Winter Wonderland

We went to Maine for a post-Christmas Christmas celebration with Mommy's family.  Yesterday we had a nice get together with the Couture side of the family at Aunt Cindy's house, and this afternoon we'll be celebrating at Grammy & Grampy's house on the (frozen) lake.  

The snow isn't so great for building snowmen or throwing snowballs, but the hard crusty layer sure is fun to pick up (….and eat if your name is Brienne--she's still up to her same old tricks from last year...)

Where's the beach??

Hi Dad!

This picture cannot even come close to capturing the beauty of the lake today.  

Bree and Hally

Bree has been taking very good care of her new doll, Hally, that Santa brought her for Christmas:  dressing her, reading to her, and tucking her into bed at night.  It's very sweet to see her be so nurturing, and fun to see her imagination at work. She'll say things like, "Hally always likes to jump on my belly when she wakes up in the morning."  :-)  xoxo

Merry Christmas!!

Aiden could barely contain his excitement this morning.  :-)

Brienne (shockingly) was the last one to wake up.  It took her a little while to overcome her morning fog and find her Christmas excitement.

The BEST present from Santa!

Check out this fast forward video that Daddy put together of him building it.  It's pretty cool!

http://youtu.be/x0y9eQnPX1U

The diva donning her new favorite dress from Nan & Pop, a glittery pink belt from Alison & Thomas, a Hello Kitty watch (with bling) from Aiden, and her Barbie sunglasses (also with bling) from Santa.

A lazy afternoon filled with Christmas movies.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Before heading off to bed, the kids put together a note, some artwork and cookies for Santa Claus.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was pretty low key.  Daddy cooked up a nice meal for the 4 of us - filet mignon with a  tasty pan sauce. Delish! After dinner we took a stroll down Green Needles to check out the luminaries. Not only was it beautiful, but it was a great way to burn off some calories from our Christmas Eve feast!

Christmas Curls

Before….

And After….  

SNOW!!!

Second snow storm this week!  Mommy missed the first one on Sunday while sick in bed all day with a yucky stomach bug (which Aiden also caught Sunday night / Monday morning...).  But we got out for some fun in the white stuff today!

Yup - that would be the lovely 6 year old wagging his butt at me when I asked for a picture…..

Village Gingerbread Party

(That sounded more Christmas-y than "neighborhood gingerbread party")  :o)

One of our neighbors hosted a fun gingerbread decorating party for the kiddos today.  Pretty sure I don't want to know how much sugar was consumed vs. how much sugar ended up on the houses…. 

Gingerbread Baby

Little did I know that when Bree dressed in her gingerbread shirt for preschool today, that her classroom had an actual gingerbread playhouse. How fun!  

Naughty or Nice? Hmmmm…..

Final Touch

The tree is up and decorated!