Christmas 2014

What a whirlwind holiday season this has been!!  We have been going nonstop for over a week and a half now.   Tomorrow is my first day with nothing planned, I am very excited to finally get to relax.

Here are a few of our highlights from our family Christmas.


Leaving cookies and milk for santa and carrots for his reindeer.

Opening stockings on Christmas morning.

Opening Christmas gifts from mom and dad.

Olivia's favorite gift was her dress up set.  Complete with tutu's, earrings, nail polish and lip stick.

Finn's favorite gift was his fire truck

Next we were off to Gramma and Papa's house to open gifts and have a visit from Santa.

Olivia was too scared to sit on Santa's lap.  Odd since she sat on his lap a month earlier.

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed spending some time with our family.  Now it is time to relax and enjoy the new toys.

Olivia's 4th Birthday

Olivia's fourth birthday was pretty mellow.  Don't worry cake lovers, we will be having a joint Frozen birthday party with Emmie in January.

Her morning started off with a donut breakfast at Gramma and Papa's house with Emmie.

After Dad came home from work we opened presents, we even Skyped with Grandma Judy.

The excitement when she realizes she got Elsa for her birthday.

Pure joy

Finn on the other hand, he was pretty upset that he didn't get to open any presents.  He even tried to unwrap the gifts that were under the tree for Christmas.  Poor little guy!

Olivia's birthday was then capped off with dinner.  I told her she could have whatever she wanted and she told me she wanted to go to a restaurant.  So we let her choose that too.  We headed up to Texas Roadhouse.  I think her dad might have influenced that decision.

Olivia's main goal there was to get the staff to sing to her.  That they did, but she was too scared to sit in the birthday saddle for them.

Slave Labor

Woo doggie...the kids "help" with chores now!

And yes, Finn is wearing a wife beater!  His future wife will thank me for his sense of fashion.

Happy 4th Birthday Miss Olivia Marie

Little Miss Olivia  has turned 4!!!

Olivia at 4:

* You weigh 42 lbs (90th percentile)

* You are 41 inches tall (80th percentile)

* You are a great eater, loving pretty much anything I put in front of you.  Some of your favorites are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, macaroni, and green beans.

* You still aren't sold on going to school (daycare).  You tell us that you rather stay home with Mommy but you come home with great stories about all of your friends when you do go to school.

* You know all of your letters and numbers.  You are still trying to master writing your name but you get better every day.

* Your favorite colors are pink and purple.

*  You are obsessed with the movie Frozen.  You know all of the songs by heart and will sing and dance to them any chance you get.

*  You are a very sweet little girl who loves her babies.  You are a great momma to them making sure they are bathed, fed and happy every day.

*  You are in ballet class and love it.  You are very disciplined.  You listen to the teacher very well and follow all of her directions.  You loved that Gramma and Papa came to your recital.  You told me that they would be amazed and they sure were.

*  You have a very sweet heart, you make sure everyone is happy at all times and will love on them if they are sad.

*  You are a princess at heart.  You want to wear dresses at all times, usually with your crown, rings and earrings too.  You love to have your fingernails and toenails painted too.  I think Dad might be in for it in about 10 years.

*  You are incredibly strong willed and will test your boundaries every chance you get.

*  When you grow up you want to go to Characters College to become a Fairy

You are such a beautiful girl inside and out.  We love you to the moon and back.

Christmas Cookies

Christmas baking was a little more mellow this year.

Gramma and I thought it would be a good idea to let the grandkids decorate the cookies with frosting and sprinkles after we baked them.

Five minutes into the decorating the girls were done.  All they wanted to do was play together.

Finn stayed the longest at the table so he was able to taste test the most cookies.  It didn't show at all.

After all the kids left, Gramma and I were stuck decorating the rest.  Thanks kids!

The Monkey

Finn's in a big boy bed now.  The monkey finally figured out how to climb out of his crib.  Frankly, I am surprised it took him over two years!

How do they keep growing so fast.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad when we took the crib down.  I've had a baby sleeping in the hand made crib for four years now.

Scott is going to be building him a bed so right now his mattress is on the floor, which is probably a little safer for him.  

We let the boy pick out his own sheets, he of course choose dinosaurs and dump truck sheets.  Oye!

Build-A-Bear 2014

Gramma treated the grandkids to Build-A-Bear this week.

This is the second time the girls went there together.  I tried my hardest to find a picture from the first time two years ago, but tonight isn't my night for finding what I want.

I really had to try hard to get the kids away from the Frozen stuffed animals, but to my amazement it worked.  

Each of the kids picked out a reindeer.

Finn got to fill up his reindeer with stuffing, he thought that was pretty cool.  He didn't want to move his foot off the pedal.

Then the kids were able to pick their hearts, warm them up and make a wish before putting it in their animals.

Sorry for the picture, but Finn was over all of my staging!

Christmas Lights

Earlier this week we drove the kids around Bettendorf to see the Christmas lights.  There is nothing that I enjoy more than experiencing the Holiday season through their eyes.

We had heard of a house that had their Christmas lights timed to the Frozen sound track and knew instantly that this would be a hit with our children.

So we filled up their sippy cups with hot cocoa, put on our PJ's and away we went.

Okay, how could you not want to smooch those cheeks?

 Once we arrived at the Frozen house we had a bit of a wait before we could actually see the lights so we unbuckled the kids and let them roam the car.  Maybe a mistake but they had fun.

Needless to say, the kids really enjoyed their evening out.