Jo- almost 5

I caught this moment a few Sundays ago. She's an impressive artist.

I can almost never get her to give me a straight smile. But that's her. Beautiful.

Three Little Owls

EVERYWHERE we go we're turning heads.

EVERYONE wants to know where we got these. "Those are the cutest hats I've ever seen." Exact quote - on multiple occasions.

Well Santa brought them. But my wonderful friend, Emily, happened to be the Elf on staff last year. I love them very much. And my kids love them too. They pretend they're owls while wearing them - shocker, right? The kiddos wear them daily, whether we're going out or not. Even Maggie brings hers to me to put on her now. Emily sells them for $30 if anyone is interested. It's totally worth the money. My kids should be able to wear these hats until they're about 8!

Ryans FREAKING AWESOME Christmas gift for me

He made these...

They match our bedding perfectly. I love that my husband is so darn attractive, so talented, AND has fabulous taste.

And then I cut off my hair

And I heart it so much. There's nothing so liberating as getting a good haircut.

Christmas 2011!!!

It's February. I'm thinking I should probably get Christmas finished off today! We had a wonderful Christmas this year (last year). The kids were so excited the entire month proceeding the holiday. Atticus asked me almost every day if Santa was coming. The anticipation of Christmas just gets better each year. Even for me. Christmas Eve we spent with my parents, Andrew, and Julie and Rob at Mom and Dad's. We enjoyed yummy soups and let Jo act out the nativity (kind of by herself... it was a bit odd but she enjoyed herself). Atticus fell asleep on the couch and Mags had a complete melt down. So Ryan and I left the party with our two younger kids while Mom and Dad let Jo stay to finish watching Jack Frost with them. When we got home we put Atticus in his NEW CHRISTMAS PJ'S!!!! And he freaked out. He hated them. He needed to wear what he'd been wearing all day. This little knit baby cap and his "flyer guy" cape.

So that's what he slept in. Those cheeks look stained with some kind of sugary goodness.
When my parents dropped Jo off after her movie was over she and Mags set out sugar cookies for Santa before heading to bed.

Christmas was on Sunday and we have 9:00 AM church. So when the kids woke up we let them go down stairs and see if Santa had come. And indeed he had.

Then we hurried them into their church clothes and went to Sacrament meeting. I know there's nothing more appropriate than taking the Sacrament on Christmas. I know it. But Ryan sang in the choir and I walked the halls with 3 churchlynns who could NOT sit still for one second. Santa had come. "Is church done yet?" Over and over and over again. I was happy to walk with them. I'm just not sure if we worshiped exactly.
Parked in the carport Ryan and I gave the kids a quick run down: Get back in your jammies as fast as possible and meet us on the stairs!!! Now go! This is not a drill! (we specified that Tic needed to put on his Christmas jammies- not the ones he slept in.)

We made record time. And then we opened! Hooray!

My husband thinks he's a ninja. And so does my brother Eric. So he sent some gift wrapped weaponry.

Around dinner time my parents, Andrew, Julie and Rob, and Eric and Briana came over to spend the evening. We had a delicious salad bar for dinner and then played games and relaxed until about 2 in the morning.

Atticus had to get back in his tiger outfit after opening presents.

Just before Eric and Briana left we had them snap a photo of us.

And about 2 hours later I started puking. We had the stomach flu before and after Christmas. But I'm grateful we were spared the day of. Hope you all had a wonderful day too!

Spritz Cookies!

Eric and Briana have a tradition to decorate these Spritz Cookie each year for Christmas. And they've let us tag along the last few years.

Ryan and Eric- master frosters.

Tic usually only felt up to making one cookie at a time. Then he'd need to eat it before starting onto the next.

It's all about the sprinkles and how many you can pile on ONE COOKIE.

Elena and Jo were troopers. They each only finished a few cookies. But boy were those cookies covered in frosting and sprinkles.

Lily was pretty cute walking around all night with her dum dum sucker and bowl of sprinkles.

I was slightly anti-energy that night. I kind of made Briana take care of my children while I sat on the opposite side of the table. Sorry Briana.

Gross.

I don't mean to sound like the cookies aren't good. They're delicious. And they're super fun to decorate. But the cookies the kids got a hold of were disgusting. Truly, truly not edible. Except that they ate them. But when has the fact that something's not edible ever stopped one of your churchlynns from eating it? It was a very fun night. We love this tradition and hope the Eric Hoffman family will invite us again next year!