Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun at our house this year!  Em and I managed to bake some cookies (she is great at putting the kisses in the center of the cookie, and only attempted to eat a few pieces of chocolate) and I did manage to get the presents wrapped and the house clean before the festivities began on Christmas Eve. 

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and went to church.  Most everyone enjoyed the service, except for me, as I was walking the hall and in the nursery with 2 little girls who just did not want to sit quietly!  The girls were excited to see all of the presents and what they got for Christmas.  Emily just wanted to know which presents were for her while the twins were interested one minute and uninterested the next.  Before bed, Em and I went out to sprinkle Reindeer Food on the lawn to help them find the way to our house, and we left out cookies and milk for Santa :)

The twins love that they have their own chairs now too!  Thanks Nana:)

On Christmas morning, we opened presents from Santa, and he brought the girls a new kitchen.  The basement has since become the favorite place to play and all 3 girls stand by the door wanting to go down.  After taking some time for to play with our new toys, Em and Daddy enjoyed Don't Break the Ice and Don't spill the Beans, we headed out to the farm for Christmas with the extended family.  Emily had a blast playing with Megan and Riley.  It is so fun to watch them play and see their creativity grow.  A special thanks to Jackie for hanging out with the girls while they play.  The twins also had a lot of fun running around the house.  Madison really liked playing with Uncle Matt's phone, and Jillian insisted on having her new shoes put on with her dress - I wish I would have gotten a picture.  We attempted a picture of Great-Grandma with her great-granskids, but the twins were not feeling so cooperative :(  We had a great time at the farm though and had 3 very sleepy girls on the way home, not to mention a carseat to clean...

The shoes

I did say this was an attempt...I don't think I got one good picture

On Sunday we celebrated Nana's birthday with a birthday breakfast.  Emily had fun singing to Nana and helping her blow out the candles.  I guess that is a very important job for a little girl!  Later that day we went to celebrate Christmas with Jake's family.  The girls were so excited to see more presents!!!  They had a fun day of opening presents and running around Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Emily was so excited to get her pillow pet and has been carrying it everywhere with her for the past week.  She will often tell me how much she loves her pillow pet.  The girls also all got personalized aprons.  G&G took them into the other room to dress the girls and then sent them in to us.  They looked absolutely adorable walking in in their matching aprons with pockets full of goodies! 

Another attempt...no good picture of the three girls this year

SOOOO excited

The aprons

We had a day of rest on Monday, and on Tuesday, Em, Jake and I headed up to meet the Burritts near Galena for a short winter get away.  Em and Kyri had a lot of fun playing together and Em may have taught Kyri a few new things.  On Wednesday, the dads went skiing while the girls went shopping in Galena.  We had a nice time walking around and then headed back to Chestnut Mountain to try to get a glimpse of the dads skiing - no such luck!  Thanks for inviting us Kyle and Teri! 

Snow angels

So fun

It is now time to try to get back to normal.  The twins have been trying to get rid of their colds and have been a bit cranky, but enjoy playing with their new toys!  I am ready to get the tree down and try to get the house back in order.  After each holiday, I feel the walls of this house slowly closing in.  It is definitely time to begin going through some of the toys and getting rid of a few...it just seems so sad to think the baby stage is over and we will not be using some of these things anymore :(