Photo-heavy Christmas/Louisiana post!!!

12/16 FB posts:

Cute little Avery with Minnie Mouse glasses from their birthday party treat boxes:

Makenna wanted me to take a picture of her in her glasses, too

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!! We did Santa photos today! They were a little timid at first. I had to hold Makenna and bring her to Santa, as she had a death grip around my neck, and Avery walked really slowly to him and just close enough at first to reach the sucker he was holding out to her. But, once she got the sucker, she got on his lap, then Makenna saw that she was OK and got on his lap, too. Then, they took a happy photo! Stark contrast from last year, ha ha!!! I'm gonna post all 3 Santa photos together for memory's sake. 

Here are all three years so far...
Just so happens that they have been on the same side of Santa each year. I hope we keep that luck with us or that I actually remember to purposefully do that each time in the future.

12/16: It's supposed to get up in the 70's at my parent's house this weekend! Woohoo! That's at least 50 degrees warmer than what it's been here for at least a couple of weeks, although it is warming up to the 30's this week (heat wave, ha ha!). Can't wait to feel that warmth Wed. night!

P.S. I'm really sad that my brother, Tim, isn't going home for Christmas with us but I'm thankful he'll be here to stay at our house and take care of the pets! So, neighbors, don't be alarmed if you see some guy coming in and out of our house when you know we're out of town, ha ha!

12/17: After I went visiting teaching, we had the girls paint the salt dough handprint ornaments we made the night before.  I also went out to eat with friends (because we didn't have enough players for Bunco) that night.

 

 

 

 12/18 FB post: We're giving up a white winter but we get to trade the freezing weather and nasty inversion for warm weather and clean air. Headed to the airport now. It will be a little weird to see all green instead of all white like we've seen for 2 1/2 weeks.

We flew to Louisiana on Wed., 12/18--took off at 5pm and took a direct flight.  We got to Maw-maw & Paw-paw's around 11:15 pm.  The girls were good, for the most part, on the flight; they just didn't want to stay buckled the whole time.  The car seats were a bugger to get into the rental car!  It is so much easier in my car.

Thurs., 12/19: We slept late then had a big breakfast with Maw-maw and Paw-paw.  We stopped by Ben's workplace on the way to Walmart, where we got diapers, food and 6 LSU/Saints shirts for me! :)  I happened to see a high school friend, Sara Bates, there. We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and Nikki came over [Ben had a work party to attend].

A story from that night:  Makenna wouldn't eat her spaghetti for dinner so we told her she couldn't have any ice cream. We gave Avery her ice cream and Makenna kept sneaking some of it. After it was all gone, she ran up to me said, "Avery needs more ice cream!" So funny!

Fri., 12/20:  The twins' 3rd birthday!  We drove to Denham Springs so I could play volleyball with my friends.  I posted this on FB: I ended up only playing volleyball for a couple of minutes yesterday because of my plantar fasciitis. It was still fun to hang out with all my girls, though, and I love my gift from the gift exchange--a yellow and purple fleur de lis tumbler. Jared took the girls to Bass Pro Shop and they did a photo with Santa again.

 We had treats and did a gift exchange after volleyball; I got a yellow and purple fliur de lis tumbler that I love.  That night, we had a BBQ (chicken and sausage), cake, and ice cream for the twins' birthday.  I wrote this on FB the next day: I think the twins had a good birthday yesterday. We had BBQ chicken and sausage, birthday cake and ice cream, and lots of other stuff last night. They had SO MUCH FUN playing with their Louisiana cousins. I can't believe it's been three years since the biggest miracle of my life occurred! They are truly the joy of my life.

 

Sat., 12/21: We went to the park with Maw-maw, Paw-paw, and Ben and his girls. FB post: It's overcast today but we sure enjoyed the 75 degrees breezy day at the park! And the twins got to wear shorts! We even stopped to get a Slurpee so they could cool off. Christmas party at church tonight after nap.

 

 

 

 

 That night, we went to my parents' ward Christmas party at the church, where the girls saw Santa again and got a little stuffed polar bear and snowman from him.  Ben and his girls and his girlfriend, Crystal, as well as Nikki went, too. :)

 

 

 

 Sun., 12/22 FB post:  We had fun at the party last night and the twins loved seeing Santa again and getting a little stuffed polar bear and snowman from him.

