COLD

What do you do when the weather man provides you with a no-digit forcast - "Hey, It's Just COLD."



You make home-made pizza:



and TRY to protect your ever eagerly climbing 18-month old:



Eventually, you give in and let the girls (and Matt) play in the snow for a bit:






And when the girls get sick, you make afghans to stay warm. It's tiring work:

Little Fingers

Although, I'm not one to enjoy waking up early, there's something sweet about being awakened by the pit-pat-pit of little fingertips on my shoulder. Even if it is at 5:30 in the morning. I love you, Ally Joy.

Christmas Progression

Wow.

What a weekend.

I had an official "Mom" moment while traveling this weekend when I had to remind Ally to "quit touching your sister!" To recap, this year, we decided not to fly anywhere for Christmas. We had initially planned to spend Christmas at home with just the four of us, but Nathan and Natalie invited us to spend Christmas with her family, so we made the four hour drive to Iowa. Their family celebrates with a non-traditional seafood dinner Christmas eve which was delicious, and an interactive Nativity play for the kids. I managed to keep away from work for an entire weekend, play a little Killer Bunnies & Qwirkle. Santa found us (phew) and the girls were very happy with their presents. A little picture recap:

Snow Bunnies - (we made snow angels, but we still haven't made the snow family that Ally wants to make yet. She wants to make a Snow Mommy and Daddy and Ally and Lily. That seems like a lot of work with not a lot of pay-off. We'll see...they sure are cute in their snow-duds though).







Mary and Jack the Donkey




A Shepherd and His Sheep -



Little Sheep -





New Sleeping Bags (where Ally snuggled in and insisted all following presents be brought to her in).





Stocking Loot -




One of Lily's New Outfits -

Merry Christmas

I have failed!!!

Two years ago I sent out our very first Christmas letter. Oh the anticipation and pressure at living up to the level of excellence set by father many Christmases before me! But I tried. I even sent out a second one last year as well. I don't remember if they were funny, or clever, or even interesting, but I sent out love and well wishes to family and friends.

This year I started a letter and ordered pictures to continue the tradition. Maybe not well in advance, but with some time to spare. However, when Matt picked up the pictures from Costco today and to my horror, we all looked a little like demons. I forgot to remove the red eye!!



So now I'm faced with a moral dilemma...do I send out these embarrassing photos just to show that I care? Order more with no guarantee that they'll reach you all in time for Christmas? Or cop out with the latest stamp-free trend and just blog my letter? Well, clearly you know by know that I'm going with option 3. I'm lame. And cheap. So sue me.

Matt:
Was recently accepted to the UW-Platteville and will be starting in January in the Construction Management program. We are relieved/scared to be starting this next chapter...it will be quite the adventure! Still works with the youth group at church and plays basketball once a week.

Sarah:
Still working at Epic full-time. Recently referred her brother Nathan to work there as well, so Nat-Nat (and bun-in-oven) will be moving to Wisconsin soon. Can't wait to play. In her spare time, she reads and stresses and pretends to be crafty.

Ally:
Mom just registered this little gal for Kindergarten. She attends pre-school three days a week, likes to do crafts with mom, loves "Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer" and all things "Christmas Time." She also likes secrets and talking to herself at night.

Lily:
Is crazy. She climbs onto and into everything and also enjoys unloading toyboxes. She loves to snuggle and read stories and give hugs.

Both girls love to Skype and miss their Grandmas and Grandpas.

And we all send our love to friends far and near, we're grateful for your friendship and for the sacrifice of our Lord. Merry Christmas!

Allyisms

Some of my new favorite Allyisms:

Ally: "Mom, what's your name?"
Mom: "My name is Sarah."
Ally: "Your name is Sarah-Tops???"

Ally: "Mom, are you OK? Did you hurt your foot?"
Mom: "No, I hurt my hip-bone."
Ally: "You hurt your hippopotamus bone?"

Dad: "Ally! I just picked up all those blankets!"
Ally: "Dad, just relax."

Grandma: "Ally, do you want to come visit me at my house?"
Ally: "Grandma, I can't. I can't find your house."

Trick or Treat

Love

Ahhh...love. Five years ago I made the best decision of my life (albeit rashly and OK I should have invited my parents to the wedding), but I decided to marry this guy named Matt (who opened doors for me and tried to buy me a microwave) and we've been ridiculously happy ever since. Matt surprised me with flowers at work today and I surprised him with this:



Five years later and we finally got a wedding cake :)