CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA!

WOW - Did we have an awesome Christmas WEEK! I am so far behind in blogging that I thought doing one long (!!) post about our Christmas would be the best way to catch up!

Our Christmas Week...

MONDAY

We started with some fun in the first real snow of the year!

Snow Angels...

My grandma sent me an adorable Christmas letter and included a recipe for sugar cookies in it. She doesn't like to travel and we don't see her often enough, so when I read the part of her note that said "Make these cookies and maybe I can come try them in person..." I held her to her word, even though I knew she was joking! Sammi and I made those cookies on Monday and on Tuesday Dan and I drove to Cincinnati to pick up Grandma and bring her back to Indy to spend Christmas week with us! It was the best gift to us to have her with us!

TUESDAY

Dan and I spent the morning at IKEA and the afternoon driving Grandma back to Indy. Although I don't have photos, we had a marvelous time catching up!!

WEDNESDAY

We brought the sugar cookies to mom & dad's to decorate! (Unfortunately all the photos from Wednesday are my grandma's so she's not in any of the photos!) She definitely helped us decorate (and eat)!

As a gift to us, that night mom and dad took Dan and me and Jordie and Ashley to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and it was awesome!!! 

THURSDAY

We were off to bake, bake, bake again all day! On the trip to Indy, grandma mentioned that her all-time favorite cookies were the ones from the recipe on the OLD box of Quaker Oatmeal, which she's never been able to find since they changed it. Thanks to our trusty friend, the internet, we were able to find that recipe for her, and of course we had to make the cookies for her too! 

Thursday afternoon we headed to my parents' for our official Christmas and were greeted by this miniature snowman! :)

Sam walked in to see all of the presents...

But she was sad that she had to wait to open them until after dinner!

She enjoyed all of her presents...

And Natalie mostly just stood on hers! 

Grandma's gift...

The only photo I have of her this Christmas! Love you, grandma!

Natalie was wiped before our night ended!

FRIDAY

Well, "Friday" technically started on Thursday eve when we prepared for Santa to come to our house!

All that cookie baking, and we TOTALLY forgot to leave some cookies at OUR house for Santa!!!! Whoops! No worries though, Sammi instead rummaged through the pantry and picked out all of her favorite snacks for him. 

Santa came, and Santa liked the snacks! He left the girls a note and these presents on our child-proofly-decorated tree! (No ornaments lower than 3 feet!) *Note- we are also waiting on furniture to arrive for our downstairs....it's not always going to be so bare! Should be here any day!

The girls got candy canes on their doors and came down to find their presents...

Sammi's favorite... candy necklaces in her stocking!

Another favorite... her own pink chap-stick, just like she asked for!

A present for Sammi and Daddy who both LOVE Spongebob...

Natalie figured out how to open presents pretty quickly...

...but I think she still enjoyed climbing on them more than anything!

Our house was a colorful mess!

SATURDAY

On Friday night we drove to Fort Wayne to spend the weekend with the Brand family! Christmas was full of gifts and spending time together. It was relaxing and wonderful!

The kids did their gifts first and then took naps while the parents exchanged!

...And, once again, Natalie showed off her climbing skills to the Brands too.

Seeing (Great) Grandma Brand is always a treat!!!

Dan playing his new PS3...this was just the start of many late nights avoiding work and cleaning! I'm not sure I approve of this gift! :) (JK - he LOVES it though!)

SUNDAY

Sunday wrapped up our Christmas extravaganza by attending the extended Brand Family Christmas Exchange!

The kids draw names ahead of time and exchange...

And the adults buy a generic gift and do the "open a new gift or steal another until it's been stolen 3 times" game...

It was especially nice to see (Great) Uncle Joe, a favorite uncle of all the Brand Family, and especially was a favorite of our girls!!!

Uncle Steve playing...

Uncle Scott is also loved by all the kids!

Grandpa Brand found one last gift!

Oh my goodness! It's "Sammikins"!

One last visit with Uncle Joe before he goes back to Georgia. He thought it would be fun to take Sammi out in the snow...in her BARE FEET! 

