Christmas Day Fashion Show

I can post this one quickly, because it doesn't require too much explanation :) The kids enjoyed the big Christmas morning reveal of their time online shopping with Grandma J during her November visit. Everything fit pretty well--except for a pair of *French Toast* dress pants that Brennen was super excited to receive. I don't know where they came up with their sizes, but we could fit THREE Brennens in that pair of pants :) I'm sure they'll fit him by next year, though, so he said we could just store them in the closet. He's going to need to put on about 50 lbs. or REALLY cinch up the waist, goodness! :)




We gave Caelan the white top for her birthday, and it goes well with the blue skirt she selected for Christmas :) She also REALLY, REALLY wanted the flower dress from JustFab, so I ordered it for her for Christmas--it's not from Grandma, but it seemed to fit the fashion show theme of the post :) She's so happy about all the new fabrics in her world!




I think we decided Gabby needs petite tops--or longer arms :) The necklines and sleeves are just crazy on clothes in her range! Petite, methinks she is! She loves the gingerbread cookie shirt, by the way ;)




Brennen received some sweet new slippers, a really cool pair of shoes (and socks to go with), a new Broncos shirt--and the giant pants ;) "Maybe I'm a 14 instead of a 16 at Kohl's," he said. Or maybe a 10, lol!




This one has no problem striking a pose for photos--hey, maybe just stand there and smile :) "Okay, mom!" As you can see, he's expanded his football team support . . . perhaps because he can wear his initial on his chest like a superhero? :)



And finally, there's us! We are fashioning too--my friend Alisa texted me a photo and said, "Please buy these pajamas for Buck for Christmas." Deal! I actually got them for a great price, so . . . I got myself a matching pair. Mr. Buck and Lady Doe :) What you can't see in this picture is the boys playing laser tag down the hall--we were smiling in the midst of lasers and tactical maneuvers! Ha!


Well, I almost forgot Chauncey! He gets nuts when gifts are being opened. I told Buck I think he thinks we're going to open something that is going to officially replace him :) Not quite, dog. Thank goodness Graysen decided to get him a new chew toy for his stocking--this finally ended the constant whining and intense need to be in the very midst of the gift opening. As a reward for letting us open presents in peace, he got to open his gift from Grandma J . . . and he wore it like fashion ;) It matches him quite nicely! Actually, it is some comfort to lure him into his new dog house. Smart thinking, Grandma J! We'll see if it works (because he was almost banished there this morning :)

The Eve of Christmas

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! That's what the local road crews did ;) We awoke to quite the slippery, soupy mess out there--but our neighborhood is rarely at the top of the plowing list. The kids really wanted to go to the same Christmas Eve service as their friends and since most of my friends would be at that one too, I agreed ;) Buck had to leave early for work, and wouldn't have been home in time for any of the later afternoon services. I decided if we were going--we were going EARLY. Last year, we sat in the overflow room and it felt so isolated :/ This year, we arrived so early that we wondered if they'd canceled due to the snow! We found the snow-covered parking lot nearly empty, (but the greeter in the Santa suit heading to his post, so that was reassuring.) Our retired mailman greeted us at the doors--another clue we were on the right track! And then when we arrived downstairs, we found they'd relocated the coffee pots (no children's classes today) to the area in front of the library and the gym doors were being unlocked for services. Whew! So, we had a full half hour before church started, lol!



Quickly, seats began to fill. Once our kids' friend began to arrive, our row began to fill up :) We ended up seating 10 people in eight seats! Eventually they brought in folding chairs for those who came later; last year they said they had 1,600 people combined. I'm curious how many they hosted today total, but for sure that first service was packed! (Caelan received the dress pictured below for her birthday from Grandma J--she wore it to the Christmas Eve service, but it was hard to see in the pictures :)


At home, the boys decided to try sledding! Yay, sledding! They were limited in the area they could coast--since the yard has not been cleaned after the dog in about a month (ew) and the snow wasn't deep enough to really cover that mess enough for sledding ;/ It didn't last long. They decided to snow ball fight, and after lunch shovel the driveway--such good, helpful boys! (I also told them it would be good for their business to be a visible shoveling presence in the neighborhood ;) Graysen cheerfully volunteered for all chicken chores today--because he wants Christmas off, lol! Smart kid :)





Most of us watched Miracle on 34th Street in the afternoon (Gabby worked on the play they're planning to perform). We started baking some sweet potatoes for Christmas and finished up a few things here and there. Otherwise, it has been another low-key day! Buck arrived home two hours early, and we ate chili and cornbread. Now, I'm going to stop blogging and go hang out with my family. Merry Christmas Eve!

