Christmas 2013!

Merry Christmas!! What a wonderful Christmas it was this year!  I swear they get better and better each year, or maybe its that we added another child and one that was a little older so she enjoyed it that much more.  Either way it was a blast! On Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve) and Christmas Eve we spent the days just hanging out and getting ready for our big family trip to California. We went and saw Santa (which was crazy, but perfect!), made gingerbread boys, wrapped presents and watched our favorite Christmas movie, Mixed Nuts.
Solana discovered some new favorites this season. Her favorite Christmas songs are "Little Drummin' Boy" by Jackson 5 (which we've listened to on repeat probably 1000 times), "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and "Baby Jesus is Born" by Garth Brooks (that's my favorite too). She also loved watching Elf everyday.  And she really liked Bethlehem, and trying to find it (a nativity scenes) while we were driving.  She would always say "Bethlehem is my favorite." And everyday she asked if we could make gingerbread boys.  She loved Christmas and her excitement made it that much more special for us.

She was so excited to see Santa, and props to Boston for not even shedding a tear, he was a champ! 

She told Santa that she wanted a dolly house and he said he would get it for her. Thanks Santa for making such big promises :)  (Way to go Mom and Dad for waiting until December 23rd to take the kids to see Santa.  We waited in an enormous line for nearly an hour and a half!  But it was totally worth it!)

Yes we should have just gotten him a box for Christmas, he had a blast in it. 

Glad we caught the chaos on camera...

For Christmas Eve we got the kids new pajamas. Solana loved them, and I have not be able to get her into anything else since. 

Christmas morning was so much fun. She forgot when she first woke up that is was Christmas, but when we told her Santa had come, she could hardly stand the excitement.  

Boston loving his new books

Grandpa Ross got both kids a new scooter, and all morning Solana rode around saying "special delivery!" with a gift in tow. It was adorable.

Ross tradition, orange in the bottom of the stocking, and it seems to be Boston's favorite part.

Her dollhouse! She earned it, she stopped sucking her thumb during the day. 

Taking the new scooter out and learning how to brake, she did surprisingly well.  Then it was back inside and have our traditional breakfast tacos and then get ready to head to the airport. It was a wonderful and crazy day!

December festivities!!

Seriously where did December go!? I miss it! I can't say it enough, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the holidays.  And adding one more child to the mix made it that much more fun, but also that much busier!  This year I tried to do all the traditions I could think of.  We accomplished a lot, but we still have so many more do to next year.  Here are most of the photos to highlight all we did for our last month in 2013! 

Picked out an awesome tree! Solana was extremely excited, and she even pulled it all by herself to the car (on a cart of course) :)  Maybe Lowe's isn't the most Christmas-y place to get a Christmas tree, but we did it last year, so whatever, tradition.

The oh-so-fun-ugly-sweater-wreath-making-girls'-night-holiday-party!!! phew! I had a blast throwing this party.  I crammed about 20 girls in my place for a wild party. We made wreaths, ate christmas treats, and wore some especially ugly holiday apparel. I wish I got the whole group in the photo, but these all-star partiers stayed until the last minute. 

These gals rock, and the wreaths they made were of so impressive. 

We made snowflakes! I haven't made one since who knows when (like I was 5) and so it was a project for me.  But Solana (and surprisingly Adam) soaked this up. They got really into it and it showed!

My little holiday heart warmer.  Love his first Christmas.

In case you were wondering what this is, let me confirm your suspicions by telling you "yes, its a ginger bread house!" complete with candy furniture that Solana added. haha!

I wish I could tell you that this house looks so amazing because a 3 year old designed it all.  Actually I wish I could tell you she did even some of it.  But really all her contribution was put the candy inside for the "furniture" and do the landscaping.  (Gingerbread people gotta have a place to sit, right?!)  But Adam and his mom designed this fabulous structure.  I was in charge of icing, and I believe the reason I am still holding it in the photo is because its stuck to me, and I had a hand cramp for like 2 hours after we were done. But its a house made of love and we LOVED it!! 

So next year we will attempt another one, and I have a feeling that our perfectionist streak might produce some obsessive gingerbread monstrosity.

Adam and I signed up to be party helpers in Solana's class.  It was so fun to again see her in her element.

um yeah….she loves school :)

She was pretty hilarious during her Christmas program. 

Dad is the official horsey of the family. She even calls him by that: "come here horsy!" haha.  Sometimes, they won't even be playing anything, and Solana will just boss Adam around and say, "Horsey, do this!" Or "Horsey, do that!"  Adam has to remind her, "Hey, sometimes you can call me Daddy!"

Adam hung up her snowflakes in her room, and everyday day she would try to jump off her bed and touch them.  It was so fun!! 

Boston started walking full time at 10 months! Oh how it changes things...

Her ballet recital.  

A random semi-warm day, so we headed to the park!

Adam on his first day of winter break from school!

Solana puts on lots of shows, this one was musical.

Our one and only lazy Saturday over the break. It was incredible. 

I love this photo. Apples after church, they must have been hungry. 

Out of 5 LDS guys who started law school with Adam, one, Dustin, transferred a year ago, and one, James, got to graduate early. So we said goodbye to James and his family, and they are dearly missed.  

Also can you believe all these baby boys were born during law school?!

I hate when people move, but I also get so excited for them and the new adventure that awaits! We miss you guys!!!