Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve proved to be a whole day of fun! The biggest surprise of the day was that it snowed! Jane was super excited! She went out a couple of times during the day. Jill and Jackson had to watch from inside.

The second time Jane went out the snow had accumulated on the ground so she was determined to make snow angels. Only she couldn't figure out the best place for that. She tried here...

and here...

She also wanted to eat the snow...

Jill was watching Jane so intently that every time Jane would eat snow Jill would copy her...

After our snow adventures Jane came in and made a little holiday craft...

Again, Jill had to just watch...

They turned out pretty cute...

In the early evening we went over to my parents for Christmas Eve dinner and presents!

This is my brother Stephen and Jane.

My brother Preston got an ipod touch and Stephen's boys Cameron and Carson were so disappointed because they desperately wanted one too (little did they know Santa is bringing them one tonight shhhh... don't tell them).

Jill is such a Paw Paw girl!

Jane LOVED her presents! Here are some of her favorite ones...

Jill LOVED her presents too...

I think Stephen and Monica were glad to finally get the extremely too long wedding throw I have been working on (or holding hostage- whichever way you want to look at it) for TWO YEARS!

And me... LOOK WHAT I GOT!!!!!

All in all it was a Christmas Eve that couldn't be beat! I can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow!

Jill's One Year Old Pictures

Today I took Jill in to have her first birthday pictures and since they have Santa there too we went to the Picture People to kill two pictures with one stone. Now, everyone knows that I have had my share of issues with The Picture People but really if you have the right coupons you can't beat what you get for the price! And in this case we had a pretty good experience and Jill was such a super star. The photographer even said she was the best one year old they have had with Santa. Anyway, here are some of the shots we got...

Gingerbread House

Today we had a great playdate with my friend Rachel and her girls, Chloe, Heidi and Julie. The girls made a gingerbread house and decorated cookies. Here is Rachel building the structure.

Chloe is holding it together for us.

We just got one of those pre-baked kits for like $9 at Joann Fabrics. It comes with everything including candy (though we added some more for the fun of it).

Jill sat on the table enjoying the MANY cookies that were stealthfully handed to her by one girl or another when no one was looking.

We all had a great time! These fun playdates the girls are having over the Christmas break really make me wish I could stay home and do fun stuff with them all of the time! I am so thankful for the holiday season and all the great experiences there are to have!

Christmas Train

Since my girls have both been really into some of the train exhibits we have visited lately my parents kindly offered us their Christmas train.

Here is Jay setting it up.

Jane the poser!

The girls LOVED it!!!!

Jane is waving to Santa. As the train goes around he says, "Ho, Ho, Ho".

Unfortunately we aren't able to keep it up long term this year because even though Jill LOOKS really composed in these pictures she actually had to be held back several times to keep her from tearing it off the track. We'll set it up again next year (of course then we will have another little crawler around so that might have to be another temporary set up as well).

A visit to the Gaylord

Jay and I have been wanting to take the girls to the Gaylord Texan hotel during this Christmas season because we have heard from many people of all the Christmas decorations they have and because neither of us have ever been. After seeing my friend Laura's blog post the other day I got new motivation to go. Jay and I met our friends Nancy and RIchard there. Their little girl Jennifer is a very good friend of Jane's. When we first got there the girls were excited to exchange presents.

Then they led us around the hotel looking at all of the decorations.

That pic above is them looking at the trains. Who would of thought my girls were such train fans. I might have to get a little Christmas train for them next year.

Right after this picture poor Jennifer jumped off of the bench and took quite a spill and hit her mouth so we took the girls for some ice cream.

We tried to get some posed shots here and there. I like this family one on the sleigh.

Nativity Exhibit

This afternoon my mom and I took the girls to see a nativity exhibit at a church in Colleyville.

Just an aside: when I asked Jay if he wanted to go, the conversation went something like this:

Jay: You are going to see what?

Me: a nativity exhibit

Jay: What do they have there?

Me: Nativities, like over 1,000 of them!

Jay: You are going to see over 1,000 models of the same thing?

Me: Yes!

Jay: Have fun!

And we did! My mother actually collects nativities so I think she really enjoyed seeing them. She said she wants to go back next year alone so she can really spend some time inspecting them. Jane was really excited to go because she thought she was going to get to "meet Jesus" and poor thing she was HIGHLY disappointed when she realized baby Jesus wasn't actually there. My favorite part of the exhibit was dressing up for a picture of us in a live nativity. Here are some shots we got of some of the nativities, not even close to all of them because like I said there were over 1,000.

They had one room that was all children nativities. So cute! Jane was especially excited to see one of the Little People nativities like we have at home. It is a BIG hit with both Jane and Jill at our house (actually Jill is playing with it right now as I type!) Here are some pics from the kids room.

Like I said though, my favorite part of the exhibit was dressing up for the live nativity. As you can see I dressed as Mary and mom is one of the wise men and the girls are both angels. I think Joseph must be around back tending to some sheep or perhaps swapping traveling stories with the other two wise men?