After we arrived home from Christmas with my parents, we gave the girls their gifts from us. We usually only do one gift to each of them since they get so many gifts from everyone else.
Bentley opening her gift while Bria waits for her turn.
Bria taking her turn. I think she was just putting on a show for the camera.
Bentley sucking from the straw of her new cup even though it is empty.
Our family celebrated Christmas with J’s parents. Mom’s house always feels Christmasy with all her snowmen throughout the entire house. We actually sent the girls with my parents the Monday (after our church’s Christmas program) before Christmas so we could have a little time to ourselves. Because of all the projects we had to work on, we didn’t get much time to relax.
Bentley enjoying one of the sugar cookies aunt D made and Bria helped frost.
Bentley trying to sneak up on one of the cats. This is the mean cat that only likes my dad and brother. The cat was ready to strike with Bentley being this close, but Bentley was oblivious.
Bentley among the stacks of presents at my parents’ house on Christmas morning. It was a bit of a maze that she could have gotten lost in.
Here are all of the presents after they were distributed to everyone they belonged to. The picture doesn’t come close to doing the piles justice.
Bentley giving grandma a hug. That girl really loves both of her grandmas. She didn’t want to let go of grandma. Grandma loved every minute of it.
We didn’t get as many pictures of Bria this year because she always seemed to be running around. Both girls really loved their gifts. Of course, all of Bentley’s gifts also are Bria’s, according to Bria.
Here is a quick synopsis of what went on for the rest of the month of December: several work Christmas parties, bible studies, bible study Christmas parties, Christmas program practices and the actual program, company visiting, caroling, a church Christmas party, a Men’s football night at our house, Christmas shopping (which ended up being mostly online), and I could go on. Every day was busy with some type of activity. There are only three days on our calendar that didn’t have something going on, but I think even a few of those ended up with another event.
It is fun to get together with people during this time of year, but sometimes all of the preparations can be a bit overwhelming. We felt like the season went way to fast. It is nice to just be able to sit and enjoy a lit Christmas tree from your couch, but we didn’t get much of that. The lack of snow made it hard to believe it was actually Christmas.
Here is Bria out in the little bit of snow we did have.
As you may have guessed, we actually decorated for Christmas quite a while back (around Thanksgiving). By the time I actually had time to sit down and update the blog, our computer crashed. Now it is time to catch up.
Our stockings, hung down the stairway, since the fireplace is in our bedroom.
Our Christmas tree with all of the ornaments. We had to move the computer desk to a different part of the room in order to fit the tree.
I always love decorating for Christmas. It makes the long dark days of winter a lot brighter.
The kids were fascinated with uncle J's new iPad. The adults had plenty of fun with it too.
Bria and cousin C being bridges over two train tracks.
The kitties provided great amusement for the littlest kids. Bentley even says "meow" now.
Bentley and cousin L playing together, as much as two one-year olds can.
Rolling around on the air mattress that D and I had slept on the night before (to avoid paint fumes). They had a good time jumping and walking on it.
We went out for pizza one night and Bentley wanted her shoes on. Bria offered to help, so Bentley sat right down and let her.
Bentley was resting on grandma. Nap times did not work out very well since we were painting the girls' room, so Bentley was quite tired the whole weekend. Bria dressed herself and insisted that pink and red go together.
Bentley found dad's hat and had to try it on. Too cute!
One of the bedrooms in the basement before it was painted. The other bedroom is very similar, it only had a different color of paint. We didn't actually mind the colors, but they were so banged up they needed some help.
The same bedroom after it was painted and had the furniture back in it. Right now the basement is all the same color. Eventually we may paint a wall in each of the bedrooms to dress it up a bit.
The girls' bedroom before. The picture is a bit dark, but the room was painted gray and dark blue with a horse border that was partially torn off.
Now their room is pink and purple (just a little bit girly). On this wall we did pink stripes on the top portion. They are very subtle because the pinks are the same color, we just used a different gloss in the paint. We also replaced the horrible light fixture and hung some of the girls' wall hangings.
Over by Bria's bed we hung the letters we had painted for her when she was born.
