Christmas

This was the first year in quite a while that we have stayed home for Christmas and I loved it!  It was so nice and relaxing and would have only been better if Dave could have spent more time at home.  Christmas Eve we made some sugar cookies for Santa.  My little bakers did a great job!

 I'm not sure if Eden is the most sanitary baker, but she sure had fun!   I forgot to take pictures of our finished products, but trust me that those babies were festive with heaps of sprinkles and decorations!

As soon as daddy got home, we opened up our Christmas Even gifts.  Cora watched her sisters and quickly caught on to unwrapping gifts.

They all got new night dresses and slippers.  The rest of the evening we put out carrots and reindeer food on the front lawn, set out cookies for Santa, skyped with family, read scriptures, and headed off to bed in eager anticipation of Santa! 

 Santa put a sign at the top of the stairs asking the girls to wait for mom and dad.  At 12:30 AM, I heard Milan and Eden camped out at the top of the stairs with their blankies and water.  I didn't think they would go back to bed anytime soon so we headed down stairs to check it out.  The girls were so excited to see that the reindeer had eaten their carrots and Santa had eaten a couple of cookies, filled their stockings, and left a karaoke machine and keyboard.  I love the magic of Christmas and hearing the excitement in their voices.  They loved their gifts!  After a little while, the girls decided to go back to bed and we saw them again at 7 ready for more surprises!

 Unwrapping presents was so fun!  Cora opened a couple of gifts then wandered off to play.

 Milan looked at all her gifts and thanked us for her favorites.

Eden just ripped through her gifts and had them all unwrapped before anyone else.   

 So.....Eden loved her new Rapunzel dress-up and wore it for half an hour.  Now she is back to wearing her ratty Brave dress up everyday.  Hey, at least I tried :)

 The girls played most of the morning then we took some down time to watch some new movies and snuggle with daddy.  

Then daddy made up a fun car crashing game that was a blast!

 This is the best daddy ever.

 Milan practicing her Operation skills.  (Does anyone else think that game was way harder when we were kids?)

 Christmas dinner was yummy.  This picture just shows that Cora likes to sit on someone's lap during dinner and always prefers daddy when he is home.  It makes it a little harder to eat, but I don't think Dave minds :)

Christmas was an amazing day with our little family!  It was filled with magic, relaxing, spending time together, talking to family far away, and making memories.

December

December has been a whirlwind of craziness!  We started off the month with some amazing news......Dave was accepted into 3 dental schools and chose to attend Creighton University starting in August!  I am so incredibly proud of Dave and all his hard work!  

Right after Dave finished up his last set of undergrad finals, we packed up and moved to Brighton, Colorado.  The girls decided the boxes were doll beds and thought they were pretty fun for a little while.  I am so grateful for some amazing friends that helped out with my girls during that crazy week of moving (Cora wasn't exactly the most helpful little helper :)

Somewhere during that time, we went to breakfast with Santa.  Our friends, the Chamberlains, bought us tickets and invited us to the high school event.  The girls loved watching the choir performances so it was the perfect morning!  Milan asked Santa for a real live microphone, Eden asked for a surprise, and Cora just waved at the big guy.

We moved on December 14th and I have to say that we are dang good movers!  (Dave and I should be professionals by now since we have moved 12 times together.)  We had most everything up and running by the 16th so we could start focusing on Christmas (way more fun than moving!)

We decorated our Christmas tree and the girls picked out their stockings for the year (we have quite the aeclectic collection at this point and the girls love to choose one each year.)

Milan's contribution to the tree this year is an adorable handmade Santa....handmade ornaments are my very favorite!

We also spent a lot of time baking, which is always a hit!  First, we made chocolate covered pretzels.....

 Our littlest helper!

The finished product.....very chocolaty, which the little bakers loved!

Our next goody was graham cracker houses! 

Cora was napping for this project so the older girls and I got to make this cute little village together.

Funny faces!

Late nights

Milan has met a great group of 1st grade friends.  The seem to have relatively little drama and they are all really nice girls.  We are moving at the end of the week and I know Milan will have no problem making new friends in Brighton, Colorado, but she is pretty devastated about leaving her BFFs.  We had a late night party on Friday as one last hurrah!  We made pizzas, decorated paper crowns, watched Brave, and just hung out with some little girl silliness!  During the party, Milan said, "I will remember this forever."  

Speaking of late nights....every couple of weeks, we have a fun girl's night at Chilis.  I always tell Dave that I'm going to pop in for about an hour then have so much fun that I stay until 11:30 (even though Chili's closes at 11 and they are putting up chairs by the time we go.)  This was my last girl's night.  Here's a pretty bad phone picture, but ah well, you get the idea.

We have met amazing people in Laramie! 

Rodeo

So, these are terrible pictures, photography-wise, but I don't care!  I LOVE when we all get to hang out as a family in the evenings.  Sometimes we play games with the girls, or Dave and I sit on the couch together and watch them play, or everyone's favorite is when they make dad a jungle gym.  The recent favorite is the rodeo game where dad is a bucking horse and the girls have to try to stay on.  I would say they love it.....I just love their crazy hair and big smiles!

Denver

Dave was invited to interview at University of Colorado Dental School on Saturday so we decided to make a weekend out of it!  While Dave was interviewing, the girls and I went to the Children's Museum for 7 hours!  Yep, 7 hours!  We explored every inch of the museum and enjoyed the playground in the beautiful weather.  

We finished off the day in a hotel, which the girls thought was awesome.  Well until it was time for bed, then none of us slept so well.  Finished off our trip with a little house hunting (we are likely moving to Fort Lupton, CO next month so Dave can work before dental school starts next fall), some shopping, playing, and Cafe Rio!

When I took Eden shopping for some new clothes since she has sprouted up lately, I told her we were buying shirts to cover her belly.  She told me, "I like these shirts, my bewwy needs air."

Family Pictures

I found a great photographer in Cheyenne to do our family pictures.  I really enjoyed her laid back style and my kids really responded well to her....I love all their real smiles.  I also learned a lot from her about photography.  Plus, I got some amazing pictures of our little family that I will cherish forever!

Here are some of my faves!