Christmas so far

These pictures aren't in order so I will just talk about them as they come up. I didn't get a Christmas card out this year so sorry in advance for that. This christmas season has been great and as much fun with them as I was hoping for. They love seeing lights on everyones house and the trees, snowmen (blowup ones of course), and "neigh neighs" on everyones yards. They still wont call them reindeer. I am so excited for Christmas morning I can't wait to see them so excited when they get some goodies.

Ii was trying to get them to stand in front of the tree for a picture but she was way too close and getting tickled by the pine needles. Livy wouldn't participate at all. She was off doing her own thing. They love having the tree in the house and seeing the lights everyday. Eric has a train that goes around the bottom which is there favorite but we don't get to do it everyday. But most of all they love ripping the ornaments off the tree. From their heads down as you can kind of see in the picture, there are no ornaments. They have pulled them all down and pulled the ribbon off many times. The ribbon we put back up but the ornaments are in a pile under the tree. Randomly there are headbands and necklaces hung where they can reach. But they are enjoying it!
This is from our pajama story night at Kevin and April's. We all wore our pj's and read Christmas stories, sung a few songs and then had hot chocolate and cookies. It was a really fun night even though the only one who listened to the story was Halli. The others kind of ran around in the living room. This is Grandma the jungle gym/corral. She held as many as she could to keep them contained! We got all the girls but Katelyn in this bottom picture (and baby Blake). Sad but that is the best we could do.

 And for all of you outside of Houston I don't know if you heard the exciting news but we had snow! Eric was very excited if you can't tell by this picture! There was just enough for him to get both of the girls with a snowball. Livy enjoyed it kind of and Rachel was just crying when he got her! Eeryone in TX was excited. Eric hates when I make fun of TX but honestly if you have ever lived anywhere that it snows you would make fun of them too. The news casters make it sound like a blizzard. And I quote "It's really coming down out there and it's sticking" to a picture of a tree with two tiny patches of snow under it! I get a kick out of these Texans. Mmaybe one day I will be so thrilled with a small patch on the ground!

Cold cute Livy.

 Livy feeding her babies. Maybe she just thinks that is how it is, two babies always. ?

Hugging. Rachel does like to hug her too. I don't know why every time I get a picture of them hugging Livy looks so aggressive, like it's a tackle almost.

 And high fiving. They love to high five. Rachel calls it a "pack". I am guessing she gets that from patty cake? Either way it is really cute. And Livy finally started calling her paci a paci she used to call it a blah blah. Strange but kind of sad to see it go.

 Santa hat photos.

 Livy loves wearing this flashing Rudolph nose. My Grandma got it for all of us years ago. When she is done on her nose she puts it on top of her head like a headband.

Ii wish the girls understood a bit more so I could explain more about Christs birth and the true meaning of Christmas. I feel guilty just giving them present and having them experience the worldly side of Christmas without the spiritual side. I have tried a tiny bit but whoosh, right over their head. They know who baby Jesus is though. They love playing with my manger scene and calling all the wisemen Daddy.

We have had a wonderful year as a family. We have gotten to visit NY 3 times so far and go again after Christmas. We have been blessed with wonderful parents and siblings who we love very much and are so grateful for. I feel truly blessed to have so much loving family close by and all over the country. It may sound silly but, I am so thankful for inventions like the internet, email and blogging to keep us all connected. I know I am closer to much of my family because we have these things in our lives. We will miss you all and wish we could all be together for Christmas. Eric and I got to serve together in primary this year. We teach the CTR 8 class and are really grateful for this opportunity. We have had so much fun together doing it and are really gonna miss our class. They are great kids. And I couldn't ask for more from Rachel and Olivia. They are tiny adorable funny little people. Not babies anymore, sad, but great too. They are wonderful. I don't know how many times a day they make me laugh and they are so sweet. I love seeing them play together and how much they want the other one near them. Sometimes yeah, I could do with a little less whining but that is a small price to pay for healthy growing beautiful girls. They are so much fun and talking more everyday. We are so blessed to be their parents. Ii am also grateful for my husband. I know he works so hard for us and is a great dad. I am thankful to have someone Ii can lean on and who puts up with me. We are grateful for all of the blessings of safety, protection, work, health, healing, and comfort that we and our families have been blessed with. We are so grateful for our Father in Heaven and all that he blesses us with. We are grateful for our Savior who was born on Christmas day and that we get this chance to remember that every year. What a wonderful gift. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.