Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve morning taking Aubrey to the doctors office. She once again had a random fever with no other symptoms. Since the next day was Christmas and since we knew we were going to be around the rest of the family, we wanted to make sure she didn't have an infection like strep or something. It turned out to be nothing and went away after her nap.

When we got home we worked on a little craft project. I like to do a Christ centered craft project with my girls on Christmas Eve. I found this darling nativity for Aubrey to color and cut out.

 Aubrey was so proud of the nativity that she made herself.

 When we finished she wanted to make some more nativities, so she drew her own.

Here's her baby Jesus that she had to tape up.

 

After naps we went back up to the cabin for Christmas Eve dinner and a little program.

 After dinner I had prepared the little program that we did last year. I wrapped up the pieces of the nativity and divided them up amongst the adults. The kids went to the adult they were instructed to and opened up a part of the nativity. Then that adult told them that specific part of the story.

Then they put together their nativities as we went. I wrapped up two sets so that the kids would have more presents to open.

Once Brooke opened up baby Jesus, she would not let him go.

I think the kids really enjoyed it.

Then as is tradition, we acted out the nativity story as Dad read it from the Bible.

Esther & Bryan were the most obvious choice for Mary and Joseph!

After changing her mind a few times, Aubrey finally decided that she wanted to be the star.

She decided the best way to get the star up in the sky would be to jump the whole time. 

Grandma finally got her on a chair so she could guide the Wise men to baby Jesus.

Then we sang "Away in the Manger". Being as this is Aubrey's favorite song, she sang it with gusto.

Then the girls each got to open one present. They opened one of their presents from G&G Bagley.

Aubrey was excited to get her talking baby - the thing she had been asking for all month.

Brooke was super thrilled to get a talking baby as well and hers came with a bathroom.

She just loves taking her baby to the potty.

Then we headed home to put out some cookies and milk for Santa.

We also write thank you notes and pictures to leave for Santa.

Then off to bed for my two very excited girls. I won't lie, I was pretty excited too!

The Eve of Christmas Eve

My parents and brother rented a cabin for all of us locals for Christmas. We didn't stay the whole time (because I didn't want to drag all of our Christmas stuff up there). Thursday afternoon after naps we went up to hang at the cabin for the evening. Aubrey was excited because she loves any kind of new adventure.

 When we got there we noticed that my girls and Sophie matched. Black and pink - too cute.

 

Then the kids decorated the tree with all of Aubrey's hand made decorations. Aubrey had been very much looking forward to this.

 

Grandma showed Brooke that she made Gingerbread cookies. Brooke loved them.

Then we decorated Christmas cookies.

As soon as I gave Brooke the "ok" that cookie went straight to her mouth!

Aubrey's pretty cookie. This was the only one with a normal color. After this one she remembered our preschool lesson on color mixing and insisted on mixing all the colors together to see what color she could make. We ended up with all sorts of shades of brown and grey. Funny kid.

Love that red face.

Aubrey noticed that the adults were using a tube to decorate - so she had to give that a try!

Then of course Brooke had to do it too!

Even Grandpa got in on the cookie decorating action.

Katie & Esther showing off their cookie masterpieces.

Grandma keeping everything going.

 

Brooke soon tired of the decorating but discovered Sophie under the table. Under she went to play with her.

I don't know what this face was for - but it sure was cute!

After Sophie tired of Brooke she found a new friend - cousin JJ. They were so cute together. She loved JJ. She was cracking up while he was tickling her.

Dancing with Grandma. Brooke is sporting the new look for this season - one shoe off and one shoe on!

Aubrey decorated until the bitter end - here's my little green monster in Grandma's apron.

JJ showed Aubrey the game room - and she was in heaven. These two cousins played together so cute!

Brookie had to try her hand at air hockey.

Then they discovered the video games.

It was a fun evening. Aubrey was disappointed that we weren't staying the night like JJ was. But, I did assure her that she would get to spend the night after Christmas.

Merry Christmas

A Visit from the Tanner's and more

Tammy and Don had a wedding to come down for this week and they brought along Mark so they could shop for his mission. It was a really nice visit. Aubrey was thrilled to have family come and stay at our house. She got Mark playing with her right away.

Brooke was shy Sunday morning, but then warmed right up. I am so happy to see Brooke playing with family!

Brooke and Tammy playing hair.

Snuggles with cousin Mark.

Aubrey making Mark's hair so beautiful!

Aubrey made the cutest Reindeer cupcake and headband at preschool last week. She was so proud of her cupcake.

She was so sweet to willingly share it with Brooke. Brooke only wanted the frosting though. So Aubrey was trying to break off parts with lots of frosting. The frosting got stuck on her finger and so while holding her finger up to Brooke she said, "All the frosting got stuck on my finger, so you can lick it off Brooke. Just don't bite my finger." It was too sweet!

Aubrey is so excited for Christmas. This morning the first words out of her mouth were, "Is it Christmas today?!" She's been helping wrap presents. After helping Daddy wrap my presents she came asking me for her scissors and some tape. Then she took the left over pieces of wrapping paper and started wrapping up her toys and giving them to all of us. What a little cuties pants! The other day I had wrapped up the girls presents while they were sleeping. I was taking them out to the tree when Aubrey woke up. I asked her if she was excited to open them up on Christmas? She replied, "Yes and I'm excited for Brookie to open up her presents too!" She really has such a sweet and kind heart.

She is getting to be such a good helper and cleaner. During quiet time the other day she cleaned up her whole room without me even asking her too. She does such a great job too. She puts everything where they are supposed to go and does it just like mommy! I LOVE it!

Brooke is really getting into dress up and make-up. This is her with every play necklace in the house on!

The other day I was on the phone with an important Primary call. I could see the girls playing happily by the side of my bed. I couldn't see what they were doing, but knew if I got too close to them, that would be the end of my phone conversation. When I hung up the phone I went over to see what they were doing. They had found a bag of packing peanuts and had dumped the whole thing out on the floor and were breaking them all into tiny little pieces. When Brooke saw me coming she looked up with a great big smile and said, "clean up". She sure knew how to help mommy not be so angry about the mess!

Brooke is all about colors these days. She loves to point out colors everywhere and name them. Purple is still her favorite but she also knows, pink, blue, red, green and white too. One morning she pointed out all of the colored checkers on the wall and told me what they were.

Brooke is playing so good lately. She puts baby to bed and takes baby on walks, she also plays house and farm. She is much less needy for my attention these days and it is so cute to watch her at play!

Yesterday after Aubrey said her bedtime prayer Brooke wanted to say hers too. This time she did not want me to help her. This is what she said, "He faer (Heavenly Father) bess ga ga (bless grandma) bess ga ga (bless grandpa) amen." It was so sweet. She and Aubrey were so proud of her for saying a prayer all by herself!

Some of Brooke's favorite saying of late are, "choc mil" (chocolate milk). She says this over and over all day long. If I open the pantry, she runs in and gets the Quik and takes it to the counter or to me. She's a persistent little monkey. She also says, "I hep" (I help) a lot. She wants to help mommy with everything these days. When she wants to do something all by herself she says, "I do" with emphasis on the "I". She also says, "scuse me" (excuse me) anytime somebody is in her way. It is so fun getting to talk with my little Brooke more and more each day! I can't believe how quickly she transformed from a baby into a toddler!