I feel like I have so much catch-up to do that I can't cover anything. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them do most of the talking. December was exhausting and fun, but I'm excited for a new year. I think I overplanned on my homemade gift category and totally wore myself out so much that I didn't feel like I got to enjoy Christmas like I should have. I was too tired. This year I will do it differently. Simplify. :) We loved every second of having Brian's family here and miss them. We love company.
Hailey and I had MANY late night shopping trips.
Claire didn't sleep enough either and had multiple meltdowns.
We went to the park....in December....in jackets. Texas is still so foreign to me.
Jared ran past Hailey with a hot wheels and hit her in the face. she has a little bruise by her right eye.
It wouldn't be Christmas without a tree topple.
And then we played outside in the water. Once again....so weird.
Remember how I married an old man. He turned 32 last month. Thirty-two....it just sounds so old to me. :)
We love him!
He got his homemade cherry pie. Anything for him. He got to eat it almost all by himself.
Then, there once was this time where we fell completely in love with our missionaries. We loved having them over and enjoyed our "hang out" times. Unfortunately we didn't get to have Thanksgiving with them because another ward member called dibs, so we called them for Christmas. Then, unfortunately again Elder Witkowski got transferred "clear out to jabip" and we didn't get to have them both anyway. Therefore, we had to celebrate Christmas a little early and let him have his gift. Christmas just wasn't the same without him. Darn transfers. We still miss him.
We gave him a Children's songbook. He's a convert and doesn't know the songs, so we didn't want him to feel lost ever again.
Transferred before Christmas is bad, but transferred before Christmas and your birthday that happens on dec. 28th was cruel.
Bye, Elder Witkowski! :(
As tradition holds true, I let Brian open up one of his Christmas gifts so he could get some play time in before family arrived.
We invited the Elders over for Christmas Eve. Santa brings gag gifts to everyone and we think Elder Lamberth thinks we're super uncool. Whatevs. We're not trying to fit in with anyone.
Look at that, "you're so uncool" face.
Elder Evans. We love him!
There's that face again.
Nothin' like pj's on Christmas.
Then Elder Evans took over the camera. He is known to get the most unattractive pictures of all people. Just wait. There's more...
...like this one. He told us to kiss and this is the shot he got.
Claire wanted lots of princesses so this was a real winner!
....and even if we're uncool, at least there was a genuine smile when he got his gift of canned asparagus from the dollar store. (Background story: I asked him what his favorite dessert was and he asked me if I liked asparagus. I gave him a wary look and said, "you're killing me here". He'll forever get asparagus.)
Sibling love. The best.
Probably my favorite moment of Elder Lamberth. When no one is looking he can be such a dear.
Courtesy of Elder Evans. Hideous. Simply hideous.
CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!!
Santa brought exactly what they asked for!!!
We are a Scooby-Doo family!
Sporting the Elsa cape mom made.
A life-size spiderman? Sleeps with him every night.
Our new photo printer that I can't wait to use! Thanks mom and dad!
The kids got fatheads from my parents. Vinyl wall hangings. These are huge....and they look so cool!
Cooking in her new apron.
Then the real party began. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came and spoiled us with all this playtime and super awesome toys/books. We miss them! In fact, when they left on Tuesday, Claire woke up and said, rather angrily I might add, "I told them to leave on Wednesday!" She was a little put out that they left sooner than she wanted. Seriously, it went way too fast and I wish they could have stayed a little longer. Jeff, Mary and their kids came up for a few days as well, but I didn't take a single picture (gasp!). I think I was overwhelmed with the kids and Hailey only wanted to be held by me most of the time. By Saturday night I only felt like a mom of one because I hadn't really seen Claire and Jared in days. Haha. I think that's the joy of having cousins around to play with.
I am now washing doodle bear every other day. A huge hit!
Told ya I was exhausted. I love these moments.
Hailey turned 9 months old. She's 21 lbs!
Look how they have the same expression. I love this one!
Jared wouldn't sit still, so this is the best I got.
We will greatly miss Uncle Brik and all his playtime/help when he leaves tomorrow. :(
