Christmas EVE Part 1

I have a few pictures from December that I need to get from my Mom- I'll add this eventually...But for now, CHRISTMAS!

Christmas weekend was VERY busy. Ryan and I celebrated  "Same Age Day" on the 22nd and went out to eat and had a little fun bowling (not some thing we actually have ever done alone together- it was fun!)...It was so nice to sit for an entire meal, to finish complete sentences and relax! Thanks to my Mom for keeping all 3 kiddos for us!

Christmas Eve we had brunch at my Mom's with one of my older brothers and his fiance. It was a nice quiet morning...We missed the rest of my siblings (who were either ill/working or out of state)

That evening we drove out to my Aunt's house and got there later than we hoped to because of a random snow storm...I would rather forget the rest of that evening- but for the record: the drive home was a NIGHTMARE.
  The snow was coming down quite hard and the roads were a mess...Our 40 minute drive took about an hour and twenty, and AJ and PJ screamed THE.ENTIRE.WAY.HOME
PJ because she currently hates her car seat and AJ because her "belly hurt" (oh fleeting malady, which, also for the record, went away the moment we were all settled inside our cozy home). In fairness to AJ she had been exposed to a lot of different foods- she could have gotten hold of some thing she that was contaminated (she has food allergies) she tends to have a sensitive stomach and she *could* have truly had some trapped air in her belly that she couldn't work out strapped in her car seat.
 But the way she was screaming made it sound like some thing HAD to be rupturing.

I guess almost every child has *that* child...The one that is larger than life, that makes life infinitely MORE. That's our middle girl. We wouldn't trade her exhausting little ways for any thing but SHEESH- you will never ever appreciate the volume she can reach (and I have never met any one so LOUD) until you're trapped in a vehicle with her.
Anyway, between the stress of driving in the weather up and down big hills and the screaming children: exhausting and nerve wracking night. We got home to find Ryan's brother Shane had arrived. We gave the girls their ginger tea (we promised in desperation on the drive home), and got them to bed. Then we cleaned and wrapped and did all the Christmas Evey things that must be done. 

First Christmas!

The BIG GIFT assembled, Thanks Uncle Shane and Ryan!

She was very curious about the presents

We put this wonderful doll house together that we got with gift money from Great Grandma Connie Lou/GGpa Charlie and Great Grammie and Grandpa Wakefield- Thank you all so much- this dlll house is AMAZING and going to get so much use! (lots of pictures to come)