What's happenin'

We have had some chilly weather and lingering colds so we have been hanging out at home and having a blast!  

One day, Cora decided to wear her goggles all day long.....

Home preschool.  Honestly, I am hit or miss with this, but Eden is a smart cookie so it's ok :) 

 Group picture!  What is Milan wearing?  Just a bathing suit top, bandanna skirt, and robe tie headband, obviously :)

 Our little cook!  Look at that concentration......"hmmm, what should I add to this recipe?"

 Eden is posing with her hands up so I can take a picture of her finger callouses....I guess that is what happens when you suck on your fingers every day for 4 years.  Look closely on the fingers without nail polish.  Oh, and Eden's wearing jeans for the first time this year.  It lasted about two hours and she was pretty proud of herself.  

 We made Shrinky Dinks and Eden is just too cute!

 Another awesome outfit....flower girl dress and a robe.

 Our finished Shrinky Dinks!  (Set my camera on the tripod so we don't have heads, oh well, I like having pictures of me and my girls!)

 Today we ventured out into the snow.  Eden likes to eat it!

I gave the girls some measuring cups and buckets and they thought it was pretty cool for about 10 minutes (then they couldn't feel their fingers and wanted to come back inside.....can't blame them!)

 This is what happens when you realize you are too poofy to get back up on your own.  Dang it!  She was happy as soon as she could play with sisters again!

It's the little things.....

Who knew Play-doh could be so fun!

Best four bucks I have spent in a while!

Colorado

Well, I am officially in love with Colorado!   First off, the weather is beautiful.  Don't get me wrong, they have chilly days and snow, but no wind.  We went to the park on Friday.  Yes, in January!  Milan begged to take off her leggings because she was so hot (ha ha, apparently these kids are acclimated to Wyoming weather because it was only 58 but apparently she was sweating.)  On top of that the people seem great, Target and Kohls are down the street, and housing is very affordable (our rent isn't really a bargain, but it's difficult to find a short term rental.)

We are enjoying our slower pace of life right now.  I don't have any friends or photography clients so I have taken this time to focus on my girls and spend time with them. 

Here are a couple of pictures from our adventures at the park!  (These were taken at noon, which is the worst lighting for photography, but oh well :)

Most of the day, Cora was following Milan around the park saying, "Wok, wok, wok."  It was so cute and Milan was being such a great big sister.  It gave Eden and I a chance to hang out.  

Noon Years Eve

This year we celebrated New Year's Eve at the Denver Children's Museum and it was perfect!!  We started off the day with a train ride and all the girls loved it!  I was a little worried about Cora getting nervous when the train was farther away from me, but since she had her sisters nearby, she didn't seem to mind a bit!

 Next, we stayed in the courtyard and celebrated "Noon Years Eve!"  We listened to the band play live music, counted down, watched the ball drop then celebrated with confetti and hopping on a giant floor of bubble wrap.  

 Then, we went inside the museum to play!  Here's Eden hogging the air scarves :)

 All the girls painted pictures.

 Cora was very intent on getting the marker lid back on!  She might have been a little tired at this point, so she just worked on that thing for a while.

And that was the end of New Year's Eve.  The girls were in bed by 7:30, I fell asleep about 11, and Dave worked until 2:30.  Hopefully next year is more exciting and we get to play with Dave.

 We have decided that we love the Children's Museum so much that we got an annual pass.  We stopped by on our way back from Ikea the other day.  The girls were already worn out from Ikea (honestly, my too, that store is huge!) so we just stayed for a couple hours and had fun with bubbles.

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.