
The shirt says Birthday Girl

Daddy found the candles and we all sang Happy Birthday. 
Cana knows all the words!

A zhu zhu pet from Mommy and Daddy (robot hamster for those of you who don't know).

By the second present Cana was getting the hang of it and pushing her sisters help aside.  She wanted to open the presents all by herself and she was having a great time.

Its George!  From Curious George.

This is fun!

A puppy from GrandMary and GrandpaAl.  A quick hug and she was onto the next present.

12 CD's of Children's stories and music.  That should come in handy next week when we drive to Iowa.
Thanks GrandMary and GrandpaAl.

More birthday pictures (Sunday) with the birthday outfit from Grammy and Paka as well as the ice cream celebration with her godparents to come...(they're on the other camera.
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