Christmas pictures overload!

So here was our Christmas in pictures, minus all those wonderful shots I didn't think to take:

The girls with their mini-gingerbread houses. So proud.

All ready to come down the stairs to see those stockings!

 So happy with what Santa brought - Pez, toothbrushes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a box of sugar cereal. What more could a kid ask for?

 While we waited for Baby G to wake up, everyone sampled their dream cereals that their stingy, nutrition-loving mom would never buy.

 Not a moment too soon, she woke up. Ready for presents!

 M and J opening present from Grammy and Papa.

 Buddy studying his new dinosaur. Who looks more excited about it?

 And who looks like they know how to get it out of it's packaging better?

 Baby G was totally content with her toothbrush. Why did we buy anything else?

 M and J in their new jackets that are actually warm enough for North Dakota. Now I won't worry about them when they're out at recess and it's 5 freaking degrees! Okay, so I still might, but at least it'll be less founded.

 M and J's presents from Mom and Dad that they picked out at a recent art show. They fell in love with these prints and decided they wanted them more than any other present, even though they wouldn't get a surprise from us. Hard for me to turn down interest in art! At least I wrapped them, but they knew what they were before they'd even sat down to open them.

 Dude got his own drill! He's so adorable with it. Love how much he loves it.

 Baby G examining her xylophone. I like the dainty way she plays with it. It's much quieter than when her older brother takes his turn!

 My men in their new hats from Peru. How handsome!

 And this is quite the outfit. Nana's new scarf, Ninnie's new headband, and Nana's sequined shirt. Wow.

 M LOVES the dress-ups from Nana and Bopa! And surprisingly, she has worn the knight one the most. Turns out the girl likes swords. And she can give one serious warrior face.

 After all the excitement and a bit of clean-up (okay, a lot of clean-up), everybody curled up to watch Brave. Dude hardly moved the whole time, except at one intense point when he put a hand on Papa's elbow. That's a beautiful movie! This was our first Christmas away from home, but thanks to Grammy and Papa's last-minute trip (SO SO SO happy they came!) and Skype, we actually enjoyed a very nice and relaxing holiday. 

And speaking of being happy they came, this is what the girlies taped to the door for them to see as soon as they came in!

Happy Hanukkah

So clearly I'm a little behind here, but before I post the most recent pictures, I needed to add these and a big thank you to Uncle Rick and Aunt Audrey for these awesome presents:

Baby G and the lion she "picked out" at the store for herself (she got so excited when I showed it to her so I decided it was a winner)

J so happy to get the #1 thing on her list: a brown shiny horse! I think she likes it.

And M with her #1 wish - a My Little Pony! Pretty sure she loves it too!

And little man had just been woke up from a nap so he wasn't too sure at first but a better mood and closer inspection have proved that these shoes are AWESOME! He tries to wear them everywhere, all the time now (I do have to insist on boots sometimes instead when he's going to be walking in the snow).

We also got some pretty great presents from Aunt Rosie and Uncle Keith. And Grandma and Grandpa Berne of course. Thank you so much! Miss you all and wish we'd been with you all to celebrate!

Rudolph buns

So for making a last minute decision to throw these together for the all-important day of their school Christmas parties and thus having to glue the pieces to bobby pins while J made lunches and M tried to find matching socks, I think they turned out all right (even if M doesn't really have enough hair to cover the sock!). I didn't get to shower but they were pretty pumped about them and that'll have to do instead :) .  Merry Christmas and enjoy winter break!

My baby

Baby G got her first baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa Berne for Hanukkah. I thought she'd like it, but she is in that constant motion/exploration stage where she never stays with one thing (other than food perhaps) for more than a few seconds, so I wasn't sure how much attention she'd give it. Surprisingly, she REALLY likes it. She also sprints (crawling of course) over to it when she sees it and tosses it around, sucks on it, giggles when it giggles...

and even gives it loves by laying her head down on top of it and snuggling.

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

I was trying to get a better shot of her doing it when she noticed the camera. Baby forgotten.

Hey! What's that mom? Let me get a little closer.

Come back! Where are you going?! I just want to nibble on it a bit!

(I fell over trying to keep it away, which she thought was hilarious)

Not to be forgotten, dude kept saying, "I want camera too mama! Camera of me!" So here's the little man, happily poking holes in the play dough. 

