{Christmas Eve Eve}

This year my side of the family celebrated
Christmas on Christmas Eve-Eve.
It was such a great way to kick off the Holiday!
The ladies were quiet excited to see their cousins!

They played all day long on Friday taking full
advantage of the parents being busy preparing
for the party and tearing Grandmas house apart!

At one point during the day Jody jokingly told
Sienna he was gonna take her on a date to get
some ice-cream.
(He was craving a root beer float and thought
he'd tease her in the process.)
Little does he know,
our kid will do pretty much
ANYTHING
for ice-cream.
30 seconds after he said that she came running
into the kitchen and said
"I've got my shoes on, Let's go!"
It was too cute. She's so lucky to have such
great uncles.He took her to get her ice-cream and brought
some back for all the kids.

And a few hours later we were ready to party!

For the Johnson family,
a party is all about the food!

Crab Wontons
7 Layer dip
Cranberry-jalepeno dip
Southwestern eggrolls
Stuffed mushrooms
Mexican ranch dip

Yes, we ate good and were stuffed the rest of the weekend!

Cody and Amy looking good.
Jody and Heather. Aww.
T and I.
Wish I would have gotten a pic of my parents! Grandma let the kids have a picnic in her front room and they were thrilled.Then came games.
The kids loved the race to pull the napkins out
of the box.
(Thanks Bishop for teaching us that one!)

Lucy LOVED the mess!And rolled each other up with TP.
Brielle enjoyed it!
And then it was present time!!
The kids were so excited for their first gifts of the year.
And they were spoiled, like always.My mom made them these darling skirts.
I adore them!
Aren't they fabulous?

The next day we had a little farewell dinner before they took off
for home. Me and Breezy in our purple jackets.
Love this kid!

We came home to prepare for our Kidman Christmas Eve
and found that Mrs. Claus hadn't forgot our tradition.
Each year she surprises the girls with a cute little outfit to
wear on Christmas Eve, and they were so excited to see her gifts
under the tree! Since they were already dressed they saved
them for Christmas day, but I think they were pretty happy
she remembered them.It was a great time with the Johnson clan.
We are so blessed with a great family!

The week before Christmas:

We opened some darling presents from friends.
Cutest headbands ever.

Went to our favorite Christmas party

at my Grandpa Oenes' home.

Somebody wasn't too thrilled about
the new sweater his mom picked out...

We were able to kick off the Holidays
with our favorite people.

And this one kept us smiling all night long.

Love that hubs of mine.And Sienna entertained us with her Christmas
program at school. She was adorable.
(Sure wish I could upload a video, but it's just not working for me!)And then Adyson had her Tavaci program.
She looked beautiful, and dazzled us with her singing.
She was in a special number this year and it was
the cutest thing ever...
You will have to trust me because the videos are still. Not. Working.
Grrrr...

To come: Christmas Eve Eve-Christmas Eve-And Christmas Day.
And all the other goodness since then.

How is it already over?

{All I want for Christmas}

The Tooth Fairy has been

BUSY!
This last week our little Roo
lost her first tooth!
Brave little thing let her
Uncle Cody pull it out for
her without any tears.

She couldn't wait to go
to school and show her friends her
'jack-o-lantern' smile.

Isn't that the sweetest little tooth?
The Tooth Fairy did deliver and she was thrilled.And the next day at school Adyson lost her
another tooth.
She was pretty excited that she lost it at school
and that she could come home and surprise us all.
Love this crazy smile picture.So the Tooth Fairy came again.
2 nights in a row.
She's out of money-in case you were wondering.

{Christmas Best}

The ladies got new Christmas Dresses.
Naturally I wanted to take some
pictures because they look mighty pretty.
Right?

One of the ladies indulged me
by letting me snap a few pictures.
She finally gave me her fakest smile after
the 3rd take.
When did she grow up?The other little lady got mad when I
turned off the camera.
She was in her modeliest of moods.
For real,
I have at least 4 more shots a little like these.

Stay little Roo.
Forever.

Man, I adore these girls of mine.

{Rockin' the Halls}

This little lady of mine LOVES to read.
She spends every single night reading in bed
after we tuck her in, and usually she begs for
'just a few more pages...".

Adyson's been working hard to earn
AR points for rewards in school.
She earned lunch with the principal a while back-
(pizza and CANDY!),
and Friday she earned the chance to
ROCK THE HALLS!
Last time they did it she was only 2 points away,
so she was excited!
What is rocking the halls you ask?
It's when the whole school stands in the hall
and cheers as you break the rules and run
through the halls (led by the principal)
to the tune of

"We will Rock you."

Here's a little sideways video for you,

if you care to watch.

Sienna was really excited to be able to
cheer her sister on, and I'm pretty sure
it inspired her to earn those AR points
so she can run through the halls too.
What fun!
We really are so proud of Adyson for
being such a great reader and mostly
for loving it so much.
Adyson's such a smart little lady!

And this portion of the post is dedicated to my sis Heather,
who has been begging to see the girls friends Christmas gifts,
and I've been promising to post them for a good month now.
We love to do a cute gift for the girls friends,
so they can see how good it feels to give.
The problem is that they have quite a few friends..
and it can get pricey. This year we found these
adorable snowman printables here, and opted to
wrap them around 8 oz. jars filled with candy instead
of candy bars or popcorn.
They turned out really cute! The hats are gloves. (One stuffed inside the other).
So...for those of you who have little girls who play with
my little girls...sorry we ruined the surprise!:)

{Glimpses...}

...Of our Thanksgiving weekend.

We decorated the downstairs tree on
Tuesday. This is the tree we let
the ladies loose on.

I heard Sienna say-
"And for the finishing touch"...
5 times.
It had lots, and lots, and lots
of finishing touches on it. :)

Thanksgiving Day
(and really, the whole weekend),
was spent at my parents house
with my entire family.
It was lovely to have everyone there-
and just what we all needed.
I really am so grateful for a
family who really always understands
what we are going through,
who makes us laugh-always,
and to let the cousins enjoy
each other all weekend long.

Brielle and Roo.
Are they really only 1 year apart??

Oreo Turkeys.

I tried to get a picture of Sienna,
and Ellie and Kutter snuck in.
Cuties.

Kutter just turned 8 and is now a Scout.
Quite possibly the proudest Scout ever.
He made Simon and Adyson each their own
paper kerchief. So cute.

Trayson

Breje

2 Stooges.

There was a lot of board games going on.

Even Lucy got in on the action.

The boys playing Risk.
It gets loud, and ugly.
And Amy, who always works her tail off
on Thanksgiving, got the day off to relax.
It was so, so great to have her there.

Me and the ladies.
So grateful for them.

When the cousins left and we could finally drag
our kids home, they found a pretty exciting surprise
waiting for them.

Skeeter is back!!
Do you see him?

Take a closer look.
Here he is sitting on our chandelier.
The ladies couldn't have been happier.We ended the weekend
by decorating the upstairs tree.
It looks like Christmas over here!
I am so excited already!