Ginger-Sleighs

Aunt Nicole bought the girls ginger-sleighs that they made during our Wagner Christmas visit. While Nicole, Brittany, and I made tacos (along with Gramma Rambo's much needed help), Aunt Rhonda and Shane helped the girls put their sleighs together.

On a side note: Gramma thought it was so funny we couldn't figure out the can opener. FYI: the Pampered Chef can opener is not for the novice cook.

We learned that the pieces do not stick well together with just frosting alone.  It required assembling the sleigh in pieces, letting the frosting dry, and then decorating later. We didn't get to finish some of the sides of the sleighs because they kept falling apart.  They still look cute. 

We considered this a good lesson learned because Meme bought the girls gingerbread houses to make later this week.  Thinking I would be uber-prepared for this up-coming round of gingerbread construction, I purchased my first hot glue gun!  I was so happy to tell Shane, only to find out he already has one.  I think that owning a hot glue gun should be part of the "welcome to parenthood" manual.  Apparently everyone knows (except me) that hot glue guns are vital to any home with kids - but I know now!

Time Capsule

So it's been awhile since the 4 of us girls were home and wearing hair bows or bun bonnets.  (sigh of relief that bun bonnets are no longer in style).

The girls found the hairclip drawer that is seriously like a time capsule - left exactly the way we left it. I'm thinking it's time to clean that drawer out, except that they had a ton of fun trying everything on!  

This was Isabella's favorite.

Side profile

I didn't quite catch Kennedy with the bun bonnet on - dang!

Christmas Quilt

Kennedy and I started a Christmas table-runner last year.  It was our first project together like this.  We finished it just in time to enjoy this Christmas.

Isabella wanted to help too so while we trimmed batting, she did some cutting of her own.  Who lets a 3-year old play with scissors this big?  So...I'm still learning about kids...give me a break!  I didn't realize how bad this looks until I saw my picture of it.  Eek!  On a side note, she does have the Michael Jordan concentration/tongue thing going on which I appreciate.  I think she may be a future quilter!

Sewing the binding

Ta-Da!

Christmas Tree Magic

Dad took us up on the mountain Saturday morning to hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.  We were going to travel by 4-wheeler but Dad felt bad for us trekking through the wind and snow so we all piled in his truck.  It started out with a bumpy (and cramped) ride over the hill and through the woods.  The girls couldn't stop laughing in the back as their heads bobbled over all the bumps.

We already have 4 trees up inside the house...yes, 4 trees! A big one in the living room, a tree in our bedroom, and the girls have their miniature pink and purple trees in their bedrooms.  We debated getting a real one in the living room this year but I like to enjoy the tree all season and put it up right after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I get tired of vacuuming dead tree needles and having a brown tree on Christmas so we went with the fake option.  We still wanted the experience of finding the perfect tree so we got a small one for the front porch.

Brittany suggested the tree below...which while very pretty, has a pretty big booty and not much on top so we continued looking.

Isabella thought this one was just her size, but it just wasn't quite big enough for the rest of us so we continued looking:

We got a little sidetracked and stopped for snow angel making:

We stopped for catching snowflakes on our tongues:

 We stopped for a snowball fight:

We stopped to take a few family pictures:

Can you even tell I'm wearing pants?

And finally, we found the perfect tree!  Which was also happened to be one of the first trees we spotted. Dad had brought his chainsaw for cutting this sizeable 2" trunk.

Timber!

 Kennedy packed the tree back to the truck and off we went.  It could not have a been a more perfect hunt...the snow was falling, the woods were still, the view was beautiful, the company was special, and the girls were joyful.

 Getting the tree back to Richland was a different story! We were packed to the max with suitcases, dogs, gifts, and PillowPets.  Don and Debbie gave us the YakimaBox for the Jeep - I cannot imagine how we would travel without one - it is so amazing!  We strapped our tree on top just like the Griswalds and off we went.

Once home, we decorated the tree with jingle bells and a Santa topper.

PillowPets and the Nutcracker

This weekend we went to Farmington to do Wagner Christmas.  In the continual search for things that make road trips more enjoyable for everyone (adults and kids), Shane bought the girls Pillow Pets.  Isabella got a purple unicorn and Kennedy got a blue whale that she named Salty.  We don't really watch alot of TV, unless it's something we've Tivo-ed for later, so we have missed the advertisements on TV for these furry creatures.  The girls were quick to sing "It's your pillow, and your pet. It's a pillow pet!"

 

Lady is in heaven on road trips with the girls.  She gets lots of love.  Dan is usually too sleepy to poke his nose over the seats.

Kelsey and Kevin had bought me a ticket to see the Nutcracker with them in Raleigh a couple years ago and I loved it!  We took the girls to see it in Spokane this past Friday.  I had bought two Nutcracker books, one for each of the girls, and had been intending all December for us to read the story together. Ya...not sure where December went, but we didn't quite get to it as planned.  But better late than never, we did read the books together (in the car on the way to the Nutcracker)!  Kennedy read her version of the book outloud, I read Belle's version outloud, and then Belle "read" us her version again.

The girls had a good time even though it was a pretty late night for them.  Kennedy followed along really well with the story. Isabella followed along well too, she waited and waited for the Nutcracker to make his appearance and was very impressed with the scary rat king.

There were lots of little girls there all dressed up in their Christmas dresses and curls.  Every time Isabella would see one she would ask me, "Is that girl a bride?" I think this summer's wedding-palooza has made quite the impression!  Mom and Dad treated us to coffee and ice cream at Perkins before the long drive home.  It was a fun night!

Christmas Cactus

I love this season for many reasons, one of which is the annual blooming of my Christmas cacti/cactuses.  I have two of them, a pink one I've somehow managed to keep alive through three moves and two states.  The white one I bought just last fall and is in its second season blooming.  I love that their buds mean Christmas is around the corner!

Nativity

Shane and I had a PRODUCTIVE weekend and I'm wiped out! We shopped till we dropped and our wallets were empty! We had a surprise snowfall Saturday afternoon.  As we were leaving for Hermiston, we opened the garage door and our two neighbor boys had almost completely shoveled our driveway!  It was so thoughtful (and unexpected) of them.

We loaded up the dogs and drove to Hermiston for a nativity walk. 

It was a good reminder about the miracle of Christmas and what it's really about - not just the gifts.