Wrapping up Christmas

To wrap up all of these Christmas posts are just a few random cute pictures.  Princess M showing off her new leash and she continues to act like an animal. (will this phase ever end???)  But she does make a cute one.

And Princess E showing her love to baby Alyssa.  She can't get enough of her, and from the smiles I think  the feeling is mutual.   

We hope 2011 is as great as 2010!

Build a Bear

 Santa knew that the princess' have wanted to go to Build a Bear for as long as he could remember.  So when a groupon (a deep discounted coupon that you purchase. This one was a $20 gift certificate for $10. ) came across his computer screen he jumped on it.  He gave it to them on Christmas morning.

When we got there they both got to choose out whichever one they wanted.  They both made a great choice.

 You start by filling it with lots of love, personality and hugs. (while the worker fills it with fluff)

 Then you choose a heart and jump up and down and in circles filling it with joy.  (great action shot of Princess E)

 (another great action shot of Princess M sharing the love)

 Then it gets sewn up and you go over to the bathing/brushing area. (it blows air to get all the excess fluff off)  The girls took this step very seriously.

 Then you can choose clothes, they have hundreds to choose from, and get your new friend dressed.

 Meet the newest members in our family, Snowbell and Princess.   (and just to toot my own horn, after the groupon coupons, and a few others from a friend I only spent $15. :)

Christmas Snow

 So it doesn't snow, not real amounts of snow, in the south.  So when a giant winter storm was in the forecast for Christmas day, and a few after, we were encouraged to make it up to Grandma and Grandpa's house earlier than we were originally planning on.  This is what we woke up to Christmas morning and it just kept coming.  In the end I think there was probably 5-6 inches.  A TON of snow for us.

 The girls were SO excited.  It has been 2 years since they have seen this much white stuff. Princess E thought it was a great idea when Grandpa asked her to shovel the walk.  She didn't last very long though.(I think that one shovel worth was it. lol)

This is one of my new favorite pictures of them.  They look SO cute in their matching jammies and new hats/gloves and snow.

 It wasn't long before they were out there rolling around and laughing their heads off.  They had a ball.  You would have thought Princess M was at the beach instead of snow with how much crawling and rolling around she was doing.  They did make some pretty amazing snow angels though.

Christmas morning 2010

We had a FANTASTIC Christmas this year as you can see!  I think Santa dumped his sleigh this year.  Pillow pets, new pet dogs with leashes, kinect with new fun games were just a few of the favorite gifts given to the princess' this year.  It was a GREAT day.

Waiting to go downstairs

 Christmas morning it started out with just the 2 of them on the stairs at Grandma's 

waiting to come downstairs.

But soon everyone else joined them.  A couple were too afraid to show their faces. :)

Christmas 2010

Since Uncle Keith's wedding was so close to Christmas I decided that the girls would use their flower girl dresses for their Christmas dresses too.  They are SO pretty in them, even if they give me a hard time when I make them wear them each week.  They were getting pretty silly before church this Sunday when I asked them to pose for the camera (or the cell phone since I can't find the camera).

Winter Class Parties

Another fun day.

Christmas Parade

The girls participated in their first Christmas Parade this year.  They were troopers and walked the whole thing in 30 degree weather. 

 I think next year we will look into a home made float that they can ride on to not be so worn out at the end.

This is just a picture of the new and improved Grandpa ride. :)

HUGE Christmas Miracle

Looking at this picture with 2 cute girls sitting on Santa's lap with smiles you may be asking yourself "Why on earth would this be a Christmas Miracle?"  Well I will tell you.  This is the first time EVER that these 2 princesses have sat on his lap and not been running in the other direction with huge dinosaur tears.

Ever since they were born they have been afraid of ALL persons dressed up in costume.  They KNOW it is just someone dressed up.  They KNOW it isn't real.  But it knowing has never made a difference.  But since they are almost 8 and 6, I am done with them being afraid for nothing.  So, although it was probably mean, I told them that if they didn't sit on his lap like the other kids at the ward party that he would NOT bring them any presents.

It was like a switch was flipped.  The fear went away and they sat there just fine.  Told him what they wanted, posed for a picture and were done.  No tears at all.  It was a HUGE Christmas Miracle!  :)

Girl Scouts Angel Tree

Our public library does a Festival of Trees every year.  Various clubs and organizations all decorate trees and display them all  month long.  This year all of the girl scout troops in the area made different angels and made an Angel Tree.  The girls were SO excited when we went to check out some books one day and they found their Angels on the tree.

Gingerbread House

Princess E is in a fantastic class this year with a great room mom.  She asked at Halloween if we could all send in the extra candy we collected because she needed it for a project at Christmas time.  This was the result.  She was brilliant and hot glued the houses together and had them ready for the kids to decorate that day.  They displayed them in the library windows for 2 weeks.  Good job Princess E.

2 Princesses

Halloween 2010- Better late than never right. :)

Fall Class Parties

We have had some great parties this year.  It is so fun for me to be able to attend them with the girls.  It always works out perfectly that I attend Princess M's in the morning, go to lunch with her.  Princess E comes to lunch a little later and we finish up and go to her party with her.

Fall Field Trip

 Princess M and I were able to go on a fun fall field trip together this fall.  It was at the outdoor Y and we got to learn all about things that the people back in the olden days did.  We made our own butter at one of the cabins.  Made a clothes pin doll in another and also got to meet Johnny apple seed and he told us all about apples and how they used an apple press to make apple juice.

 We also got to go on a hayride that ended at a little pumpkin patch where we each got to choose our very own pumpkin.

 As a chaperon, I was in charge of a great group of kids.  The dark haired little boy surprised me because he was so friendly to princess M.  He was the boy at the beginning of the year that she would say her prayers about to please have him be nice to her.  I think he just likes her. :)

 We had a great time on the bus together.