Evergreen

The week between Christmas and New Years was a crazy time at our house. Tommy was working, we had 9 showings on the house and one home appraiser here, I had strep throat, Gracyn had pink eye, we spent one night at the mountains, and one night at a friends for New Year's Eve. We are ready to have the house sold, ready for the girls' weekly schedule to start back up, and ready for some normalcy!!!

Wanting to take advantage of Colorado while we are still here, we headed out the day after Christmas to take a trip to the mountains. We stayed at a hotel in Evergreen. The town has a 55 acre lake that freezes over and is used for ice skating in winter. We knew the girls would love it, and we were excited to see some snow, since this crazy warm winter had at that point provided NONE (I am not complaining!).

This is Tommy and our friend from Texas, Jeremy McFarland! So crazy, but we ran into them at the pond. They are in town with her parents visiting family. I knew they were coming, but never expected to see them. That was a fun treat.
Reagan loves skating....notice we didn't find much snow in the mountains, and it wasn't even cold enough for the kids to want jackets. Beautiful day!!!

Daddy and his girls skating on the lake.

Don't let this picture fool you. I was really just starting to feel bad (strep diagnosis came the next day) and Gracyn was being a pill! Poor girl got woken up from a 30 min car nap when we got here. We finally found some popcorn at a concession stand that changed her outlook on life.

After skating, we headed to Beau Jo's for some famous mountain pizza....yummy! Later we swam in the hotel pool and played in the room. Gracyn used her markers to color the hotel bedspread, which they later billed me $125 for. Thankfully after a phone call assuring them it was washable, they indeed washed it out and refunded my money! We won't be packing markers on any future trips.

Monday morning, I stayed huddled in bed, while Tommy took the girls out hiking. We then skipped our plan of going farther west and tubing in the snow, and headed home for me to see the doctor. In between all that, we had 4 showings on the house! Tommy played with the girls at Monkey Buziness and the park, while I slept in the car. Definitely an eventful 2 days!

Potty Time

Much to our surprise, during the few days around Christmas, Gracyn started telling us that she needed to go potty! We take her everytime and she is doing great. If we are at home, she goes often and keeps her diaper dry. We even had to stop at a grocery store, on our way out of town last weekend, because she was telling us she had to go. I marched her into the grocery with the Dora potty seat, in a plastic bag and she did her thing. I am not sure I am ready for this.....I already spend a GREAT DEAL of time with the other 2 in public restrooms, but if she really is potty training herself, I will be grateful!!!

Christmas Celebrations

Christmas Eve was a fun day for the girls and I to just play around the house. We made a Gingerbread House, did a few Christmas crafts, made cookies for Santa, and played at the park. That afternoon, we got dressed and headed to church. Church was a beautiful candlelight service, with all 3 girls with us. The best part of that was when Reagan whispered in my ear, "Mommy, see that lady behind us.....she's prettier than you!". Nice, my sweet girl. I actually knew what she meant.....the lady had a very sparkly dress and big earrings and Reagan was impressed with her jewels. After service we went out to dinner with friends.

Here we are, just home from church.

The girls headed outside to sprinkle reindeer food throughout the yard.

Then they headed inside to prepare cookies for Santa.

Addison wrote him a note, she wanted to make sure he took a cookie to our elf, "Buddy"!

All set in Christmas jammies, being silly before bed. This girl LOVES to stand on her head.

I LOVE reading to all 3 girls in my rocking chair.

When the girls woke up, Gracyn found her new Bitty Baby right away. She loves baby "Laney".

Addison had fun checking out all her stocking goodies.

Daddy and his girls looking at their stockings. We saw what Santa brought, went through the stockings and then had a cinnamon roll breakfast before opening the rest of the presents.

Gracyn and I piled high with presents.

Reagan got operation, which we have had a great time playing.

Matching jammies for girls and babies, from Aunt Tressia and Uncle Bryan were a BIG hit!

They also loved their bouncing princess ball.

We had such a nice long morning just playing and enjoying each other. One of the girls favorite gifts was a Build-A-Bear make your own animal. I spent a good part of the morning helping each girl sew them together. We then ate a big lunch and headed to the park. That evening we drove around looking at Christmas lights. It was a great day together. We are already looking forward to next year.

Merry Christmas

Kenzie and Presley's Pajama Party

Mackenzie and Presley, as I have mentioned before, have a super creative Momma and a retired kindie teacher Grandma. That equates to seriously cute parties for our playgroup. Last week, they hosted a Christmas pajama party for the girls. They decorated cookies, painted bread-dough ornaments and had a book exchange. We had a great time celebrating the season with all the girls.

Cute girls decorating cookies.

Gracyn and Presley painting ornaments. They are big girls now for sure!
Lila, Reagan, Presley, Mackenzie, Clara, Brenna, Claire, Addison, Gracyn, Ava and Nora

Addison loved the Tinkerbell book she got.

Reagan got a book she already had....we are working on her graciousness, however 5:30 post sugar and pre-dinner is a tough time for lessons.

Gracyn was too busy playing with Rudolph to open her book. Sissy took care of it.

Here they are winding down with Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas.

Can't get Enough

The girls' newest love is definitely ice skating! They can't get enough, and thankfully due to a great deal on Groupon, I have enough passes to last us the rest of the time we live here. Sunday was an amazingly beautiful winter day in Colorado. We have had lots of those this year! After church we headed right back out to the rink. The girls improved so much since their first trip out. They are both skating good distances on their own. We had a great time soaking up the sunshine and family togetherness.

Love this picture someone took for us....don't know why it is so foggy?

Helping my girlies skate.

Sweet sisters. Gracyn was a trooper hanging out on the sidelines for a few hours.
Daddy and his girls.

Love this sassy little sweetie.

Getting a hand from Daddy.

Doing it on their own.

We walked around the outdoor mall for a bit. But, about three seconds into Victoria's Secret, Reagan yelled, "Look at all these fancy boobies!". Other shoppers laughed....I quickly lost all hope for group shopping, bailed quickly and we snuggled by the fire instead.

Addison's Kindie Christmas Party

Last Thursday, in between 3 showings on our house. Reagan, Gracyn and I met Tommy at Addison's school for her "Winter" party. Season's like this sure make me miss our faith based preschool. Sad that there can be no mention of Jesus in her kindie party, but it was cute just the same. It was lots of fun, but total chaos....25 children with their parents and siblings all in one small room! Somehow, in all I was carrying we left Gracyn's shoes there. I didn't even notice they were gone until several hours later when we went to go out to dinner. :)

So cute!!! They turned each other into snowmen.

They had this little background set up for pictures. Gracyn posed as a snowman,

Addison's pose. Reagan wouldn't do it!

Daddy helping the girls with a bingo game.

Sweet sisters.

What started as a snowman dress-up ended up as a HUGE snow mess in the hall!

Reagan grabbed an extra snowflake project and was content in the back of the room working away.

Daddy negotiating for a bite of cookie! The girl DOES NOT share dessert.

Our sweet first born.

3 Girls in a Linen Closet

Daddy makes hide-and-seek really fun! He clued the big girls into this spot this evening. Of course, when Gracyn came along and saw what they were doing, she had to join in the fun.

And.... for the record, my linen closet only looks that beautiful because the house is on the market! Most of the time you have to stand back when opening the door because you never know what might explode! Currently most of it's belongings reside in my crawl space. That is one good side to moving.....keeps you organized.