Like Christmas!

Family

On the 23rd we spent the whole day with all the cousins at the Harper's house where we played games, made and decorated cookies, and made ourselves pretty for family pictures. I got to go shoot shotguns with Chris and his brothers, the older cousins came too since it was only a short walk to the wood yard where they were and took some turns before I walked them back to the house. Family pictures were scheduled that night at a fancy barn so in the early afternoon I started my hair and most of the girls all had fun getting ready together. The barn was big and had plenty of places to take pictures and for the kids to run around playing tag and getting some flush to their cheeks. After the girl's bedtime, I cooked a batch of muffins while Chris went to the gym for a quick workout and to pick up more milk, eggs, and muffin mixes.

Christmas

On Christmas Eve, I stayed behind with the girls and one of my sisters-in-law to cook and set the table for breakfast while the rest of the family went to clean the church. We had a breakfast casserole, 3 types of muffins, bacon, and fruits with hot chocolate, milk, and juice to drink. After we had our fill, we rearranged the sunroom so we could all sing songs and listen to some stories before presents. All the kids got gingerbread houses that we got out and decorated a little later, there were games we played, puzzled we've put together, and plenty of books. By the end of the day, everyone had either gone home or to the other spouse's family to celebrate another Christmas and we were the only ones here for a lazy real Christmas Day where the only thing we did was go sledding. Chris and I made Christmas an event for the girls on Christmas Eve instead of opening presents twice when everyone would be gone, it would have been hard to stop them from opening all of theirs as well.

Claire

She is enjoying our vacation so much and always finds fun things to do no matter where we are visiting. On Wednesday, when we went to the temple, they stayed with their cousin's grandparents and made some friends there. At Grandma's and Grandpa's, they like to bring the cat in to cuddle, play with toys downstairs, or play in the sunroom pretending to exercise on the machines. There is so much to do at her cousin's house that she has no problem finding games with friends and toys all around. It is fun to see how well she plays with her cousins and listens instead of trying to boss anyone around like she does at home. She is always so excited to do the things we are doing like when we decorated cookies or the gingerbread house.

Shay

It is so unfair that she is so cute and also such a stubborn stinker butt sometimes. Her beautiful blue eyes melt my heart whenever I'm mad at her for throwing a tantrum and screaming because we don't have what she wants. The last 4 nights have been the best on our vacation so far and she has been able to sleep through the night in her own bed. She constantly asks for things we don't have like Cheetos, a yellow balloon, to go to a swimming pool, and doesn't forget about them anymore, just keeps bringing them up. No matter how many times I tell her we don't have the things she is asking for and explain why she still gets more and more upset about not getting what she wants. Luckily she is getting better at finding her own games with toys or playing with her cousins like getting piggyback rides!