Jer and Stef: December 2013

Putting up Christmas decorations....did we miss something?

Yummy yummy spaghetti! Got one of these messy spaghetti faces for each girl!

Breakfast with Santa.

Hair is long enough for pigtails!!!

Ellia's old preschool, Mandeville First Baptist, held their 7th annual Live Nativity. It was the best I've been to!! Ellia couldn't believe it was all free, "Does this have to pay?" There were at least seven scenes, and then hot chocolate and cookies inside, and fresh kettle corn outside. What a great thing they put on.

Ellia's Christmas party at school. Quincy started to get friendly at this party! Up to this point she has had major stranger danger, enough that I've sometimes felt bad leaving her with sitters, BUT at this party she started hugging all the mommy legs, and then even went and sat with (or sortof ON) one of Ellia's classmates. When she went to hug the first mom, I thought as soon as she looked up and realized it wasn't me she would have a melt down, but nope. She finished her hug and moved on to the next mom!

Quincy: The executive.

Ashlyn's Christmas program. She was more shy than Quincy. She didn't sing a note or lift a finger for any song actions.

Tiny Tumblers play date and cookie decorating. Ashlyn may be the only girl in the bunch, but she sure has fun with this group!

I usually leave Ashlyn home taking an afternoon break with a cartoon while I go to the bus stop for Ellia. One day while I was waiting I had the feeling I needed to run back home to check on her. This is what I found.

Thanks for the new BOY jammies, Grandma...she still looks cute though!

We have a wonderful party planner in our ward who puts together great events. This was our Christmas Party, compete with a temple cake made by yours truly.

Ok, so the details that make it look good are all plastic, but I still had to stick them on there.

Say goodbye to these gorgeous (and extremely difficult) locks. Ashlyn will soon be sporting a much shorter 'do with proceeds benefitting Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

Now this one is just getting to the "fun" hair stage! Look at her all dressed up for Christmas. Sweet Sister Sorenson gave us this adorable Christmas dress.

Just enjoying a shake and reminiscing about old times. We got a sitter for Quincy one night and tried to go see Frozen but it was sold out so we took the girls out for frozen custard instead.

My dear Grandma Betty's age is hitting. Somehow I ended up with an extra child this year. And all but one were renamed. Elise, (I like it!), AshlanD, Q Jean and Quincy.

and unfortunately the ornament she sent Jeremy was headless. Love you Grandma B, thanks for always remembering us and giving us a good chuckle.

I think this was around 12:00 one day.

Quincy LOVES anything with a handle, so naturally her Pixie gift from Dad was a new purse all her own.

Ellia had fun shopping for her Pixie, this year it was Ashlyn, and she chose a Fairy Barbie and . She insisted that Ashlyn not get ANOTHER horse.

I had Ellia and was excited to get her the Merida Bow and Arrow which she requested and had SO much fun playing with. My three princesses in their new jammies.

Christmas Eve.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

We had a sleepover in our room so that the girls couldn't sneak out and scare Santa. Like most of us, they were so excited they could hardly sleep. Dad caught some of their adorable chatter on tape.

As usual, the boxes are always the most fun.

Santa's helpers (decorating for Christmas).

Playing polly's with the train, they happen to be the best conductors and engineers we've found. Wonder what Grandpa Bill would think of that!

All chipping in to clean the cabinets. Ellia was doing odd jobs to earn money to spend at her school's Snowflake shop. The event is so well thought out and so much fun for the kids. They get choices of gifts to buy their families between $.25 and $20. Then they have help wrapping them. Ellia was so excited to get everyone a gift just from HER.

Youth speaker at young Men's

We have some Chevron oil friends moving here from Bakersfield and they had some change or plans while house hunting so we/I said Jeremy could watch their 2 girls because I had a Vendor Event that day. Well, that's five girls with our three, then you add the two neighbor kids in and Jeremy was a regular day care that day!

Looking cute in Christmas colors!

I don't remember why I took these pictures, but when I do I'll be glad I have them.

Scooter ride on the trace.

Christmas Kickoff package from Grandma Laura.

I had nothing to do with this...when I downloaded Jeremy's pictures from his phone, this is what I found.

A park near our house has fantastic Christmas décor and its all lit up at night. Jeremy took the girls there a few times to play while they were all set up.

Thanks for the phone Grandma Laura.

Christmas morning aftermath...I think I say that every year.

Skyping with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Kerry while we open their gifts. Jeremy had the great idea to hook up to the TV. Ok, now that I say that I realize people probably have smart TV's that do that without cords huh. Well, it was cool for us.

Ashlyn giving Grandma Carol a kiss.

My Christmas goodies.

Rug before picture. This rug was left in the dining room from the previous owners so we've been using it while we dragged out feet picking out a new one.

NEW RUG! I love it now, but it took us some getting used to, which is hard to imagine in hind site.

We have planned to put the old rug in the kitchen, so here's the before picture.

Girls room before new décor.

See the cute new curtain (ok I know you can't really see it) but the framed letters are up and Ellia got a cute new pillow. Now just a few things to go....paint the bed and get some bed skirts are next on my list.

Back to Christmas morning. why oh why these weren't uploaded in order is beyond me.

Jeremy's loot, minus his helicopter Pixie gift from Quincy.

Quincy

Ashlyn, minus her letter which I forgot to add.

Ellia

Family gifts plus Ash's letter.

Letter art before and after.

Thanks Grandma Laura! Even though this was Quincy's gift I had a suspicion the big girls would be highly entertained by it and I was right. It may have had something to do with how many times we passed it in the store and they asked for it.

Our friends Chris and Heather Short invited us over for a turkey Christmas dinner. Heather is Ashlyn's Sunbeams teacher and since Ashlyn makes up half of the class much of the time she is the only one there. It has given them a fun friendship. Ashlyn made a special sugar cookie for Miss Heather, and wanted to take Humphreys first Christmas to their house so Heather could read it to her.

Before we unrolled the rug, it was another fun toy.

Making Shoo Fly Pie. This is a Pennsylvania Dutch dessert mix given to us one of Jeremy's co-workers.

Jeremy took the two weeks off, and started building a fence in our backyard....here is the before picture. Ellia was a huge help to him cutting and organizing all the wood pieces. Doesn't she look cute in her Christmas warmups from Addie?