Christmas – NYE 2019

Brooklyn’s last day of school before Christmas break was Friday, December 20th. We headed down to Paw and Rae Rae’s for an extended visit on Saturday the 21st. We needed to get there by lunchtime because Rae Rae had lined up an exciting visitor to come to her house to surprise the girls…

Santa Claus! :)

Savannah was a little unsure about him at first, but Brooklyn. She was BEYOND excited….it was really fun to watch her expressions!

I was impressed that Savannah would sit there with him on the couch, but I think she felt more comfortable because Brooklyn was right there too.

Santa brought Mrs. Claus with him, but Abigail didn’t trust either of them at first…haha!

Once Santa pulled out some gifts from his bag, Abigail decided she would come a little closer ;)

Again…just look at Brooklyn’s expressions :)

Santa even played the ukelele and sang some Christmas carols with us :)

The girls loved it, especially Brooklyn!

A visit from Santa was a fun way to start off our time at Paw and Rae Rae’s!

Waiting to open the gifts for a few more days was so hard! ;) Now that Brooklyn can read, she knows which gifts are for her and likes to inspect them and try to guess what they are. I think that’s something fun that all kids do as they get older!

Cici bought some gingerbread house kits for the girls, and we decided to take them to Paw and Rae Rae’s to put them together since things are usually so rushed during the weeks leading up to Christmas break. I had the idea to assemble the houses the night before we planned to let the girls decorate them, and that was definitely the right call. It took us probably an hour to put them together…haha!

The next morning, we got all dressed up for church. I had to get a picture of the girls in their Christmas dresses :)

Sweet girl! I think all 3 of the girls have worn this little dress :)

That afternoon, it was time for the gingerbread house decorating! There were 4 houses, so each girl got to decorate their own plus we had one leftover. Cici had also given us tons of extra candy for the decorating, so they were really excited to get started.

Brooklyn and Savannah didn’t need too much help…they did all the decorating by themselves!

Having so much fun :)

Travis helped Abigail with her gingerbread house, and Abigail kept eating the gumdrops off the roof as fast as he could replace them :)

Savannah put lots of snowflakes on hers!

It was a fun and tasty afternoon…I think they ate as much candy as they used for decorating ;)

All 3 of the girls around age 2 have been interested in Paw’s mustache…haha!

Brooklyn drew tons of pictures while we were there…

…and Savannah enjoyed playing with Charlie :)

Sweet Savannah on Christmas Eve!

Brooklyn is getting so big!

That evening, it was time to open gifts with Paw, Rae Rae, Uncle Chandler, and Aunt Jenn :)

The first thing we always do is open our stockings from Paw and Rae Rae. This year, Abigail was much more into it than previous years…

Brooklyn was so excited about this Bolt stuffed animal!

She also got this huge art kit from Paw and Rae Rae…it has gotten so much use since Christmas!

One of Savannah’s favorite gifts was this Bitty Baby. One of the main things she asked for was a baby doll that opens and closes her eyes, and this one was perfect with blue eyes and blond hair just like Savannah.

Savannah named her Ryleigh :)

Abigail loved her new rain boots and wanted to wear them right away…haha

Brooklyn was so excited to buy Christmas gifts for family and friends at the Peppermint Village at school. One of my favorite things is watching her reaction when someone opens her gift…so sweet! Each gift was probably 25 or 50 cents, but she put her heart into choosing each one.

She picked out this coaster for Travis :)

When we were done, we had a big mess on our hands! :) It was a fun evening.

That night, we tried to get the girls in bed as early as possible so Santa could come (and test out the monster truck he brought) ;)

Brooklyn’s gifts from Santa included roller skates (one of her most-requested items), a monster truck, a unicorn journal, books, Ty Beanie Boo, and some candy.

Savannah’s gifts were a big craft kit, Hot Wheels cars, a teddy bear, unicorn journal, Beanie Boo, preschool workbook, books, and candy.

