Christmas Week!

Nikki and her new boyfriend, Ryan, flew in late Sunday night (12/21); they stayed with Kiki, along with my parents.

12/22: We all (our family, Kiki, Carma, Wyatt, Uncle Wayne's family, my parents, and Nikki and Ryan) went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity.

My cousin, Halie, and my niece, Carma, composing music

Paw-paw doing his usual bunny ears on Avery and Wyatt as they compose music together

Nikki trying to make it across a rope bridge, with Ryan right behind her

Makenna & Daddy on the airplane

My adorable little cousin, Holly playing in the water table

Makenna getting some help from my Uncle Wayne in Water Works

Playing in the water

That night, we went to Kiki's house for dinner to celebrate Michael's 40th birthday.  I stayed the night at Kiki's to hang out and stayed up really late with Kiki and Juddy watching The Middle.

12/23: Everyone came to our house to hang out and have dinner.  The kids were "helping" Kiki put together a puzzle.

12/24: Jared helped the girls paint ceramic ornaments while I ran around doing last-minute stuff for Christmas before everyone (Kiki's family, my parents, Nikki and Ryan, Grandma, and Laura and her kids) came over for Christmas Eve.  I played Cranium with Kiki, Nikki, and Ryan and we had so much fun!

 I put the twins in the Frozen shirts and slippers we gave them for their birthday and made tutus out of the tulle bunting that I made as decoration for the birthday party (Jared's idea to make tutus out of it).  They were so cute!

My mom gave Jared the painting she did of Praia (our Australian shepherd who died at the age of 12 in Dec. 2012); she painted it on a piece of wood Jared found in his uncle's barn on the property we bought (now our barn).

 We let the girls open a few presents, one being new pajamas:

And another present was a lava lamp for their room so we no longer have to keep their door open and the hall light on, since Makenna FREAKS OUT if the cat goes in their room at night!

 A hug in their new jammies before bedtime on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day!!!  A white Christmas! We waited so long for it to snow this year. Good time to start!  :D   

The girls were so excited to wake up and see snow!  It was a Christmas miracle! :)

Grandma and Laura and her kids stayed at our house Christmas Eve; we all had crescent rolls for Christmas breakfast.

 Then, Grandma told the Christmas story using the our Little People Nativity set.

 Then, on to opening presents!  The first thing the girls saw was the drum set and guitar Santa gave them, for which they had been asking for almost two months!  Makenna would have been happy to just sit and play her drums, instead of opening all the other presents.  :)  But she was happy once she started opening gifts. :)

 Jared was in charge of the stockings this year and he put fake snakes in the girls' stockings.  Makenna wasn't particularly fond of hers.  She threw her stocking on the floor when she first saw it.

 They sure did enjoy getting all the other little gifts/treats out of the stockings, though!

 Daddy spoiled them with Elsa and Anna dolls after he scolded me for spending too much. ;)

 Here they are opening some Frozen figurines that I had bought for the birthday party and forgot to use!  Doh!!

 They got a few games--Hungry Hungry Hippos, Let's Go Fishin', and Operation:

 And a little keyboard with voice recorder and lots of cool buttons/functions:

 After opening presents, we got on a video chat with Uncle Jason for a bit, then the girls and I headed to Kiki's (Jared stayed on the video chat and stayed at our house because Laura and Grandma were still there).  We had a full turkey dinner at Kiki's, then we opened presents.  Ben sent talking plush Olaf dolls for the girls, which they love:

 Nikki & Ryan cuddled up on the couch (gag, ha ha!):

 Even Judson was happy with what I made for him (a soccer subway art print, which I framed, and a soccer wall vinyl saying for his room):

 The girls were sick with colds/coughs, so we didn't stay at Kiki's very long and we decided not to drive to Morgan for the annual Lingmann Christmas Night party because we really didn't want to keep them out late.  When we got back to our house, we opened presents from Grandma (which we didn't have time to do before the video chat with Jason):

After putting the girls down for a nap, I went back to Kiki's and stayed the night again.  We watched a couple of movies ("Hours" and "The Holiday") and we played Cranium again, as well as Apples to Apples with Carma.
12/26: Between the twins' birthday party on Sat. and Christmas, it is TOY OVERLOAD in this house!!!

We were all so tired that day and Mom & Dad and Nikki spent most of the day doing laundry and packing to go home, so I went home and we all just vegged here at home.  I was starting to feel pretty crappy with a cold, so all we did that night was have everyone come over for a bit to say good-bye.  I was up late that night making gifts for the cousin gift exchange and peppermint brownies for the Crittenden Christmas party the next day.

