December

We had a fun and festive December this year. We stayed busy but tried to slow down and enjoy the kiddos before we brought baby Brylee home.

The girls had a good 'ole time grooming daddy one night. Can you see the 2 brushes in Averi's hand? Brother even got involved temporarily. The girls love to brush and fix hair. They just don't want you messing with their hair.

We did our annual gingerbread house! However, this year it was not a "traditional" gingerbread house. Averi is not a good shopper, especially in the mornings. So I grabbed the kit one morning in a hurry and didn't realize until I got home that it was a chocolate kit where I had to melt the chocolate, pour it in the mold, then put it together. I was quite frustrated, but it was the easiest one yet.

 
The kiddos loved it! I wouldn't let them touch it until I got a picture. Thirty minutes later I was very thankful for this "wisdom" because one side of the roof was gone. The house survived all of 3 days.
You can see how much Averi cared about what was going on. As long as she is in the vicinity of what you are doing, she could care less if she is involved or not.

We also painted Christmas trees on white ceramic plates. This was the kids' favorite activity. I didn't include any pictures because they are not allowed to play with sharpies with their clothes on. Get my drift?

Our next big event was Evie's school Christmas program. She played Mary and loved every minute of it. Afterwards, Mrs. Steffanie asked me if Evie played with baby dolls very much. When I said no, she replied with, "I didn't think so." She said she had to "coach" Evie on how to rock the baby. Evie didn't stop rocking the baby until she handed the baby over.

John Reagan played Joseph in the church Christmas program. He was less than excited about it. He had to sit on stage for 20-30 minutes. He played with the hay. He played with his fingernails. He did anything and everything he could to preoccupy himself. We could tell he was very bored.

I had to throw in one last picture of Averi. This is how she dressed herself to play outside one night while Daddy, brother, and sister were doing fireworks. How nice!

We had a great Christmas...the best one yet with the kiddos. Then we rushed to get decorations down and get ready to bring Brylee home, who arrived 2 days after Christmas.

I realize I am a little late on this post.  I have been working on it for over 3 weeks now.  I always forget how little time I have to get things done once a newborn gets here.  We are finally starting to get our routine back now that it has been 8 weeks.