Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas down at my parent's house in Southern California. We did a lot of fun things that will not be pictured, especially a lot of Beatle's Rock Band and Just Dance on the wii that I did in fact take videos of, but which I will not post out of the kindness of my heart. Though a lot of the guys in our family seem to do ridiculously well on the guitar in Rock Band.

I spent the weeks leading up to Christmas frantically finishing this:

 That's not actually a picture of the whole thing, but the lighting was weird on the other pictures I took. I did a satin stitch on ALL the letters and branches, so that took me ages. But overall it turned out how I pictured it in my head back in June, so I'm pleased. Now I just have to get around to hanging it in the girl's room!

In lieu of gingerbread houses we made Christmas trees out of ice cream cones

 Liv was excited and silly on Christmas Eve!

 We always throw carrots on the lawn for the reindeer, but Jane snagged a bite herself first.

 Christmas morning! That's Jane and Brooklyn, who's just a few months younger than her. With their blonde hair and often coordinating jammies, it was sometimes hard to tell them apart at a glance!

 Livia got the Minnie's Bowtique voice changer from Santa and was thrilled. Never mind that it makes her sound like she's possessed more than anything else, as it magnifies both her regular voice and the high-pitched voice at just a half-second apart from each other. But she loves it, and loved all her gifts.

 Uncle Austin was nice enough to paint with Livia later that morning in her make-shift art studio on the entry-way floor.

Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without some Christmas crackers!

 The girls snagged a morning to get out without kids in tow.

 Chase took Livia skiing! She got nervous at the last minute, and we nearly didn't go, but I'm so glad we pushed her to do it, because she had such a fun time. She didn't learn a thing, except the all important fact that skiing is fun! (Note: I do not ski myself. At all. But Chase is an avid skiier so our kids will all be better than me by the time they're six years old.)

 Emily was a lifesaver and came with me to help keep track of Jane, which was no easy task with this kid, who kicked off her boots every chance she could get! I learned a great many lessons that day about toddlers and snow (i.e. never take a toddler to the snow ever, ever, ever, ever, ever), but I'm still glad we went.

 One Saturday we headed down to L.A. and explored Olvera Street, which brought back many memories for me of field trips as a kid.

 We found a giant macaroni in Hollywood

 And did some typically tourist things

We also all took turns cooking ethnic dinners from the various missions people have served. We got to try Brazilian rice and beans, Borscht and Chicken Kiev, and real Mexican enchiladas, among other delicious dishes. 

On New Year's Eve I promised Livia she could stay up as late as she wanted, thinking she'd get tired by 10 pm. Oh no, she was flying high until 12:45 when all the rest of us went to bed! I couldn't believe she didn't even have any meltdowns! She'll probably be a night owl like me, but I'm going to enforce the 8:00 bedtime as long as I possibly can.