christmas village

cousin besties wishing they could climb in the window scenes

rosy red cheeks

all bundled up in the freezing weather

exploring

oh what fun it was to go to the ogden christmas village.  we went with my parents and pete and katie's clan to see the lights, ride a little train and freeze our buns off.  it was great fun to watch the kids get excited about the lights and scenes.  the night was full of nostalgic memories for me because we used to go to the christmas village when i was young.

all dressed up

i know it is february...but i am still going to post pictures of the girl's christmas dresses.  i'm just now catching my breath from our crazy january, and catching up from it in february.  documenting the last two months is going to happen because i want it to.  i wish i could take credit for the beautiful sparkly and plaid dresses the girls looked so cute in for christmas.  but, alas, as usual my mom gets the credit for finding and giving the girls their cute little outfits.  she loves to do it and we are grateful for it.  

more importantly than how cute they looked all dressed up for christmas, was the spirit we felt this holiday season.  having a sweet little baby, and a fun toddler over the holidays makes it so much more special.  minnie loved learning about mary, joseph and the  baby Jesus.  and, hope brought a spirit in to our home that no other child could.  as you'll see in more posts to come, we loved christmas.  being together as a family and with our extended family was so heartwarming. 

gingerbread houses

last year we started the tradition of decorating a gingerbread house.  christian and i had a great time decorating while nana and papa entertained the girls.  

as the pictures above display, it was an adventure-filled evening.  special thanks to papa for his construction expertise.  we would have been in trouble with the roof had he not been there to help get it in place.

minnie's many shoes

minnie has inherited the love of shoes from her great grandma meacham, and her nana.  most recently, she has been very intrigued with shoes that, albeit stylish, don't fit. she likes shoes that are both, too big....

and, too small...

the shoes are cute enough that i can't really blame her.

"be a sunbeam"

i thought minnie was dressing hope up as a wreath for the christmas holiday.  that is, until she started saying, "be a sunbeam.  hopie, be a sunbeam"  hope does light up the room, so it makes sense that minnie would dress her up as a sunbeam to highlight this fact.  minnie's budding imagination never ceases to amazes me.  and, hope's willingness to play along with her sister's shenanigans increasingly impresses me each day.  they are both little rays of sunlight.  sunbeams, if you will.  

sisters

monkey business

she doesn't give up easily when wrestling with a stuffed monkey.  curious george may be on top in this picture, but hope ended up taking him down in the end.  her dad was impressed by her skills.