We've had a lot of fun in the snow this winter. Dexter loves to have Rich make the snowballs, hand them back to him and then throw them right back at Rich, not too stealthy but pretty funny. The kids have been enjoying making snow angels, snow piles and "shovel rides" where Rich will shovel them along with the snow.
These are the ruby slippers Gummy bought the girls. They love them! They wear them as often as possible. Lucy loves to show them off to everyone and gets a lot of compliments from strangers, which she just eats up. We let the girls open the shoes early because we thought they went cute with their Christmas outfits. Despite the dazed and confused looks they did look darling. 
The kids also decorated our yearly gingerbread house for Santa with Rich.
This year we also went through the toy room and gave Santa 2 big bags of toys that he could then give to other children. (Also because with 3 kids the toys can get out of control and adding Christmas toys to the already out of control mess was not something I wanted to do. Downsizing before adding to the toys seemed like the best thing to do. I also felt like it might get the kids into the spirit of giving a little and they really were happy to do it.) The problem is that on Christmas Eve there was no way I was getting out to actually do the "donating". So we put the bags in the room the kids aren't supposed to be in. But I was doing school work down there a few days after Christmas and Dexter wandered in and saw the bags. He wanted to know why Santa hadn't taken the toys. Oops! Well, I told them Santa left me a note with instructions of what to do with the toys because he didn't have enough room on his sleigh but that we was really happy and appreciative of the gesture. Most of them are broken or little happy meal toys, the good ones I am thinking of sending to my sister, Rebekah, in Africa. I will have to ask her. The jammies that Gummy sent were a big hit. I think they stayed in them for two days straight after we opened them on Christmas Eve. They loved them! Dexter is still over the moon about his Mario pj's. He is sure that he IS Mario when he wears them. Can you tell by his smile?!
Here a few tidbits from Christmas morning...
I am a bad daughter and have failed to get pictures of the kids in their Alaska socks. They are also now Dexter's favorite socks. It's a good thing that there are two of them! Although, he insists that they are penguin socks. I tried to explain to him that they are Puffin socks, not penguin and where Grandma lives and Mom grew up there are some puffins but no penguins. He told me, "Mom, it's my imagination and in my imagination they are penguins." I can't argue with that. 
Here a few tidbits from Christmas morning...
I am a bad daughter and have failed to get pictures of the kids in their Alaska socks. They are also now Dexter's favorite socks. It's a good thing that there are two of them! Although, he insists that they are penguin socks. I tried to explain to him that they are Puffin socks, not penguin and where Grandma lives and Mom grew up there are some puffins but no penguins. He told me, "Mom, it's my imagination and in my imagination they are penguins." I can't argue with that.
On the cute front, Hazel is starting to talk more and more. It is so fun. Right now her biggest thing is whenever you ask one of her siblings if they would like, want, need something, she will throw both hands up in the air and enthusastically say "I DO!". Also, she has always loved cuddly, soft, stuffed animals and calls them her "ba-beeeees". Recently she has started this little mantra that she says over and over in her cute little toddler voice, "I are a ba-beee!"
Lastly, Happy New Years! The kids even got to stay up until midnight! (It's a good thing they can't tell time because I lied to them - midnight was really 8:30 pm, an hour past their bedtime). But we toasted sippy cups of sparkling cider, banged on pots and pans, wore silly hats and all the usual stuff at "midnight". This was the first year since being married that I actually stayed up! Pregnancy and sleep deprivation have rendered me useless long before midnight up until now. It was fun. This new year (tomorrow actually) Dexter will start karate and Lucy dance. I've been meaning to get them into something like that forever but just haven't found a good time with Dexter's strange preschool schedule but I found something that will work. The classes only last 6 weeks for now and we will see how interested they stay. If they love it we will sign them up for more. They are super excited.
Don't worry, Grandma's. I am working on making our 2009 photo book to send to you, so hopefully it won't be too long before you see more pictures. Until then, we love you!
