Lovely Girls

 I can't believe these two beautiful girls call me mommy. I'm so blessed <3

 Willow's First Christmas

I SO wish that the Christmas season would last longer! It is my favorite to decorate for. The kids seem happier and it's just a nice time.

Christmas Parties and Rainy Days

We enjoyed a fun evening with Daddy last week attending the Fire Fighter Christmas Dinner. The girls were super cute in the Holiday dresses that Granna and Papa Doodle got for them. They loved the craft table, Elise especially liked the squeezy glitter paint. They made SO many projects that they had to choose which ones they wanted to bring home as the paint was still VERY wet and we weren't sure how we would transport 10 of them! They had a bounce house and cookie decorating and yummy food. I wish I would have taken a picture of Maysie's plate. She was the first person to get food (unbeknownst to me). All of the sudden she was at the table with her little plate all ready to eat. She had a a piece of cheesecake, a giant chocolate chip cookie, a candy cane, and a serving of salad! I could have died laughing. She's so darn cute. She asked a complete stranger to direct her to the girls bathroom. My girls are so independent when they want to be, I love it. I only wish I had that kind of confidence as a child, or even now for that matter! After the party we went to see the live Nativity presentation at the Temple. It was beautiful! On the way home when asked what part of the day was their favorite, both girls decidedly replied "the Nativity". 

We hosted the Jukes Family Christmas this year. It was fun to get together and share yummy food and fun times. The kids had a grand time. The adults ended up making the crafts that I had planned for the kids because they were mostly too busy playing to bother :)

During a very blustery day over the weekend the girls and I got our painting on. Making some pretty Christmas trees. I love how different each of their perspective are in their artwork. They both concentrate so hard when they are creating something.

Much to be Thankful For

It is always so wonderful when my parents come to visit! They were able to stay for about a month and a half. We enjoyed two holidays and my Mom's birthday together. The girls love the extra attention and I love having grown ups to talk to on a regular basis. We had our own Thanksgiving dinner before Thanksgiving in order to include Mark, which was good because Maysie ended up sick and we stayed home from our extended family gathering on Thursday. My dad put in way too many hours helping us with the house and my mom never once complained about being the live-in childcare provider. We can't wait to see them again. And I'm sure their next visit will be more relaxing now that this ginormous project is finished!

 Working on puzzles with Papa Doodle. She is getting quite good at these complicated jigsaw puzzles.

 The veggie platter was a hit! I think the girls each ate their weight in carrots. I was starting to wonder at what point one should say "stop eating all those vegetables!"

 Snuggling with a couple of his girls <3

 We had an incredible hail storm that left it looking like it had snowed! I went out and scooped up some clean (un-muddy) buckets full of hail for the girls to play in on the patio because it was freezing and slippery and sloppy in the yard.

  Gingered pumpkin cupcakes with maple frosting! The girls each decorated one for our Thanksgiving for three when we had to stay home on Thursday.

 This is the pumpkin that Elise picked out for Halloween, they had decorated them with silk flowers and stick on jewels, now it is pumpkin puree in my freezer so we can make more of the yummy cupcakes pictured above all year! It had a cute fairytale quality to it.

 We can't get over how cute this little Willow dog is. She almost looks like a little stuffed toy sometimes :) She is quite loved.

Granna made the girls these adorable, cozy jammies. Maysie's have little scotty dogs on them and Elise's have sheep. They love them!

Our Pretty New House!

We started this project at the end of October. Moved french doors from the living room to our master bedroom, painted new interior walls, updated some of the electrical, changed out all of the old windows, replaced 85% of the siding, fixed the roof, trimmed, painted, and added new exterior lighting. We are in love with the final product and are sure that it will pay for itself several times over when we decide to sell and upgrade to a larger piece of property. We've gotten tons of compliments from complete strangers driving down the road, no doubt they're relieved to not have to drive past our hideous bright green house anymore! Still a little more work to do to give it that finished sparkle but it will be more fun and less labor intensive. We couldn't have gotten in done before the winter weather set in without the help of our parents! It's so nice to be able to stand back and say "we did that!"

 Our new and improved master bedroom! We will be putting in a patio outside and adding some plants.

 I don't think there is a project this guy can't do. I can't begin to calculate the enormous amount of money we've saved over the years because my husband knows how to do things himself.

 It's so much more relaxing to look at our house now. And green is supposed to be a relaxing color, but apparently not the shade ours was before! You can see the remnants of some of the old green siding. It will not be greatly missed ;) I'm excited to do some sprucing up in the way of the yard next spring.

And maybe change out my blue cattle feed buckets for something...less bright.