Christmas portraits....

This year I tried taking the girls' photos on my own....so much cheaper than

taking them to a real studio.

The pictures turned out fairly well...still learning all

the settings on my camera - hate that they are so grainy...but when trying to work with the tree lights it made it difficult... but hopefully that will get better with practice.

Not too bad for trying to get two toddlers to be still! (and Tugger too!)

 

Santa!

This year we were able to go visit Santa while he was visiting at the hospital.

Madilynn was so excited! As we pulled into the parking lot she kept asking where

his sleigh and reindeer were!

Meredith on the other hand had made it quite clear she had

  no intentions of sitting on his lap!

Madilynn surprised me - once we got there she became very shy... and made me sit between her and the big guy!

That did they ask for? Madilynn wanted a horse - a real one - but since santa doesn't bring animals she changed it to a my little pony, and a baby doll.

Little sister Meredith of course asked for the same things!

Gingerbread houses....

 This year we found a gingerbread "village" to put together and decorate...

Matt and the girls did a great job...though I think the girls favorite part is eating all the candy decorations!

 

Yep...they probably ate just as much candy as they used to decorate!

Meredith of course had to show the completed houses to her baby.

Christmas fun...

This year the girls and I made cinnamon ornaments....we had fun baking and decorating them!

The house smelled so good!

 

There were a few other days we were able to make some more cookies....we made great use of the cute aprons Aunt Rose and Shalina made for all of us!

 

 

 

Our Beautiful Christmas tree...

The girls did a great job helping decorate the tree this year....(granted a lot of the ornaments were fairly low, and often moved around from day to day...but that is what made it so special)...it looked beautiful!

 

We spent each night reading our bedtime stories by the light of the tree...something we all enjoyed!

 

We had to be sure to keep the wrapped presents hidden away - these two little girls were just too curious to leave them under the tree ahead of time!