Christmas!

HO HO HO! Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone had a fantastic week last week!  Things were great for us.  Monica got matching pajamas for the whole family that we opened on Christmas Eve!  The girls were very excited to get to match with Mom and Dad, as that doesn't happen very often.

Over the weekend Winry got a pretty bad sounding cough, so I took her in to the pediatrician on Monday.  She did a great job, and was very happy and interactive the whole time. There was a little crying until I took the sucker out of my pocket that Monica gave me to bring.

On Christmas Eve we had some friends over for dinner.  There were 20 of us in total.  I hope everyone had a great time that came.  While we were getting ready for everyone to come over I found out about Winry's secret hiding spot...  Jelly used to climb in the couch back there when she was little too.  After dinner some of the kids acted out the nativity and it was really cute!

That night we also had a few special presents.  One was the pajamas we were all sporting in the first picture.  In addition, both of the girls got a new super soft blanket!  They have been loving them ever since!

On Christmas morning the girls had an amazing time!  We had a few moments where everything almost stopped because one present was just TOO exciting to move on.  I kept a bunch of pictures, but don't have a lot to say about them.  I just wanted some cute Christmas morning pictures.  In addition, I'll drop my Christmas videos here too.  There's the girls coming down in the morning, Brooke opening Jelly's stocking,  Brooke getting a Pokemon shirt, and Winry getting a T.O.T.S. carrier thing.  I don't necessarily have pictures of all of those, so there's all the videos up front.  Also, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who gave us something.  Christmas was fantastic and the girls LOVED their presents.  Monica and I loved our gifts too.

Here's Winry finding her new squishy from Santa.

The kids examining what Santa left.

Winry on the new tricycle.

Jelly in her new cat house/hammock thing.

Winry riding her new bouncy triceratops from Jerusha.

Brooke and Winry looking through one of their new books.

Me learning that Christmas isn't about the presents you get... ;)

Winry pushing a TOTS baby in it's cart.

Monica finishing making Christmas morning breakfast.  We had french toast made with Kneader's cinnamon bread!  It was super great. 

We headed to Tyson and Tina's house a little after breakfast and spent the rest of the day with them.  They got a big ice cream maker for Christmas, so of course we had home made ice cream!  We had a lot of fun, and the girls had a great time playing with their cousins.

After the kids went to bed, Monica and I spent some time with our new gifts, and Jelly got to meet Dobby our new robot vacuum.  The next day was mostly spend playing with toys.  We also played a new dragon game the kids love that Monica gave them.  The dragon game wasn't a super hit when it was opened because the kids didn't know what it was, but once we played it... oh man.  It's the first thing Winry has asked for every morning when she wakes up.  It used to be breakfast, now it's a dragon.

Speaking of Winry, at dinner on the 26th she decided one water bottle wasn't enough.  Good thing she got a new one for Christmas.

On Friday we finally made it to the zoo.  We were going to go on Monday, but Winry was up a ton coughing the night before, so we decided not to go then.  We had a good time, and got to see some new things.  One such thing was the giraffe trying to operate that hand crank that moves the zoo keepers cart!

The fishing cat was out and walking around, which was great.  They're nocturnal, so a lot of the time when we go we either can't see them, or they're sleeping inside a log.  I think a keeper was maybe getting food ready or something because he kept pacing around and going back to the door to the back.  The fishing cat was also walking right up next to the glass in front of the kids.  I'm not sure I've ever seen it that close before.

The penguins were loving the cold weather, and I've never seen them so excited and happy.  We of course stopped by the flamingos and saw that there's a baby there!!!  The glass there is always good for a reflection or two, but Monica was still able to get a picture.

After the zoo, I ran to Home Depot and bought some wood to build some shelves in our basement.  Monica took all of our food and stuff off of our storage shelves to clear out the room.

Then I cleaned up the floor and laid down some of the extra carpet we have leftover.  Here's the first shelf in the room.  Everything is much more organized now that there is a bunch more space!

And here are the final shelves with everything back on them.

Monica got out her new dehydrator to make some banana chips.  Turns out that takes a long time.  I think we probably ran them for... 9 or 10 hours and they weren't all the way dehydrated to being crisp.  I still really like them though, even though they're a little chewy. And Winry loves them!

Winry found our Dip Buddies on the counter and snatched them for use with her TOTS.  They're meant to clip onto a plate and be a place to put ketchup, etc.  Winry saw them and thought "baby bath!"  She was having a great time.  Also, she doesn't recognize her monkey toy, so she just calls it "little nugget." She also always says that her toys are sad when she plays with them, and always wants to cheer them up.

Today Brooke gave a talk in primary!  She did a great job.  And we fortunately practiced it in a Marco Polo to my family, so I can add it here for everyone to see!  She talked about the scriptures, and she did an amazing job.  She even helped write the talk last night with Monica. She even picked out that topic on her own!

I think that's all I've got for now, but stay tuned for next year because I'm sure stuff will keep happening!  Also, be so proud of me!  This is the first time I've gotten out a Christmas post the same year as that Christmas!  This is my most missed week of the blog!  Happy New Year!