Abigail got a plush Moana and Simba, books, stickers, and candy :)

The next morning, Brooklyn and Savannah were up bright and early before 7 AM ready to see what Santa brought. I made them wait on the steps so we could get Abigail up before they ran to see their gifts…

Savannah was most excited about the craft kit and princess books :)

Abigail was excited about her stuffed animals…and she also threw an epic fit when she wanted to eat the chocolate marshmallow candies in her stocking before we had breakfast and I said no ;)

Abigail thought it was fun to try on Brooklyn’s new roller skates…

So did Savannah!

We headed home after lunch on Christmas Day…they were so tired from all the excitement that they were asleep in no time.

The next day, December 26th, we spent the day at Cici’s to celebrate Christmas with Travis’s family. We always try to get a family picture each year, and it’s a challenge with 6 little ones ;)

Brooklyn was really excited to get some new movies!

Savannah really liked this princess sticker book from Cici!

Abigail had no shortage of help with her gifts ;) She liked her new heart water bottle (it was supposed to be for our Disney trip, but she’s enjoyed using it even though our trip got postponed).

We are always happy to have Michael join us for Christmas :)

It was a fun day of opening gifts, eating lots of good food, playing games, and just being together!

This little toy was a hit with Abigail – so simple, but kept her attention for a while!

Brooklyn wanted to try out her new roller skates as soon as possible, so she tested them out on the back patio on December 27th. They took some getting used to…it was definitely good that she wore the knee pads and elbow pads. The concrete is a lot rougher than the skating rink floor!

Brooklyn and Savannah made this long Christmas banner for Mommy and Daddy :)

We went to Top Golf on December 28th with Tyler, Alisha, Melissa, and Alex. It was Travis and my first time there. It was a fun morning!

I was terrible at Top Golf (ha!), but I had to document the brief moment in time when I was at the top of the leaderboard ;)

Savannah couldn’t wait to start making some crafts with her craft kit. She is so sweet…she happily let Brooklyn pick out a craft to do also :)

Her pig turned out cute!

Brooklyn made a colorful fish!

This spinning toy was another big hit with Abigail, and all 3 of the girls enjoyed playing with it.

Over Christmas break, we really got serious about thinking about our backyard renovation. We knew we wanted to tear out a lot of the concrete that the previous homeowner put it, but we were toying with the idea of tearing down our fence and putting up a row of trees/shrubs along the back of our yard.

SO MUCH concrete and gravel!!

We went to Bennett’s Nursery to try to get some ideas for our backyard, and the girls picked out some pansies to plant in our front flower beds. We came away with a lot more questions than answers for our backyard, but we kept on thinking and researching over the next few months. More to come on that…

I loved how Savannah made her bed and set up all her stuffed animals so neatly on top :)

On New Years Eve, we went to the Childs’ house for their annual party. Abigail let Mr. Jeff hold her since we had just been on the trip to Florida with them a month earlier :)

Playing in the arcade is always a big hit!

We didn’t stay too late (it’s not worth it the next day!), but we still had a good time. It was a fun way to end 2019!

Quotes and Notes from late December:

• 12/22/19 – Brooklyn used the word “malfunction” in a sentence, and we were all impressed with her big vocabulary. She then said, “I know another big word—infoo!” We all asked, “What’s infoo?” And she said, “It’s short for information I think!”
• 12/22/19 – Paw called Rae Rae “Grandma” when he was talking to her, and Savannah asked incredulously, “Is Rae Rae your Grandma???” She seriously has the best inflection when she asks a question.
• 12/27/19 – Abigail says “Puh-ghetti” for spaghetti. She said, ‘This puh-ghetti is nummy!’
• 12/28/19 – Abigail loves to make funny faces at us to entertain us and make us laugh. Scowls and eye rolls are her specialty! She does it on purpose with a straight face until we bust out laughing, and then she will finally smile and laugh at herself. It’s hilarious!