What we did during the break

Luke was off work during the Christmas break and we had fun spending extra time with him. The day after Christmas we took the kids to family day at Dungeons and Drafts. There were several families and kids there to play one of our favorite games, "Ultimate Werewolf." 

 The kids were so excited to have their own special drinks

 We also spent three nights watching Episodes 4, 5 & 6 of Star Wars.

 And then we took the kids to see the new Star Wars with their friends at the new theater by our house.

 Another day we met up with one of Jack's best friends to see the Chipmunks movie.

 Jack was so happy to see his friend again since they no longer go to the same school.

Jack also asked to see another old friend who left his school. So we set up a bowling playdate and the boys had a blast together. So fun to get together with old friends. 

 We spent lots of time kissing this little kissy face

We also started sleep training both girls. Lily has been sneaking into our bed every night since Josie was born and it is now becoming a nuisance. She kicks me and Luke all night long. So Luke has moved into Jack & Lily's room for the time being to try to get Lily to sleep in her own bed. And in the meantime I am working on getting Josie to sleep in her own bed (she wakes me up an average of 20 times each night!). It is going as good as can be expected. Here is Josie cuddling with her little seahorse.

In order to make the sleep training work, Luke is now sleeping in Jack's bed, while Jack is on a mattress on the floor and we moved Lily's bed close to Jack's bed so Luke could hold her hand when she gets up at night. For a few nights, Lily crept into Jack's bed with Luke. Jack was not happy about Lily being in his bed and he wrote her this note

"Lily if you touch my bed and my special stuff I will
punch you in the face ok."

I can only hope that they will eventually be friends as adults and the memories of how they terrorized each other will fade.... unless they find this blog.


I guess this is why the third baby gets "babied." I never appreciated babies who can't talk so much as I do now. Besides the fact that she wakes up an average of 20 times a night, Josie can't talk yet and she is just so sweet. She loves to take showers with me and even after I shower I can get ready while she stays in the shower for as long as I let her. This is her "What?" face.

The Budweiser Brewery had a couple weeks were they held the "Brewery Lights" event. We didn't know what to expect so we invited my parents and headed to check it out. It was the most crowded event I have been to in a long time. It turned out that everyone gets a wristband for free beers (about two) and a buffet ticket for $10 where you can load up as much food as you can carry (you can't go back for seconds). So it was a good deal, but the crowds were unbelievable.

Outside they had some things set up for the kids but it was below freezing so we couldn't be outside very long

This is a tree maze. 

After we ate we headed outside to do s'mores, but it was so cold that we didn't last very long.

We also spent our weekends watching the Broncos games. 

And we started a Pandemic Legacy game with our friends. A Legacy game is one where you play over several months and each time you play the game changes. We open up these boxes each time we play and it changes certain things in the game. It is pretty fun

Pandemic is a fun game, but it is really tough to beat.

We also had a fondue night with some leftover cheese from the fondue party.

And just like that the break was over and back to our normal schedules...

Christmas

For Christmas Eve we went to our church for a candlelight service. 

 Later that night, Luke and I set to work wrapping all the presents. Took much longer than anticipated since Josie kept trying to get in the way.

 Christmas morning was great! Santa left lots of fun gifts and even a scavenger hunt to their big gifts. Jack got the new Skylanders and Lily got nail polish. Luke and I both got new running watches.

 Later that day Santa even came for a visit. The kids were skeptical and kept asking Santa why he sounded like Papi. And then there was the time when Santa's pants fell down...

 But the kids loved it nonetheless

 Except for Josie... she doesn't like men with beards.

 Christmas evening Luke prepared a raclette meal

 Our yearly tradition that I always look forward to.

Meanwhile the kids settled in with their presents. Here is Lily wearing her new gymnastics uniform (Nani & Papi got her gymnastics lessons), while playing her new cupcake game with her new creepy doll head. Christmas bliss right here!

And Josie was content with a box and markers. 

 
All the fun tuckered her out and she fell asleep right as we started to eat dinner.

It was a perfect Christmas. Soaking up all these Christmas memories while they are still so little. 

December Happenings

I love the month of December! There is always so much to do and so many fun things happening. At Jack's school they had a gingerbread man drawing contest. Below is Jack's gingerbread man, notice the strategically placed acorn. I almost died laughing when I asked him to explain. 

Josie loves to color, just like her sister. You can almost always find them with paper and crayons. 

I had to hide all the markers though because Josie loves to suck on them.

And decorate herself

Josie is as cute as ever. I just can't get enough of her sweet little face

 My dad came over to visit while my mom was traveling.

 Josie loves to mop and sweep the floors. Every time I grab the broom she cries until I give it to her.

Here are the kids on the roller coaster ride at the bowling alley.

Our elf also came back and he brought his girlfriend Snowflake. The kids always have to behave very well in December since the elves are always watching them :) You can see Nicky and Snowflake in the background.

I put my little slaves to work opening hundreds of kisses for the Christmas gifts we made

They also spent lots of time crafting Christmas pictures

And dancing to Christmas music:

 And here is a little Christmas present running around

 The kids had so much fun playing with this tent. Hours of fun with two kids, lots of stuffed animals and a tent

We got a large snowstorm. So much snow!

 I don't like being cold, so Josie and I stayed inside while the kids went out to play

 They had fun for the whole 10 minutes they lasted. It never fails that we spend more time getting their snow clothes on/off then they do playing in the snow.

And another pictures of the littlest doing what she does best... be cute!

Mr & Mrs Claus also came to our gym and the kids got to sit with them. I love my gym, they have parents night out once a month where they take the kids for 3 hours so we can go out. This month we dropped the kids off and went out with our friends to downtown Ft. Collins. It was a great night, but I forgot to take any pictures. 

Jack's class had a party on their last day of school before the break. It pretty much included crafts and lots of sugar. They also played a fun game of building cup towers and then throwing marshmallows to try to knock down the other teams tower.


Marshmallow fight:

After the party Josie still had candy hidden away

And here are some more cute videos from December:

Lily loves to sing. Here is her rendition of "Hark the Herald Angels" 

And here is the time I peeked in Lily's room after her and Josie were being surprisingly quiet. Lily had made a tiny bed for Josie out of a box and was trying to get Josie to take a nap by singing to her. Lily is something special!

We also did the advent calendar leading up to Christmas. This was the first year Josie did one and it was more of a frustration for her because she didn't understand that you only get one chocolate a day. We kept the calendars on top of the fridge, but every time I went to the fridge she would cry for a chocolate. Here she is one morning crying for her chocolate: