December Week 1 (1-7)
These kiddos are so much fun to have around the house. While they drive me bonkers every now and then by getting into things they shouldn't or making HUGE messes all the time, they still are lots of fun. Some of their most random favorite activities around the house are: dressing up in Audree's accessories, playing (and making big messes) with their bean bin, and playing with the bubble machine. They especially love to pretend to eat the bubbles.
We decorated our Christmas tree this week. Always a fun time of year and the kids espeically enjoyed "helping" put the ornaments on. They usually put all of one color in the same general area or they'd pull them off to play with the "balls". We also have the tradition of getting ornaments for our kids and family every year. This year we had a hard time searching for those really expensive personalized resin ornaments simply because of how much they were. One day I had the idea to go out to Michael's to look for some ornaments and found some good ones for the whole family. As requested, Josh got his firetruck and Audree this really obnoxious looking circus giraffe. Too fun! I especially opening the box every year and looking back on what fun ornaments came from the previous years. Brings back lots of memories.
December Week 2 (8-14)
More shots of accesory dress up time with the kids. And Josh sportin' his good lookin' haircut (cut by me!). He hates having it cut, but is getting better about not screaming through the whole thing.
The gift idea that I had for my mom this year and I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out. I will always fondly remember our lovely trip that we took to Italy. It was unforgettable. Almost surreal looking back and thinking that we actually went there. My mom loves to drink tea and we drank tea together while in Italy, and specifically Peach Tea. So I grabbed a box of Peach tea and made this mug for her with the sharpie paint pen. Love it!
Our neanderthal Audree. Ha!
Here is what I did for all of the "grandparents". Josh's hand is the Santa and Audree's is the Christmas tree. Even though we can't afford to give our parents a lot for Christmas, I hope that simple gifts like these can give them joy and show them just how much we and the kids love them.
One of the funniest pictures of Audree. Decked out in her pink accessories, naked, chocolate all over her face from her chocolate chip cookie, but chewing on a car. This girl is so spunky and absolutely hilarious, and this picture sums up many of my days with her. Love having her around!
We finally rented the movie Turbo during this week to watch with the kids. Ever since watching it, Josh runs round and round the couch like he's racing fast to the finish line. Love it! And love his growing imagination.
December Week 3 (15-21)
My little scrounges eating the cookie dough off the paddle. Pretty much the best part of making cookies though, right?
We found these glasses of Audree's around the house and Josh insisted on wearing them on his car ride to church.
Yet another cheesy, naked Audree with a chocolate face from eating cookies. Love this girl to pieces!
Jake taught the kids a new trick while playing with our homemade flubber. Josh loved spinning it around to make a long snake. Flubber is one of the kids' favorite sensory activities that we have. I really should pull it out more often.
December Week 4 (22-28)
We took a trip down to Utah the weekend before Christmas. We stayed at The Parents (Hunts) place and the kids thoroughly enjoyed their time. They especially loved opening their Christmas gifts and all their time with doggie Kyle. For some reason Audree really enjoyed having doggie Kyle lick behind her ears. She would put her face down next to him and let him lick away. Too funny!
While in Utah we were able to visit this very special man, Great-Grandpa Hunt. He is always such a pleasant man to visit with and I'm truly grateful to call him my Grandpa. He's always been so loving, welcoming and inviting to me and my little family. Josh was especially excited to see Grandpa's clock and hear it DING loudly. Grandpa wound it up while we were there for the kids to see.
We were also able to have a lovely visit with my Dad and family. They spoiled the kids as usual and Josh and Audree loved playing with all their toys in their newly finished basement. I don't think I really saw either of them for awhile they had so much fun playing with their aunts and uncle.
Christmas Day
We got back from Utah just in time for our traditional Christmas Eve with pizza, opening a new movie and letting the kids open one gift. Jake and I especially enjoyed having Christmas with just our little family and getting the opportunity to be Santa for the kids. Always brings back such a fun Christmas spirit when you have kids. This is the kid's lot this year from Santa, us, and Jake's parents. Always fun to spoil your kids.
Our traditional Christmas morning pictures: on the stairs and in front of the tree. Audree was REALLY not happy about having to sit down to take pictures. The funny thing about our kids is that we had to go through with our normal morning routine (milk and a show) before they were awake and ready to start opening presents.
The kids also had so much to open that it took us hours to get through everything. They would open a present or two, want to go play with it, then eventually come upstairs and want to open more. Which is fine by me. Makes Christmas at home last all day, which I'm happy with making these kind of days last forever. It was so fun to see their faces and excitement as they'd open each gift. Audree was old enough this year to start catching on to the idea, which made it that much more fun.
Audree loved all the baby accessories that she got. She caught on right away and wanted to feed her babies. She is going to be a great big sister!
This turned out to be one of the kids' favorite toys that they got from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen. Love how simple magnetic building toys can provide so much entertainment.
Another definite favorite (a toy that we had to bring out later in the day so that the kids could focus on the other stuff) was this spring horse that they got from Grandma and Grandpa Hunt. We were surprised by how quickly both of them learned how to climb on and ride away. Funny thing about this gift though, is that the first thing that Josh asked for after we pulled it out for them was a hat to wear. He almost wouldn't ride the horse until he had his hat to wear. After my mom heard about this, she shipped up some cowboy hats for each of them. They love it! And ride it all the time. They especially love that it makes noise.
We spent Christmas evening setting up Christmas at Janell's and spending some time with her once she got off work. Audree and Josh love Janell and really love visiting her house to play. This time definitely wasn't any different. Not sure what we are going to do when we move and don't have Janell living just down the street. We've all enjoyed it.
We took advantage of spending as much fun time as we could with Jake while he had some time off for Christmas. One of the days on his vacation we took the kids bowling. It was the first time that they've both gone and they loved it! They loved seeing the ball "boing" against the bumpers and "crash" into the pins. When Audree caught on after a couple times, she'd yell "I did it!! every time the ball hit the pins. We also got a special treat afterwards of frozen yogurt, one of my faves and I'm sure one of the kids' favorites too. It was a lovely family night out.
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