Christmas Eve...

SV got a horrible cold that hit her Christmas Eve...hence the pink nose.

Opening the one Christmas present from Mom & Dad on Christmas Eve.

I wonder what it could be?

New jammies for SD.

SV got new jammies too, only they have feet.

It was a great attempt to show them to the camera. (c:

Back at the window...

The girls were back on my desk staring out the back porch window.

I thought this would be a good size comparison for all to see. Remember, SV is the younger one.

SDs legs are bent, don't be fooled, but even still, SV is a bit taller.

Opa's birthday...

I am really hoping that there are more pictures on my parents camera about this day. For my father's birthday he wanted a few hours of holiday smells and happy faces...so we went over early afternoon to celebrate. We made persimmon cookies, nut gems, thumbprint cookies AND a blackberry pie. It was tons of fun, but hard work. SD helped out almost the entire time. Like I alluded to before, this is the ONLY picture I found. Hopefully, there is more evidence to our celebration for Opa.

Opa & Oma's Ward Christmas Party

It's always nice to attend lots of festivities during the holidays. We had the opportunity to go to my parents ward Christmas party the same day as my grandma's group home function. Needless to say, the girls partied hard that day.

SV was super excited about the penguin bell in the goodie bag from Santa.

Part of the decorations included these huge candies...white balloons with red marker swirls wrapped in cellophane. It was a super cute idea and all the kids wanted to keep them at the end of the night. They last for over a week at our house.

SV discovering more of the goodies in her bag...and being cheesy.

Grandma's Christmas Party

My grandma lives in a group home where some fabulous people help her out. She has Alzheimers and cannot quite function on her own now. The people who run the home where she lives through a big Christmas party with tons of food.

Remember, I have gestational diabetes, so the dessert table, although beautiful, was not a fair temptation. I had to pace myself accordingly. (c:

Grandma with her first plate of food and the nice Christmas tree in the background.

The girls next to Grandma. It was nice to have the girls interact with the people in the home. They (the girls) bring smiles to faces of the residents.

Grandma was thoroughly interested in her food. The girls got some goodies off the dessert table and even won door prizes. SD received some pretty soaps and SV won a houseful (paper) of gingerbread men dipped in white chocolate. They were ecstatic.

Just a fun self portrait.

Pile on top of Pop!

After J gets home from work, it's nice of him to rough house with girls to get some more of their energy out while I fix dinner. I appreciate his enthusiasm and the girls are grateful for some fresh blood to play with.

They were laughing loud enough for me to be curious...and then long enough for me to grab the camera. I was glad to have stopped what I was doing. Sometimes I don't do that often enough.

Silly ones!

Where's Mommy?

I cannot for the life of me remember what I was doing while the girls were playing quietly on the back porch, but I came onto this scene. It is actually very innocent and I didn't get mad, just grabbed the camera. The girls are sitting on top of my scrapbooking area reading books and playing their Leappad game. It's on top of my big desk, and then SD is sitting on a small stool on the desk. Apparently I hadn't opened the blinds and they didn't want to turn on the light...just use the light from the windows.

Wait, SV is getting into my stamp sets...and laughing about it. Not cool!

SD is still not phased. Oh well, at least it won't hurt her eyes. It's now a favorite spot for the girls because they can see the backyard...but they know that they need to ask permission first.

More Big Shoes to Fill...

One night when a family friend came over, T, he took off his shoes to get more comfortable...well, we actually prefer people to remove their shoes upon entering our home. It cuts back on the dirt/grime that gets tracked in. Anyway, much like SV, SD likes to clomp around and these are BIG boots.

J and SD with the infamous self-portrait shots.