We had ourselves a merry little Christmas!

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is chaotic, crazy and completely wonderful! I have not had a minute of time to devote to the blog so I am trying to get back into it a bit. We had an amazing holiday filled with so much joy and laughter and plenty of tears due to over tiredness that I don't even know where to start. This post is going to be a jumble of some favorite moments, photographs and quotes.

Evan on Christmas morning - his face just glows with the pure joy of the day.

Hailey loving her new Abby Cadabby doll from her cousin Mirabel.

It was such a treat to have my sister and her family here with us for the holidays. Unfortunately due to an inflatable mattress issue, they probably do not feel the same way. (I promise we will buy a new one - please come back!) It was Mirabel's first Christmas and we were able to share it with her. I forgot what it was like to have a little baby in the house - you don't realize how dirty your carpets are until a 10 month old is around to zero in on every piece of lint or every crumb and stick it in her mouth. Hailey loved every minute of having her around. She was obsessed with Mira and wanted to be around her all of the time.

A young boy very excited about his new GIGANTIC Nerf gun. And of course his Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker....

He ran up to his room all on his own and got that hat that he wore in Cinderella last Spring. Trent and I had to fight to hold back our laughter.





A group of cousins in matching jammies. What could be cuter than that?

Remember Gramma's secret project?

How cool are these? The faces are so clear it is almost freaky. Hailey's eyes on the blanket are just unbelievable. We need to figure out a way to hang it somewhere.

I was really excited this Christmas about all the gifts that I made for people. I love being crafty and being able to give something that I actually put time and effort into. Time with little kids is hard to come by so I have to give props to my wonderful husband for putting in a lot of "distraction" time so I had a chance to work on these things.

Mirabel got a blanket that I made for her. She looks like she loves it doesn't she?


My Dad and Sandy and Troy and Joann got name signs with photos I had taken. I tried to personalize them as much as I could. All the letters but the "R's" came from the cabin. On my Dad's most of the letters were from around his property - the "J" and "N" are off two of his boats.

The pillow covers I made for the kids. The dog for Hailey. The cat for Spencer. The dinosaur for Evan. The dog and the cat had a pattern for me to follow. For Evan's I had to make up the pattern. I was very nervous about it but after I had finished, I liked his the best. You can't see very well in this photo, but it has scales all along the top ridge -very cute!

In the background you can see the Rose Petal Cottage that Hailey got from Santa. She also got a little cleaning kit with a broom, duster, fake cleaners etc. All three of them are crazy about the cleaning stuff. On Christmas they were all playing "house" and were "cleaning" everything in it. They were brushing off the outside, the roof - it was so funny. Even after Hailey went down for a nap the boys continued to play. At one point I heard their conversation and Evan was telling Spencer "You can live here with me if you want to, I am not good at making food though." I was totally cracking up!

Evan was full of the funny quotes. He is not one to hide his feelings at all. The night we opened gifts with my Mom, he was already up past his bedtime and exhausted from already having days filled with activity. He opened some dinosaur sheets from Gramma and said in the most whiny, disgusted voice "Why is it always sheets?" Such a lesson for what life throws at you sometimes. He LOVES the sheets now and wants the comforter to match.

It seemed like we were busy everyday with various activities, events and parties. On Christmas Eve morning we were eating breakfast and getting ready to go over to Trent's parents house for our Christmas with them. Spencer looked at me and said "We are going to another party?' When I told him yes he said to me "This is the best year of my life - four parties in a row!"

It is always so hard to see Christmas go. It is such a magical time of year. You spend so much time shopping, planning and looking forward to the big day and then in a matter of hours, it is all over. We took down our tree over the weekend and packed away all the decorations until next year. I hate to see the tree sitting out at the curb waiting to be disposed of - I always have. It just seems like such a awful end for something that brought us such joy. I know it will get shredded up and make the soil richer for other trees to grow, the whole circle of life thing - I get it. I still feel bad though. Maybe I am just projecting my feelings of the holiday being over on to the object of the tree. Maybe I need to get an artificial tree and stop psychoanalyzing myself.

Needless to say, we had a wonderful Christmas and a wonderful break!