It's the can you find M game

Baby it's cold outside

 It's been snowing off and on since ... gosh I don't even remember when :) I think Saturday or something (you can only see bits of ground because it's also been crazy windy and there are drifts everywhere). Has snowed every other day and is still coming down tonight! I finally got myself a decent pair of gloves and took the kids out this afternoon to sled down our awesome backyard. During the summer as I thought about planting our garden, our slanted backyard irritated me a bit. But since we haven't got around to building a fence at the bottom yet, it makes for a perfect sledding hill! And I can check off my workout for the day, since I spent most of the hour just pulling dude's sled up and down the hill. Again and again and again. Wish I had more pictures of the action, but as I just mentioned, I was busy pulling a sled. Everyone had fun and everyone enjoyed the hot chocolate at the end!

Right on target

Thank goodness for our good-natured girl! (The bruise had nothing to do with the nerf dart, which by the way was placed on her head. Not shot at her. Who do you think we are anyway?)

Cowboy/Cowgirl Day

Thank heavens Nana and Bopa had J and M all prepared to seriously rock Cowboy/Cowgirl Day at school. I mean, M's belt could use a belt buckle the size of her head, and they could both use (and would enjoy I might add) sparkles and bangles galore and a Rodeo Princess sash or something, but I'd say they looked pretty darn cute.

Pictures with Santa

So our church's Christmas party this year was a Saturday morning breakfast pajama party. The kids thought it was awesome! A party in jammies? How fun is that?! While waiting for our turn to go through the food line, we went to see the big man in red. Our little dude ran in the room, looking in the total wrong direction at a bunch of lights and decorations, and yelled, "I see SANTA!" I laughed, said, "Hey dude. That's Santa," and pointed his gaze in the right direction. He jumped at least half a foot and went from overjoyed to terrified in one second flat as he backed up with his arms out to defend himself.  This was the best we could do at getting him in a picture (and yes, he is wearing cowboy boots over his pajamas. Why?). When Santa offered him his bag of goodies, Dude (from about 10 feet away) bent over at the waist and reached out his arms like, "just throw it to me. I ain't getting any closer than this." Well, it is an improvement from last year when he screamed and cried at the top of his lungs. This is kind of a funny thing we put our kids through yearly, isn't it?

Baby G didn't have any real problem with the set up. She was a bit confused, but just kinda went with it. Love that girl.

M and J were pretty pumped and ready with their smiles and lists of wishes. Now I just wish their lists would stop changing. They keep coming up with new things that they want more than what they'd said before, and let's just say the elves have finished their orders!

Funny guy

Just had to add this random pic of our little man with some awesome post-nap hair doing his favorite thing to do - color with markers. He gets really into it. Couple of funny things he says or has said lately:

"ROOOOAAAAAR! Whoa! Big dinosaur" (He says this frequently when just walking around and acts like his own roar startles himself).

"Mama, hold you! Hold you!"

"It's otay sweetheart (to baby G)."

"Hi J. Hi M. I happy to see you!"

"I Mama big helper!"

Also, just read Isaac a book that has pictures of kids dressed as farm animals and says things like "the funny cow says moo." He usually loves this book, but this time was saying, "No!" and then something I couldn't understand and getting kinda frustrated when I replied, "no silly, that's a cow," or whatever animal was on that page. On the last page of the book I finally got it. He was saying, "No! A kid!" Can't fool him. That's no real cow.

Our awesome visitors

We had so much fun having my parents here! The kids were seriously in seventh heaven with somebody always available to pay them undivided attention! Here they are all dressed up and ready to go to church Sunday morning. It was sure nice for me to have help getting them ready (Coop's nearly always gone at meetings before church).

I think we filled their trip about as full as we could. Bopa took the kids on bike rides when the weather permitted, and played outside with dude even if the weather didn't. We swam at the community center, did lots of puzzles, read piles of books, went to a restaurant, got Christmas decorations up, did all the Christmas shopping, and as mentioned before, ate ridiculous amounts of good food. But sadly, Monday morning came way too fast. Nana and Bopa brought the girls to school, helped clean, and played with the littles until they had to go. 

(Who needs a bat anyway? A broom give you a much greater chance of actually hitting the ball. As does using a larger ball!)

We miss them so much!