Saturday, December 31, 2016

Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on December 23rd and 24th.  My parents came up early Friday morning and we had big plans to spend the day doing fun things downtown. So we did!


First up was ice skating on a rink that they set up in our downtown area each year. It was fun, and also dangerous.  Luckily no injuries from any of us, but when you're skating around with a bunch of southerners who don't know how to skate (myself included), it's surprising to escape without a fall or a collision.


Kate is very stubborn and when she doesn't get something immediately, she wants to quit.  When we first got there, they were out of the blue walker-looking things, so she was plastered against the side of the rink.  After about 2 min, she wanted to quit but I snagged one of these things when a kid was getting off and it helped SO much. 


She won't be winning any ice skating medals anytime soon, but she had SO much fun and for her first time ever ice skating, I think she did awesome!


Of course, she would rather hang out with Kristi and Davis than her not-cool parents. 





Then we headed to grab a bite to eat, and I got a quick picture with the kid who currently still thinks I hung the moon.  She is a mama's girl for sure. 


We walked around for a bit, and stopped in some local shops.  Basically, we just had a leisurely afternoon in our downtown area, and it was so fun! 





Friday night we celebrated mine and Davis' December birthdays with dinner at Olive Garden - Yumm!!  And then, we drove around to see some of the very best Christmas lights in our area.  Then home for Cheesecake Factory desserts. As you can tell, we definitely had a low-fat Friday. :) 

Saturday morning we cooked an all-out Christmas breakfast (eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, cinnamon rolls, english muffins, etc) and then opened presents. 











We had a blast spending the days celebrating Christmas with this crew. I love them so!



Thursday, December 29, 2016

Pre-Christmas Recap

It's time for me to cram in about a month's worth of stuff in just a few short days, so I can squeeze it all into 2016.  I should know better, but I do this every single year!

So first up, Kate and I hit up Starbucks in Target to kick off December with some hot chocolate. She is my shopping buddy on Sundays (sometimes) while Karsten naps. That's when I get groceries for the week, and this month, did some Christmas shopping.  Kate is definitely a fan of the red cups and the hot chocolate inside.


We have had some much needed lazy evenings at home, along with a lot of crazy weeknights and weekends. I love these people, and it's so nice to have some laid-back evenings every once in a while. 


Kate really wanted to help with the wrapping this year, and of course I wasn't about to tell her no!  She labeled this one for me.  Look at that 5 year old handwriting! She has come a long way in a few short months. I can't believe how quickly she is learning to read, write and spell.


December is not complete without a trip to see Santa.  Last year's Santa visit didn't go so well for Karsten... and this year's trip wasn't much of an improvement.  She clamped her arms and legs around me when I got close and I had to pry her off to stick her in his lap.  She tolerated it by looking anywhere but at Santa, and was pretty relieved when her time was up.  Kate, on the other hand, was her normal social-butterfly self and went down her wish-list with Mr Claus.  First on the list was a Hatchimal, of course. 


On Kate's last day of school, I wanted to do something special with just her.  So, I took off a few hours early from work and picked her up.  We went by the nail salon and had her nails painted for the very first time.  She choose to have them painted for Christmas with red nails and white dots. 


Kevin and I also had a night out at my work's Christmas party.  My mom came up for the day to babysit the girls, so it was fun to dress up a little and head out with just the two of us.  Thanks, Mom!


And last but not least, I had to grab a couple of pictures of the girls in front of the tree.  Who can resist matching Christmas PJs?  Certainly not me.  




Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas - 2016

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!


Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified. But the angel told them "Don't be afraid. I bring good news that will bring great joy to all people.  The Savior, yes the Messiah, the Lord, is born this day in Bethlehem, the city of David.  You will recognize Him by this sign - you'll find a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

The angel was joined by the armies of heaven, praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest! And on Earth, peace, goodwill towards men!"


Friday, December 23, 2016

Christmas Cookies!

A sweet friend from church sent me a text message a week before Christmas and asked if she could "borrow" my kids for the night. It was to give Kevin and me a date night, and also have some fun with the girls as they decorated Christmas cookies. I knew the kids would love it (and so would Kevin and I) so of course I said yes!

Unfortunately, by the time the weekend rolled around Karsten had a terrible cold and just felt awful. So we had to cancel. The cookies had already been made so she dropped them off at our house with all of the supplies for us to do as a family activity.

Just like I thought, the girls had a blast.





 Kate as all into decorating her cookies.  Karsten put a few drops of icing on each one, and then turned her attention to EATING the cookies. Yumm!






Finished product! Not too shabby. And they really did taste great. 



Saturday, December 17, 2016

Decking the Halls

The day after Thanksgiving, I pull down some of our Christmas stuff from the attic and the girls and I decorated the house.  I honestly didn't put out quite as much stuff as I have in the past, but with a 2 year old, some things are better left in a safe place.

Kate loved decorating the tree.  Karsten enjoyed "helping" and we got a kick out of how she decorated- she would grab an ornament, walk up to the tree, and then throw it at the tree.  This is where a lot of her ornaments landed.









Once we finished the tree, I added some garland to the mantle and we called it a day. The only casualty was my big picture above the fireplace. :(  I'd leaned it against the couch to dust and get the garland situated when Karsten bumped it over.  The glass broke into a million pieces. Guess I'll have to go post-Christmas shopping. 





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