Reindeer Ornaments, Gingerbread Houses, & Sugar Cookies!

By the title of this you would probably guess that there will be a lot of pictures, and if you did then you would be correct. I also know that I should be posting about Christmas, but I am not. That post should follow shortly, but for now there is a lot to post about the week leading up to Christmas. Caleb has been out of school and it has been the best thing ever! We stayed here for Christmas, and even though it was hard not to be home for the Holidays it was kind of nice not to have to travel and to get to just relax. We will get to go home soon enough, Jan. 27th to be exact but who is counting, for Eric's wedding and I am super excited! Anyway....... Like I said Caleb has been home and we have been doing lots of fun stuff.

First off Caleb's family exchanges ornaments for Christmas instead of gifts. There are 8 kids in his family and so we rotate having each of the siblings for Christmas ornaments. This year we decided to home make the ornaments. I saw this on a friends tree and copied the idea! We made little reindeer out of puzzle pieces. Makayla loved painting them and then helping to assemble the parts. No she did not use the glue gun, she just helped push all the pieces on. She is getting so big and loves to help with EVERYTHING!

Finished project!

Next up we have gingerbread houses. We have done these for a few years and enjoy it each year. We usually buy a kit, I am too lazy to make the gingerbread myself! No really we usually do it spur of the moment and I don't have time to make it, maybe one day I will. Since we have been in Utah for all of our Christmas' until this one we usually make my parents do these type of things. Instead this year we had some friends over and lots of fun making them.

Look at those faces, they must have been up to no good! Maybe Makayla was eating the frosting! That was her favorite thing to do, which I don't understand since it was so gross!

Ramos'

Jorgensen's

US!

A look at the three finished products until.............

One came crashing down! (That one was Paul and Natalie's!!!) They all had roof problems, but only the one caved in. I think we always have the same problem and I think it is because we don't have the patients needed. Next year I think we will use glue for the structure! (Thanks for the idea ShaLene!) It was a lot of fun making them, thanks guys for coming over!

Last up sugar cookies. Makayla has been looking forward to making these for the longest time. We didn't get around to making them until Christmas Eve and we didn't get them decorated until today (the day after Christmas), but hey they are done now and Makayla is happy!

Rolling out the dough with daddy.

Not sure about this look, but both Caleb and I thought it was hilarious!

So proud of her work and so messy!

Decorating time! Lots of cookies and frosting. Makayla did a pretty good job keeping the frosting on the cookie, until she got a taste of it and then it was over with. She couldn't keep it out of her mouth. I sure hope she doesn't get sick tonight!

Daddy was so proud of his work! Sometimes the things we think Makayla will enjoy the most are the things that daddy enjoys the most! :) He is the best daddy and the most fun too!

Lucy enjoying herself, I just had to throw one in of her. She is smiling more now and I kind of got it here!

Makayla showing off one of her cookies, this was before she tried the frosting!

What a great week we have had. I can't wait for the next week, we still get daddy home for another whole week!

Stay tuned for Makayla's first ice skating adventure and Christmas!

Fun in the Snow

We got our first real snow fall a little while ago and there was no holding Makayla back! The minute it snowed she wanted to be out there playing in it. Caleb being the good day he is took her out there and played with her until she was satisfied! Here are some pictures of the fun she had in the snow.

Getting ready to go. You defiantly have to bundle up to outside here. It is freezing! Last year we didn't have snow pants for her, but this year we bought some and she loves them! Also she got new boots. They are too big for her, but she loves them and wears them everywhere!

Playing in the snow while daddy was hard at work.

Showing off her snow outfit.

She loves to throw the snow in the air, but doesn't like when it hits her in the face. It is kind of funny when it does.

She was trying to run away for me and she fell. Normally she would scream, but with all that snow stuff she didn't mind!

I had to put a picture of Lucy in this post. This is what she did while Makayla played outside, slept!

Makayla can not play outside without wanting to build a snowman. This year Caleb was very proud of her because she really wanted to and did help build it. It was so cute to see her get snow and bring it to her daddy.

The finished product. Isn't it so cute.

The two behind the hard work. A few days later we came home and some of the punk kids in our neighborhood had come and knocked it down. I was like oh great she is going to cry when she sees it, but her reaction was even better. She was dumbfounded! all she did was point and say, "Who did this?" in her very stern voice. Then she was like we need to build another one. She still talks about those "punk" kids as I called them in front of her. She is so smart, she picks up on EVERYTHING I say.

