What I didn't take pictures of this Christmas...

Here are some things I didn't take pictures of this Christmas...

~ bowling with the girls on Christmas Eve.
~ Kaitlin's new bowling move - "The Running Start" where she places the ball on the ramp, takes about 10 steps backwards and then runs toward the ball on the ramp and pushes it. Does it work? haha... no. But it's damn funny to watch!
~ Zoey copying Kaitlin's "Running Start" move. Even more hillarious!

~ taking the girls to the Children's Mass on Christmas Eve. Believe it or not, the girls were actually pretty well behaved. Okay, Zoey napped during most of it, but even when they were awake, our girls were WAAAAAAY better than the kids in front of us! :)

~tracking Santa on Norad.
~when Kaitlin saw Santa on the computer, she jumped up with such joy and exclaimed, "IT'S REAL!" Of course it's real, silly.
~about 11:20pm, Brandon and I decided to check Norad one last time. Since Santa was in New Mexico, we knew he was close. 12 minutes later he was delivering gifts to the Denver Metro Area! We watched as he finished his rounds and then headed to Wyoming. Believe it or not, right after Norad said Santa was leaving Denver, Charlie jumped off the couch and went outside to do his "bark at nothing" routine. Maybe.... just maybe..... he was barking at Santa's sleigh.

~ putting out Cookies and Milk for Santa. Sometimes you just have to step back and enjoy the magic of the moment instead of trying to get the perfect pose. Jus' sayin'.

~the tree with all the gifts after Santa dropped his loot. I simply forgot...

~Skype-ing on Christmas morning. (How do you take a picture of a Skype session, anyways?) We are very thankful that Skype's technology has allowed us to "spend Christmas" with our out-of-town family. We may not get to spend the entire day with them, but being able to open presents together is totally awesome!

~the unbelievable MOUNTAIN of presents under the tree after everyone arrived at our house. We had my parents, Aunt Louise, Kevin, Michael, Angelina, RJ, and Angelina's parents over. There were just too many gifts!

~Our little nephew RJ telling us that he "heard" Santa last night. You should have seen his eyes light up! He said he heard Santa's jingle bells, the noise on the rooftop, and he even heard Santa shout "ho-ho-ho!" (nice one, Mike!)

~the endless cooking. It's no secret that we make a lot of food every year, but for some reason, this year it seemed like standing in the kitchen is ALL we did ALL day. We had 2 turkeys and a ham and all the trimmings. Next year, my plan is to do something simple. There's no reason to be basting a turkey when ya should be visiting with an aunt or playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with the kids.

~the "My Auntie Barb Loves Me" onesie that I designed and gifted to Baby Nince on Christmas. I can't WAIT to get my hands on that lil' baby! Hurry up July 14th~!! ;)

~The girls and RJ playing....and playing....and playing....and playing....and playing...... until the very last minute. The energy of kids is absolutely amazing. One day I'm going to figure out how to bottle the energy and SELL it to adults. I'm going to be rich... just wait and see. ;)

~the whole crew. I meant to get big family photo of everyone, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Next year.

We truly had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did too! :)

Visit with Santa!

Here are the pictures we took with Santa this year.

Kaitlin asked Santa for a "Barbie that takes videos" and a pillow pet.

Zoey is still a little leary of Santa Claus, but she was able to tell him that she wanted a baby doll. Maybe next year she won't be quite as shy..

Merry Christmas!

Disney On Ice!

Check out this super-cute video I took when we went to Disney on Ice! The girls had such a fun time!! ♥

Holiday Open House @ the library

It's no secret.... we l♥ve the public library!

Last weekend they had a holiday open house, so we stopped by before lunch. They had the kids decorate bags for the "Meals on Wheels" program.

The kids got to make a 3D star ornament to put in the bag.

They filled the bag w/ a small snack and a bookmark and then waited patiently as the teen volunteers sealed the bags. We explained that the bags were for disadvantaged elderly people and that Christmas is a time for giving to the needy.

