Christmas Update

First, let's start with Christmas eve. My family has a tradition of exchanging "pixie" gifts on Christmas Eve. This year my sister Eliza picked our name. Her husband built us this gorgeous mantle clock. He's pretty much amazing. Click here to see more amazing things he made for his family this year.
She also gave me this funny chocolate bar. It says "Marital Bliss Bar" and it shows 50% hers in pink and 50% his in black. That's my kind of bar.

We spent Christmas Eve at Doug's parents house with a yummy chinese dinner. After dinner and a few other festivities, we let the girls open their presents from Pajama Clause. I don't think matching jammies are ever going to get old for me. I love them!

Doug even got a new pair of jammy bottoms from Pajama Clause.

Now on to Christmas morning. Here's the presents just dying to be unwrapped.

The stockings were lined on our couch with care.

Lilly was pretty excited about what she found in her stocking.

Can you guess what it was?

The aftermath. Lilly insisted on opening all her gifts in the kitchen. It was so thoughtful of her to help spread the mess through the entire house. Sorry about the lovely shot of my backside. I was working on uploading books to Sophia's new Tag reader (complete life saver in the car! Possibly my favorite gift from santa (aside from the Chi and mandoline from Doug, I mean Santa)).

After yummy breakfast and gifts at Grandma Wilkins' and a quick stop at Grandma Ivins' for some delicious toffee, it was onto Grandma Miller's for some more gift opening (because we hadn't had enough for one day).

My mom gave Lilly this monkey as big as she is. She was a little unsure at first but she loves it.

Me and the girls singing songs before we all departed.

My friend Tiffany made this beautful thing for me. I love it! In case you can't see it, on the A it says "ask and ye shall receive", the S says "seek and ye shall find", and the K says "knock and it shall be opened unto you". I seriously love it. She's amazing!Last Sunday we went to Salem Pond to see the fun winter decorations we'd heard about. THis is not the greatest picture but all these things (except the nativity) are floating on the pond.

The lighted trees were gorgeous! I loved the reflection they made. So fun.

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Now it's off to Grandma Miller's to ring in a wild new year!

12 Days of Christmas - Sophia Style

It's quilted! and I love the job she did. Now I just need to get it to my mom's for her to do the binding. I mean to help me with the binding...
The kids sure had a fun time playing in the snow while I stayed cozy inside reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" - such a cute one. Read it if you haven't. Thanks for the White Christmas weatherman!

This picture cracked me up for some reason. You can't really tell but Lilly's cute little behind looks huge in her snowpants. Gave me a much needed laugh today.

Here's Sophia wishing you all a Merry Christmas in her own special way. It's about 2 minutes so don't listen unless you're desperate to hear her sing "The 12 Days of Christmas" from the top (starting with 12, not 1). My favorite is the "pinetridge in a pear tree".

Untitled from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

Finally, this also gave me a much needed laugh today. Sophia came up to me and said, "Mom! Listen to this." She then proceeded to do what you see below and then said "It's water in my belly". You may think it's gross or weird but I laughed so hard I cried. I don't know where she came up with that one. You have to listen really carefully but you can hear it. I love my girl.

Untitled from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

I'm still not sure I'd pay $10 for it

Even with a B1G1 deal, I'm still not sure I'd pay that much to catch Santa in the act. Kind of a fun idea though. Go here to see more about how to capture Santa in your own home.

Look what I did!

First off, happy birthday to my sweet husband last Tuesday! Here's hopin' 28 brings the best year yet! We celebrated by going to dinner sans children. We went to Gloria's Little Italy in Provo. It was okay. The service was a little...strange. Everything we asked about the waiter said was nasty or couldn't recommend. He even talked Doug out of a pizza by saying they took too long to cook. Really weird. What we did end up getting was okay and I'd say with was a little overpriced. Definitely will stick with La Dolce Vita when we're looking for some authentic Italian.

Now on to what I did. I cut Sophia's hair and it looks halfway decent. Sorry the picture isn't very good. It is a pretty cute cut if I do say so myself. I have been trying really hard to grow her hair out so that it can be long and I can do fun things with it. I looked at her the other day and because her bangs have grown out, I noticed her hair was too different lengths and not looking too good. I decided it was time for a cut and I think I like it better like this. We'll see if I decide to let it grow out again.
I also made this apron for Lilly. The straps are a little long but nothing I can't cut off. With my mom's help the ruffles turned out halfway decent too. It was pretty fun to make and hopefully she won't freak out anymore when she and Sophia paint and only Sophia has an apron.

