New Years Eve

This was Auna on the couch after we got home from Azteca, we were so full we could hardly function.  She stayed with us this afternoon-we did a little shopping and had lunch- and then again in the evening for a couple of hours while Mom and Dad went to an employee party.  We watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was okay.  Laury and David picked her up at 8 and they went to town to see another movie.   I'm afraid Auna was probably a little bored today with just us, this neighborhood is too quiet when the Gourde's are gone.

A weekend of little girls

watching a movie by flashlight

 Ava and Harper spent Saturday and Sunday night with us.  Rielee came over to play Saturday but couldn't stay over since they were leaving early Sunday to go skiing.  They played games and Barbies and she brought the Despicable Me II movie she got for Christmas for them to watch. Then they all went over to play at her house until bedtime. 

 Lately I've noticed at bedtime that the girls will be studying and playing with their fingers.  I asked Ava what she was doing and she said "finger games" and that her fingers were a girl and a "honey" (boy) and they were going on a date.  Later I noticed that Harper was doing the same thing, although in a more animated way, she said her fingers were kids running around all over the place and also called it "finger games".

pointing out the holes

 Ava was upset this morning when she noticed that her favorite blanket had a couple of holes in it.   I had to get my sewing machine out right away and mend it, although she told me that Grandma Barb had a machine, too, and she would fix it if I couldn't.  She was worried about her blanket.

Papa plays Monopoly

Shock of all shocks, Rielee talked Papa into playing Monopoly Thursday night.  Actually, she begged, but it worked and she was so happy since he's never played before.

 I got out to an early lead with good properties, so they ganged up on me, Rielee loved that.  When I took out Papa, she told him "don't worry, she's going down, Papa, I'm taking her down!"  And after a lon-n-n-g time, she finally did.  Papa admitted he had a lot of fun playing since Rielee is so competitive and loves the game so much.   She stayed the night with us, too. 

Christmas day

 Family pictures from Christmas Eve (Luke and Lexi were with their Dad).

 

 Des and Gabe and the kids came over at 8:00 this morning for our traditional Christmas breakfast of biscuits and gravy.  Then it was time for the stockings and presents.

 Rielee got a Barbie van that she really wanted.

 They were some happy kids, especially since their big surprise gift from Mom and Dad was a family trip to Hawaii in June.

 Scratching off lotto tickets, Charb was the big winner this year with a $25 winner and Rielee was happy to win $6.

Kitty got to come over for Christmas, too.

Christmas Eve

Harper and Ava in a "sister hug"

Charb, Kelly and the twins came to our house early Christmas Eve. 

 The girls were excited to open gifts and were happy with the Barbie house.

 They started right in playing with it.  There was a little protesting when it was time for Dad to load it in the car until they realized they had another party to go to.

 At Dan and Robin's, Rielee sat on Santa's lap first, but the closest Harper and Ava would get

 was sitting beside him on Mom's lap

and then Ava was afraid to even look at him!

But they were sure thrilled with the Princess Babies they got from Santa!

Cousin poses - Macee, Emmy, Tierney

Parker and Auna

and all the cousins, many so grown up now!  We had a wonderful time, as usual, great food, another fun gift exchange, and the company of  a  loving family.  What more can you ask for?

A day full of sports

Auna killing it

Our day started at Auna's club volleyball tournament in Kalama.  She played well.  From there   we went to Mtn.View H.S. where Luke's Titan team was playing.                                             

Luke bringing the ball down the court
 

Luke played really great despite having a migraine develop at the start of the game.

 Parker was playing at Mtn.View, too, so we got to watch him play right after Luke, his team lost a close one but Parker played a good game. 

Rielee, Ava and Harper entertained themselves during the games playing Barbies with a couple of other little friends.

Papa finished the day back at Auna's tournament, her team took 2nd.

Preschool Christmas Program

One is for the manger where Baby Jesus lay.

Two is for Mary and Joseph on that Christmas Day.

Three is for the wise men who brought three gifts of love.

Four is for the shepherds and angel songs above.

Five is for the animals who stood guard in the shed

Over Baby Jesus in his Manger bed.

While the Preschool Director read the poem above, the children came out dressed in character.  Ava was Mary,

Harper was an angel.  It was very sweet.

Then they recited a Bible verse and sang 4 songs, they did a great job,  Harper was very animated.

They had cupcakes afterwards with fellow twins Alysha and Shayla.  They also got presents and brought home ornaments they had made.

Great-Grandma Cookie came to watch, the girls were so happy she was there.

Tonight we went to a party at Des and Gabe's, a Christmas reunion for Macee, Maddie, Tierney, Kenzi and their parents.   Rielee posed with Kitty, the dress-wearing cat. 

