Christmas and New Years

A look at Christmas and New Years at our house:

Rayna got to set out some treats for Santa, the reindeer, and the elves.

Elf-sized glazed donuts.

Rayna's note to Santa, as dictated to me, and signed by herself. Rayna's one request this year was for a medium Pluto to match her big Minnie and Mickey.

 

 Bowman went all out and got me a beautiful mirror for the wall and a bag full of treats

The Man, modeling his Christmas sweats

She was so proud of herself for doing her puzzle

We couldn't stop the kids from eating the snow off of people's shoes, so we decided to get around the problem by providing them with some clean snow that was safe for eating. They looooved eating their bowls of snow.

 We made a fancy Christmas dinner with lamb chops, crab legs, and shrimp. It was delicious!

 Our lovely gingerbread house

The kids got adorable Christmas pajamas from both grandmas! :)

They also got bird feeders to hang on the deck.

 These bird feeders have led to tons...

and tons...

and tons of bird-watching. These two get so excited when they see all the birds who come to eat from their bird feeders.

Rayna looked so fancy for church last Sunday

We have had plenty of snow since Christmas. The kids like playing in it, mostly. We have had a few meltdowns over pants that are too puffy and fingers that get too cold, but mostly they have had a lot of fun.

All-time favorite picture of Danny:

Rayna and Danny got this snowman kit for Christmas!  All of the pieces came with wooden dowels attached to the back, so they can stick in the snow without falling out. Rayna loved the snowman that Bowman built for her. But please tell me that I'm not the only who feels extremely unsettled about those large googly eyes. Rayna calls him "our cool, creepy snowman."

Two more pictures of these kids being adorable goofballs: