Friday, January 11, 2013

Christmas Eve and Day

Because we didn't want to be sad about not going back to Utah for Christmas, we kept ourselves busy with lots of activities and parties with friends.  On Christmas Eve, we had the Parkers over for a quiet get together.  We ate some yummy food, read a book that my parents gave the kids about the symbols of Christmas, did the Nativity, and opened one present.




Weird exposure on this one.
Don't judge our camera skills.  We're still figuring the thing out.


Embarassing Fischer photos. 



 Go to sleep or he won't come!

 Christmas Morning.
Once again, don't judge.  I can take pictures while I'm recording, there just not the best quality, but I really wanted the video. 


Emory made this amazing pop-up card for Tessa. 

She also made this ornament for the whole family at school. 



Stopping to play with some legos. 



 Fischer's favorite part of Christmas. 

Bow tie and new toy. 

Guess who's finally starting piano lessons?

Enough books for a lifetime, so she said.  Already more than halfway through the series, and I'm not even surprised. 

He needed a really close look at his new cars. 

Cinnamon Rolls. 


Family Picture. 





Christmas Day was so relaxing, except for the fact that my throat was on fire.  Bummer.
I loved that we were able to stop and open the present that was just unwrapped and look at it and play with it.  We all got lots of fun and useful stuff!

The day after Christmas some of my family came to visit.



Grandma Chris made some amazing dress-ups. Merida from Brave for Emory and Tiana from Princess and the Frog for Tessa.





I love how much my kids adore my brothers and sisters!  This was an impromptu dress-up, escapade with damsels tied up with flatiron cords, pirates and scarfed dog spies.


Breaking in the new bike.

Not a trip with the Christiansens unless someone gets barfed on.

We will never get over our view.  This was a beautiful sunrise over the break.

Aebleskivers.


These bells brought Fischer so much joy!  He couldn't even sit at the table without craning his neck to see them.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The days leading up to Christmas...

We had a fun-filled month of December.  Everyone got to chose a couple of things that they wanted to do during our 3 WEEK WINTER BREAK!



Fondue night.  I heard Tessa telling my brother, "When we're good we get to Fondue, when we're bad, we Fon-don't."


The boy that was sick the whole of December.



We had a friend over for ribs one night, and I thought I'd made plenty.  Clearly not, because Emory proceeded to clean all of the ribs we'd already eaten.  In her own words, she's a Meat-a-tarian.


Once upon a time I got sweet-talked into participating a Synchronized Swimming Skit for the Ward Christmas Party.  
The End.





We saw Santa at the Party.  We're 3 for 3 on our babies liking Santa.  Fischer just sat there, stroking his beard and staring at him.  I'm not sure if I should be proud or worried about that?

We also had a few snow flurries in December, but sadly, nothing stuck.


Tessa had a Winter Dance recital, and showed off her amazing moves.  Well, the moves actually scare the crap out of me.  No five year old should be able to move their hips like that!




Her poses kill me!




Besties!






She was overjoyed that I did her hair fancy and that I also let her put on a little make-up.



I was so proud that Emory decided to come to the Recital over a Birthday Party we were invited to.  I didn't even have to "help" her choose ;)



Tessa was so happy that her daddy took time out of his busy schedule to come.  He even brought her and her friend roses!


We also had a Friend Christmas Craft Day.  This was lots of fun!  We did an experiment to show how Santa gets down the chimney, but didn't get any pictures unfortunately.







Sunday before Christmas.  My mom made these dresses for the girls.  I'm so lucky that I can say, "I really like {these} dresses from {this} place," and she says, "Oh, I could make those."  Love my mom!