Vacation Days

I LOVE having Jess home with us.

Last night we played the new Busytown Mysteries game the kids got for Christmas. (Thanks Grama) It was fun to play with them, and it's a team game, so we either all win or all lose. Pretty cute.
Today Cason's sounding a little stuffy, but other than that they seem to be feeling better. Jess made a fort with them.
And we all colored together.
Neely was WAY into it today.
I baked us some chocolate chip cookies, and we finished off the night by eating them while watching the Jingle movie Neely got for Christmas. (Thanks again Grama)
It was really cute, and they loved it. Neely especially.
When Jingle barked or did anything cute in the movie, she'd go find HER Jingle.

Christmas

Christmas morning, in order to have time for all the places we had to go, we had to wake up our poor tired children extra early to open gifts. Neely was crying as I carried her out to the living room. So sad, but then she cheered up pretty quickly, sitting in daddy's lap while he read us a Christmas book. (Don't mind the laundry covered couch in the background)
Then we watched the big kids go through their stockings. As usual, Cason has the best sweet, grateful reaction to his gifts.
We did really well this year, got them each a few things they LOVED. Paige was SO happy that Santa did bring her a Hello Kitty diary kit she'd been wanting.
Neely doesn't care about opening gifts. Once they're opened FOR her, she is interested in certain ones, especially books, and ESPECIALLY Jingle.
She wasn't that interested as I opened him for her until she started to see bits of fur and his ear. She'd been seeing him in stores, and every time she would start doing her little monkey sounds and reaching for him. As soon as I opened her very own Jingle she leaned forward and gave him a big smooch on the nose.
Then we gave Gia her gift.
I started the dough for cinnamon rolls, made it too dry, put it out to rise anyway, and went over to dad and Trudi's.

Neely was starting to get tired, so she wasn't cracking many smiles. Even on her new rocking horse.
We went home again a while later, to meet up with Jess's side of the family for a few hours. Veronica and Dan made a couple of quiches, which were awesome, even after I spilled what must have been 2 full cups of sugar on top of one of them. :(

Then I overcooked the cinnamon rolls a bit. I was really on a roll. No pun intended, but I'm glad it happened.

I forgot my camera at dad's, so we got no pictures the rest of the day, but Grammy sent me this one from our visit.
THEN my mom and siblings came over for coffee and to visit a while. They got some more great gifts, lucky kids.

Cason scored lots of robot stuff.
Then we finished the night off with Mollie and Tim's dinner, where once again, I got no pictures. :(

But it was a very nice Christmas. We missed you though Grama.

Nutcracker and Christmas Eve

What do you know, I've gotten behind again. We've spent lots of time hanging out at home and with family.

Neely has really perfected her "cheese" pose.
Grammy took me and Veronica and our older girls to see the Nutcracker a couple of days before Christmas. It was lots of fun, and I hope it'll become a tradition. The girls dressed up and looked really cute. Also, I got hit in the face with a peppermint at one point. Ha.

Unfortunately the only time I thought to take a picture was when we stopped in an arcade to kill a little time.
Grammy sent me this one though.
On Christmas eve we did the usual get together for my dad's birthday, with ping pong and cake, and opening a few presents.
Liam's trying to escape me up there.
It's hard to get used to the kids being so big that they go off and play at all the family functions, instead of staying right with us the whole time like they used to. But they have fun, even if it DOES feel like I don't see much of them.

Mollie got matching outfits for Neeliam to wear again this year, but we got no pictures of them together.
They're a bit more active than last year.
I can't believe how fast they change.

Neely didn't wear the hat that came with it too much, except when she made up a game with it.


Then she took a nice long nap,
so she could manage to stay up until 12:30 am, like a wild woman.

TaDA

Neely's been learning new words every day. She's recently said "oh YEAH" and "aww man" after hearing Jess say them.

The other night Cason showed me he "made" his bed, and he yelled "TaDA!" when he presented it to me. Neely was following us into the room and goes "TaDA!". We all laughed, so she kept doing it.

She also says "Gia" now, really well. She reached out to pet her this morning and sweetly said it. The other night we went on a drive to look at Christmas lights, and when we got home I was pulling her out of her carseat. Some people were walking by with their dogs and Neely got really excited, pointed at them and said "GIA!"

Speaking of Gia, people always tell us "Gia's on your couch" when they come over. They don't know Gia's allowed there. In fact, we make her as cozy as possible there.
Skifter and Liam came by yesterday. Neeliam only paid a little bit of attention to each other.
Then they sort of played separately.
Liam had a lot of fun with Cason though. Especially when Jess and Chris ran to Sonic. Cason had "Wam" chasing him all over, both of them cracking up.
FINALLY, a boy to play with. Once or twice a year, anyway.

Fashionista

Since Jess is home on his break, I got to take Paige on a breakfast date yesterday. She chose Denny's, because she loves the chocolate chip pancakes. It was our 2nd date there, and I think it might become a common one. We both love their breakfast, and she really likes the kids menus, because there are little quizzes and crossword searches we can do together. We had a really fun date, and then came home to find a little lady wearing her older sister's Hello Kitty tshirt.
It looked amazing, and when I commented on it, Jess told me Neely found it and brought it over to him, making her little monkey noises she makes to tell us she wants us to do something. So he put it on her and she was happy. So apparently she's already picking out her own clothes. And also we have another Hello Kitty fan in the house.
She liked it so much I just threw on some skinny jeans and let her wear it as a tunic when we needed to leave. Ha.
Pretty soon Connie came over bringing gifts for the kids. As usual, she picked out amazing things. Like a little bunny that hops and makes sounds for Paige, and awesome games for them to share. Angry Birds game was the hit.

Gotta Get In Front O' That MISSYTOE!

Saturday night Paige got to have her first sleepover with someone who is just her friend, and not also her cousin. Her friend Maysen, who lives down the street. She was so excited. It was super cute, and they play really well together, and even included Cason. There wasn't a single fight or argument, just lots of games.
In the morning Jess played a cute superhero game with Cason. Caso got to design his own superhero, and he named him "Bimbit". Haha.
Sunday I was working on a project and called Trudi to see if she had something I needed for it. She said she and Dad were going to Bullhead to do a little more Christmas shopping, and asked if I wanted to come. Since Neely's young enough not to know we're buying her gifts right in front of her, she and I tagged along. So she got to have a date with me, Grampa, and Grama Trudi.

We got lunch first. It was delicious, and Neely colored her menu and the table.
Then she put her crayon where the straw goes.
Then we did some shopping. I pretty much finished ours, so I think we're ready for Christmas, and Neely had fun with Grampa and Grama Trudi.

Jess is now on his Christmas break, which is awesome. We spent a lot of time out front today, gradually working on our jungle yard.
The big kids rode their bikes in the driveway, while the jailbirds watched from inside the gate.
Paige heard about Mistletoe in a Christmas song or something, and was asking me what it was a few weeks ago. I told her how people sometimes kiss if they are standing under it. So she made up a song that goes "I gotta get in front o' that MISSYTOE!" Haha. Here's a video of her singing it while riding bikes. Cason borrowed Neely's beanie and looks like a little french kid or something. He sings his own song about Iron Man in the video too. :)