Christmas morning

Hannah got the Barbies and Legos she asked for, and she also got a whole bunch of art supplies. Now she doesn't need to use my tape!

Nikki wanted a pony, and she has loved it.

Hannah is in her Ariel pose, and she also has Ariel hair -- long with no hair barrettes. Only Ariel's wasn't a mess.

Hannah keeps saying that she wishes it was still Christmas morning. I have to agree with her. We had a really good day. Santa left us breakfast in our stockings -- little cereal boxes, juice boxes, granola bars, and of course the apple and the orange -- so I didn't have to worry about breakfast. (Not to mention that there was no room left for a bunch of candy.) What a great idea, Santa! Then my two brothers and their families came over for dinner that night. And my roast was really good, so we didn't have to order pizza. It was a good day.

Cookie Puzzle

For our Christmas cookies this year I found this idea in a magazine. Of course, their picture looked a lot better, but I bet they didn't have a 3- and 5-year-old helping out. The girls and I had a lot of fun making this. The cookie shapes come out like puzzle pieces.

Gingerbread

Here is our gingerbread house in progress. I had to include this picture because someday Hannah is just going to die when she looks back at her pictures and sees her hair. But she loves it long and doesn't like for me to put it up. So this is my way of getting even with her stubbornness -- get it on film.

And here is the finished product. We left the gingerbread house for Santa to taste, and he left a note saying that he loved it and even shared some with Rudolf, but he was really thirsty and hopes the girls won't forget the milk again next year.

Did you notice the wonderful man in the background doing the dishes? I am a lucky woman.

Good times

We have had such a fun vacation so far. It started with my birthday the week before Christmas. Nate took me on a weekend getaway while my brother and sister-in-law watched our girls. He gave me a gift certificate for a massage at a spa which was absolutely fabulous. The lady who gave me the massage told me that because of my back surgery I would probably benefit from a monthly massage, or at least every other month. I keep trying to tell Nate that I have a medical reason for regular massages, but it hasn't worked yet. =) That night we went to the Nutcracker ballet. It was the first time I had seen it (besides Barbie's Nutcracker movie), and I thought it was wonderful. Nate even liked the chocolate truffles. They were really cute. Nate asked me if we could watch BYU's bowl game one evening in the hotel since we were doing these other things for me, and since marriage is about compromise I agreed. I ended up really glad that we did watch it because it was a really good game (BYU won, of course).

So, we had fun and the girls felt like they were having their own getaway since they got to play with their cousins for a few days. Thanks again for keeping them, Mike and Sherrie! We got back home just in time to start baking for Christmas.

Organ lessons

I'm so excited about my organ lessons! I had my second one yesterday, and I can't wait to get to the organ to practice again. I'm taking an online organ class, and the lessons are required as a part of it. At the first lesson, my instructor just talked and talked and told me more about the history of the organ than I will ever remember, and he played some things to show me how the organ works, gave me some assignments, etc. Yesterday was the first time he actually listened to me play. I started off by destroying a simple hymn that was only 2 lines. It got a little better after that, but I feel like a kindergartener. I know I am a beginner, but it's different now that I actually feel like one. You would think that with 10 years of piano lessons and a few years of filling in on the organ at church services I would have a head start on this, but it is a whole new ballgame trying to play the organ the way it supposed to be done. It is so fun to hear my instructor go off and blow out the chapel with these huge hymn endings. I can't wait to be able to do that. Maybe I'm a nerd to be so excited about something like this, but it is going to be so fun to practice and eventually be able to call myself an organist.

Mom, you shouldn't have given up on me -- I'm now paying for it.

Mom eventually gave up on me ever learning to keep my room clean and would just close my door any time she passed my room. One time after my sister left for college, Mom was going around the house with the video camera making a tape for my sister. I made a mad dash to stuff everything under my bed or in the closet. I even threw a pile out in the hall so my room would be clean before Mom got to my end of the house. Mom taped my clean room, and I was proudly telling Kellee how well I was taking care of her old room when Mom turned the camera and got a great shot of my pile in the hallway.

I was reminded of that tonight when I was trying to clean up a pile of stuff that has been sitting on top of my night stand for a while. It wasn't until after about the third item was stuffed under my bed that I realized what I was doing. I couldn't help but laugh at myself. I guess some habits die hard.

Pictures

We had a friend take some pictures of our family a couple of days ago, and I just can't get over how cute our girls are! =)

We're going to send this one with our Christmas cards this year.

Hannah

Nikki

This is the first picture Nate and I have taken with just the two of us since our wedding pictures. I have a goofy grin, but I'm not sure I'll ever find a picture of myself where I can't find something wrong with it. After we got home, Nate was worried because he realized he hadn't done his hair. He looks pretty darn good even with no effort at all.

What a mess!

Last year for our church Thanksgiving party I doubled my broccoli casserole recipe to take. As I was trying to get out of the door the whole thing landed upside down at my feet. I still can't believe what a mess that was! Then at this year's Thanksgiving party I tried to take a brownie dessert with a cream cheese, cool whip, and chocolate pudding layered topping. When Nate set it down on the seat of the car, half of topping slid off -- yes, all over the seat. That one was actually salvageable since there was so much cool whip on top I could respread it around. Tonight we had a Christmas party at church, and I should have learned my lesson by now, but Nate volunteered us to take a pot of chili. It was fine until I came to a stop sign and the chili ended up all over the floor of the car. Next time we have a church function I'm volunteering to bring a bag of chips.

Hearing problems

There is so much in this life that I take for granted and Nikki has reminded me of one of those things. For the past week and a half she has had a hard time hearing. I first noticed it when I was reading a book to her asking her to find different colors. I would say, "Point to the red triangle." Then she would say, "What's next?" "Point to red." "What's next, Mom?" When she was looking at my lips she could understand me, but if she didn't look at me she acted like I hadn't said anything to her. So, we have gotten a little frustrated with each other this week because she won't respond to me and she thinks I'm ignoring her.

She has some congestion, and I thought maybe she has some fluid in her ears that's not draining properly. I had J.W., my physician's assistant brother, look in her ears, and he said he couldn't see past this incredible amount of hard wax in her ears. So, he gave me some drops and after a couple of days a bunch of really gross stuff came out that I thought would surely have been all that could be in there, but she still can't hear. Then Hannah woke up last night complaining of an earache, so I just took both of them into the doctor this morning. Fifty bucks later, neither of them have an ear infection and Nikki's ears are still clogged. The doctor told me to put some wax softening drops in Nikki's ears to clean them out. I guess I should have kept up the treatment JW prescribed. Her poor ears must have been packed full of gunk. How gross!

But it's gotten me to thinking how hard it would be to go around without the use of even one of our senses. She gets so frustrated when she can't hear the TV, or she thinks I'm not answering her question, or she can't find what room I'm in. What if I didn't have my glasses or contacts? I wouldn't be able to function. Or what if I couldn't taste anything? I love food! That would be miserable. So, I've been really thankful for my body and my good health. And it will be so nice when Nikki doesn't have to say anymore, "Mom, say it louder!"