The Holiday Spirit

Every year I think oh I should do some of those cheesy things that people do at Christmas like put lights on my house, decorate a gingerbread house, walk though a Christmas store (just for example). So this year I decided that even if I do just a few of those things I will feel more into the whole spirit of Christmas. So today Abby and I decorated a gingerbread house. Now before you get really impressed at what a great job we did, I have to admit that I did buy the kit which had all of the necessary items in it, because with Chris working today I just didn't know how I would have time to bake all the pieces, and besides for the price, it had everything already in one place.
So I put it together with some help from my assistant, and Abby did all the decorating, minus those pieces that she just had to eat (which is half of the fun of doing a house to begin with). The first time we got it together she had half of the roof decorated when the whole thing feel apart, so more glue aka frosting was needed to secure it in place. I think she did pretty good for her first house.
So here are a few other pictures of decorating that I put up to get the house ready for Christmas. The stockings which my mother has bought each time we add a new member to the house. Abby chose who got which stocking holder.

The Christmas tree, not a great picture here, but it was day time, and they always look better at night. If you look really close you will see that there are no ornaments on the bottom 1/3 of the tree, a preventative measure with a one year old running around. I didn't put a lot of decorations on because it seems to entice the young children to the tree, maybe next year I can put some more stuff on. When people come over and say, oh what a pretty tree did you help your mom decorate, Abby's reply is "no, mommy did it all by herself". This sounds mean, but I am a firm believer in I get a tree for all my decorations and the kids should get their own tree with all their home made stuff on it. I can't get Chris to give on this, so until then I will decorate my own tree, just the way I like it.

I hope to have some presents under it soon, it does look so bare.
Some fun decorations that I have acquired over the years from family and friends.
Some more decorations, the snowmen were stocking holders, but they don't fit on the mantel, so I thought this was a good place for them.
I am really enjoying!! the holidays this year, I think something about having little ones really makes it fun. Abby keeps talking about Santa coming soon, I just can't wait!!

Ice cream

Tonight Abby got to go pick out her special ice cream for going to bed on her own for 5 nights. She chose a yummy strawberry with M&M's from cold stone. I think I am ready for the next step in Abby bed control.

Up, up and away

Tori's new favorite sport is climbing on everything. She is way too good at this and by doing so she makes her self even taller. She will open drawers and pull everything last thing out. I have to make sure that the breakables are put away.

Breakfast with Santa

I put together a breakfast with Santa today for the Primary Children (with help of course). We only expected to use 1/2 of the gym, but ended up using all of the gym, it was great. There were a lot of people and more kids. Here is a group shot! We guessed that there were about 140 people there in all, it was a lot of fun and went off very well, all the kids got to visit Santa and get pictures and the picture frames kept them ocupied while they waited.

Chris and Abby working photo frames for the picture with Santa.
Tori with Santa
Abby with Santa








Oh right, she wouldn't go near him, so there is no picture


Lavon joyfully cleaning up (our fearless primary president).

My favorit things

Some of my favorit things are pulling out clothes that Abby wore (not to long ago) and putting Tori in them.

Here is one of my favorit outfits we bought a couple of years ago. It is amazing to me how different the girls. Can you tell who is Abby and who is Tori??

That is right, the really happy one is Tori, she loves the outfit, can't you tell?

Day 3 of bed enforcement

Well the first night was awful and last night I still sat and waited for her to go to bed for an hour. Of course she had to get up several times for water, the bathroom, and just to get up. However when I threatened that she couldn't have soda with dinner tonight, she never moved again, I guess that is her hot spot! So we are on to day 3 and I am sure something is wrong, because once she was in bed she never moved again. I can only hope that this lasts beyond tonight, we shall see.

The power of 2

As I write this blog, I sit in the doorway of Abby's room, yes it is really late and yes I would love to go to bed, but we are currently having a battle of wills (her will against the rest of the family). So here I sit and hope that soon she will be off to sleep. One day I am sure I will look back and laugh at just how stubborn she was and how she was determined not to got to bed, but that day is a ways off.
It is amazing the amount of will that a 2 year old will have so as not to resort going to bed. She can think of 10 things to do once she is there and then to keep her in bed, of that is tough. I am not sure where we went wrong, she used to go to bed all on her own, but alas, no more.
Last night Chris finished with her, and tonight I did. Each night involved much crying and screaming, I can only hope that tomorrow night will go better.