Christmas DAY at our house

It was so fun waking up in our own beds on Christmas morning.  Thankfully, the girls weren't up terribly early - 6:45.  Jake read us the Christmas story.

Then we opened gifts.

We headed over to our friends house, the Graves', for brunch.  Once again, we are so thankful for our NC family who has included us this holiday. Ella loved the doggies.

The Graves' boys & the Flaming girls.

What a blessing this family is to our family!
The rest of today will be spent at home...skyping our family up in MN & spending time together.

Christmas EVE at our house

This year, we four are staying here in NC for Christmas.  Last year, my family was able to come & join us.  This is the first year I have not seen my family on Christmas day (second year for Jake & seeing his family). 

Here are a few fun things we are doing to make our own family memories:

On Monday, Aunt Sue came over with some presents for the girls.  Sue teaches Lily Sunday School & the girls just love her!

We went & rode the Polar Express at Mayfair.  Lily did the parade wave the entire trip:

Christmas Eve morning we opened the Christmas Eve box.

Inside the box was sugar cones, frosting & candy to make Christmas trees.  Lily LOVED it....she ate a lot of the candy (another reason to do it in the morning & not right before bed).
There was also a Christmas movie, popcorn, twizzlers & hot chocolate (we did that at night after bath).

Ella & Daddy sampling.

We went over to Nonnie & Papa's house at 2pm for a big lunch.  I am so bummed that I left my camera in my purse the entire time.  I meant to take pictures of the girls with them.  We are so thankful for our NC family.

snapshots

The girls had on these cute coordinating Christmas dresses today so I just had to get some pictures of them by the Christmas tree.  LOVE these girls!

Aunt Anna

Aunt Anna came to visit us this past weekend.  We LOVE it when family comes to visit!  Unfortunately, we can only make the trip up north ONCE a year so it's a L-O-N-G eleven months in between visits.  We did a few fun things while Anna was here.

Make & roll out sugar cookies.

Practice the Ukulele that Anna gave the girls for Christmas.

Snuggle, play games & watch movies.

Visit the beach...since it was 77 on Friday!

Lunch at Chick Fil A with friends (don't you LOVE those pig tails on Ella!).

it's the most wonderful time of the year

WARNING: this blog post contains a LOT of pictures

What have we been up to?  Glad you asked.

We were given this door from friends of ours who are also remodeling a home.  Jake has been working on painting it & hanging it.  It isn't quite ready yet, but Saturday we got a sneak peak.

The new posts & new door....just need that siding & brick painted gray.

Jake finished up the siding on the dining room.  For now we still have the vinyl siding up on the french door wall.  We are wanting to do a pallet wall since it is under the patio.  Future plans are to screen in the patio for some outdoor dining & seating.

While Jake was working outside we girls were working inside on decorating for Christmas!

No fireplace in our new home so the stockings are hanging in the playroom from the new windows.

 One of my favorite books, "A Tale of Three Trees"....and some hats to wear while reading Christmas books or riding our reindeer (ie...horse from Aunt Anna).

A little 4' tree we got for $4 at ReStore.  It was brand new & sealed in the box.

The little tree is in our dining room & I have my Crate & Barrel "12 Days Til Christmas" ornaments on it.

The advent calendar I made last year.  Can't wait to use it again this year with the girls. I am doing the same way of filling it as last year.

Some past Christmas pictures.

"We're dreaming of a white Christmas"
We got *snow* last week. It was barely on the rooftops & the car. It melted by 9am. Lily wanted to make a snowman.  I hope we get at least one good snow this year.  The girls would love it!

I had to rearrange the living room to make room for our tree.

The girls got out the jingle bells on Sunday morning & played & sang. So blessed to have these 3 in my life.