Pfingsten Christmas

Christmas Day night we celebrated with Calvin's mom's side. The roads were horrible - it took us about 20 minutes to get to Lorene and Dale's house! There was lots of yummy food though and we were able to visit and the girls got to play with their cousins.

Aubrey and Uncle Brad

Grandma and the girls

Chloe liked playing in the kitchen.

Clare and Chloe playing together

Aubrey figured out how to pedal the bike

Cousins Come to Visit

My family made it to my house Tuesday, despite the icy weather conditions. We had a great time with all of them. The kids played great together. Maximus and Aubrey loved playing with Aubrey's new dollhouse. Colton and Chloe pretty much just stared at each other - there wasn't much social interaction going on. Give it a few months and then I'm sure that they'll be playing together too.

Chloe in Aubrey's princess gear

The four children all playing together (or in the same area at least)
Making Christmas cookies
Jumping off the chair with Maximus
Maximus sharing with Chloe
Grandma and Chloe
Maximus and Aubrey watching a movie together

Playing dollhouse with Aunt Dani

Aubrey and Maximus going potty - this was a frequent scene

We ended up doing Christmas a little bit different this year. For one, there was no church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day because of the icy roads. It was definitely strange not going to church on Christmas. Mom read us the Christmas story before opening presents to help us remember exactly why we are celebrating. Then, we decided to open presents on Christmas Day considering the fact that we have four children under the age of 2. The kids opened their presents before we ate dinner, while the adults waited until after dinner. I thought that it worked out really well.

Aubrey opening her new dollhouse

Listening to Grandma read the Christmas story

Chloe's new necklace made by Aunt Jenna
Chloe and Mommy
Aubrey's new purse painted by Aunt Jenna
Opening presents with Daddy

Taking a break from all of the presents with Grandma
Reading with Aunt Hannah and David

We spent the rest of the week just spending time together. We also celebrated with my dad's side Friday at Aunt Sharon's. We had a bunch of yummy snack foods. Unfortunately, Aubrey started not feeling well and spent most of the day curled up on Calvin's lap. She felt even worse on Saturday, so we ended up taking her to the doctor and found out that she had strep! Plus she had to get a shot, which was large and painful, though it did do the trick, because she was feeling much better by Sunday afternoon. Chloe also started running a fever on Sunday, so I took her to the doctor yesterday to make sure that she didn't have strep, which she didn't. She just had the start of an upper respiratory infection. The doctor put her on antibiotics, though, to prevent her from getting strep. Hopefully Calvin and I will be able to stay healthy and not catch anything from them! We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Our Family Christmas

We had our own family Christmas last Monday night since my family was coming for Christmas on Tuesday. The girls got to unwrap their presents from us. Aubrey was thrilled with her new baby doll stroller that's "just like Chloe's". Chloe, on the other hand, loved the wrapping paper more than her presents. She then wanted all of Aubrey's toys, which Aubrey wasn't too happy with. The grass is always greener on the other side ~ apparently even with small children! :)

Can we start already?

Aubrey had to take her time and open very carefully.

This was Aubrey's gift.
Patiently waiting her turn

Aubrey with her new stroller and princess gear

Christmas with Calvin's Family

Last Sunday began our week long Christmas celebration, much to Aubrey's delight, as she's been wanting to open presents for a long time. We had dinner and then opened presents with Calvin's family. The girls got some nice things and some fun toys to play with (so did we). It was great! Chloe spent most of the time pulling out the tissue paper from one of Ang's gifts. When we tried to give her my gift that was exactly like Ang's, she cried and went back to hers. She is definitely a child who knows what she wants and is determined to get it. Chloe also took her first long series of steps. She took about four or five steps in a row from me to a present. I was impressed considering Denny and Eileen have hardwood floors that are slick when you're wearing socks. She continued to try taking steps all afternoon, only to be hampered by her socks and pants. At one point, I took of her socks. I don't know if it really made a difference though. All in all, it was a fun afternoon and a great way to start our Christmas celebration!

Aubrey and Chloe's cousins

Chloe, Aubrey, and Clare went for a ride on the computer chair. They loved it!

Chloe unwrapping Ang's gift for her
Chloe unwrapping her very first Christmas present - with my help of course.
Aubrey opened hers all by herself.

Hiding in the presents

Ice Storm

Last night we got the ice that much of the Midwest got. I'm not sure how much ice it was, but it was definitely enough to cause some damage and headache. We woke up last night to a bunch of cracking noises that continued most of the night. I thought it was just ice and snow falling off of the roof, but it actually turned out to be a bunch of tree branches falling. We have quite a few branches (and limbs) on the ground under several trees. I was hoping the ice would melt off today, but so far, not much has actually melted. I just hope that we don't get a strong wind or we're going to lose even more branches. If it wasn't for the mess, it actually looks kind of pretty.

The tree by the back door lost its pretty shape and its branches are now touching the ground!

The big tree by the playground lost the most branches.

Ice on the plants and bushes

Ice on the deck covered everything - the door, grill, and even the bows on the lights!

The tree closest to the house lost quite a few branches too. I was worried about some hitting the house!

The west side of the driveway is completely covered by branches.

Ready for Christmas

Both girls are so excited for Christmas to come. Chloe has found the presents under the tree and daily takes bows off of the ones that she can reach. I'm sure that she is going to enjoy the unwrapping part more than the actual gift. Aubrey has already called dibs on one of Chloe's presents that she helped me wrap. Aubrey can't wait to open Chloe's "piggy present". When I explained that it was Chloe's toy and not hers, she said that it was okay and decided that Chloe could open one of hers instead. Aubrey anxiously awaits the opening of presents and the arrival of family. Every day she asks if Grandma, Grandpa, Jenna, etc. are coming today and then proceeds to be sad and/or cry when I tell her not today. The girls helped me finish shopping this week. I told Aubrey who the presents we bought were for, so hopefully she doesn't spill the beans before they open them. No asking for clues either! We are all excited and can't wait to celebrate!

This was Aubrey's pretend ambulance that I had to take her to the hospital in.

Chloe's daily present hunt

Basement Progress

The basement is now completely drywalled! Calvin and Brad worked here several days last week and got all of the drywall put up in the basement. It looks so nice and you can tell where everything is going to be. He's currently working on cleaning things up down there. It's a huge mess and there's drywall dust everywhere! The next step is mudding and taping, and then painting. His first goal was to have everything ready to go so that my family could help paint when they come for Christmas. I don't think it's going to be done though. We also have to figure out what colors we are going to do. Aubrey was telling me yesterday that the toy room should be green and the living room should be purple. I told her that I wasn't sure her daddy would like those colors. She thought he would.

The future living room, as seen when you walk down the basement stairs

Calvin is standing in the toy room.

The living room wall where the fireplace will be.

Looking into the utility room and up the steps

The spare bedroom - Aubrey's future room

Looking outside onto the sunken patio

Aubrey decided to help clean up some of the mess.