Snow!

 You can do a lot with a little snow.  We made a little snowgirl and had a fun snowball fight.

 Rielee came back from her sledding trip at the mountain and brought her sleds over to try them out in the yard and driveway.  She was trying to ride one standing up while being attacked by the twins.

 We played a game of Googly Eyes last night, Ava had to draw with the blue lens and switch hands.  It's a pretty fun game, it helps that the girls are all good at drawing.

Rielee and Ava tried out one of the masks Rielee got for Christmas. It was a bit too strong for Ava though, she took hers right off.  Rielee loves all the spa stuff.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve started at home, exchanging gifts with Charb, Kelly, Ava and Harper.  The girls were happy with their Barbie camper, but just as happy with some whoopee cushions they got, too, go figure.  Then we all went down to Robin and Dan's for dinner, Santa's visit, the traditional family pictures in front of the tree, and the gift exchange.

 The Gourde/Utecht Family

 The Gourdes, we missed Lexi and Luke, but they were with their Dad's family.

And the "kids" who are mostly grown now, oh my.  Little Tor kept us all entertained playing ball with James during the gift exchange.

The Gourde Girls

Auna and Parker, waiting for 2016-when they'll turn 16.

Tierney, Macee, Emmy- hearing the sound the these three laughing is priceless.

Santa!

Santa brought them the "Mama with baby stuffed animals" they had on their list!

Such a fun evening with our wonderful family. 

Rielee's sweatshirt, cookie baking, chapter books

 Rielee was all smiles when she came over to show us her new club sweatshirt, she's sure enjoying her new volleyball team.

 Our cookie baking session Saturday was mostly a bust, I was out of red food coloring, overcooked the first batch and dropped the last batch on the floor, but Ava and Harper didn't care.  They had fun decorating the few cookies they had left.

As a Christmas gift, the girls' teacher gave them books.  Ava's was a Junie B. Jones chapter book, her first ever.  Harper must have been a little envious, because when we went to the library she found a Nancy Clancy book on her own, one their school librarian had read aloud to them.  She needs a little help reading it, but was eager to try.  Ava checked out 2 other Junie B. books and was surprised to see that Rielee's name was on the card in one of them.  Rielee loved all the Junie B. Jones books, as did Lexi.

Best fort ever, cuties, Rielee piano recital, gingerbread houses

Sunday Ava and Harper built the biggest fort ever, using every blanket and chair in the house.  They had separate rooms for music, scissors, cooking, toys, reading, even band-aids. 

Had to have a picture of the three of them Monday morning since they were all dressed in black and white with jeans on.  They were excited to go to school and hand out the Christmas mugs they made for their teachers and special ladies in the office.

After taking a year off from piano lessons, Rielee is back at it and had her recital tonight.  She played "Silent Night" and did a great job.

I got to help in Emmy's classroom today as the kids made gingerbread houses and decorated them.  They had so much fun and were very creative.  It went amazingly well.

Emmy's helper

Rielee doling out Tacky Glue so this guy could add a bow to his wreath.

Rielee had today off because of the flooding, so she went with me to help in Emmy's room.  The kids made puzzle piece wreaths with their pictures in them as a Christmas gift for their parents.  They also made cards and decorated a sack to hold their gifts.  Rielee wants to be a teacher when she grows up, so she was very serious about helping out, and tickled that she also got to correct some papers.  It was cute when Emmy introduced Rielee to the class as her cousin, they were surprised,"she's your cousin?!"  Emmy explained that she had cousins of all ages.

Luke, Auna basketball, reading and elves

Monday we watched Luke play a home game at  vs. Columbia River.  It was a good game, really close, Luke had a couple of 3's and they won. 

His 3 sisters and all their curls on the sidelines, playing a game on the iPad.

After Luke's game we went to LaCenter and watched Auna play.  The Rockets sort of had their hands full with the tall, quick Wildcats and lost, Auna had 9 points.

Last night, Ava read her library book to Rielee.  She was so proud of it, she had asked the librarian for a book on polar bears, and this one had many fun facts about them. 

This morning after breakfast, I said something about my invisible elf and what he had done last night and suddenly Harper's eyes lit up.  She jumped up, got Ava and they went in the bedroom, instructing Papa and I to keep out and said when they came back out, we were to shut our eyes and we would have something to find.  Well, they had made us our own elves, it was so cute!  They hid them and we had to find them.  When Rielee came over, they made her one, too.  Such thoughtful girls! 

Old Maid, Really big Roo

Papa and the girls  had to play an early morning game of Old Maid with Rielee before she went home, she had never played it before.  Papa lost.

Rielee with Roo in June...

and now, she's grown so much!

Tree day

We made a trip to Miller's this morning to get our tree.  It was cold and rainy and the girls were mostly impressed with the deer poop, but Harper managed to find just the right one, tall and skinny- without walking too far.  Rielee came over and the three of them decorated it.  Getting on the ladder to reach the top was definitely the best part.  They did a great job and it looks very nice.

Jammies on, ready for their sleepover in front of the Christmas tree.