my 3 girlies in their Christmas pj's .... typical pic where no one is looking at the camera and H is screaming under that paci :)
If I would have been on the ball and had my self together I would have taken a pic each day in December and blogged about it but I didn't. So, I'll try to sum it all up in one big blog post.
Pinterest gave me some great ideas this year.
1. I made our Pottery Barn advent tree into a daily Christmas activity. Each day the girls picked a card (some strategically placed) that had a Christmas activity on it. Some were simple things that didn't take much time or parental supervision, some are things we always do, and some were family activities.
London really enjoyed coming down each morning and seeing what the activity was for the day. We 'elfed' some of her friends, made cookies, wrote letters to Santa, had a Christmas craft day with Nana, rode the Polar Express, drove around and looked at lights, mailed Christmas cards and lots of other fun things!!
Polar Express!!
cousins!
Kinley watching the Polar Express arrive
sweetie pie London
Kinley enjoying her cookie and hot chocolate
looking for the North Pole
Kinley dancing with the chef
2. Henny the elf came back. This year he got into lots of mischief! The girls loved waking up each morning to see where he was hiding or what he had gotten into. I made a photo book from Shutterfly of all his adventures. I know the girls will love looking back at all Henny did!! London was sad to see him go and can't wait until next year when he comes back.
3. We went to see the Houston Ballet perform The Nutcracker again. I grew up going to The Nutcracker with my mom and I love that I am getting to take London now! Kinley was upset she didn't get to go with us but I knew she wouldn't be able to sit through the entire performance. Maybe next year! Instead, London and I gave her The Nutcracker book. She loved getting to open a present and it made it ok for us to leave!!
We had 2nd row seats so we were able to go peek at the orchestra pit before the performance and during intermission. London loved watching the violinist warm up :)
Christmas Eve was nasty. It was cold and rainy.
My grandmother (my dad's mom) is in a nursing home now and we went to visit her and take her lunch. Here she is with her newest great grand baby!
We got dressed and made it to church for the Christmas Eve service. We decided to go to church at the church we grew up in. It was so great to see so many old friends. I could have stayed hours after church catching up with everyone.
my 3 sweeties :) I'm pretty sure this is my last pic of all 3 of them in smocked dresses. I just don't know how I will dress London for special occasions now :(
After church we headed to Matt's moms house for dinner and presents. We all were showered with gifts and the kids had a great time playing together.
After we left Matt's mom's house we headed to my aunt's house for a 'Tacky Christmas Eve'
It is always crazy at her house ..... in a fun way. Everyone dresses up in their tackiest Christmas sweaters or horrible holiday outfit. It is so funny to see everyone all dressed up. There were some great costumes this year.
When we got there the gingerbread house contest was about to start. We drew numbers to get paired up then were given graham crackers, icing, and a variety of candy to build a gingerbread house from. At the end of 30 minutes each house was judged and a winner was announced. Our house didn't win. It was hilarious to see everyones creations :)
After the gingerbread competition was over, we did the gift exchange. We do the chinese gift exchange and everyone brings an 'as seen on TV' gift. The hot item this year was the food slicer and foot cleaners. Ha Ha!!!
We finally left and came back to my mom's house and got ready for Santa. Santa was good to the girls this year!!!
London got a Razor e-spark scooter, barbie vet center, moon dough, squinkies, and lots of stocking goodies and too many other presents to list that were from family
Kinley got barbies, a coffee maker, squinkies, 3D chalk, and a barbie jeep.
Holland got an activity mat, a rattle, and musical toy
The girls also got lots of stocking goodies and lots of presents from family.... too many to list! I'll just say that they got more than enough and next year I'm going to try to somehow turn some toy gifts into clothes.
Matt and I exchanged gifts for the first time in years. I got him a RG3 autographed Baylor helmet. He got me a gift card to one of my favorite shops in our neighborhood, an itunes gift card, and perfume (cliche I know but i needed perfume)
I got a very special gift from my mom too. She had my grandmothers ring taken apart and had a pair of diamond earrings made for me, my sister, and my sister in law. It is so special to me to have something of my grandmothers. She wore her ring all the time and loved it. When she died, my mom got her ring and wanted each of us to have a piece of it. The earrings are just like my Nanny.... so classy, nothing flashy about them but simply perfect just like my Nanny was.
Christmas was great!!! We are home and unpacked and the toys are put away. I'm working on getting all the laundry done and decorations put away. I'm working on making NYE a fun night for the girls :) And..... I'm hoping to start blogging more regularly again. No more of this once a month stuff.
Enjoy these last few days of 2011!!!