Piano recital/meeting Dan

The twins and Rielee before her Christmas piano recital tonight.  It was wonderful, all Christmas carols played by kids up to 5th grade.  Rielee did a great job and Ava and Harper were good. 

The girls were excited after we got home because Emmy was bringing her friend Dan over to meet them.   The girls were a little shy at first but Dan made friends with them by playing ball with them and they loved it.   Since it was bedtime, he, Emmy and Auna  cut their visit short but by then Ava and Harper were showing off big time, Harper even asked if they could change into their dresses and put on a show, but it was too late for that.   When I was putting her to bed, she told me that when Dan and Emmy come back and visit again she wanted to play ball with him.  She said he was so silly- hiding the ball in his shirt and his hood. 

Before school

The girls played Polly Pocket this morning before school.  They always squeeze as much fun as possible out of this half hour together. 

After preschool we took the twins to the Dollar Store so they could pick out gifts for their family.  Papa was worried, thinking it might be a hassle.  But he was wrong, the girls were well behaved, excited to be shopping and thoughtful about what they picked out. 

Emmy and Parker

Emmy is back home, done with volleyball and college and ready to go to work after the holidays.

Getting a picture of her and the twins was nearly impossible.  Ava was busy cooking and didn't want to stop, Harper was busy with Play Doh, a candy bribe finally brought them around, Harper cooperated first which is why she has her Skittles in the picture, and then she waved to me, so silly.  Ava held out and we thought we might just have a picture of Em and Harper, but she finally gave in.

Parker didn't have school today, the furnace was being repaired, so he came over to do yardwork for me.  He came in afterwards to visit and eat and sat down with Ava while she looked through the Macys ad for Christmas pictures.  He kept trying to tickle her and she would get aggravated and she told him that sometimes Luke bugs her, too.

Tree Farm field trip

Harper sat with Teagan

and Ava sat with Boden on the bus ride out to Ferncrest Tree Farm.

They got to pet goats and sheep and there were also reindeer, a Shetland pony, llamas and other animals to see.  It was very cold out with some snow still in spots. 

Harper petted a goat's nose through the fence, but she didn't want to go inside and mostly just wanted to go home. 

It was quite a hike to the Douglas fir section and a difficult decision for the kid's to pick out just the right tree, they went from one to another to another...Papa did the cutting for both classes' trees. 

The kids helped the teachers carry the tree to the director's pickup.  It was comical after Papa put the tree in the truck, he went to jump out over the side, except this truck was much bigger and higher than his and he landed hard, lost his balance and almost launched himself over the hillside, fortunately his fall was stopped by a tree.  I had to laugh when he came out with fir needles stuck in his hair.

The kids warmed up with donut holes and hot chocolate in the gift shop afterwards.

On the bus ride home Ava and Harper were very animated talking to the boys, Harper said they were telling jokes.  I asked what kind and she said "like what if my eyeball fell off and landed in my mouth, that would be so gross!" and they cracked up laughing. 

More snow, no school

Rielee and Kitty

A picture of Rielee and her kitten from the other day, she had brought her over to visit us.  The scratch under Rielee's eye is from Kitty, she is a rambunctious little companion.

 

Ava got up at 4:30 this morning, Harper 6:10, they were coughing some but both went back to sleep until Rielee came over at 7:30.  It was a snow day today so it was play time for the 3 cousins.  They put on a show, did some crafts which resulted in a painting "incident" where Harper suddenly couldn't find her paint pot...because it was upside down on the rug...Harper played Barbies and Ava took a bath while I steam cleaned the green paint out of the rug.   Afterwards,  Laury and Auna came over to visit and we got the donut maker out since I had promised Harper we would bake something today.  It was a busy but fun day.

Sledding

Rielee had early release today so she got to play with the twins this afternoon.  They played princesses and listened to music and danced.  Once they were tired of that, they sat with Papa and read their Look and Find Princess books.

 Rielee brought over her sleds so I pulled the girls over to her house and they went sledding down the driveway with her, pretty scary since she can't steer very well.

We were probably out for all of 15 minutes before Harper was running for the house because her hands were cold.  Ava stayed out and went for one more ride with Rielee.  We decided to keep the girls over night in case the roads are bad in the morning.

First snow

We got a little snow this morning, enough to make driving a bit too exciting for Papa as he went to get the girls.  Actually the worst driving was the freeway near Castle Rock, coming up Spirit Lake Hwy. and our driveway.  After preschool the twins headed out to play in the snow, making snow angels and throwing snow balls at each other and Papa and I.   Oh, and cleaning as much snow as they could reach off of the red car.  What fun!

Cousins

Ava, Rielee and Harper - before school yesterday