Playing in the snow is not complete without a sledding adventure. This was Makayla's first time sledding and she loved it.

She even went down a little hill we have across the street from us. At first she went with daddy, then she went on her own while daddy held the rope, and now she goes all by herself with someone even giving her a little push. She is growing up too fast.

She finished up outside with making a snow angel! What a great time she had. I don't know how many more times she will get to play outside here, because you have to play in the snow right when it snows or else it turns to ice, because it is so cold, and then it is no fun! I guess we will have to wait and see!

Sisterly Love

This post is mostly for family away from us to see some pictures of the girls. (not like I don't post enough of them)

Makayla is OBSESSED with Lucy. I am not sure if it is just to get attention from us or if she truly just wants to be around her all the time, but whenever I look at her is is all over Lucy hugging, kissing, and trying to talk to her! I only hope that this "love" continues throughout their lives! Here are some pictures of them.

This was before she became such a fussy baby! So peaceful!

Giving kisses! Lucy gets lots of these and I think it is sweet, most of the time!

A hug this time!

Wide awake and not crying! This is a rare occasion.

This was the sweetest thing that I have seen in a long time. I was making dinner and Lucy was a little fussy and Makayla could see that I was busy so she told me, "Mom I can help. I will read Lucy some stories, because I like it when you read to me!" So cute, right? She was so proud of herself that she was able to get her to stop crying and be content. Boy do I love these two.

These next two are for you Grandma Hunter! Here are the girls in one of their Christmas dresses that Grandma bought for them.

This is one of the things I am looking forward to about having two girls, getting them matching dresses! Makayla loves her dress and they are both so cute in them.

Momma and her two beautiful girls!

Thanksgiving Fun

I am still playing catch up so here is my Thanksgiving post. This year for Thanksgiving we decided to go to Michigan and visit one of Caleb's brothers. We had a lot of fun and we loved that we got to show Lucy off to some more family. I didn't get any pictures of the actual food we ate, but it sure was yummy! Thanks Michelle for all the hard work to make such great food. The day after Thanksgiving we didn't do much shopping, instead we went to a movie. We went and saw Tangled. It was a very cute movie, even though I missed the first part because Lucy decided to have a blow out, go figure! Anyway Makayla loved it and talks about it all the time. I have to say she did much better in this movie than she did when we went and saw her first movie Toy Story 3. Just shows how much she has changed in 5 months!

Makayla also had a lot of fun playing with her cousins. Zach became her buddy right away! Even though it was very cold they got to play outside and had a ball

.

Here they are on the tramp playing a game that consisted of kicking all the balls off the tramp whenever the dads would throw them on it.

She is so cute and is at such a trying but FUN age!

Here they are getting pulled around in a sled, even though there was no snow. I think this started her obsession with sleds that led to us buying one when we got home. These two are so cute!

She is going to kill me for this one, but oh well. First off this was after a long, long day out and about she fell asleep on my lap while waiting to go to bed. Secondly we are having issues with her picking her nose. We tell her all the time to stop and what not, so it was hilarious when we looked at her and she had fallen asleep with her finger in her nose!

Of course everyone there was a big help with Lucy and wanted to hold her all the time. Here she is with her cousin Rachel.

One more of her doing what she does best! She is getting so big already.

On Saturday we went to a farm that was all decked out for Christmas to see Santa and get homemade donuts and apple cider. It was such a cute place and we had a blast.

Outside of the barn where Santa was waiting. Makayla was so excited to see him and tell him what she wanted!

She was so brave this year and sat on his lap and told him she wanted a camera and doll house for Christmas.

I had to add this picture. It was down the stairs from Santa and I think Makayla could have stood there and looked at this for hours. It sang Christmas songs and she was fascinated by it. It was so funny.

They also have a ton of things outside for the kids to play on and look at. It was a little cold so we didn't stay out there too long, but long enough to get some pictures. Family picture minus one. It was just too cold to pull her out!

What a cutie!

After playing outside we went in for what I really wanted homemade donuts and apple cider. It was so good. Here is Makayla enjoying her share!

We had so much fun and are so thankful to these guys for letting us come and stay and showing us a great time! We miss you guys already!