Christmas 2010

This year we spent Christmas in Nebraska and had a great time.  Annie and her family were there, so we got to meet her newest little girl Piper.  The girls had a blast playing with Paisley, and we had fun hanging out with Annie and David (and my parents, of course!)  Here are some pics from Christmas Eve.

My mom had made all the little girls matching pajamas, and they were adorable.  Here is grandma with her girls.

The girls were thrilled to see that they must've been good enough this year to get the scooters they asked for.

My mom got me this awesome picture below.  A lady in Lincoln takes pictures around town that resemble letters, so mom picked out the letters in our last name and framed it.  I love it.

We got to see my grandpa and his wife Rita on Christmas afternoon.  Here they are with (some of) their great-granddaughters.

It's funny how the Dollar Store gifts are usually the hit of the party.  We had more pictures with this nose/mustache set than we knew what to do with. 

What would Christmas be without a birthday cake for Jesus?

Jesus was sang to, then it was time to get messy!  A bath soon followed.  :)

Hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing, merry Christmas!

Dance Recital

The girls have been taking a little dance class at the Andover YMCA this year.  Let's just say it's not that strenuous, but they've enjoyed it.  This past Friday was their Christmas recital at the Andover High School auditorium, just down the road.  Here are the girls in their costumes at home before leaving:

Bri performed two songs (ballet and tap) and Emily did three songs (ballet, tap, and jazz.) I use these terms loosely because it was basically the teachers on the side of the stage doing the routine while the girls watched them and joined in when they could. Sometimes they would just stand there and stare and I'd wonder, What are you doing?  :)  Anyway, they did a good job, had fun, and it was fun for us to watch them. 

Here is a clip of each of them doing one of their songs:

 

We're Alive and Kicking. . .

Sorry for the delay, things have been a little crazy around here the past month!  I figured the best way to catch up would be in pictures.  For starters, we've already had tons of snow this year, starting with a big snowfall a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. 

Around that time, both our microwave and dishwasher died within days of each other.  Then Jer went on a 6-day golf trip to Palm Desert, and while he was gone, our fridge died.  Luckily his parents were here so between storing some food in their fridge and the rest in our garage (thank goodness the garage was the perfect fridge temp), we survived and got a new fridge about 5 days later, the day before I was hosting Thanksgiving dinner! 

Thanksgiving was great, and the day after we went to Rum River Tree Farm to pick out our Christmas tree.  The girls also got to see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

 
Even in the midst of craziness, we've made time for lots of fun Christmas activities like lots of baking, going on Christmas light drives, wrapping the girls' doors in wrapping paper, making a gingerbread house:

ice skating (with Santa -- not pictured),

and riding a little train at Maplewood Mall.

Last weekend we drove up to Moorhead to see our friends Mike and Em and meet their new little guy Sam.  What a cutie;  they are all doing great.  Here are the girls having fun in the snow with Lily. . .

while the guys were ice fishing.  The picture doesn't do them justice but they caught some monster crappies.  Yum!

Unfortunately we had to leave Moorhead the next morning because a blizzard had hit the Twin Cities.  We came home to over a foot of snow, and got about 18 inches altogether.  Here is Jer trying to snowblow the sidewalk -- kind of hard when the snow is higher than the snowblower.  Don (Jer's dad), I can't thank you enough for the snowblower you bought us many years ago -- what a lifesaver.  More for me since that makes for a very happy husband.

Also thanks to my wonderful sister Jessie who braved the weather to come babysit the girls during Jeremy's company Christmas party that night!

Is that some rosy cheeks or what!

P.S.  Oh yeah, if the dishwasher, microwave, and fridge dying wasn't bad enough, the heat in our van died on the way back from Moorhead in the blizzard.  But all is well now, God is good.  We are so blessed this Christmas and are excited to be a blessing to others.