Christmas!

This was my very first Christmas away from family, and my very first Christmas having Ry work.  Luckily, I had two sweet little elves to keep me company.  And, everything worked out!  Ry had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but the schedulers were nice enough to have him work days on the 24th and nights on the 25th.. so we got him when all the fun happens!  I don't think I got any pictures of what Santa brought... but Logan asked for a snowboard and Mia a crib for her baby.

In their Christmas jammies!

These little cuties acted out the nativity... they did such a great job!

Christmas morning... Mia received this coat, and acted like a rich, little, old lady the whole time she had it on.  She did such a good job at it, actually, that we have decided she was one in another life.  :)

Mia's tea set

Which Logan plays with just as much. :)

Playing with stocking stuffers

My sincerest apologies for the nudity. :)

Logan trying out his roller blades... it was 60 degrees and sunny on Christmas Day.  So weird.

December

Ry had to work pretty much every single hour of December, so we tried to fill up the month with lots of activities to keep us occupied. :)  

Logan hopped right up onto Santa's lap this year, had a good, long conversation, and then fretted over if he had said exactly the right things for the rest of the day.  Funny kid. 

Mia took one look at Santa, burst into tears, hid behind a giant ornament and shouted, "Go away, Santa!", all while throwing punches at the poor man.  Oh my Mia.  I told her once when she was being naughty that Santa and his elves were watching.  From that point on, every time she was naughty she would run to the door, punch it, and yell, "Go away, Santa!"

We were making cinnamon ornaments, but Mia just wanted to make snakes.  It really just looks like she is holding a big piece of super sparkly poo.

Mia and her buddy Ellie making their "snakes"

She loved them.

How I find this kid 80% of the time.  My little bookworm. I'm not sure how much I will see of him once he actually learns to read the words!  :)

What happens when Mia "helps" me. :)

They really are the cutest. 

Different day, more flour.

Logan is finally getting to the point where he actually does help.  He cut out lots of sugar cookies for me this year!

And another day... with more flour.  

Projects

Thanks to pinterest, I recently became obsessed with the diy play kitchens all over that site.  After convincing Ry that it would make the perfect Christmas present for Mia, we set off to goodwill to find our supplies....

Before

After!  A few days, lots of cutting, and a couple coats of paints later and we have a play kitchen!  And  I couldn't wait to give it to Mia... so, much to Ry's objection, I gave it to her right away. 

And she loves it.  Best $20 ever.

My new advent calendar.  The kids try to climb the wall to get to their treats everyday. :)

Mia's new hairstyle.  She says that she is "Frozen" when she wears it.

How is she this big?!

Naughty little thing found my lipgloss.  She always finds my lipgloss. 

Gingerbread houses!

Logan was way into it this time.. he decorated for at least an hour!  And we found this great new way to stick the graham crackers together... you just melt sugar.  Nothing else... just melted sugar.  Then you dip and stick.  It works amazingly!

Mia helped by making sure we didn't have any extra candy laying around.

Logan convinced me to make him blue frosting so he could give his house "a lake."

I'm pretty sure he just wanted to eat it.

Blue is his favorite.

We had some friends over to make gingerbread houses with us. Yeah for friends!  And check out Ry's amazing gingerbread snowman... he pieced that thing together with tiny little pieces of graham crackers so the balls would be round.  A few blistered fingers later, and wahla!  A gingerbread snowman. :)

Oh Christmas Tree...

Maine has tons of "pick your own" Christmas tree places, and we had heard about one called Old Christmas Tree Farm.  It was super cute, with wagon rides, marshmallows over the fire, and hot chocolate.  We were so excited about it all, since it was all free.... until we got to the buying-the-tree-we-had-already-cut-part.  Old Christmas Tree Farm also has very expensive Christmas trees.  I miss Nevada. :)

Logan, among the trees. :)

We found "the one"

Mia's "snow ghost"

Logan helping dad carry the tree up hill.

Logan and our cute little neighbor.  They are best buddies.

What happens when you pay more attention to decorating the tree than you do to your two year old...

And what is a Christmas post without a naked baby in front of a tree? :)