home.

Sailyr and Katelyn (she named her doll)

Camille (her doll) and Finley :)

We woke up Thursday morning in our own house.  After unpacking the car I helped the girls get out some of their Christmas gifts.  I gave them big cardboard play houses that they can color, so we set them up next to the Christmas tree, and they played there all day long.  They set up all their new American girl doll stuff and played so well together.  After a while we went downstairs to check out their new calico critter toys.  I ran around all day trying to get things put away and organized and Devin spent a few hours outside trying to clear driveways and sidewalks.  We came home to our entire front steps under snow... a good 2 feet in some places, and the girls just played and played.

I used to think American girl was so silly and kind of a waste of money.  But after watching my girls play all day yesterday.... I get it now.  Its adorable. 



(p.s. - I have posted lots and lots of Christmas posts.  So make sure you go to the next page once you reach the bottom of the website.  There is probably 3-4 pages of Christmas posts.)

Indie loves her Grandpa

While we were in Panguitch we found out that Indie loves her Grandpa, and probably prefers him over anyone else.  Its pretty cute, she hung out with him a lot of the time, she would just stopped crying when he would hold her.  Our last night there she was being fussy and we handed her to Grandpa,  he laid her next to him on the couch and she got so calm.  I almost thought something was wrong with her, because I have never seen her get so calm.  But a few moments later she was asleep...

Christmas parties

Monday and Tuesday we had Christmas parties with family in Panguitch.  I think my kids opened gifts for 3 days straight while we were there.  We have the best families!!  I feel so thankful that my children will have such amazing memories of Christmas with so much family.  Our moms work so hard to make it special and perfect.  I don't think Corrine leaves the kitchen for 3 whole days during Christmas.  And my mom always goes so overboard with gift giving.  We appreciate everything they do for us!  Its all of our family that made this Christmas so wonderful!

During the Englestead Christmas party Grandpa Excell sang and played his guitar for us.  And Finley laid on the floor and listened so still and quietly.  She did not move a muscle.  It was a true Christmas miracle.  :)  She is crazy anyway, but super crazy in Panguitch with all her fun cousins. 

Sailyr also played her violin for everyone, I don't think we got a picture of it but she did great!

And we had fun at my mom's house for her Christmas party.  Its fun seeing Crue and Maddix and Axton.  Sailyr also played her violin for my family too!  I think she is starting to love playing for people.  My mom gave Indie this cute little car, we had to leave it in Panguich until we have a little more room to bring it home with.

 

 

Ice skating and sledding

The day after Christmas we went with Kami and Krystle to Ruby's to ice skate.  Sailyr and Fin both skated with Dev, while I held Indie.  Fin made it around the rink about 3 times before going to sit on the bench by Krystle and drink hot chocolate.  But Sailyr skated the whole time, I think she was the last one on the rink of all the cousins.  She did not want to leave, we will have to take her a few time here in Idaho this winter.

And Red canyon is just beautiful in the snow!!!

Christmas day

The best thing about being in Panguitch for the holidays is all of the grandparents!  We got to see so much family on Christmas day, I loved every second. 

By the end of the day both girls fell asleep next to me on the couch.  Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Happy 6th Birthday Sailyr!

Sailyr turned 6 on Christmas day! 

Here are a few things about her -

-She is a fast learner, and catches on to things easily

- She is bossy and determined

- She is the best helper with Indie

- She loves the color turquoise

- She loves food and eating out at different places

- She loves to color and draw, as well as write and practice spelling

- She has to be busy, she is not lazy at all... and even has a hard time watching tv

- she wakes up super early and her brain just clicks right on.  One morning I let her climb in bed with us at about 6am, hoping she would go back to sleep.  Instead she laid there and sang and counted in Spanish, until I told her to just go color until I got up.

-She loves school and loves her friends!  She is that kid who is mad when Saturday rolls around because that means she cant go to school that day.

- She is getting emotional

- She loves playing with the calico critter families or baby dolls.

- She loves playing with friends and asks to invite someone over constantly

 -She plans to grow up and buy a blue house next to my house so that she can come and visit me every day.  (please, oh please!)

-  She is attached to me, and hates to be away from me.  Which sometimes is hard when I just want to run to the store by myself, but I love that she loves to be with me so much!  

-She loves having fancy hair every day, and happily lets me do her hair each morning.

I love Sailyr so much.  Its hard to believe she was that tiny baby who taught me all about being pregnant, labor and being a mom.  She is a tough cookie at times, being so stubborn and head strong.  But she is also very caring and loving.  She is always concerned about me, and always wants to make sure I am ok.  Sometimes I worry that she does not look out for Finley enough, but Devin tells me that when he takes them somewhere without me Sailyr just turns into the little mother and watches out for Finley the whole time.

Christmas day is kind of a strange birthday, but I hope this sweet girl felt loved and special!

Christmas eve & Christmas morning

Christmas with 3 little girls is nothing short of magical!  Christmas eve was perfect with so much family around.  We went to Grandma Farnsworth's birthday party/Christmas dinner then Kami's house for dinner again.  Went and said hello to Grandma Lois before heading back to get ready for Santa.  I found us matching jammies this year for the whole family!!  Devin was pretty excited :).  He wore them but told me I could not post any pictures on social media... I don't think my blog counts.  Matching Christmas jammies just made my whole night and was worth the wasted money on pjs that Devin will probably never wear again.  :)

On Christmas eve Sailyr could not keep her eyes open any longer after about 9pm.  One thing about that girl, she is not a night owl, 8:00 rolls around and she is tired.  She fell asleep on my leg while we were watching Christmas oranges.  Finley had not napped that day, so she was pretty tired too.  I think she fell asleep around 10.  I was hoping the girls would come wake us up, and we could walk up to see if Santa had come together.  But instead I woke up to the sounds of running footsteps upstairs.  Sailyr had woke up and just ran up to see if Santa had come, then ran back down to get us.  She was so so so excited!  She was about to die waiting for us to get Fin and Indie up.

This year was so exciting because its the first year that Sailyr and Finley have actually wanted a certain gift.  Finley wanted a Hatchimal.  Its the hot ticket item of the year and was super hard for Santa to come up with.  Sailyr wanted an American Girl doll.  Santa bought 3 other dolls and took them all back before deciding to splurge on the real deal.  Its all because I found a hidden American Girl catalog, Sailyr had circled and wrote her name on the doll she wanted and drew hearts around it.  It kind of broke my heart and made me cave enough to call Santa and tell him to just go for it.   It was so much fun seeing how excited they were on Christmas morning to find their gifts under the tree. 

Indie got a jack in the box, care bear toys, bath toys, new shoes, and a cabbage patch doll.  She had just sitting in the middle of the wrapping paper and toys strewn around.  The girls also got calico critter toys, new books, a sewing machine, church shoes, and lots of coloring books and craft supplies. 

The morning was spent watching Finley's hatchimal crack out of its egg, and Sailyr dress her new doll and comb its hair.