This cracked me up yesterday. When my cutest nephew Josh was in town last him and Sophia loved to play "Lilly bugs us". I know I probably shouldn't have let them get away with it but Lilly thought it was great too. The made signs like this. I told Sophia she could play it as long as she knew she was only her pretending and that she really loves her sister. Anyway, I found this picture that Sophia drew yesterday. It made me laugh (am I a bad mom? - don't answer that). I especially loved Lilly's ponytails.

Here's your bonus for this post. Lately Lilly has looked like this constantly. Those are "crowns" on her head.

From the minute she wakes up she brings me this dress and has me put it on. She then says "I'm a princess... in a tower" (from Shrek the Muscial) over and over while she spins around. She truly is a beautiful princess.

Here's one more random for this post. I had a few of my old roomies and their families down for dinner last week. The kids always have a little too much fun together but we love when they wear each other out!

Lilly Sings

We finally replaced our camera so we can record video again! Hooray for finally being able to document Lilly's childhood (maybe we won't have to pay for as many years of therapy as we thought). Here's a few of her singing in the car yesterday.

Meet Bessie

The newest member of our family. After 6 years of marriage we finally have another vehicle! It's dark green and it's a wagon so it has a fold down seat in the back. It's old and cheap and has a million miles but we paid cash (Dave Ramsey would be so proud) so we're not out too much if it only lasts a year (which is all we need it to). Anyway, it actually has some great features like heated seats, power windows, sunroof, and all wheel drive so we're pleased. The girls like it too. Welcome Bessie.

Christmas Things

Here's a few of our latest and greatest Christmas activities in no particular order. Yesterday we had a great time at the Ivins Christmas party. We love a visit from Santa any day of the week. Sophia of course was nervous and hesitant about going up but I told her I'd carry her and stay by her. Once she got up there she sat in his lap, gave him a huge hug, and snuggled right into his beard. It was actually pretty cute and we were quite surprised (and impressed). I think Santa appreciated a hug for all his efforts too.
Here's Lilly with her new baby doll a.k.a. glowworm from Santa.

Doesn't it look just like her?

Sophia got some new Pet Shops that she was pretty excited about.

Lilly did pretty good with Santa. She was more excited about the gift than the man.

This is one of my sweet nieces that was attacked by an armoire a few days before. She looked a little beat up but we were happy to see her there and are so glad she's okay!

Grandpa Wilkins got to be Santa's helper elf Harvey. He did a pretty good job.

Sophia enthused about the party.

Lilly looking a little more enthused.

The night before we went to the lights with two of my brother's and their families. Lilly was completely exhausted by the time we got home.

We got their a little late and some of the lights had already been turned off. At least the reflecting pool was still going strong.

I don't remember this from year's past and thought it was gorgeous.

This one is for Doug's mom. (sorry about my face. It just looks that way sometimes).

Doug's does too. (JK)

All bundled up and getting ready to climb into the stroller.

Does this scene look familiar? ("Can't put my arms down") She really couldn't

We also decorated a gingerbread house last week. Those are some pretty happy gingerbread men. Great smiles.

Another view.Here's a close-up of Doug's gazerbeam gingerbread man and "tree" he created for the front yard.

I also took Sophia to see the Nutcracker last night at the high school. They did a really good job. I was quite impressed. She enjoyed it too. My favorite is still the bon bons that come out of the lady's skirt. They even had a the growing tree too. It was great!

Happy Birthday Beanie!

Before Doug's birthday comes and goes (Tuesday) I better hurry and write about Lilly's. She turned 2 on the 4th and we had a great day with her. A few days after we celebrated at Grandma Wilkins' with the rest of the December birthdays. She recently started doing a "treat walk" where the kids get to march around in a circle and land on a number and then if their number is chosen they get to pick a treat from the basket. The kids love it (so do the adults) and we always have a great time.
Here's Doug and Lilly waiting in anticipation to see if they're on the lucky number!

On her actual day she woke up to ballons, chocolate raisins and a few toys.

Sophia spent the whole week leading up to her birthday wrapping this gift for her. It was an old stuffed cat piled with bits and bits of paper. It's sort of her version of tissue paper in a bag. She seriously would lock herself in her room for hours and rip up paper to put in the bag. I love her attention to detail.

Opening presents with the bed head.

Happy Birthday Lilly!