Merry Christmas!!...

Merry Christmas everyone!  We had a wonderful week!  Niki came out to visit and spend Christmas with us, and she brought us elf pajamas!  There were even some for Jelly, though we never got them on.  It's the thought that counts, right?

Grayson has been super smiley lately.  Look at that big chunker smile!

The girls did sidewalk chalk, probably on Monday.  They had a great time out there and were very excited to show me all the great picures they drew.

That night they helped put away their laundry while we got ready for bed.  Winry was singing and dancing and rocking her clothes into her dresser!

On Tuesday (or Wednesday,..) Winry walked up to Monica and said she wanted a hair cut!  So Monica gave her her first ever hair cut.  Not a ton, but it looks great!  And Winry did a great job too.

We got Red Robin for dinner on Wednesday.  When I got back after picking it up Winry noticed that her container had windows to see her food!

Niki got here on Wednesday night after the girls went to bed.  They were really excited to see her the next morning when they woke up though!  We had a lot of fun together on Christmas Eve.  There was a lot to do, like decorate cookies, play the Christmas Mario Maker level I made, and cook a special dinner.  Here we are decorating cookies!

At night, right before dinner, we watched a Nativity video from church, and sang some Christmas Hymns together.

Niki moved into the girls room for a Christmas sleep over party!!  Don't worry, they must have fallen asleep because Santa came!

Christmas morning was great!  The video is a bit long, but the girls had a lot of fun and were very excited about their toys.  Winry got some finger puppets of the Rudolph characters, which she is showing to Niki in this picture.

I'm not sure what Brooke is holding and it's completely hugged, but she loved everything!

Here's Grayson with his stocking and and presents from Santa!

I tried to let Jelly open her own present.  I dumped a bunch of cat nip in it first, but she mostly got cuddly with her present, so not the desired effect.  Eventually I helped her get it open, and turned on her fish!  I thought that when it moved at first she'd run away and hide, but she was much more willing to play that I expected!

The girls dove into their candy for breakfast, and didn't have real food until 10:30 or 11...  Good thing they got a picnic table to eat their candy at!

Brooke gave me this amazing sweatshirt that has a pouch in the front for a cat!  Jelly is... okay with it.  I don't think she usually loves it, but she doesn't fight to get out.  She'll grow to love it!

We had a video call with Monica's parents so they could watch the girls open their presents.  It was a lot of fun.  I opened both of the presents I got from my parents for them too because I misread the labels.  Brooke is at the age where she can write all the letters, but location, especially relative to other letters, isn't important.  So I saw some G's and A's, etc. and was in a hurry and thought I got the right one.  Oops.

Winry finally got her scribble scrubbies!  She's been dying for them since Brooke got some for her birthday.

Here's Niki, have a wonderful time.  She sure loved hanging out with the girls.

Winry got her own chapstick, which she LOVES!

And Jelly got a couple rides in the sweatshirt.  I even let her play with the fuzzy balls on the strings.  Gotta be careful with that game or she'll scratch me!

Here's Grayson in his Christmas clothes (had a blow out in his elf pajamas), ready for the rest of the day!

When we finished opening presents we headed to Tyson and Tina's house.  We checked, and no one was sick (which doesn't happen in a family of 9) so we took advantage.  My parents were also there visiting them for Christmas, which means my Mom got to hold Grayson, and she held him all day!  My dad tried his darndest to make Grayson laugh, and Grayson loved it!

Tyson and Tina got a karaoke machine for Christmas.  The girls loved it and sang with their cousins.  It was used off and on, but definitely peaked right before we left.  Everyone had to get in their last song of the night.  Brooke even showed off her sweet dance moves in the middle.

We also played pictionary air, where you draw in the air with a light pen thing.  It was a lot of fun, and the girls love to play it as well.  Tyson and Tina's family gave it to us for Christmas, so that's pretty exciting.  We've played it a few times since and had a lot of fun.

We let the girls bring a few presents to play with while we're there.  Winry had a lot of fun sprawling on the floor and playing with her new legos while they were just in reach.

The next day we surprised everyone with a trip to the zoo!!  Here's Grayson getting his diaper changed.  He looks like he's very concerned about the lack of monkeys on Monkey Island.  Don't worry bud, they'll be back when it's warmer.

The girls were having a blast with Niki and were so glad she was there!

When we saw the birds everyone stretched out their arms to see if we were as big as the condors.

Here's Niki talking with the girls and helping them get their snacks!

There were even ice sculptures.  They were quite melted when we got there, but you could still tell they were Frozen characters.  When we were walking away the music took over Winry and she just had to dance!

The Hippo was pretty fun to see again.  I got a picture of it with it's mouth open this time!  It's not facing straight at us, but it's still a cool picture!  Also, the time on our nice camera is off a little, and so the pictures are bouncing back and forth in time as the images are swapping between my phone and the camera.

We also found this unoccupied exhibit on the side of the path.

Our last stop was the porcupine.  It was in a different part of the cage, but walked right up next to us.  Turns out there was a green pepper piece next to it that it really wanted.  It was walking closer bit by bit, stopping to sniff the air.  It gobbled the pepper up right in front of our eyes.

We got some bluetooth karaoke microphones from Niki for Christmas, and the girls were really excited to use their pink and gold mics.  We got to set up our own karaoke system at home for the girls to sing!  The microphones can also echo your voice (it's labeled as an enhancement), and the girls were trying it out between songs.  It was really funny to listen to Winry list off random words!

Here's a really great picture of Grayson taking a nap and grabbing his melon!

The girls got a new swing for Christmas, and we put it out back yesterday.  Brooke had a lot of fun testing it out.  It's big enough for them to swing together, but Winry didn't want to go out.

Last night right before bed we made a chocolate snow man.  It was a Hershey bar, and each of the pieces had a different thing on it.  I head, and hand, a hat.  The girls had fun putting it together, and eating it too!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope everyone else did too!  I am grateful for our Savior, and his wonderful Atonement.  I am grateful for the Christmas season in which we can take time to focus and celebrate the wonderful gift He was to the world, and each of us individually.  May His spirit stay in our hearts for the rest of the year!