I played a lot of piano at church today. Now we're watching as much of the Saints game as we can before heading to a wedding--well, I'm going to the wedding while Jared stays home while the girls nap.

It was nice to see church family today.

FB post during the wedding:  My mom is taking over the dance floor at this reception, ha ha!
AFter the wedding:   That was an awesome wedding and reception--so beautiful! It was fun to go with my sister and parents. Our photo booth pictures are hilarious!
 Here are the photo booth pics:

 

Kiki and her family flew in late that night and went straight to Ben's house.

Mon., 12/23:  Kiki went with us to the Dollar Tree to look for mittens and hats to wear to the Celebration in the Oaks that night; we also went to Hobby Lobby and to Save-A-Lot and ate at Raising Canes.  We also looked in Family Dollar for mittens and Jared checked with a couple of other places but no one had any!

We ALL, including Crystal and her twins (boy/girl), went to New Orleans to Celebration in the Oaks at City Park.  I wrote this on FB: 
Not sure what to say about tonight. Kiki and her fam got here last night. We all (9 adults and 9 kid) went to Celebration in the Oaks in New Orleans tonight. Kiki brought some cold weather with her and it was in the 40s--a little chilly with the humidity. We spent most of the time waiting for and looking for others in our group and ended up only seeing very little of the lights and not even going into Storyland.

Then, we were supposed to eat at one seafood restaurant and it is closed on Mondays then the next one had an hour wait then the next one was closed. We all ended up just going to different places to eat on the way home. We, including Nikki, ate at Waffle House, ha ha! We were so hungry at 9 pm it was the best meal ever.

Dancing to a live band before walking around

 

Wyatt and Kiki

Ben and his girls and Crystal and her kids

All the kids, except Judson, on the Gator Santa on our way out

Tues., 12/24:  I went to Piggly Wiggly with Kiki and Michael to get pies and stuff for Christmas dinner and food for a picnic.  We all went to the park and had a picnic and played.  

 

 

 

The teen of the group--Judson

 \When we got home, the twins napped for ~40 min., then we got them up for a video chat with Jason (on a mission in Scotland) and all the Crittendens.  It took over an hour to get it going!!  We got off the video call before everyone else because we had been on for 2 hours and wanted to join the festivities with my family.  We had pizza and went outside and did sparklers and some small fireworks with everyone.

 

 

All the kids got to open one present; the girls opened their new Doc McStuffins PJ's. :)

 

This photo cracks me up!

Wed., Christmas Day!  We decided to just have cereal for breakfast, then we all opened presents together.  Belle and Brenna left soon after to go with their mom most of the day but came back that evening.  We just hung out at the house and had a huge Christmas lunch (turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, artichoke casserole, sweet potato souffle, rolls, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie (I think that was everything, ha ha!) and watched "A Christmas Story" and played Apple to Apples.  I love watching A Christmas Story with family. So funny!

Treats that Santa left in their stockings, since he didn't bring their presents to Maw-maw's house

Sticky kisses while eating suckers from their stockings

  

Sneaking candy canes off the Christmas tree

Thurs., 12/26 FB post:  I enjoyed a day in New Orleans with my brother, BIL, sister,  nieces and nephews without Jared and the twins. It would have been too much walking for the girls. I had fun, though!

We went to the French Quarter.  We stopped and had beignets at Cafe DuMonde first, then shopped in the French Market, after which we ate at Cafe Maspero.  I bought Princess 1 & 2 t-shirts for the girls, a N.O. alligator shirt for Jared, and two orange ceramic fleur de lis for me.

Me and Carma

Michael and Kiki

Belle and Ben

 Jared and my parents took the girls to the park while I was gone.
 
Fri., 12/27: We all drove up to Aunt Patty and Raymond's house up in MS.  Jared and I left with the girls earlier than everyone else; we stopped at the MS welcome center and walked around, then stopped and ate at McDonald's and let the girls play in the playland.  Patty and Raymond made tons of food for us--gumbo, cheese dip, BBQ sausages, potato salad, cookies, cupcakes, and tons more.

