Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

For those of you in the know (or anyone who has a calendar) you will know how behind I am yet again on this blog, but since it snowed here again this weekend (Hello? It's almost April!!!) I figure I will be in the right mindset to catch up on our winter happenings. It's probably not going to be profound, or creative or maybe interesting since I am just going to go but you have been warned if you, so here we go:

Braelyn had her first dance recital! They had lots of different classes performing so it was a huge auditorium that was packed with people, but she got right up there and did her thing. She was one of the oldest in the class so she memorized the routine a little better than the others and she didn't miss a beat. It was lots of fun to show Kevin what they had been working on, and we were so excited to see her up on the big stage. Berkley had been doing a Mommy and Me class, which thankfully for me, did not include a performance in front of others, but she was a little sad when she didn't get to perform. We took a break from classes this spring and just get our groove on in the kitchen while we make dinner.


After that we got into December and celebrating CHRISTMAS! I really love this time of year and get very caught up in the spirit of the season and all the fun that comes with sharing the magic of it with my little ones.
Braelyn had a Christmas program for preschool where we got to hear her sing some Christmas songs and then they got a special visit from Santa. Braelyn has wonderful preschool teachers and they do a great job with the kids.

We got lots of snow here at our house and after missing that last year, the girls were so excited for it. Neither Kevin nor I love to be cold so we put off getting outside, but after work one day Kevin got outside to build a HUGE snow man with them. Braelyn even tried to jump on the trampoline but since we didn't have snow boots she just had galoshes on and they were kind of slippery. All I had to wear were my tennis shoes that I covered with grocery sacks to keep the water out. Good thing the girls were ready to get back inside pretty quick. Next year we may have to invest in some real snow clothes.

On the 12 days of Christmas we have Santa's elves come visit our house and leave little gifts or activities for our family. This is a tradition I have had since I was little and this year we had some fun things to do.
We built a gingerbread house. (This was way too much for my nerves, between wanting to control how everything looked, it was unbearably sticky and kind of difficult to keep put together. Not my favorite activity but they sure liked eating it after.)

The girls painted Christmas sun-catchers. They absolutely loved doing this and I was surprised at how deliberate they were in making sure everything was the right color and looked just right. They enjoyed it so much that the next day I found them washing them off in their water cups just so they could do it again.

They got the electric toothbrushes that they had been wanting for months. It made teeth brushing pretty exciting for awhile, but Braelyn said it tickled her teeth and would giggle the entire time she was brushing.

We drove around to look at Christmas lights. We did a lot of driving and did not see very many lights, I guess we didn't hit the right neighborhoods. We had gone to see the big light show at the Horse park when my parents were here and the girls really enjoyed that. Here they got themselves ready to go, and for some reason that meant headbands.

On Christmas Eve we went bowling. It was a fun to way to spend the night before we came home and did the nativity story. Braelyn really enjoys acting that out and remembered being Mary from the year before so she was very excited to tell the story this year. We got Santa his cookies, but more importantly we prepared Rudolph's midnight snack which is a very big deal to Braelyn. She got him an apple, some carrots a cookie and some special reindeer treats (glitter and oatmeal) and she carefully made sure it was just inside the door so that he could easily lean inside and eat it. After that it was off to bed and I was very pleased that I even got to bed before 10:00 pm!

Christmas morning is nothing less than perfect when you get to experience it through your kids eyes. We woke up early and we had told Braelyn not to go into to the living room, but to come get us when she woke up so she walked down the entire hallway with her eyes closed. The girls were so excited for each gift and we spent a quiet day with each other enjoying playing and being together.

Well now we can get onto 2011!