Chad's Return from Job Interviews

We were all happy to be reunited with Chad after a week long absence. Chad interviewed with University of Wyoming and Brigham Young University (Provo). He was happy with how the interviews went, but unfortunately we won't know the results for several months.

Chad surprised us all with a few gifts.

Emily and Annie were very excited to open their presents.

Nutcracker Christmas ornaments!

A beautiful princess for Emily.

A pink ballerina for Annie.

I got some Merry Christmas blocks. Thanks Chad.

We sure missed you! We're glad you're home!

Girl's Night

The night before Chad was to return home from his week long trip we decided to have a "girl's night". We decorated our gingerbread house, made pink popcorn, and had a pajama party. We had a great time and it helped us survive the remaining hours until Chad returned home.

Annie and Emily wearing their "Mrs. Clause" aprons.

We had a division of labor: Emily tried to put the decorations on the house and Annie enjoyed eating them.

So cute!!!!

Emily's latest picture pose...
Adorable!

Our cute gingerbread house.

Polar Express Party

Saturday was a day of parties. We had the ward party in the morning and in the afternoon we headed to the library for a Polar Express party. They gave each of the kids a Polar Express ticket when they arrived. Then they read the story of the Polar Express to all of the children.

Later, we had a surprise visitor.
Here comes Santa Claus...

All the children got a chance to sit on Santa's lap. Annie was very nervous about the whole thing but was a good sport about it. She only cried a little bit. This was the best picture I could get.

Santa gave each child a bag with a bell and a candy cane.

Then it was time for cookies and hot chocolate.

(Annie is teething. Can you tell?)
We had a great time!

Puppet Fun

The kids got to decorate finger puppets for music class this week. Emily decided that we needed a puppet theater. It made for lots of fun.

We're Counting Down...

When there is a special event or holiday, Emily asks me every day, "How much longer until...". I learned long ago that a visual representation works wonders for this girl! We made our countdown to Christmas chain the other day. We marked her birthday (the blue link) and other special days along the way. She had a great time waking up in the morning and removing a link from her chain each day. We can't wait until Christmas!

Shopping

Sisters...oh so cute!

Did you know that Santa shops at Wal-mart? Neither did we, but we ran into him while we were shopping. He was nice enough to take a picture with us and give the girls a candy cane.