The girls were able to make a quick popsicle stick reindeer craft. They had cookies and apple cider, too.

But, the biggest treat of all was the chance to meet Comet, one of Santa's reindeer!

Turkey Day @ Michael's House

First of all, a big congratulations to my brother Michael and his bride-to-be, Angelina! They just got engaged Thanksgiving morning! The wedding is scheduled for the spring. We're super-excited to be (officially) adding Angie and RJ to the family!

This year, the Thanksgiving feast was held at Michael & Angelina's house. In staying with tradition, TOO MUCH food was made. This year, the feast included three turkeys - (yes, THREE), a ham and lots of side dishes. Two pumpkin pies, an apple pie and a carrot cake. Here are some pictures from the Thanksgiving celebration!

Gobble, Gobble! ;)

Preschool Field Trip #2 ~ The Urban Farm

Last Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Kaitlin's preschool class went on a field trip to The Urban Farm. It's a real, working farm located right here in the city!

They allowed younger siblings to join the preschool class, so that was an extra bonus for Zoey!

The girls had a great time! My dad was on vacation, so he was able to come with us too. "Farmer Donna" gave us a tour and taught us about the animals on her farm.

Here's a picture of Zoey petting a goat:

More goat petting: Grandpa and the girls:

Here's a picture of Kaitlin petting a chicken..

The lady in the yellow jacket is one of her teachers ~ Ms Christy. Farmer Donna is in the black jacket. Look at the mountains in the background. Beautiful! ♥

More goats:

Grandpa and Zoey:

Farmer Donna showed the kids a chicken egg that was "still warm".

A REAL turkey! This was definitely my favorite part.

You know with Thanksgiving just two days away, the jokes were flying about this guy. ;)

Checkin' out the cows:

OH MAN! The size of these pigs was absolutely shocking!

The group picture:

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..and a QUACK (quick) video. ;)

What a fun field trip!

Making Fundough

Fundough
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup salt
3/4 cup water
Food color (if desired)

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Knead until a workable dough is formed.
3. Slowly add more water/flour if needed until dough forms a nonsticky ball.

Look at Zoey's intensity! Haha! ;)

Basketball Video

Basketball! Lil All Stars

The girls joined a toddler/preschool basketball league ~ Lil All Stars.


Today was the first of five "practices". It was so cute! They gave all the kids a little shirt with their names on it to wear. Kaitlin was on the blue team, and Zoey was on the yellow team. They split the kids according to age.


The girls had so much fun and can't wait to go back. Here are some pictures...

WOWZA ~ Look at that form! ;)

Halloween Weekend

We had a fun-filled Halloween weekend!
The fun started Wednesday night and continued all weekend.

This is a picture of the girls before we went to Halloween Storytime & trick or treat at the library Wednesday night. The girls LOVE storytime and were so excited to be able to wear their costumes.
On Friday afternoon, we took the girls to University Hospital's annual Boo Bash. Since both Dad and Brandon work at the hospital, it's an especially fun event for everyone. We got to see Grandpa's cubicle and Brandon's cubicle! It's always fun to see where your favorite people spend 40+ hours a week! ;)

On Saturday night, our friends,the Joneses threw a fun Halloween party! Here we are all dressed up! Cute, right!?

Here's a cute picture of all the girls.

We (the moms) all went to High School together, and now we all have little girls who LOVE playing together! So fun!

On Halloween, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Nincey's house for trick or treating. Grandpa loves showing off his cuties to his neighbor friends. ;)

The weather was perfect so we actually trick or treated for a long time! The girls learned which houses to look for (a lit porch light) and were really good at using their manners.

We like the houses where they really get into the spirit. This one scared Zoey a little. See her clinging to me?? Haha! After this house, every house was "Booky!" (Spooky) Halloween is so much fun. :)

Carving Pumpkins!

Pumpkin Carving with the Carnahans: