Even though the beautiful fall came and went we were so excited for December to roll around. Christmas is all the more fun with kiddos around. This year we decided to head out to the West Coast to spend the holidays with family. I'll be honest, I wasn't very sure about having Christmas across the country. But it turned out so wonderful. The kiddos and I stayed over there just shy of one month and Joseph was there for two weeks in the middle. So much driving and visiting and spending time with missed family and friends. Who can complain about that?
The littles and I left on the 16th of December so we kept our Christmas decorations to a minimum. I didn't want to come home in the middle of January and not only have to unpack, but put away all our Christmas decorations. We decided that we still needed to get some sort of tree for the littles. So we went to the same Christmas tree lot as we did last year and found the most perfect little tree I've ever seen. The kiddos loved walking through the rows and rows of trees playing peek-a-boo.
It was so perfect for us. We don't have very much room in our living room anyway so the size was perfect. Plus I wrapped that thing in lights within 10 minutes and let Amelia do the rest. She took a full 2 hours making that thing just right. Then when she was done she proudly stated, "There. Santa is going to love it."
See, isn't it cute?
I've stated before that dinner is a nightly fail for me as a mother. It seems that every night, that is the time they are the neediest, fussiest, whiniest. EVERY NIGHT. I really try to be a patient mother, but this is the hardest time of the day for me. They have to be right there under my feet, pulling, tugging, fighting. Ugh. Well this particular night they were right there with me while I was preparing dinner, but they were quite and playing together. They had pulled out a few cans and were stacking them. Well by the time I was done fixing dinner this was the end result of my kitchen. Was it worth the peace and quiet? Luckily my littles are typically good little helpers and they helped me put everything away before we ate.
One Sunday we came out of church to this. We got slammed. It did make for beautiful scene though.
Meet Snow our "snowmother".
James' first time in the snow. He really loved it. Just crawled around everywhere. I was freezing and ready to go in long before these two were.
I know this picture has a blue tint (and I'm too tired to go fix it), but I just love it. He really enjoyed himself out in that snow.
He was like The Christmas Story child. He couldn't quite stay sitting up in all his gear.
One day when James was down for a nap. Amelia and I had a little Mommy-Daughter date on the front porch. We sat and sang songs and sipped our hot cocoa. She's been really into dates with Mommy. She's always asking me to go on a date with her.
Sometimes when we are out running errands or something Amelia will say lets go see my Dad so we make sure to go visit this good looking guy at his office. My man.
Gingerbread house making. James just did gingerbread house eating.
My days with these two are hilarious. Can't help but love them.
Mommy and Amelia went on a fabulous girls day to the Nutcracker. She had been looking forward to it for weeks. She was just in awe with every part of it. She was dying to talk to Clara and had to have a picture with them. In fact we got the picture first and then started to walk away and she was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I just got to scared and didn't say anything to Clara." So we talked about being brave and went to try it again. She ran right up and yelled, "Hi!"
When we walked out the snow was back so we took a little time to dance and play in it.
The night before we headed to Nevada we went to Longwood Gardens to see the lights. I honestly didn't expect it to be as beautiful as it was. It was freezing! Yet the kids were bundled and didn't complain once. James just kept saying, "Wow."
I'm trying a lot harder to get in more pictures. Not only with the kids, but with my love. So here you go!
The next morning, bright and early, we were headed "home." I was super nervous about flying with these two. We only had two seats for the three of us. James is at the fit throwing stage so I was hoping that the person that was going to have to sit next to us would not have to experience that. We were lucky enough to get one of the very few extra seats they had. It was such a blessing! They were such great passengers. The last 45 minutes was probably the hardest for James. He kept saying, "All done. All done. All done." But that is when I pulled out my secret stash of licorice and it quieted him right up.
Don't you want to kiss those sweet fishy lips? Funny story. So Amelia found out that James can do fishy lips and she cannot. So practically the entire plane ride was me trying to teach her to do it. By the time we landed she had some pretty good fishy lips going on. Sibling rivalry, already begun.
My kids are blessed with some amazing grandparents. Here is Amelia learning to driving a tractor with Grandpa. He was letting her steer all on her own and she thought it was incredible.
The daily egg gatherers gang.
So James has never shown much interest in any one thing, but the first day we were there we went to one of Preston's basketball games. He sat there calmly the entire time. He would point, then clap, then blow kisses. He was so interested in it. Then when Preston came out at the end he just looked Preston up and down in his uniform. Then dove into his arms. We were lucky enough to go to a few games while there. It was so wonderful to be home and feeling the Lincoln love. I've forgotten how much I love it there.
We were there for about 5 days before Joseph got there on Saturday morning. Amelia wasn't quite acting herself that day and I thought maybe I should take her into see a doctor, but then I put it off. Joseph and I were on our way to drop the kids off so we could go to a Christmas party when she told me it hurts when she swallows. So we stopped and I looked in her throat. Poor thing. It looked terrible. I made Joseph go onto the Christmas party without me and I took Amelia to an urgent care. After several hours of waiting we came out with the diagnosis of Scarlet fever. I couldn't believe it. All I could think was that Christmas was in a few short days and even if she starts feeling better I was certain James was going to get it. Having sick kiddos while on vacation is terrible. So plans changed and we went onto Panaca a few days early in hopes to not infect Joseph's entire family and just infect mine. :) We were there until Christmas Eve when we drove back to Henderson to be with Joseph's family. At that point Amelia was feeling tons better and James wasn't showing any signs of anything. We were just keeping our fingers crossed.
The littles in their Christmas Eve jammies.
Christmas morning!!
James loved his doggy pillow, but was most excited about the few suckers found in his stocking.
Amelia was just delighted with everything!
We traveled this road a lot during our trip
It's a good thing we have pretty good little travelers.
Played a little racquetball with my fam.
Watching Papa's train.
The Annual Robbins Ice Fishing Trip.
This was the first ice fishing that Amelia really remembers. She thought it was just awesome. I think James enjoyed himself too. Papa and Nessie pulled them all around the ice on sleds and Amelia even caught her very first fish! She was so patient waiting for it. The first time she got one, but then it got off and took her bait. So we got it back in there and she waiting patiently until she said, "Dad. I think I've got one! My pole is moving!" And sure enough. She had one.
After we left Panaca we went to Brianhead to join Joseph's family at Stephanie's cabin. I know I didn't take that many pictures, but I can't find any of the ones I did take. So maybe if I find them I'll post them. But it was a lot of fun there. Joseph, me, and Amelia went tubing along with some other family members. It was a blast. We also did a lot of game playing, which Joseph and I miss tremendously. When we lived in Utah we played games all the time, but there are only so many two player games you can play without getting sick of it. So we loved playing some group games again.
That pretty much wraps up our December. It was fun, magical, and went by way too fast.
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