Christmas

Christmas morning was filled with joy as we watched our girls open their gifts. Olivia was thrilled with everything she opened. Who knew a Minnie movie would be so exciting!

Charlotte adores the new dino Santa brought.

Thanks for the Barbies Grandma and Grandpa Hoth-we love them!


Olivia and "Punzel" are best pals already
(I secretly bought Rapunzel so I could play with her-she is too cute).

Charlotte has had her eye on this Pony set for a while.

She spent about 3 hours playing with it today.

The girls looked darling in thier Christmas attire.

While Olivia napped Charlotte was busy playing with toys, puzzles and new craft kits.

Did your house look like this Christmas afternoon?

After a lovely turkey dinner we had Rudolph cake.

It was difficult, but we finally separated the girls form their new toys and into bed. Olivia made sure Rapunzel was comfy and Charlotte snuggled in tight with her t-rex.

The girls couldn't have been any cuter today. We feel so blessed to have such sweet and beautiful daughters. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve we decided to head south and warm up a bit in Sedona. The girls had a great time on a short hike.

Cool cactus.

Charlotte brought along a case for catching lizards-but we didn't see a single one. I told her they were too busy wrapping Christmas presents to play outside; I think she believed me!



That evening we watched a great Church DVD about the brith of Jesus and then we let the
girls un-wrap their new PJ's.

Someone was really excited!

Around 8:00pm Charlotte volunteered to go to bed.

She even said we could skip stories.

Later that night, we spied on the girls and found Olivia teasing Charlotte about being on the naughty list.

Winter Wonderland

We've been enjoying 18 inches of snowfall in Flagstaff. Saturday finally gave us a chance to get out and have some snow fun. Charlotte surprised us by going down the hills all on her own this year; only if Mommy "tested" them first.

Olivia was not as impressed.

She had more fun hanging back and watching sister slide down the slopes. For some reason she thought it was really funny and laughed each time.

Cute little snow bunnies.

For craft time we made some homemade snow globes-thanks for the idea Martha. I found these round ones at the craft store. The girls thought it was the coolest thing to pick out their little figures and colored glitter. Charlotte went with a deer and pink glitter.

Olivia picked a snowman and a Santa and blue glitter.

Pickle, baby food, or jam jars also make unique snow globes.

It is fun to have snow for Christmas. As far as I am concerned it can all go away after Christmas.

Christmas cuteness

I thought it was time to get some Christmas photos up since December is half over. I made the girls these Christmas aprons. We put them to the test the next day and made some pizelles.

The girls had fun playing with these pretend cookies
I made from the extra scraps of Christmas fabric.

Finn looks like he ate one too many cookies.

Olivia likes to pretend the tree is "eating " her.
The poor tree is getting used and abused.

Fantastic 5

We had a dino-mite Birthday party for Charlotte this weekend. Charlotte has been planning her party for weeks, and wanted to be sure it included her current favorite-the spinosaurus. Notice the cool spinosaurus hat she and "Hip" are sporting.

I went for simplicity with her cake this year-but it was still cute. It was a rainbow cake on the inside.

The kids made dino scenes; Olivia was very proud of the finished product.

We had a dino egg hunt. The final destination was Charlotte's room where they found a Mommy T-Rex guarding some nests.

The big red T-Rex was a big hit!

There were lots of nice gifts.

Charlotte had so much fun at her party. We spent the rest of the day playing with all her new toys, crafts and games. We just love this dino-crazy girl!

Happy 5th Birthday Charlotte-rex!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Scott's Mom's house. Thanks Kristal for cathcing these family pictures. Olivia is a little clown; I included some out-takes below.

This is her ugly man face that she just loves to pull to ruin pictures.

We went to the Tuscon Zoo on Friday morning.

Olivia liked the giraffes best; Charlotte said she liked the monkeys.

The girls always have a wonderful time with their cousins. Here they were playing Princesses and servants; I'm not sure who conned them in to that one.

Charlotte was sad to see them go she cried herself to sleep Saturday night because "she missed her cousins" . We are thankful to have such wonderful families on both sides.

Sleepy heads

The girls have been trying my patience at bedtime lately. They think bedtime is their cue to get hyperactive and go crazy. They start up pillow fights, jump on the beds, or insist on flossing their teeth 5 times; getting them to bed is a serious feat. But, here is some evidence that they occasionally do sleep.

Olivia snuggling her favorite baby and her toothbrush. Aren't they cute when they are asleep!

Finn and Liv enjoying a nap together.

This is Finn's favorite place to sleep at night. I kick him off after a while so Charlotte doesn't have to battle this bed hog all night.

Liv just couldn't make it through her Dora movie before bedtime.