Growin' up

Last night and I am counting down the hours until she gets home from her extended stay and Grandma and Grandpa's house! This is the longest I've been away from her and I can't stand it, I miss her so much. It does make me feel a bit better that each time I have talked to her she is cheerful and has an excitement about her voice that reassures me that she is having a great time with her Grandma, Grandpa and cousins. It even snowed there yesterday, about 3 inches and she has had the best time enjoying that. So, I only have about 16 hours left to go and I don't think I'll be letting her out of my site for awhile, weather she likes it or not :-)

Christmas recap....

First off I just have to say this was by far the best Christmas I've had in a long time, and I'm sad to see it come and go so fast! It was such a special time for the kids and I loved all the time we got to spend together as a family!

Christmas eve the kids and I visited Casey's grandma and took her a little Christmas angel! She's getting pretty old and is pretty sick, but her eyes had a little sparkle in them while she visited with the kids. When Casey got home we went for a early dinner at one of our favorite local places, the Powerhouse. The food was yummy and we had almost the whole place to ourselves (good because the kids tend to be a bit loud these days). Then we drove around and looked at lights, came home opened up a few select gifts and tucked the kids into bed in their new Christmas jammies. After they were in bed I heard Norah telling Nolan to be quite and go to sleep or Santa won't come! SO CUTE!

To say that Christmas day flew by is an understatement, I got home from work around 7:30 and everyone was still asleep, but only for a couple more minutes. I quickly put cinnamon rolls in the oven to bake and got Casey up. My sister then joined us and the kids were now stirring! We enjoyed each other and our gifts! Casey and I had mimosa's and we all enjoyed gooey, warm cinnamon rolls. The kids and I napped and then we headed to my Dad's for dinner. It was fabulous as always and we had a lot of fun watching the kids play and open more gifts.

After a good nights sleep we drove down to Casey's parents to spend some time with them. We arrived to a tree full of presents for the kids and Christmas cookies waiting on the table. We had a yummy dinner and relaxing night. Sunday was spent relaxing and enjoying the company. We headed back Sunday night minus one member of the family. Norah stayed with Casey's parents and cousins, and isn't due home until Thursday. I can admit their were a few tears shed when driving away from the house, and they weren't Norah's they were mine. She's never stayed anywhere by herself for that long. I hope it goes well, but I already miss her and won't be sad if she want's to come home early.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas just as much as we did! The anticipation has been building for weeks and today it was finally here. The kids loved every minute of it from waking up and seeing what Santa brought them, to having yummy cookies before bedtime at Papa's house. We are so blessed to have been able to spend this wonderful holiday with our closest family, and there's more, tomorrow we head down to Casey's parents for more Christmas fun!
Merry Christmas everyone!

That's Tasty!

This is how Noley helps me bake cookies for Christmas!

Tree time!

Norah was the 1st to put up an ornament on the tree this year!

She decorated her little heart out.

While Nolan did this....

and this!

Here's the finished product!

And, one of my most favorite ornaments!
*****
We went and cut down our perfect Christmas tree on Saturday morning, but didn't have time to decorate it until yesterday afternoon! It was a very busy, fun weekend. Casey and I got the lights on it while the kids were napping and when they woke up the decorating was on! Norah had the most fun of all of us, she would have done the whole tree by herself if she could have reached. So while her and I decorated, and Casey took pictures, Nolan played in the boxes, ate lots of cheeto puffs and tried to undecorate our tree several times ;-) Once we finished our big tree Norah headed to her and Nolan's room to decorate their small one, what a fun afternoon we had!

The NUTCRACKER

The Nutcracker

Norah with the Nutcracker after the ballet

Norah with her bestie Alissa

Me and my girl!

Yesterday Me and my friend Holly took our the girls to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker, at Macaw Hall in Seattle. It was so much fun to watch the excitement and anticipation on the girls' faces. The girls did great during the entire performance and it was a great experience for them. Norah says her favorite part was when the Nutcracker and Mouse king fight, and she must have asked me 20 times if the mouse king was real. She might like to dress up and put on momma's makeup, but she's definitely not a girly girl! I think this is going to be a new tradition for me and Norah during the Holidays.