Christmas Eve and Christmas

Before we left for Arizona we had our family Christmas in Lincoln. The girls woke up and were so excited. Santa even came to Lincoln and brought the girls matching fleece jackets and Hollyn and Barbie house and Paige legos. They both loved their gifts, but Paige's favorite was her baby doll. We love having our fun little Christmas in Lincoln.


In Arizona we had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas with family. Hollyn had a cousin sleepover a few days before Christmas and they had a blast. The best part was the morning after they made home made donuts with Nonni. I think they got more powder on their faces than on the donuts.



Christmas Eve we got together with Dan's family for our traditional nativity scene and fun. The kids always have a great time and it seems like each year we have a new baby to play baby Jesus. After the nativity we had some delicious soup that Charlie made and then headed over to see the temple with my parents, Dan's mom, brother and fiance.








Christmas morning we woke up and headed over to my parents home to exchange gifts and have my mom's yummy cinnamon rolls. The girl's had a great time opening presents and playing with their new toys. Hollyn loved her Sleeping Beauty head that she can do it's hair and makeup and Paige loved her baby. Hollyn was also really excited for Grandma and Grandpa to open their gifts. I think for the first time she really understood the importance of giving and got excited for others to open their presents we gave them.



At lunch time we headed back to Dan's parents house to open presents with the cousins. Santa came to Nonni and Papa's house and left the kids with s stocking overflowing with fun stuff. After the cousin gift exchange and presents from Nonni and Papa and Great Grandma we had a yummy lunch and didn't see the kids again until dinner time. Hollyn is having so much fun playing with her cousins! We had a great Christmas and can't wait till next year when we will be celebrating Christmas in our own home close to family.

Hollyn's Movie Theme Birthday Party

Hollyn decided that she wanted to have her 5th birthday party in Lincoln, since it would be her last time to have one with all of her friends there. Hollyn had twelve of her friends over for her movie themed birthday party. So, to make it special we turned our home into Hollyn's Movie Theater. The kids all got a movie ticket as their invitation that they brought to the party to get into the movie. The kids gave their ticket to Hollyn, the ticket collector, and in return they received a Hollyn dollar to use to buy a treat at the concession stand. We had treats, popcorn and drinks. Hollyn chose Santa Buddies for the movie. They all loved it and the movie was pretty good too! We have been so lucky here in Lincoln to have met so many wonderful friends. Hollyn has the best primary class. There are six girls in her class and they all get along so well together. We hope we are as lucky wherever we move next.

Santa and Dance Recital

Since Dan was busy studying for finals I decided to go to my work Christmas party with some friends. The YMCA does a great job at throwing a party. They had yummy food, fun crafts for the kids, games, a ride around the camp, and the best part Santa of course. Hollyn had a great time and loved seeing Santa, Paige could have done without Santa.


Hollyn took her last Creative Dance class at the YMCA. She will finally be old enough for their other classes now. Hollyn had a really great time because she had lots of friends in her class, and my friend Anna was her instructor. This was the best dance class by far because they actually learned a whole dance routine. I'll get around to posting the dance one of these days.

Snowed In

Monday the snow started and it didn't let up until Wednesday afternoon. When we got home from the gym on Tuesday the snow was coming down really hard and I had to shovel the driveway in order to get in the garage. The snow was constant and never ending. I have never seen anything like it. Then that night we had an actual blizzard. When we woke up the next morning the snow outside our door was piled a good two feet. The wind had blown the snow into banks as high as four feet. Everything was covered in white. It was unbelievable! I told a friend of mine from Lincoln that it was something you only see in the movies. She laughed at me. Obviously she has seen this before. They closed the schools here for three days in a row. They even closed the law school for a day and a half. They have never closed the law school since we have been here. Wednesday our house was Dan's library, because the whole town was pretty much shut down. How do you keep a four and one year old quiet and happy. You do a little of this

and a little of that

and a lot of this.

We all survived and the snow finally stopped. Thank goodness our HOA finally came and plowed our driveway and streets. I still had to take a shovel and scrape off a good two inches of frozen ice after they snow blowed our driveway. We had to make sure that Dan would be able to leave the house in the morning for his final. I am happy to say that when we woke up this morning there was no new snow, the streets were finally plowed and the gym was open. School was still closed but at least we were able to go to dance, the gym, the grocery store and playgroup. For playgroup Hollyn went over to a friends house with a bunch of her friends. They were told to bring snow clothes so they could play outside. (let me just add that it is in the teens here which feels like below zero) Hollyn had her leggings, a skirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, jacket, gloves, and hat on. I told her to put on jeans over her leggings, but she didn't want to. (No we don't have any snow pants, we are from AZ what do you expect) I decided to do love and logic with her and let her make her own decision and suffer the consequences. When she got home from play group her leggings were soaked, and her legs were completely red. So much for getting the mother of the year award. Don't worry all of my friends gave me a hard time about it too, and that's not even including Dan's lecture. I guess having your child wear warm clothes is not a good love and logic lesson. Time to buy some snow pants.

Christmas Cards

It's that time of year again, and I am in need of addresses. If you have moved in the past year or if you don't think I have your address and would like a card this year please email me your address. gerbear07@yahoo.com
Here's a preview of our card this year.