Photos from Christmas 2008!!

We ate our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, and for being impromptu (did we not realize Christmas was coming??), it was very good!  We had ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, jello, and cranberries.  Then we got to have diced ham and scrambled eggs for brunch on Christmas Day!  Grandpa Rick came over to watch the girls open presents on Christmas Eve, and we had a great time!

First the girls wanted Grandpa to be an elephant, which didn’t last long at Mama’s urging.

Then they played spin Grandpa in the chair, which lasted a little bit longer since it was fun to take photos of them and they giggled a lot. 

Then came the presents!

A new Tinkerbell robe!

A new sweatsuit! Who knew it was so exciting?  LOL! 

Wearing the jacket…

Daddy’s new jammies! 

Now this set has a story behind it.  About a month ago, Jon found this Cinderella dress-up dress on clearance at Walmart when he was shopping with the girls.  He threw it underneath the cart with some other things on top of it and assumed Olivia didn’t see him sneakily purchase it.  Once they got home and were telling Mama about their trip, Olivia asked Daddy where the Cinderella dress was so she could show Mama.  Like has happened many other times, Daddy said, “Oh, we didn’t buy that today Livi.  We left it at the store.”

Total Heartbreak.

She was devastated.  Jon almost buckled and gave in–she was that sad.  She has asked about the dress at least once a week since then, and Jon and I took to telling her we would think about it and that Christmas was coming soon.  Fast forward to Christmas Eve…

Olivia opened the present and exclaimed, “The dress from the store! THANK YOU DADDY!” and ran to give him the most real, honest, appreciative hug she’s ever given. 

Did I mention it lights up?

Wait, can’t see it… 

And Norah’s favorite present of the night was a new little Dora set, with the “super babies.”

Mama’s turn!

This photo is the girls opening their presents from Grandpa John, but I put it in because my belly looks so huge, LOL!

Okay, the official opening Grandpa John’s presents photo:

New puzzles!  Handmade by Grandpa John himself!  Of course we had to do them right away. 

The finished products:

We also played two games of Gone Fishing (the game where the fish go around in a circle and open and close their mouths and you have to catch them using a fishing pole) and one of Chutes and Ladders.

Now this is Christmas morning, trying out some new presents.  Glitter glue pens! 

The giant canister of Play-Doh.  The four of us sat and played with that for a whole hour!!

Wearing our new Tinkerbell jammies and robes. 

Fast forward to tonight, the day after Christmas.  Stoeszes are staying with us, and went over to visit Grandma & Grandpa Rustad.  It was so amazingly warm that the girls, Jon, and I played outside on the deck for at least an hour!  It was 69 degrees when we came back in the house at 8:37pm!

Daddy danced with the girls and sang Disney songs.  Olivia was in heaven pretending to be a princess. 

The bows, while Norah dutifully applauded from the audience.

Norah’s turn 

But she fell over while trying to bow, LOL!

Learning to curtsy

Taking her turn being the audience

I am a princess!

Norah’s and Daddy’s curtsy.

My three!

Merry Christmas!!

We had heard on the news that Fayetteville has an amazing display of Christmas lights, so we decided to go check it out ourselves last night.  Luckily, Grandpa Rick had lent us his camera (to get some other photos onto our computer), because for once I didn’t think to bring mine!  Here we are:

I used the night setting on the camera, which will properly expose faces/people with a flash, but leaves the shutter open long enough to catch the prettiness of the Christmas lights.  It would look much better on a tripod, but alas, I don’t have one of those yet. 

I also have to apologize, as I did not get a photo of the razorback in lights.  Yes, a red hog made out of Christmas lights.  Go Hogs!  LOL!

Here is another photo Jon took yesterday–me at 32 weeks.  Feeling big and pregnant, that’s for sure.

And then, since we had Grandpa Rick’s camera, here are some old pictures we found on it.

Fun! 

My daughter is a genius.  Of course you all knew that. 

Yesterday afternoon Norah and Olivia were coloring at the table.  Norah called me over to see what she had drawn.  This is what she showed me:

Immediately I asked her, “Did you really draw that? Or did Livi draw it and you colored on it?”  I totally didn’t believe that she could have drawn that.  She insisted that she did, and that it was a picture of me, so I turned the notebook page and asked her to draw another person.  She drew this, while I watched:

The big one is Mama with earrings, and the little one is Norah.  Amazing!  I had no idea she could do that!!!  I came back later and she had drawn this:

Mama with a baby in her tummy.  She is only two and a half!!  Isn’t that incredible! 

We have this rule in our house that you can’t touch the Christmas pretties, or you go to time out.  The ornaments on our tree are 99% unbreakable (and yes, the 1% that wasn’t has already been broken) and almost all the other breakables are up high.  But one Christmas decoration has been the focus of the girls’ attention more than any other–the Nativity.  It just breaks Norah’s heart that she can’t hold baby Jesus, and Olivia wants to arrange the wise men and the shepherd.  We felt bad that they couldn’t experience the Christmas story hands-on, so Jon did some internet exploring and came up with a great solution:

Fisher-Price!

The best part was that it was 20% off!  (Sorry, sale ended Monday.)  It arrived via UPS today, and we set it up tonight after the girls went to bed.  Just in case you’re wondering, it was a lot of fun!  If you push the angel on top of the manger, the star lights up and “Away in a Manger” plays.    We can’t wait to see their reaction!  Jon is considering waking them up at 6:30 so he can see it too.  Here it is!

There are three separate sets included: the Nativity, the Inn, and the Wisemen.

The Wisemen, their tents, and their camels:

The multi-cultural wisemen:

The camels.  My favorites. 

The Inn:

The Innkeeper and his wife (and a chicken with one foot…):

The Inn.  Check out the sleeping loft and kitchen.  Wait, you don’t know what it is?  Just look at the sign–food and a bed, LOL!

A cow, donkey, and shepherd.  And some food.

Another shepherd, and his sheep, that are much bigger than he:

The Nativity!

See how the star lights up?

Tomorrow’s going to be just like Christmas around here!

…while I can still reach my toes, LOL!