new year's 2009

We had plans to go to a friends house with the kids to celebrate New Years tonight, but we've learned that plans don't always go as well - planned. Reese woke up today with a yucky nose. She sounds like she is getting a cold and I think her teeth are bothering her too. Plus, Chad thinks he is getting a bit of a cold as well, so we decided to cancel our plans and celebrate the New Year at home. We all got our cozy p.j.'s on, ordered a pizza, picked up some movies, drank hot chocolate and enjoyed being together. After all, it doesn't matter where I am, but who I am with. And I was able to be with all of my favorite people tonight!!!

Happy New Years to all! Cheers to 2010!

elmo live!

Chad and I took the girls along with Chad's parents to see Elmo Live! today. We didn't tell them where we were going until right before we left. They were super excited.

Reese loved the first part of it. ;) She was over it by intermission. But before that, she would point and say, "mo-mo". She thought Elmo should never leave the stage and would yell his name when he wasn't there.

The older girls loved it too.But it's hard to know whether they liked the show better or the cotton candy.

The show was cute and I know the girls enjoyed it.

movies

The girls had an early visit from Santa before Christmas and he delivered new Princess Tiana Barbies for the girls along with movie gift certificates to go see Disney's new Princess and the Frog movie. We didn't have a chance to get to the movie before Christmas, but it was probably a good thing because Santa brought them the Prince Naveen dolls. Of course the girls had to bring both when we went to see the movie. The girls enjoyed the movie. I thought it was cute. There were a couple of parts that were a bit scary for them. There were "spirits" that made the girls a bit uneasy, but they quickly forgot and were very happy at the end. Thanks Santa.

Birthday Party for Baby Jesus

To help the girls remember the real reason for Christmas we started a tradition of inviting anyone who can come on both sides of our family to come over Christmas night to help us celebrate a birthday for Baby Jesus. We have snacks and desserts. Then we play games - first up were carroms

and the Wii.

Next we stopped to sing happy birthday and blow out candles. (I forgot to get candles, but matches work just fine, right?)

I think someone just asked who wanted more cake? ;)

Reese thought the cake was tasty.

Looking at Daddy's cake. Ooohh.

Next up were a few more gifts that Nana forgot to bring the night before.

A Liv doll, now they really did get pretty much everything they put on their lists.

Lucky girls.

Next up was more games. First up, Apples to Apples.

Then we moved on to Catch Phrase.

Lots of fun and lots more laughs. Thanks family for helping us celebrate. We had a great time!!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning we got up and checked out our stockings to see what Santa had brought us. Then we waited for Mom and Dad B., and Chad's sister and family to come over for our annual Christmas brunch. We ate and then put Reese down for a quick nap while we cleaned up and visited. Then it was on to presents. The girls got lots more great gifts - toys, books, sheets, clothes, pajamas, build-a-bear clothes, and 2 castles.

When we were finished, Mawmaw asked the girls if there was anything on their list that they could think of that they didn't get. Presley said there was just 1 thing - a zhu zhu pet. When we were at the mall earlier this week Presley told Santa that is what she wanted, and Santa told her that they were really quick and they were hard to catch, but he would see if one of his elves could catch one for her. Mawmaw told Presley she found 1 more bag and she better go check and see who it was for...and sure enough in that bag was a zhu zhu pet for all the girls. They were beyond excited, even Reese. She had lots of fun playing with it after cousin Trenton showed her how to push the button to get it to move and talk.

After presents it was time for a cousin group picture. Then it was time for family to leave and Reese to go down for another nap. The girls helped me bake all afternoon getting ready for yet another family party Christmas night. We made spiced nuts, Oreo truffles, spinach and artichoke bake dip and a birthday cake for Jesus.