Tea Party!

Last week we had 5 straight days of rain. And hard rain that! The girls and I enjoyed one day when we had no where to go and could just enjoying being cozy at home. Nana gave Evie a cupcake themed Christmas gift and so we decided (in our new aprons, of course) to make cupcakes and have a tea party!
This was Evie's response when I suggested this idea:
Here we are, getting started...

She took her job of putting papers in the cupcake pan very seriously. I love how she is standing on her toes to do it. ;)
 
Setting up the tea party while we wait for the cupcakes to bake and then cool (we of course used a real tea set for us for this very exciting occasion. ;) Her dolls got all her plastic cups :))
Here they come!

A very happy girl. :)

Since this was only 10:45 in the morning, we also had some veggies to try to balance out the sugar rush. For some reason though the carrots and peppers weren't quite as popular as the cupcake... :)

You may have noticed that the cupcakes had fairies dancing on top. We're very in to fairies these days and wands and wings and Abby Caddaby and dancing. :) This morning it snowed fairly hard for a half an hour or so. To my surprise, Evelyn was *very* excited about this and kept saying "It's Evie's birthday! It's Evie's birthday!!" I'm not sure, but it seemed to be trying to say that this snow was as exciting as having a birthday - lol! She was dying to go out in the snow, but she was in her pajamas still and in her fairy wings. She didn't want to change out of either. I told her she did have to put on a coat (but could wear the wings on top), but I decided to let her go sans boots since she was dying to go out without them, I knew she'd only be out for a few minutes and I knew she would think that it was quite special. ;) Notice how Fairy Abby got to go out as well.
Gracie and I stayed cozy and warm inside and watched from the window. :)

New Years in Annapolis

On our way home from Christmas in Ohio we stopped briefly in Annapolis to see our good friends, the Strickenburgs. The Strickenburgs lived in our old neighborhood, went to the same church and were in the same home group as us. They moved this past summer and we miss them! We were so thankful for the opportunity to see them again! Evie and David were such good friends when they lived here so it was fun to see them playing together again as well. :) These pictures of the two of them crack me up. They pretty accurately portray their personalities too. :) While both as sweet as sweet can be, David is more serious and introverted than Evie is. :)
The Strickenburgs were visiting Andrew's parents who train service puppies. They currently have a big, gentle lab (I think) named Fletch andFletch's crate was actually the most popular toy of the visit! Lol....

Though Grandma Strickenburg's reading time was definitely a close second in popularity to the dog kennel. ;)

Evie enjoyed teaching David one of her favorite games - ring-around-the-rosie!
We were there for Andrew's birthday and party as well. Not only was it fun helping him celebrate, but it meant that we got to see Jessie and James again as well! Getting a good picture of the three 2 year old friends would have been impossible, but we did manage to get one shot that had all three of them in it! :) If you notice, it's snacks that are keeping them all somewhat still for this picture. ;)

And here are the mamas. :) So thankful for good friends even when we're scattered all around the country! :)

Thanks for letting us come join you for part of your Annapolis trip!!!

Outings...

While Nana's newly revamped basement could have provided ample entertainment for the kids for the week, we decided that some trips elsewhere might be good as well. :) The library in my parents' town is pretty much the most amazing library I've ever been too. It's gorgeous, bright, new... and they have an amazing children's area. On Christmas Eve we took the kids there to help burn off some of their pre-Christmas energy. The train table, book selection and set-up, play kitchen, stuffed animals, and story hour room were all a bit hit. :)    \
Later in the week Nathan and I wanted to explore a bit more of Cleveland. We want to do the Rock-n-roll hall of fame, but thought it might be easier to do that sans babies. Since I can't leave Gracie for too long we decided to check out the Botanical Gardens with my parents and the girls. They were having a pretty incredible gingerbread house competition going on with gingerbread houses like this one...

and this one...



and kids ones with a sledding hill (Ev's fav)...

or the self-sustaining gingerbread house (lol!)...
and the Great Wolf Lodge one.. :p
They also had a little train that took you on a short ride though party of the snowy gardens. Evie loved it and went twice - once with Nana and once with all of us. :)
Besides the gingerbread display and train, they also had a Christmas tree decorating competition (quite fun!), live music, a train table, a kids play area, and of course, the indoor gardens. We loved just exploring it all and letting the girls play!

Thanks for taking us, Mom and Dad!

Christmas Wildness :)

A few more Christmas pictures here... My goal is to get them all up before the end of January! ;) Christmas Eve and Christmas morning were so much fun, although a little wilder than in past years with 15 people, four ages three and under. :)
Christmas Eve we went to Christmas Eve service. I always enjoy the Lessons in Carols service, although this year I was in the sanctuary with everyone only about half the time between the two girls. :) The church was so lovely though all decorated for Christmas and it was fun letting the kids run around before the service and enjoy the decorations. :)

We of course stopped by Grandpa's favorite house on the way home too... all the lights are coordinated with a local radio station and it was pretty neat. Evie was quite impressed even though they did not have a singing ferris wheel with a Santa, bear, penguin, and elf going around like her favorite house in Williamsburg did. ;)
No Christmas Eve is complete without the pickle hunt! Alana won among the great-grandkids (of course ;) I think she won before Drew and Evie figured out what was even going on :))...
And thanks Grandma for accidentally getting three pickle prizes so three of us grandkids could win too! :D (Me, Caroline, and Kate :))

Some very excited cousins... :)
At the end of the evening we brought up all the presents from the basement and put them around the tree. With 15 people giving 14 other people at least one gift, the result is a lot of presents. We have to keep them downstairs until Christmas Eve otherwise it's hard to get around the living room. ;) Here's the tree with most of the presents.

The kids were sooo excited Christmas morning. Evelyn was the last one awake so she was still a little in a daze during stockings.
    
What animals are going to pop out??? So exciting!! :)
After breakfast it was time to tackle the presents... :) Gracie was all ready!!
So were Grammy and Granddad :)

Our amazing matching aprons (and bibs for the little girls ;)) that my mom made!!
Look at this incredible advent calendar Kate made me!! Each pocket holds an ornament... the ornaments tell the Christmas story starting at creation and ending with the birth of Christ! I can't wait to use this with Evelyn next year! Thanks, Kate, for the amazing gift!! :)
A happy Chris (nice shirt too.... *cough cough* ;))
A happy Nathan :)

A happy Dad and Mom :)

A happy Evie with her new diaper bag for Ruthie, but you can see the dazed look beginning to creep into her eyes in this picture, but she was very pleased.
 
Basically there was much happiness all around for quite some time. Then the relaxing, eating, and enjoying the new toys phase began and lasted the rest of the cozy, snowy day. :)
Merry Christmas!!!