Christmas Time

We celebrated Christmas a bit differently this year. Instead of going to one of our parent's house on Christmas, we decided to stay at our own home and start finding our own family traditions. We did get to celebrate with our families, however, just at different times. We started out by celebrating Christmas with Granny and Papa a couple weeks before Christmas, when they came up for a Sunday service. Then, the week before Christmas, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Christmas with them. On Christmas Eve, we went to an intimate little service at church, and then got to relax and hang out here at home on Christmas. It was low key and low pressure, just right. For our Christmas dinner I let the crock pot do the work and made Cornish Game Hens with vegetables and a green bean casserole. I love green bean casserole. The french onions really make the dish. Here are some of our Christmas season photos, enjoy! Oh, thrown into the mix of all that was a talent show at church, so there is a picture from that as well.

Christmas sword fight

Christmas Hippie Fairy

Christmas Princess

Taking pictures with his new camera, mostly blurry and of his feet.:)

Christmas Prince

Matching Christmas Beauties. Cadence received this adorable shirt and tutu from Granny for her birthday. When I saw that Old Navy had the same outfit in Aria's size, I couldn't resist.

Christmas Pixie and Princess in training

The kids all wore their matching Christmas monkey p.j.'s to the church talent show. On the way over Cadence asked, "Is everyone going to wear their monkey p.j.'s?". I told her they didn't make them in adult size. Cadence and Finn loved running around the church and eating cookies. Everytime Brad would go up to MC, they would

follow him. They loved the attention...and the cookies. After eating lots of sugar and running around the church, they crashed as soon as they got home.

This is our friend, Dawn, playing the accordian, or "accordian piano" as Cadence calls it. Cadence got so excited when she saw Dawn up there playing. She started to clap for her even before she played.

Movie Time

Today was a momentous day...we took Cadence and Finn to their first movie at a theatre! It was a TON of fun! My mom, graciously, came up for the day and watched Aria while the rest of us went to the movie. Brad came home from work, after lunch, and the four of us headed off on our special movie date to see "Tangled". Cadence was super excited! I told her, a few days ago, that we were going to go see "Tangled" at the movie theatre and she asked about it every day until we went.

To prepare for this special treat, Cadence and I made a "Tangled Crown", just like the one Rapunzel wore in the movie. Cadence put on all the sparkles and wore her crown throughout the entire film. She looked just like a princess. She also brought her "Tangled" lip gloss and hair tie, which she got for Christmas.

Before heading into the theatre, we bought our "supplies". Cadence and Finn got gummy bears and a Sprite, I got pretzel m&m's, Brad and I split a diet coke, and we all shared some popcorn. Finn really enjoyed the popcorn.

There were a couple times during the movie when she got pretty excited and wanted to clap (after the first singing number and at the end) but no one else was clapping, so she held back. Very cute.

Both of the kids were great during the movie. Cadence sat and watched the whole thing, while Finn was a bit squirmier, but still did well for a 2 year old boy.:) This was the first movie Brad and I had been to since last January (we saw "Sherlock Holmes"...a great film). I don't know about him, but I had a great time! It was so fun taking the kids, especially Cadence because she was so excited. A nice afternoon at the movies!

Bad Eyes

Just when I thought things were going to settle down, after hosting the college Christmas party, all the kids got pink eye! Poor babies! Cadence's eye has been messed up for a week or so because of her black eye, so I didn't think anything of it. Finn, started getting red, kind of goopy eyes a couple days ago. Then, little Miss Aria woke up with a goopy eye after her afternoon nap yesterday. Plus, she and Finn had fevers. So, after dinner, we packed everyone up and headed to the doctor's office. We had to wait almost an hour to see the doctor, at bedtime. Uugh! The kids handled it better than Brad and I, thankfully. They were entertained by spinning on the doctor's swivel stool. From there, I headed next door to fill the prescription before the pharmacy closed while Brad and the kids waited in the car. It could have been a quick in and out thing, but the pharmacist kept talking on the phone. So frustrating. They are all looking better, though. Now, we just have to get Finn to stop waking up 3 or 4 times a night.

Here is Rocky BalCadence. She had a run-in with Finn's head a week ago. Finn came out of the incident unscathed. The checker at the store said she looked like a tough little girl. Not really. Her brother just has a hard head.

FinnDaddy

The other day, Finn put on Brad's hat and said he was daddy and that he was going to work. I said, "Where are your shoes?". So, he went and put on Brad's shoes. Then, he said that he needed his glasses to go to work. So, we took the glasses off his stuffed dog and put them on. Then, he went around to Cadence and I and gave us kisses before he "headed off to work". What a cute boy! He loves his daddy!

