Christmas.

I've been less than motivated for this post. There are just SO MANY pictures and I haven't felt like a "review" post at all. So I"ll let the pictures do the talking and comment here and there. Feel free to skip this post as it is mostly just for my own memory.

We went to the farm (Mike's aunt's home) for Christmas leaving on Sunday after church. After a mad dash around the house to pack (is it ever not a mad dash with two kids and a dog?) we finally got on the road and the girls were perfect for the whole drive. My view of each of them with the mirrors showed two babes sleeping peacefully the whole 2.5 hour trip. 

Once we got there, we had enough time to just hang out and visit, and aunt Ardell got to meet Audrey.

The next day (Christmas Eve), I dressed the girls up in matching outfits but wasn't able to get a decent picture. I probably won't get a good one of these two together for a couple of years by the looks of it.

It was below 0 (or at least felt like it) for the whole trip so we spent almost all of our time inside. Our antsy 1.5 year old needed some fresh air so she got to go on a tractor ride with aunt Ardell. Lucky lady! She seemed to like it!

waiting for Ardell to come get her

Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Greg (hubby's sister and bro-in-law)

hubby, Grandma and Audrey, Grandpa

 I won't lie - you will notice that he's holding a Kindle... I also had a tablet and there was another Kindle floating around. Let's just say that a lot of Sudoku was played this weekend.

We tried to recreate a picture from a couple of years ago by putting on a scarf on good old Buckley (he is still around, I promise! Just not getting the photo attention he used to)

The kids got one present early from Grandma and Grandpa. First, Audrey was given her new stuffed toys. When Josie saw this, she immediately wanted the toys, so Grandma tried to distract her by giving her the new horse stuffed animal. Josie thought we were trying to trick her and therefore wanted nothing to do with this horse. It was so funny. Eventually we showed her Audrey's horse (same thing, different color), and Josie was fine with that one, so we ended up just switching the girls' horses and everyone was happy. Who would have guessed that a black horse could cause so much chaos?

Audrey with her horse once everything settled down

I wanted at least one picture of me with each of my girls 

It was so fun to dress the girls up for Christmas Eve church. I really think that kid's all dressed fancy is the cutest thing and take every opportunity to do it!

Audrey, 5 weeks old

Dean, (cousin) 6 months old

Josie, 18 months old

After church, we took some family photos.

Please look at baby Dean's face!

I did it!  A picture with each girl. :)

After church, we opened presents! It was so fun, of course, because Josie was so into it. I love looking at things through her eyes and it was so fun to see her excitement and wonder at what in the world we were doing. She ended up helping almost everyone unwrap presents and was generally just impressed with everything.

Watching Daddy open his gift from the girls - slippers

Can you stand how cute she looks? The tigger slippers absolutely made her day. She loved wearing them and has them on almost all of the time. We are a Pooh-loving family (extended family, even!)

Opening the gift we gave Dean - a mini toolset! If hubby can have his way, Dean will be a contractor just like his uncle ;)

Hubby's other gift, a waffle maker (he loves him some waffles). To be fair, he also got to go pick out a new pair of cowboy boots... so his gift wasn't that lame.

And what did I get? You won't believe it. Hubby got me autostart for our new vehicle!! The best part is that he had it installed weeks earlier and I almost figured it out. There was a blue light that blinked inside after it was installed, and I noticed and asked hubby about it. He made up some story and I didn't say much so he just assumed that I was onto him. He needn't have worried, though. I had NO clue.

His parents also got us a Roomba. This.thing.is.awesome. It's basically a robot vacuum that goes around the house randomly and vacuums whenever we program it to. No more lugging that old vacuum up and down the stairs for this girl! It fit well underneath beds and couches and has sensors so it won't damage anything or fall down the stairs. AWESOME. My mother-in-law and her sister each have one too so they knew exactly how much we'd love it.

The next morning (Christmas morning), we did the stockings thing. No fireplace or hooks meant we needed to be creative, so we used the back of the dining room chairs.

Josie was not interested in them at all, so we really had to entice her to check them out. I won't lie and say they were the most awesome stuffed stockings ever, but we have to start the tradition somehow, right? Each girl got a Disney movie and a few other little things to fill it up.

We spent most of Christmas day just enjoying our new gifts and each other's company. Eventually hubby's grandparents from his dad's side joined us (they only live a half hour away) and we had the big supper meal (Lamb this year). It wasn't too bad, either! I don't remember eating lamb before, so I was a little nervous about it.

Josie watching herself on tv (we hooked up the video camera and watched some pictures/videos from the year)

Pretty sure the boys had more fun playing with the kids' new toys than the kids did!

I think this was the best trip to the farm we've had yet. Josie was so fun, stayed out of trouble, and kept us busy, while Audrey was sweet and slept in someone's arms almost the entire time.


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