....and, RIGHT back in!!!

We had an amazing week with lots to feel thankful for, especially all of the family to share the holidays with. We've already started our new year off busy, busy, busy....and we are looking forward to seeing where the wind (and our goals and dreams) may take us this year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

cupcake camper

We started a new family tradition recently... We decided that if we have money left in our dave food budget at the end of the month, we will treat our family out to lunch after church on the last Sunday of every month! Last month we went to Qdoba! (YUM!)

Outside of the shopping area was this hilarious "Cupcake Camper" selling gourmet cupcakes! Sam loved the huge spinning cupcake and she was SO excited to get an overpriced yet delicious cupcake to take home!!! (And one for us too of course!)

Strawberry for mommy & daddy and chocolate with peanut butter and reeces cups for Sammi!

She couldn't wait to get home to eat it!

And she finished every last bite!!!

I don't know if we'll get anymore cupcake camper cupcakes in the future, but I definitely hope we keep our tradition of eating out! What fun!!!!

thanksgiving

We had a wonderful, long Thanksgiving weekend!

We did lots of baking for Thanksgiving this year, including making these cookies! We LOVE making these EASY cookies! We just take the premixed stuff...

Do a little dance..

Dump it into mini muffin pans, and stick a chocolate piece (a kiss or reeces) in each one! And of course, EVERY time mom turns away for a split second, we sneak one into our mouth instead of a cookie!

Delicious!

On Thursday we went to dan's aunt & uncle's for a wonderful dinner with the entire Fort Wayne family! usually about 40-50 people come. While Natalie was playing with Great Grandma Brand....

Sammi has befriended all of the older girls, who are sooo sweet to her! They like dressing her up when she visits, and she looooooves the attention!

Lots of mingling...

Natalie enjoyed showing off her walking skills...

My FAVORITE part of thanksgiving... our family being together, in pajamas, with no work to go to and no schedule to follow!!!

We spent Saturday with my parents and brother and his wife. I made my first from-scratch cheesecake for the occasion, and it turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself! Looks a little crazy in this photo, but it was amazing.

At the Shermans' we colored...

We played games, ate, and relaxed!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend! We are so thankful for having such wonderful families and enjoyed our time with them all so much!

playdate

Since the last daycare we took Sam to, she has not been the same. She's always been a little shy at first, but she gets so upset at the thought of us leaving her since the last daycare, that she makes herself sick at times. It makes it VERY hard to go places that require any kind of daycare or babysitting. I won't go into details, but I am upset that that "school" was a poor, poor choice. I hope she comes out of her shell. She still talks about how much she loved her "old school" (Primrose). For now, we'll just keep her with us and hope she grows out of this phase. Anyway!!! The point of mentioning that is that she was even upset when our friends, Becky, Bree and Kate came to OUR house to play! She sat on my lap most of the time and did not want to have her photo taken next to her friends! She did warm up a little toward the end, but we have a long way to go. 

On a sidenote, Becky and I were having our usual mom talk when the subject of discipline came up. I mentioned that time-outs are just pointless because Sam just sits and laughs or sings or observes everything going on around her and it's not a punishment for poor behavior. Becky tweaked my idea of time-outs by putting her "nose in the corner" instead, where she can't see what is going on around her. WOW!!!! I gotta tell you, IT WORKS!!! These days I just mention "Do you need to go put your nose in the corner?" and she shapes up right away!!!!

And for hitting or kicking her sister, no second chances. In the corner immediately. Following a 2-5 minute stay, she has to apologize and usually we require a hug too.

Natalie took her first nose dive into the fireplace! Happened to be at the same time Sam knocked our entire Christmas tree over! Awesome. {Sarcasm} At least the tree had just been put up and not even the lights were all working yet! Notice her poor little nose... :(

She has become quite fun these days though, playing peek-a-boo all the time! This is her way of hiding.... :)

She laughs hysterically when you "find" her!!! She is quickly becoming known for her huge smile!

Becky, can't wait for another playdate! Hopefully Sam will do better each time! And thanks for the advice!!!! It's perfect!!!!