The Opening Act

We set up the girls play house in the basement (since it's winter like 60% of the year here!)  and it has certainly worn many "hats" in it's short little life. It's been not only a house, but a restaurant, a store, a hotel, a horse stable, a nursery, and now a theater!

When my parents were up visiting my Mom & the girls "wrote" a script, gathered the actors, and even made a whole snack bar for the audience to choose from as they bought tickets at the ticket counter!

We had little cups of Jelly Belly's, packages of Skittles, Hershey's, Starbursts, and even bags of popcorn!!

Our snacking lasted long after the puppet show was complete!

Any guesses as to who starred in the drama?

I tell ya, these girls have the horse fever bad!! 

Their story was about friends not treating each other with kindess, then saying they were sorry, and then having a fun time together when everyone was treated nicely! I'm pretty sure Gramma had a big part in writing that one! :)

Just fair warning... if you live within a 20 minute raduis you WILL be invited to at least one puppet show this winter, but don't worry...

... tickets are cheap and they keep the snacks a 'comin! 

Christmas Eve Twenty Twelve

Our Christmas Eve, along with the rest of our Christmas, was re-laxing with a capital R! The only plan... spend time together! And that's we did!

We didn't want the girls to open all of their gifts at one time so on Christmas Eve, while their little sister napped, they got to open one portion of their goodies.

The classic "close your eyes"...

... and OPEN!

Jon's Grampa went above and beyond when he made them their cute little doll bed and crib, don't ya think?!

I made the mattress out of foam (of course!) and covered it with the same material that our rocking chair cushions were covered in... and made the rest of the bedding out of the girls old crib duvet cover. I'm not into keeping things simply because of sentimental reasons, but at least this way it's the best of both worlds! Sentimental plus practical!

As you can guess, A and L were pretty excited!!

They got new clothes for their Bitty Babies...

... and Alia even got a new Bitty Twin! 

"Kiwi" (Alia's Bitty Baby) proudly got passed on to Caidrie and "Mango" (we can't get away from fruits!) joined the family!

 This portion of Christmas was "sponsored" by American Girl as you can see! :)

The girls introduced all the dolls to each other, dressed and re-dressed their babies, organized their doll clothes in their new "dressers" and then it was time to tuck their little peanuts in for a nap...

... which goes okay until littlest sister comes to take over! :)

We played, had supper, then the girls opened their new PJ's and we loaded in the Expedition for a Christmas light tour. (And our conclusion is that people don't put up Christmas lights near as much as they used to!)

Two of the three fell asleep on the way home and that left just our oldest to enjoy making "snowman sundaes" with us!

All in all, a delightful way to spend Christmas Eve indeed!

If You Drop by Our House...

... don't swing the front door too hard.

It almost never fails that there's one, two, or three kids waiting behind it to "surprise" you.

So act surprised! :)

There's No Personal Bubble Among Friends

Some of our best friends made a weekend visit before the holidays and it was wonderful, as always!!

We got to know (and love on!) their little cutie pie a bit more...

... and the guys got up close and personal on the snow mobile! :)

*sigh* 

Their visits are never enough... though the snowmobile rides are certainly getting less comfy with the more kids we add! :)

Snowy Saturday Saunter

On Saturday we wanted to take the girls sledding, but no one quite seemed in the mood for it... least of all Caidrie :)

... so we decided to go for a "sleigh ride" around out little community instead.

We stopped by the park and that proved to be the hit of the day!

The only problem...

... Caidrie would get a little too excited and her swing would completely flip upside down!

So one of us would have to turn her world right again, and she'd be seeing straight until the next flip-a-roo!

And yes... it's a proven fact, I always ALWAYS look like a crazy lady in front of the camera! Never fails! :)

But I just gotta say, the giggles that my crazed looks produce from my littlest offspring, make even the documented proof worth it! :)

Building Bridges

In Canada...

... we teach the kidlings to shovel snow at an early age!

 Cause for goodness sake, this mama doesn't wanna be outside in the cold any more than she has to be! :)

Little Love Notes

Alia has been learning how to read/write and it's been fun to see what she comes up with! 

 An extra parent perk... ... finding little love notes left for us around the house!

 This one was waiting for me on the bathroom counter as I got ready Saturday morning! :)

Merry Magnets

Every year we take a "sisters pic" of all our little ladies to put on a magnet for family and friends. And I love how each year the girls' personalities shine through! 

 Here are a couple snapshots of our 5 minute photo shoot from this year! And being as I completely forgot about ordering them until the last minute it was a - "Hey girls, sit here and smile!" in whatever outfits they had on - type deal! 

 The two big girls were great about the whole thing...  

... could be because I bribed them with a piece of candy for when we were finished... :)

... but the littlest lady, not as much!

She was more interested in the items I gave her to keep from diving off the chair...

... than in actually smiling at the crazy waving lady with the camera!

So in the end... here's the "Merry Magnet" winner of the year! 

Every time I look at it I can't help but chuckle a bit! :)

Daughter #1 ...

... daughter #2

... and daughter # 3!

My oh my... we. are. so. blessed!

This Here Cowgirl...

... has got the horse fever bad!

And shhhh, no one tell her that pajamas and cowboy boots aren't in this season! :)

I've Yet to Get...

... a baby gate for any of our children and I refuse to now, so once in a blue moon I have to improvise!

It buys me... oh, say 10 minutes or so!

And some days... I'll take any extra minutes I can get a hold of!