Wintery Wonder Photo Shoot

The girls did a Winter Blooms photo shoot in the trees behind our neighbors' house and they turned out so cute, I thought I'd share!

Snowy Celebration

Amazingly enough--the first real snow of the winter came with the actual beginning of winter; even more amazing, Caelan received the beauty of snow on her birthday! "It's God's present to me," she said. The light, fluffy flakes were the icing on the cake to a low-key, but special 24 hours.

It began when the girls' friend E came to spend the night (this has become a tradition :) There was plenty of giggling, baking, singing, giggling, drawing, play-writing, more giggling, a Christmas special, and a board game or two (Bible Trivia).

The girls didn't stay up too late, maybe 11:15 PM. I was reading a book, waiting for them to zonk out . . . I was lights out at 11:30 :)

When morning arrived, Graysen and Gabby volunteered their gifts to be on the table for first-things-first opening. Buck had to scoot to work, so we didn't make a big breakfast. Caelan opened her first gifts in the living room, and was very happy with them! In fact, as we slowly opened gifts in rounds throughout the day, she said, "I got things that fit all my likes and interests! My gifts are all great!" High-five to the siblings and grandparents involved in making that statement happen :)

Graysen gave Caelan a cute Knit Your Own Zoo animal book, and Gabby gave her a music c.d. she's been wanting. We took a break from gifts and the kids went to hang out in the girls' room. I discovered they spent this time drawing imaginary families. Someone would draw the face shape, someone else would add eyebrows, someone else--noses, etc. etc. They built quite a couple of flip books full of profiles--including names and ages--for each family. (Gabby's favorite book might be the baby name book I bought when I was expecting Caelan; much like a baby name book was in my top five at her age--so many characters to name in the stories that need to be written!)




About midmorning, the bear lady from church arrived to give the girls gifts for working on the memory bears. Each opened a sweet little arrow necklace and the boys opened the cans of cookies and freshly baked goodies she included :) Angie was very sweet and even covered the cost of materials beyond the shirts that her family provided. To her, our girls are her "Christmas angels," and she said as much in a kind thank you note.



I made enchiladas for lunch, because Caelan has been wanting them and I haven't made them in a long time. We changed up our usual traditions a bit--no decorations, no morning birthday song (okay, Buck and I whispered a duet, but not on camera), no room filled with balloons, and we opened gifts after lunch instead of afternoon snack time (which is normally when we eat the cake). We had our reasons :) Caelan was very excited to find Brennen gifted her with a chord book to Disney songs--she can now try something new on piano and guitar. Happy girl! She also liked what Gabby gave her (I'll let the pictures speak for themselves ;) . . .



And in the final photo, we are watching the recently opened Beauty and the Beast :) When the movie concluded, it was snack time. Caelan wanted a brownie with a cream cheese layer--but we had a snafu with the cream cheese (only bought half the needed amount) and then kind of forgot about the baking dessert while we were watching a Christmas special on TV the night before (a bit crispy on the edges). However, I jazzed it up a bit with powdered sugar and some chocolate syrup, and what remained tasted very nice :) Oh, you can see her arrow necklace in this pic!


For supper, we ordered taco pizza at the birthday girl's request. Buck finished work early enough to beat the pizza guy to our house! Since he's mostly eliminated pizza from his diet, he was cool with eating delivery (we rarely get pizza :)

I also decided to save her gift from us until Buck was here, so after dinner she got to open more gifts! Buck felt Caelan needed a little less bulky purse to carry. Gabby helped me choose one online, and then . . . Buck agreed that I could order Caelan just a little bit of make-up. She's never asked for it, but I figured she'd be somewhat interested. When she opened the packages, she said, "We were JUST talking about this with E!" Burt's Bees recently came out with a natural line of make-up, so she now has a blush and a mascara :)








To finish off the day, Buck played a board game with all interested. So it turns out for her birthday, Caelan got snow, friendship, a fairytale, family, music, make-up, knitting, clothing, and fun surprises. Hooray for birthdays and birthday girls :)