No I have not given up...just WAY behind!!

So it does feel a little strange to be writing & reading about Christmas in March but I have been a major slacker in the blogging world and could not bring myself to just skip over all of our fun Christmas festivities.
Can I just say I LOVE having kids. I really do. Granted they take over all of my time, energy, social life, cleanliness, and hobbies I may have once had but still they seem to make things so much more worthwhile. Shawn says it is because I am still a kid living vicariously through them...which is probably true, but they are an excellent excuse to do fun things.
The entire Christmas season was so much fun this year due to the fact that they seem to get super excited over everything!!! It really just makes holidays that much better.





I decided to make a countdown calendar this year with a different activity to do each day, so we could celebrate all month long. :) I had no trouble coming up with Christmas activities just finding the time to fit them all in.

We made gingerbread houses with Grandma, Christmas trees with ice cream cones,

doughnuts & snowman soup,



Candy cane mice and many many Christmas stories to match the activity.

We also wrapped Lauryn in lights,

and made choo-choo trains while watching Polar Express, & candy bar snowmen while watching Frosty the Snowman.

Of course we could not forget to send our letters to Santa...

Brylie wrote hers entirely by herself and only needed a little help spelling words. Just so I remember her letter said: Dear Santa, Hello from Cedar. My name is Brylie, I have been a very good girl this year. I clean and am even a good sister. What I would like for Christmas this year is hair colors because I love them. If your elves are not too busy I would also like a mermaid doll. My house is the sunset one with a brown roof and no chimney. I promise to leave you hot chocolate on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas! From, Brylie
P.S. Please say hi to Rudolph for me.
Lauryn needed a little more help but knew exactly what she wanted to say and did an excellent job scribbling over the entire page.
Dear Santa, My name is Lauryn and I have been very good this year. I would please like for you to bring me some things. Here is the short list. Dora Game, Dora Bath Toys, Jasmine Dress Up & Crown. All my love, Tink Tot.

As much as the girls love to hear and talk about Santa Clause they still seem quite nervous about getting too close. It took some major bribing just to get these pictures near him, and neither one would say a word.
Snowman Pancakes for the girls and cousins...i know they could use a little work.

Mr. Elfie is a HUGE hit around our house and the girls loved finding him in random places. (including eating Oreos in our pantry)

They even enjoyed playing in the cold snow. Although I leave this activity up to Shawn while I watch out the window from the warmth of my home. (I really don't like being cold.)


Brylie was such a sweet sister to "read" or re-tell from memory, Christmas stories to Lauryn when I didn't have the time because Lauryn pretty much asked for them all day long.

I also found it very cute that Bry insisted on drawing a picture and leaving a snack for not just Santa but Rudolph & Jesus as well. For Santa she left cookies & a picture of a Christmas tree with presents. Rudolph got an apple so he would have plenty of energy to fly (healthy snacks are best for this, Bry informed me) and Jesus received a picture of the nativity scene and a cupcake because it was his birthday. Seriously this kid amazes me with her thoughtfulness.

Presents, presents, & more presents. What can I say...my parents are out of control.


And of course one of our favorite things about the holidays is spending time with the family.
Here are all of the little mermaids playing together in Papa Geno's "hot cuzzie"