Such a Wonderful Time of the Year...

This is going to be short because I need to finish a few things before our trip tomorrow! We are flying to South Dakota and will also spend some time in Colorado for a total of 10 days. Hattie has been talking about the trip non stop! I just hope the 2 + hour flight goes well...you never know what you will get with a one and two and a half year old!!

Here are some pictures over the last week. I swear those 3 weeks between Thanksgiving break and now FLEW by!!

This was at school. We were playing the famouse candy cane toss and Mr. Rogers stopped the game and went and put on the goggles. The kids thought it was pretty funny : )I guess he was tired of getting hit with those candy canes!

We opened presents at my parents house last night. THe girls had fun playing with the candy cane rug

Sara's mother in law Carmen came out too

I couldn't believe Hattie went and sat on Santa's lap all by herself!! What big girl!

then the cousins joined in

Hattie enjoying hot chocolate and a cookie at the Polar Express Party at my parent's subdivision last night. We even got to ride a train around the neighborhood to look at all the lights

Braedon loved the present from his auntie : )

Hattie eating cake after the polar express

today I took Hollyn in to the dr. for her one year check up. She is in the 50th percentile which makes her seem teeny tiny compared to Hattie who was always off the charts!! I was so glad I took her in because it turned out the little cough she had was from drainage that caused a double ear infection. I had NO idea because she hasn't been fussy at all! She is such a happy baby!!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!! We will post after our trip!

Thanksgiving and more...

I guess it's been a little while since I've done a blog....things have been pretty busy here!! Brent's parents came down for 6 days to spend Thanksgiving with us! Hattie and Hollyn didn't act like it had been 5 months since they have seen their Nana and Papa, they wanted to play as soon as they walked in the door. We think skyping probably helped ( even though all Hattie does is sing whenever we skype: ) We had a nice Thanksgiving over at my sister Kim's house with all of my family too. We aslo took the girls to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. After two years of hoping for a good picture with Santa, I finally realized it probably wasn't going to happen with a one and two year old...and that is fine! The girls actually did pretty good as long as Papa and I were right there with them. Hattie's face was priceless when she saw Santa. She told him that she wanted a castle. And as soon as we were far enough away, Hattie said she wanted to give Santa a big hug ( pretty brave far away). We also celebrated Brent's birthday, put up Christmas decorations, went Black Friday shopping, and then Brent and I went out for a date one night. We LOVE having Nana and Papa! And when it came time for them to leave it was pretty easy to say good-bye because we will be up there visiting in SD two weeks from tomorrow for a 10 day trip!!

this was picture day at school- too bad neither girl cooperated when it came time to taking pictures!! oh well..they looked cute!

They both insisted on sitting on Papa's lap

Hollyn LOVES dogs

Hattie helping Nana put the people on our quilt

why do we bother putting ornaments up?!

making delicious caramel apples

even Hollyn wanted to try

she loved Bass pro shop looking at all the animals

waiting to see Santa

Hattie coloring with her book from Auntie Tracy. We asked her how to say red in spanish and she said " r-e-d", Brent and I looked at eachtother like holy cow we didn't know that she knew that. I then asked her how to spell blue and she said " r-e-d". Our kid is a genius! : )

Thursday night my mom and I volunteered with our Church from Christmas in the Park...it was a beautiful night. I was at the craft booth and I was talking to a couple that had a little girl and found out they just moved here from South Dakota! How crazy! She was saying that so many people comment on her SD accent!! I know all about that!

reindeer

the firework show was awesome

On Wednesday I met with my teacher friends to do another painting...this time a Christmas painting! It was lots of fun!

Hollyn is ONE!!

We had a really nice birthday party on Saturday to celebrate Hollyn being one! It was a beautiful day where we could leave the doors open and let the kids go outside to play. Brent made his award winning chili ( he won his school chili cook off) and it was delicous! I think the birthday girl enjoyed her special day...she loved her way too many presents, loved her cake and was a pretty happy girl until it came time to putting on her birthday hat for a picture and then she wasn't having it ( the hat came off quickly!). Happy Birthday Hollyn! You are a very special little girl and we are thankful for you every day!

cute cake from Tom Thumb!

My friend Amy made those cute pom poms for her daughter's birthday party a few weeks ago...so I was excited when we got to use them too!

this was at the end of the night before bed time....she stayed up way past her 6:00 bed time! YAY!

can't even explain her : )

being silly

cool bath towel

Roberta and Hattie

Hattie and Ruthie

this is fun!Marina trying Hollyn's new slide

the kiddies

sharing some

she dug right in to her cake and enjoyed about 1/4 of it!!

The only part of her party she didn't like...wearing the hat!

Great Grandma Gloria sent Hollyn her first baby doll! She loves it!

Thanks Uncle Greg and Aunt Lisa for this cool rocking horse!!