.:Polar Express:.

I don’t even know where to begin with the Christmas posts! We were in Oregon for a week and a half and crammed so much fun into those ten days, it’s going to take awhile to get through it! We were absolutely spoiled by my parents and each other, and had such a wonderful time together. We don’t live by many cousins, so it was fun for them to all be together and get to know each other!

My parents kicked off the Christmas festivities with the maiden ride of the first Polar Express! Each kid was able to earn tickets throughout December so that they could spend them at the Polar Express store at Christmas. My dad dressed up as the conductor, each kid got a golden Polar Express ticket punched, my mom passed out Santa hats, and they took a (very carefully monitored) ride in a decorated trailer pulled by the four wheeler.

Once the kiddos got back to the house, my parents had a Polar Express store set up, a Christmas tree with their bell necklaces on it, gifts, and sugar cookies and hot chocolate. (There may have been some dancing mommies serving the cocoa during the hot chocolate song!)

After watching some of the movie and enjoying the treats, there was a present for each grandlittle to open: tablets! Yeah, totally spoiled! What an awesome gift!

And as if that wasn’t enough, next it was time for some shopping at the Polar Express store, which was stocked with boy and girl goodies alike!

I don’t know how my parents are ever going to top this one; it’s going to go down in the books as one of the best Christmases ever!

.:December Fun:.

December was full of lots of fun activities with family and friends!

We had our friends over to our house to decorate sugar cones as Christmas trees and exchange gifts.

Reece and Remi’s final creations.

Next it was time for some gift giving. They were really feeling the love!

We love our friends!

We were lucky to celebrate Christmas early with Josh’s family. We headed out to Granstville on a Sunday, where Granny let the girls help bake…

and decorate gingerbread cookies.

Climbing monkey wasn’t happy to be stuck. (But she is still ridiculously cute!)

And of course, there was lots of present opening!

We were definitely spoiled!

And in true Rem fashion, she fell asleep when she got tired (and it never matters where she is; when it’s time to sleep, it’s time to sleep).

Josh works longer hours a few days a week, so I tried to find something fun for us girls to do in the evening. We made snowmen out of marshmallows and candy, and then ate them of course!

And more friend fun! We frosted sugar cookies with our pals Luke and Logan (though I somehow managed to not get a picture with Logan in it!)

After frosting and eating, Reece and Luke had fun playing dress up and being ‘rock and roll’. I think they look pretty hardcore.

We’re so blessed to have great friends and family nearby to share in the holiday festivities!

.:Girl’s Trip:.

Back in October, my mom treated all of us ladies to a girl’s weekend up in Sunriver.

No kids!

Well, one bitty baby, but we barely knew he was there aside from our cuddling time.

It was so fun to be together and just be able to relax and not have to worry about all of the day to day things that we normally have on our plates. We spent time biking, going out to eat, crafting, and seeing Pitch Perfect (twice!)

Dinner in the village with a very friendly restaurant owner. She loved us!

Sisters….sisters…never were there such devoted sisters.

About to get Pitch slapped!

We actually went back a couple days later to see the movie again, and the guy in the concessions stand recognized us and remembered our order. Talk about customer service!

My dad was also tagging along. He opted out of all of our crafting, but he did enjoy some meals and movies with us. It was nice for me to be able to see him since I don’t get to very often!

It was a wonderful weekend, and it was so nice of Josh to be okay with me going – he and his mom and sister stepped in to help with the kiddos so I could have some ‘me’ time. I even came home to a clean house and clean laundry. Score!

I’m pretty sure this needs to be an annual tradition, yes? Where shall we go next year ladies?

.:First Snow:.

We had a pretty big snow storm about a week and a half ago, and this was the first year our kids were really interested in going outside to play in it.

Obviously I couldn’t leave Harper inside alone, so she and I bundled up and hung out in the garage while Reece and Remi played.

Reece and Remi had the greatest time playing in the snow! They were running, crawling, laying in it – they couldn’t get enough!

Winter will be fun this year with them!

.:Harper’s Birthday:.

We started off Harper’s birthday with some tasty purple pancakes! Of course, she could care less if her pancakes were purple, but at least we know we put some effort into it, right?

What’s next Mom?

The day wasn’t really anything all that spectacular. In fact, I celebrated Harper’s birthday by leaving my wallet at Wal-Mart and having to go back in a panic (luckily it had been turned in, whew!) But she sure looked adorable while we were out running errands that day.

Even if she was a little crabby.

We waited until Josh got home for Harper to open a couple of presents. I think they were a hit with all of the girls!

We had Harper’s party this past weekend. I wanted to keep it really low key, so we just did simple decorations, had a few desserts, and opened presents. Nothing fancy, but it was just the perfect amount of time.

Her invitation was a ‘wild thing’ theme, and the best decorations for that was zebra, so that was what I went with. My sister in law designed her birthday invitation.

We let everyone eat, and then opened a few presents.

And then it was cupcake time. Harper LOVED her cupcake! She was licking her fingers, licking her arms, just doing anything to make sure that she didn’t let any go to waste. It was awesome!

Yum!

Two videos for your viewing pleasure. She sure makes it look good!

We appreciate everyone who came to celebrate with us. We have such great family and friends!