Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Merry Christmas 2013!


We had a wonderful relaxed White Christmas this year!! 
The kids were super excited for Christmas this year! Iz woke up at 5am, reminding me of myself, lol. Luckily she went back to sleep and we all awoke around 7. They opened presents quickly, lasting about 15-20 minutes (haha) and then we had cinnamon rolls and coffee. We relaxed through the day, I had a snowy run with Kathy, and then we all had dinner at their house in the evening.  
We are so blessed.
A few pictures and a short phone video from Christmas morning.



love the face. can you feel the excitement?

santa came through with the gumball machine

this one has the best expressions

bunbun and iz opening their matching jammies together

her favorite pressent

checking out the crane truck

new art supplies!

2 christmas cuties

definitely not a Cinnabon...but at them anyway =)

new toys are awesome





Merry Christmas to all our family and friends and Happy New Year!
Here's to a great 2014!

Holidays 2013

We so enjoyed doing some holiday activities together this year. 
Christmas is such a special time of year. I enjoy all the preparations, as well as the day itself, each year. As with thanksgiving, I miss being close to my family and friends so much this time of year, but am thankful for technology and the ability to send a text or see their faces online.
As always December seemed to come and go so quickly this year. 
I love blogging as a way to capture the memories so that we can remember and "re-live" them at later times.

Iz and I went to the Nutcracker together this year. Graham took these pictures before we left.
I enjoyed it very much! Iz seemed to like it "so-so" although recognized some of the songs she'd heard before saying "Hey that's just like the song on the ipad" haha. We talked about the orchestra, how much we liked the costumes and how talented the dancers were.



Baking treats for teachers, friends and neighbors.
 This year my favorite treats to make was melted rollos on pretzels, 
then topped with a Christmas M & Ms. 
Yummy!!
We also made granola, M & M cookies, and chocolate cookies with peppermint kisses.
I'm ready to eat healthy again.....=)
 Decorating the tree! We had such a great tree this year, a perfect fit into our living room.
Izzy had a  ballerina and book stack ornament this year, and bodie had a train and a bicycle. 
Thanks mom for sending some of the great ornaments. 
G and I bought an "our first home" ornament this year as well.


Making and decorating gingerbread cookies on Christmas eve. 
Very fun! and yummy!


very serious work


trying out the decorations...just to make sure



yup...this sums us up

our real life gingerbread house. photo courtesy of g

how cute, right?



cookies, milk, carrots, and photos for Santa and the reindeer
Wrapping presents and watching White Christmas. Another of my favorite holiday traditions. This year G wasn't feeling good so he went to bed early, so I missed my partner in crime but still enjoyed the quiet evening and had the freedom to sing "i'm dreaming of a White Chistmas" along with the movie as loud as I pleased. =)


A blessed and happy holiday season!

Getting our Tree!

One of my favorite traditions.... going to get our Christmas tree from the tree farm!
We had a blast this year and the kids had a great time, despite frigid WI weather.
A few pictures from our day, complete with some light festive snow fall. =)



on the way!

iz biz has arrived

love these people

a man and his saw

they loved playing in the giant hay stack, it was much warmer in the tunnels than outside i think!

dang that's a good one for the christmas card g

thank you nice people for taking our picture 

going out to get the tree!

i love tractor rides with these 2...can you tell?

trees just their size!

thar she is

popcorn and cider...yes please

hi iz. 

santa and mrs claus!

what do you want for christmas? "a truck!"

unwrapping the tree

Our beautiful tree!
Kids loved helping decorate and talk about all the different ornaments.


Merry Christmas!!!