Christmas Party

Last night we had the college kids over for a Christmas party. Most of them had just finished up their finals, so they were ready to relax, eat some food and play some games. They are always such a nice group of people to have over. After everyone filled up their plates, they teamed up to play some Wii Sports. The evening ended with a few races of Mario Kart, then they were off to more parties (those party animals, I was ready for bed) and more studying (for one lucky girl, Erica, with a 7am chemistry final on Friday morning).

The Hemenway family gave us this beautiful poinsettia plant, via Erica. I've never received a poinsettia plant, I feel like such an adult.

So, our holiday fare consisted of a smorgasbord of delicious items. The great thing about baking, versus a full meal, is that you can make most of it ahead of time. Come, take a walk with me around our scrumptious table!

Here are some happy sugar cookie gingerbread men that Cadence and Finn helped me cut out. A few have smeared eyes from the clingwrap that was covering them. We also had Peanut Butter Blossom cookies, which are peanut butter cookies with a hershey kiss in the middle. Finn just wanted to eat the Hershey kiss. I had to stop him from taking cookies because he would just take one bite and then go and get another one.

Our beverages consisted of a holiday cranberry punch (the cranberries were just for decoration, not very tasty raw...as Brad discovered) and water. Isn't the water pretty with the lemons, limes and cranberries? I love how the cranberries float and add so much color!

This cute Christmas sleigh was holding all our papergoods for the evening. I actually received these festive cups and napkins as a white elephant gift from my mom's group just this week! How handy!

Next, we had an array of dips with crackers, chips and veggies. I love dip! It reminds me of the times we used to go to my aunt and uncle's for holidays and I would eat a ton of chips and ranch dip, because we didn't have that around our house very often. My favorite out of these dips, though, was the queso. Yum! I found these cool serving trays in a box of dishes I had from my Grandma Esther. I was so excited to have the room to put them out and a reason to use them! Before filling the dip bowls, Finn enjoyed putting his toys in them and spinning them around like a Merry-go-Round.

Here is the cherry Cheesecake I made, I didn't try it, but it looked good. I also made a key lime pie, which I didn't try either. Brad is baffeled by my ability to make food and not eat it. I was planning to have some cheesecake the next day, but then we gave the leftovers to the college kids because they were having a "Pipes and Poetry" get-together later that evening. Sounds very "Dead Poet's Society"-ish, doesn't it? Other items you can see in the backgrounds of pictures are pumpkin brownies, rice krispie treats and white chocolate popcorn with dried cranberries. I was able to get the college kids to take most of the leftovers, so that was good for my waistline. We will probably bring the rest of the desserts to our church talent show on Sunday night.

Bunnies and Benches

The other day, Cadence, Finn and I went to Build-a-Bear, in Loveland. Kelli and Bryan gave Cadence a gift certificate there. Brad stayed home with sleeping Aria. Cadence wanted to share her gift certificate with Finn so that he wouldn't be sad. The whole process was pretty fun! I'd love to take the kids there again, sometime.

Cadence made this bunny and named her "Ballerina". Her tummy makes a magical wand sound. She is very soft and has sparkley pink ears that made Aria laugh when we shook them in her face.

Finn made a dog, named "Dog", which I think resembles Brad. What do you think? Finn didn't want his dog to have any clothes, or p.j.'s as he likes to call all clothes. The main thing he wanted for his dog were the glasses. He barks when you press his hand.

This week, we also got this new breakfast nook for our kitchen. Brad and I put it together last night and I love it! We had a little island with stools there before, but I think this makes better use of the space and doesn't take up much more room. We ate dinner there tonight and it felt cozier, in a good way, because we were closer together than we are at the dining room table. I can just wheel Aria's high chair in, next to the table, and she can throw food on the floor for an easy clean-up.:) Finn and Cadence like it too! Now, I want to make some bench cushions that match the curtains. I'll have to see if I can find that same fabric that Karen used for the curtains. Do you think that will be too matchy matchy?

So, if you come for a visit, we can sit in the breakfast nook and have a nice cup of tea.

Dolls

Cadence loves playing with her dolls. One day, she took all their clothes off, so I asked her why she did that. Her response was, "They can't wear their clothes when they go swimming." Duh! Of course! How could I be so stupid? She seems to end up with a new Barbie every time we return from Granny's house. How does that happen?

Here they all are watching t.v. She loves to line them up neatly, as well as, pair them up. It is so interesting to watch her personality emerge through the way she plays. Fascinating!

Tiny Dancer

Cadence performed in her dance recital last week. She was a great little performer! They danced to a Veggie Tales song and looked so cute. Finn and Aria were great Cadence supporters and were well behaved throughout the performance. The real treat was that Granny and Papa came up for the event! Finn enjoyed sitting on Papa's lap during the recital and those around us could probably tell because he kept laughing and talking. Afterwards, Bill and Karen were able to stay for a cup of coffee before heading back to Denver. It was such a nice evening and I wish the visit could have been longer.