12/27: Even though we all had colds, we went up to Hoytsville for a family gathering/lunch, then the big Crittenden party.  First, we (Jared's parents, sisters, and nieces and nephews) met at the Wanship church so the kids could do a Nativity play and cousins gift exchange of homemade presents.  Unfortunately, Michelle's family wasn't able to make it because most of them were really sick. The twins were angels in the Nativity play:

 Avery cried during the whole thing and I finally let her come and sit in my lap:

  She was happy for the gift exchange, though; both girls got really cute rice bag owls from two of Michelle's kids:

After the gift exchange, we went over to the Senior Citizen building in Coalville and had lunch, after which everyone else started showing up for the big Crittenden Christmas party (with everyone from Jared's grandpa down to his great-grandchildren).  We had tons of snacks, played a white elephant gift exchange game, and played Bingo.  It was fun, as usual.

We stopped to visit at Cindy's house after helping her clean up after the party.  The girls fell asleep in the car on the way home, of course, after such a long, fun day!  But they went right back to sleep when we got home.

12/28: I woke up feeling really tired and sick and the girls were coughing a lot, so I got a sub for nursery and we all stayed home from church. I didn't get out of bed for good until noon (got up quickly a few times before that to take care of the girls).  Jared's family (sans Michelle's family) all came over to our house that evening for pizza and snacks and to be together before Carrie and Nathan left the next morning.  I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time.

Oh, and here's what we did for the last two weeks with the elf:

Week 3:
Day 1: He went down in the basement and rode the girls' deer in their playroom
2: He sat in the Nativity and held Baby Jesus
3: He rode around in the girls bath toy boat in their tub
4: He got a sheet of small stickers and put them all over himself
5: He went in the playroom and got out all the little cars and the car mat and rode around in a bigger car
6: He ate a cupcake that I made that day for the party the next day
7: He hid in a lantern by the TV in the living room

The last three days:
1: He opened two of the girls' presents!
2: Since I stayed at Kiki's house, he stacked up all the pillows on my bed and slept on there
3: He sat in the light fixture in the girls room--we told them he wanted to spend his last night watching over them

The elf was so much fun and the girls loved looking for him every day and talked about him a lot.  I'm so glad I started that tradition and wish they could believe in Santa and elves forever!

P.S.  I'm typing this on the brand new computer I got for Christmas!  :D  I just set it up today, even though I've had it for weeks (Jared said I had to wait until Christmas, then I was way too sick/busy to set it up).  So far, it's awesome!!

December week 3 (Temple Square, Birthday Party, Chloe sadness)

{I posted December Week 2 just before this one, so you may have to go down to the bottom and click on "Older Posts" to see that one.}

Most of week 3 was spent at home preparing for the twins' birthday party and for out-of-town guests.

12/18: Carrie and her family flew in that week and we went with them and Grandma to Temple Square to see the lights and Nativities:

 

 

 

 

We stopped to see the reindeer (and warm our hands) at Thanksgiving Point on our way home from Temple Square:

 

12/19: My parents got into town and came over for a bit before the girls went to bed.

12/20: The twins' 4th Frozen Birthday Party!!!

I moved all of the toys and stuff (except for the chalkboard desk and LoveSac) out of the playroom and we had the party downstairs.  I hung this sign in the stairwell going down to the basement (it's from the movie):

 Lots of icicles and snowflakes:

 And a tulle garland; also, Frozen quotes printed and put up on every wall:

 I left the Christmas tree down there, too:

 The food table, glitter initials and age (can't believe they're 4!!!):

 

 Frozen penants:

 "A" rosette:

 "M" rosette:

 The food:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The princesses all wore Elsa and Anna crowns that I printed:

 

 

 

 I printed Olaf masks and Sven antlers for the boys:

 Photo booth fun!  I made lots of props and a background for the kids to take photos with:

 

 

 

 

 Games!  First, Pin the Nose on Olaf:

 

 

 Avery won this game! :D

 Next, we played Snowman Slam--the kids had to try to knock down these cups with snowballs (balled up white socks):

 

 

 Grandma got in on the fun, too:

 Blowing out candles:

 

 

 

 Opening tons of gifts:

 Showing off the Jamberry nails Kiki gave them and applied for them:

 Cupcakes up in the kitchen:

 

 All the cuties who were at the party:

The girls had a great time and I think the party was a hit with all the other kids, too.

My Uncle Wayne and his family drove in from CA and arrived that afternoon but were exhausted and napped in their hotel room during the party.  They came by that evening for a visit and to give the girls birthday gifts.

12/21: I had choir practice, then Wayne and his family and my parents came to church with us to see me play the piano with the choir and perform a piano solo (O Holy Night).  We had a roast dinner that evening.  Kiki and her family didn't make it because she was sick and they had plans with Michael's family that evening.

Chloe, my beautiful, sweet furbaby of 14 years passed away late that night.  She had started breathing weird a couple of days prior and hadn't eaten, pooped, or peed for three days.  Jared and I thought it was best to put her to sleep. I miss her so much and it feels so different around here without her. Feeling really sad. I'm thankful that we've had family in town the past week to keep me really busy.