As soon as we were back from Vegas it was time to celebrate my birthday! The best part about having a December birthday is that since it's in the midst of all the holidays it always sneaks up on me. Emily made me this gorgeous hand-painted ornament, which was so sweet. Kristy and Marisa sent me Crumbl cookies because they get me. Courtney ordered Thai food for us so that I didn't have to cook for the night! I love my birthday. Rory had dance class that day and afterwards Sarah and Rebecca went with us to Joe's Farm Grill so I could cash in on my free birthday lunch. They started making chicken and waffles and this meal was so good that I have not stopped thinking about it since and I want it documented forever in our family history.
On Saturday we met up with the Collins for dinner at Caldwell County BBQ and then drove out to Schnepf farms to see their Christmas village and lights. They had all sorts of fun and cute things to do and the best part was that the lady at the entrance only made us pay one entrance fee instead of three- huzzah for birthday miracles! We decorated cookies, rode a Christmas train, fed baby reindeer, made a pine cone ornament, and even got to meet Santa. Added bonus was Rory was super feeling herself in this new puppy dress that Grammy got for her.
Move aside Christmas, back to my birthday festivities! Gilbert was lucky enough to get a Giving Machine again and we could not wait to make use of it. After Rory's toddlerschool the girls and I headed to downtown Gilbert to pick some items to buy for others. Rory chose "stinky shoes" which were actually a fresh, new pair for someone who needed them and Ada and I got food, backpacks, and school supplies. I hope we keep getting the machine so we can keep this tradition going. We then went to Oregano's, just like last year, so I could cash in on my birthday pazookie. We were a little bit of a nuisance for all the poor business men and women sneaking away for a lunch break, but man did I enjoy my food even if Rory was jumping around on the benches and Ada was crying and struggling to nurse in the confines of a booth table. I'm sure eventually these two will make much better lunch dates.
My parents organized an adults only trip to Hawaii and unfortunately this year we pulled the baby short straw and decided we would bring a human into the world instead. Since we had 4 month old Ada we opted to miss out instead of making everyone else endure a beach vacay with a baby, and while we were bummed we knew it was the right sacrifice to make for those who would be able to go kid-less on the trip. Jon and Kacey had a previous engagement fall through and last minute were able to join the Hawaii crew, and they knew just the baby-laden sisters to ask to watch their kids! So Kendall and I met up in Vegas and stayed with the Nielsens for the week. It was a lot of kids and a lot of babies, so I recruited Ashleigh and John to take Rory for me for the week. Rory is at her worst when I am giving my attention to anyone else, and it definitely made our week go more smoothly to have her off having fun with her other cousins. John and Ashleigh were absolute angels and took her to do all the most fun things. She hasn't stopped asking to go to their house since. In fact, she often asks if I can leave so she can see John John and Ashleigh again and go to the movies with them.
Kendall and I got a lot of baby time and it was so funny to visit with my sister who lives too far from me now. Ethan is so calm and happy and I still am amazed at the way he could go from laughing and playing in the Rock N Play to immediately asleep. We helped ourselves to lots of good food, watched lots of corny movies, and mostly kept each other sane in the midst of trying to take over Kacey's life. She left one day before the Nielsens came home and that one day was HARD. I got Rory back from John and Ashleigh and I tried to channel my inner Kendall to be fun and exciting (she truly is the best aunt). She bought gingerbread houses beforehand knowing I would need something to do with them, and as you can see from the pictures I was not quite able to make "houses" happen at all. Hey, I tried and more importantly no children were lost in the process. We were all very, very excited when Jon and Kacey finally made it home and Stephen (who had joined me earlier that day) and I decided to take off for St George right away.
Christmas in St George was so great and it was wonderful that everyone could be there together. The morning of Christmas Eve we went to Fiesta Fun to go bowling where we had our own personal lanes. The kids all loved it and Rory even bowled a Turkey! She earned $2 from her uncles and felt like a pretty big deal. I didn't bowl nearly as well, but I was wearing Ada the whole time so I will blame it on that.
We ate lots of delicious food to be eaten, and I'm spacing out on some of the other details of our celebrating but we mostly just had a good time being all together. The girls loved their Christmas jammies and looked so cute together. One of the most fun parts of the night was doing the nativity puppet show with aunt Bekah, which turned into carols around the piano while Grandma played.
Christmas unwrapping went mostly well considering we had so many three year olds to potentially fight over presents. Rory was once again stoked to get a candy cane from Santa (I'm hoping she never realizes you can ask for other things) and was just as stoked as we thought she would be to find some safety scissors in her stocking. She immediately tried to cut her hair and her cousins, which we also figured would probably happen. She was spoiled by grandma and her cousins and had a wonderful Christmas.
All leading up to Christmas Rory kept asking to ride on Uncle Nate's "vroom vrooms". She was so excited about it and would talk about how fun it was going to be all the time. We finally set up a time to take the kids out after Christmas and it took us the longest time to convince her to go. She wouldn't be bribed by anything! I can't remember what finally changed her mind, but she finally tried it and we were so proud of her. She had the best time zooming around with Stephen.
We all enjoyed just having down time with family. There was great food, fun games, and Rory and Mar Mar even got in some light reading (Man, do we wish the Skousens lived closer!). Ada and Lincoln are only about six months apart, but I love that he looks so grown up compared to her here. Can't wait to see these cousin friends grow up together.
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