Noelle got this matching doll outfit set from Grandma for her birthday. Funny story, actually. Over the years, we've collected a few American Girl dolls around our house. One night at bedtime about a year ago, I told Elle a story about how her dolls had little tea parties while she was at school (in Toy Story/toys come to life-fashion). I thought it was a cute little story ... but it totally freaked her out. She refused to play with the dolls anymore and moved them all out of her bedroom and downstairs to the toyroom. Which is sad. Because American Girl dolls aren't cheap, and I could see the investment in the few dolls we had would be totally wasted. Finally, just a few weeks ago, she started to pick them up and venture to play with them again. These matching dresses were just the fix. Hallelujah.
Mike had a fun chance to volunteer with some friends from work at Candy Cane Corner. It's a neat little toy store, basically, with all new donated toys and books for kids from less-fortunate families. They get a pass from their case workers, which allows them to come choose things for Christmas. Somehow, Mike wound up in the paper. I love that he is shelving a Captain Underpants book. Cracks me up. :)
More tooth fairy visits. Our tooth fairy has been pretty forgetful over the years, but she's finally getting the hang of it -- which is a good thing.
Toothless cousins.
On Christmas Eve, we had some of the Farley family over for our traditional celebration. Grandma is in heaven with all of these grandkids around.
The Sharples family (my sister, Kelly) ...
The Blake family (my sister, Erin) ...
... and us. Missing my brother, Quinn, and his family.
And then it was finally time for Christmas jammies.
This picture is so typical of their sibling dynamics right now. Christian maintains his cool persona, the little girls have sass galore, and Haley shows her disdain true feelings for their over-the-top girliness.
After the kids went to bed, Mike & I got to work assembling the ping pong table that we were giving the kids. Our neighbor, Chuck, took pity on us and came over to help. We started at 10:00pm and finished at ..... 2:30am. No joke. Who knew that ping pong tables came with 240 screws? Granted, we aren't the handiest bunch, but still. We were a little punch-happy by 2:30am. We owe Chuck big time.
The next morning ... More poses with their sleep masks from their stockings.
Mike totally surprised me with this painting. It's a picture of my dad's ranch in Montana. Mike found a photograph of the ranch that he liked, found an artist (in South Africa!) who could paint it, and then crossed his fingers that it would arrive in time. It was a Christmas miracle that it went from Johannesburg to SLC in 4 days time. No kidding. I love that it looks like a cool piece of art but has such sentimental value for me. So great.
That afternoon, we headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house for the annual nativity re-enactment. Haley wins the 'good sport' award for wearing Grandma's new star costume that none of the other grandkids would wear. She's thrilled, as you can tell.
No place to sit with that many people in the house, so the kids take to the floor.
Wall to wall people.
Surprising mom & dad with a tv from the rest of us. She was a little bit thrilled.
Haley took her hard-earned cash to the Apple store and bought herself a new iTouch. She was thrilled for a few minutes and then I found her, head to the wall, looking depressed. The realities of an empty bank account had set in. Poor girl. :) Haley is such a saver, and typically has several hundred dollars in her bank account. She'll get there again, I have no doubt.
We had a fun reunion party with Mike's high school friends. This is only part of the crew that came through that night.
Found these 2 hooligans in the corner of the portrait studio while we were waiting for family pictures to be taken. My sister-in-law said, "It's like they are still 5 years old but in those big teenager bodies." So true. As boys, they used to always run around with stick/wands, pretending they were Harry Potter and yelling, "Wingardium leviosa!" at each other. And now they can drive real cars. Funny boys.
That night, we had another big extended family party where the annual tradition of killer Cracker Smacker games continues to grow. Basically, you tie a Saltine around your waist with thread ...
... and then you roll up newspaper into a "stick" and try to smack other people's crackers until they crumble and fall off. The winner is the one with the most cracker still attached to their string. It gets pretty brutal when the adults are let loose at each other.
This picture was from earlier in the holiday season when Nana came to visit. Sure love these girls.
And now we're back to the grindstone. Sad ....
