MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Molly also LOVES baby dolls right now. She has been taking very good care of her little baby. She feeds her about 90 times a day. Just like a real mommy...

Papa gave Molly a matchbox car firestation. I thought this picture captured our little Moose just perfectly.

Grandma made the girls these darling nightgowns. She found the Fancy Nancy flannel, and she knew Ella would love it. She decided to make Molly some also, but wasn't sure what Molly liked. She finally settled on Cars flannel, because that is exactly what Molly loves. The beauty of being able to sew is that she could make it into a darling little nightgown, something we have yet to find in the stores! The girls love them.

The one thing that Molly asked for was a 'tv flat' (flat screen tv). I have no idea where that came from, but she was set on it. Needless to say, she did not receive a tv flat this year. She did, however, get Splatster, a game that allows you to 'paint' on the tv with this little controller. On the box is a big picture of a flat screen tv with a Splatster picture on it. As soon as Molly opened it she yelled out- "OH MY GOSH A TV FLAT!!" She has since dubbed the game 'tv flat'. I am just happy that she thinks she got what she asked for. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Before the living room looked like a tornado had hit.

Doing the happy candy dance.

The one thing Ella asked for for Christmas was a unicorn stuffed animal. This apparently, was the only one 'Santa' could find. But she was thrilled with it. She named it 'Love'.

Coming down the stairs Christmas morning.

Pretty in Pink. Did you know that most of the stores are sold out of their Christmas dresses by November?? I know now. Hence, we are in pink. But still cute.

Helping Daddy with his gingerbread house. In his effort to create a graham cracker mansion, I think he bit off more then he could chew, so he enlisted some good little workers to help him finish the job.

We had a wonderful whirlwind Christmas. I can't believe how fast it flew by. We were very blessed with a WARM Christmas. They had been predicting snow for weeks, which would have meant that Todd would have had to go to work. Luckily, the weather warmed up to where we just got rain. We spent most of the day with just our family, before going over to Todd's brother Dave's house for Christmas dinner. We had some good friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve, and that really helped to fill in the void of not being near family on the holidays. We missed all of you, and hope you had a wonderful holiday as well.

Happy Birthday Daddy-O!!

Todd turned the big 3-0 this week. Of course it didn't phase him in the least... maybe that's a girl thing? Or maybe its just me. Anyway, he was completely happy to do a small family thing. My neighbor was telling me that she took her husband skydiving for his 30th birthday, and was wondering what I was going to do for Todd. She was shocked that we were just staying in with the fam. We made pizzas and watched A Christmas Story (Todd's favorite Christmas movie. I never realized how inappropriate for children it is until I actually watched it with my children. Oh well.) and finished the night with chocolate cake. I love that he's a simple guy that is just as happy sitting at home with his family then going out and living it up on his birthday. I love that he works hard during the day and is happy to come home and help me out too. I love that he is a very selfless person who really just wants his girls to be happy. Happy birthday! We love you!!

Trip to the Woods

Our Thanksgiving dinner coming out of the oven. It was DE-lish.

The girlies enjoying their Thanksgiving feast. Well, the rolls at least. I think they might have braved a bite or two of jello, too.

Playing Tarzan. That was after they'd been with the daddies all day, so I'm not exactly sure how that whole thing started. They sure are cute though!

We went to this great little Christmas tree farm so they could pick out their tree. It was run by an older couple. She dressed up like Mrs. Claus and hung out in this little Christmas shed giving out cookies and hot cocoa. The highlight was this mechanical Santa that they had hooked up to a speaker thing so that someone could hide outside and make Santa talk to the kids. The got all the kids names and informed them all that they were on the nice list. Which was awesome for the kids at the time, but it sure has messed with our December bribery techniques. Every time we try to threaten Molly with the 'do you want to be on the naughty list' line, she says- "Santa already say me on the nice list, Mom. Remember?"

Also at the Christmas tree farm.

Our craft night. We had an awesome Christmas craft night last year, and we were excited to get to work again this year. I miss craft nights!! Anne is the best crafting buddy. And the banners turned out awesome.

We were able to go out to Hannibal, MO this year to spend Thanksgiving with our dear friends, the Woods. We had a wonderful time. The girls had a great time reuniting with their little friends, and spent the majority of the weekend playing 'Christmas'. Dinner was awesome. But the highlight of the trip (for me) was our Black Friday extravaganza. Shopping is a shared passion for Anne and I, so we spent the couple of weeks before the big day mapping out a plan of action. We headed out the door at 2:30am. We shopped our hearts out until lunch, during which we reviewed our receipts, and then spent the early part of the afternoon making returns. And then shopping some more. I think we did a good 14 hours. At which point we realized we actually do have a shopping limit. We ended the day seeing New Moon. It was so nice to have a whole day to ourselves. I think that was the longest that Todd has ever had the girls, and he was a good sport about it. The best part was spending serious quality time with Anne. We became friends so quickly when they moved to Columbus. Its not every day that you find a friend that shares so many of your same hobbies, and that you enjoy doing them all with. Thank you for the wonderful holiday. We miss you guys!!! The spare room is ready and waiting for you!!

You should've seen the other guy...

Last night the girls were rocking out to Christmas music, and when 'Run Run Rudolph' came on, things got a little out of control! I heard Molly start to cry and I hear her sister instantly say- "I don't know what happenend!!" Which we all know is code for- "I really do know what happened, but I'm pretty sure Mom will be mad if she knew, so I'm taking this one to the grave." It didn't look too bad last night. Just a little bump and bruise on the corner of her eye. When she came into my room this morning, her eye was almost completely swollen shut! I said- "Oh my goodness! You look like Rocky!!" Molly said- "Yeah. Did Rocky have a boo-boo?" I heard her inform her sister, rather proudly, when she finally woke up that- "I look like Rocky" As I write this she is doing flips off the couch. I guess she's working on the other one!