Merry Christmas!

It was a week of celebration, family and a bit of chaos.  We started out the week admiring the beauty that the ice storm followed by snow had left behind.  It was so pretty to see the trees sparkle as the sun shone through them, though a bit eery to hear them crackle as they swayed in the breeze.

 Christmas Eve, we spend much of the day with Opa, Oma, Aunt Becky and Uncle Michael in Grandville.  The girls got in some time playing in the snow as we enjoyed our white Christmas, something we've not seen around here for several years.

 After too much food and not enough napping, we dug into the gifts.  Alora wasted no time!

 Soon, she was into the stockings, literally!

Convinced they were boots, she trucked around the house in them :)

 Ezri was also quite excited to discover what gifts were hers, and was thrilled to get a new camera.

 The highlight of the night was watching Alora as she was given her new tricycle!  She was so excited!

 Ezri was a bit disappointed that she did not also get one, but soon that problem was remedied as the two of them raced around and around, giggling and squealing.

 Christmas morning, Alex and I celebrated with the girls at home, and enjoyed a nice, relaxed day together.

We opted to only give the girls 4 gifts each, but they didn't seem to mind at all, happy to be opening more gifts and discovering more new things to play with.

Tobi found plenty to entertain himself that morning as well.

 As Ezri had received a couple of trains the night before and more from us in addition to new track, she and Daddy soon got busy building a big track and setting all of the trains in motion.  It was a lot of fun to watch Alex and the girls so engaged in the trains together :)

 An attempt to get a photo of the girls with Tobi...

 And off to Grandpa and Grandma's house we went in the afternoon for a party with them, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kerri, Aubrey and Wesley.  More gifts...

 And a big surprise for the girls!  Ezri opened up a small box with a key inside, and then the girls got to go on a hunt to find what the key belonged to.  They were both so excited to find the Corvette in Grandpa's garage!

The days following the Christmas excitement were filled with plenty of activity as the girls played with their new toys and cruised the house in the tricycle.  We've had a lot of fun watching the girls discover new toys.  We also took advantage of the opportunity to move a few older toys out of circulation for a bit to make room for the new toys.  Good thing we had some space in the basement!

The girls each turned another month older.  We are mindful of how quickly we will be celebrating birthdays for Alora and Ezri, followed by welcoming "Sally" all within the next 3 months.  Time is flying by!

 To end our Christmas week, we got to see the girls participate in the children's program at church on Sunday.  As I was there to sing both services, the girls got to be in the program both services as well.  For the first service, Ezri opted to be a star while Alora was an angel.

 Upon reaching the stage, Alora made a beeline for the drum set and grabbed up the tambourine, which she played happily throughout the presentation :)  Many, including Daddy, thought it was planned, but not so.  Thankfully, the tambourine was right there or we may have had to pull a very unhappy little angel off the drum set instead!

 For the second service, Ezri also wanted to be an angel.  Barky accompanied her, as he did first service :)  Alora continued her role as the cute little angel, although much more tired this time around and content to be held for much of the time.

We had so much fun watching the girls as they participated, and truly enjoyed laughing at Alora's antics, as she ended the morning by crawling around stage with the "sheep", doing a little shepherding of her own as the show finished up.

We are glad for the memories this Christmas has provided us, but also a bit glad for the chaos and stress to be over.  With so much to keep us hopping in the coming months, we are seeking to rest and relax as much as the remainder of this week will allow before the full swing of the working world falls upon us again.  To begin that rest - a night of friends and fun as we celebrate New Years Eve tonight.

Gearing up for Christmas

There have been no shortage of antics and entertaining activity this past week.  With some wet and less than friendly weather for playing in the snow with the girls, they resorted to creating their own fun, as usual.  One day, I found they had pulled the baby doll bed out into the living room and were busy using it for themselves, tucking one another in and reading stories to each other.

When the cradle was occupied, Alora found her own little place to curl up :)

The girls and I did a little holiday baking this past week as well.  It took a few days to get through the project, but we had a lot of fun!  The girls helped me mix the dough and cut out the cookies one day and had quite a lot of fun doing so.

The next day, we decorated the cookies together.  For Alora, this meant licking the dough off the cookie and then putting more on again...

Ezri was quite focused, though, and spent nearly an hour decorating with me!

We had quite a mess at the end, but a lot of fun :)

Our Christmas holiday started a little sooner than I had planned with a snow day, due to ice, on Friday that allowed me to begin my break from crossing for a few weeks.  This also meant no MOPS, so we took advantage of the opportunity for a pajama day of sorts. 

Sunday morning we woke to ice everywhere, after a night of freezing rain.  It was quite beautiful to see, though the sound of the trees crackling with the wind was a bit concerning as limbs and branches fell from the weight. 

Our church service was adapted to one service, which allowed us to spend a little more time at home in the morning than usual for a Sunday.  I took advantage of the relaxed morning to get in some pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses together...

How cute are these two?!

After a wonderful service at church, we made a quick trip home to get some stuff for a family party.  As we returned home, we found a tree had partially fallen across the road by house.  It was a bit concerning to drive under as there was no promise it would not fall at any moment.  Thankfully, by the time we returned home from our party it had been cut down.

The ride to the Christmas party was quite pretty as snow had begun to fall on the already iced over trees...

Our afternoon was full of family and entertainment.  Ezri was quite happy to spend some time with Great Grandma as she waited for her turn to open gifts.

Each of the girls got a gift from Great Grandma, and were quite excited by what they got.  Alora got a new baby doll

And Ezri got a Thomas book that plays sounds.

For a good chunk of time after they opened their gifts, they were very occupied with their new toys.

Our week ahead is filled with family gatherings and Christmas celebrations.  Ezri is especially excited for Christmas and is eager to know what she will get.  Today, as she helped me wrap gifts, she asked again and again to wrap her own gifts.  She couldn't understand that I couldn't allow her to do so because it would ruin the surprise :)  We are truly looking forward to the fun of Christmas morning here!