Jare brought the girls home and I stayed longer with everyone else.  Kiki and her family left and little bit after Jared and took Nikki and Brenna with them.  Mom, Dad, Ben, Belle, and I stayed until 9:30 and played B.S.  So fun!!

Avery and Ray-ray petting Lulu

Ben and Brenna

Carma, Kiki, Avery

 Sat., 12/28: We all went to lunch at Tope La.  It was so amazing!  Fried alligator=yum! Crab and artichoke soup=YUM! Crab stuffed red snapper=YUUUUUMMMMMM! We had fun playing B.S. and Apples to Apple that night.  Kiki and her family went to Ben's house fairly early since they flew home early the next morning.

Fried alligator!

Kenna and Aunt Nikki

  

 

 Sun., 12/29:  Jared and I took the girls to church in Denham Springs, where we lived before they were born, then we went home to spend our last day with family.  Nikki and Ben came over but Belle and Brenna were with their mom that day.  We watched the Saints game and packed and went to bed early.

Mon., 12/30 FB post:  We got up at 2:30 this morning (1:30 our time!) to get to the airport this morning for a 6am flight to come back to the bitter cold and nasty inversion. Glad to be home, though. 
The girls were so good on the plane, especially for not getting very much sleep. They slept for the first hour of the flight--Makenna didn't even make it to take off! I still can't believe I never took a nap today, after going on only 3 or so hours of sleep all day. Can't wait to sleep in my own bed!!! I'm already missing all of my Louisiana family, though!
 

Makenna was so serious about reading the safety guide on the airplane:

Tim picked us up from the airport and we came home and ate, then I brought him home.  We stopped at Kiki's for a while on the way to his house.  That evening after the girls' nap, we decorated gingerbread man cookies using a kit our home teachers left for us while we were gone.

 

 

Jared's

Makenna's

Avery's--the most candy-heavy

Mine

Tues., 12/31: Loving the butterfly mask and cape from Michelle and family.  And looking cute, too.

This New Year's Eve/Day was so much better than last year! Last year on NYE, I wrote this status around 10pm: "The girls are in bed, Kiki and her family and Tim left a bit ago, LSU lost and Jared had to go to SLC for work. Happy freaking New Year."

This year: my MIL came over yesterday evening and we went to eat at the brand new Taco Bell by our house, ha ha. Not a fancy dinner but Jared was craving it after I saw when I went grocery shopping that it had opened while we were in Louisiana. While we were on our way to TB, Jared called Santa and asked him if he could make a quick trip to our house to deliver the girls' presents since we had been in Louisiana on Christmas. When we got home, they had a blast opening tons of presents from Santa, grandma, and Aunt Teresa. They even opened most of my presents, as well as Jared's, ha ha.

After all the gifts had been opened, I got the girls all bundled up in coats, hats, and mittens (that took about 20 min.!) and we went outside and did some fireworks and sparklers--although the twins, especially Avery, were more concerned with playing in the snow. They weren't really dressed for playing in the snow so when we came in, we undressed them, and put them in front of a space heater to thaw out their little frozen, red legs that they had been kneeling and laying on in the snow. It didn't seem to bother them, though! We put them to bed and we adults just watched some TV, ate cheese/sausage/crackers and drank sparkling cider. Hard partyers, ha ha!

Neighborhood fireworks woke the twins up just before midnight so Jared got them out of bed to ring in the new year with us. We got some New Year kisses, checked out some fireworks from the deck, watched some floating lanterns (pretty cool!), and put them back to bed. We weren't too far behind them in going to bed.

 

The salt dough hand print ornaments we made

 

 

 

 

Sausage, cheese, crackers, and sparkling cider

 

 

Watching the ball drop

New Year's kiss

   Jared brought out the animated dinosaur that his mom gave him for Christmas:

 This is what Avery thought about that, ha ha ha!!!

Wed., 1/1/14:  Timmy came over to watch the LSU game with me, which we won, YAY!, then I watched football the rest of the day after I brought Tim home, with a really short nap in there somewhere, while the girls played with new toys all day and got to open a birthday present from Grandma.

 

 This New Year's Eve/Day was so much better than last year so I'm taking that as a sign that this year will bring great things for me. :D