Busted!

There is so much excitement with the Christmas tree.  Shiny ornaments and beautifully wrapped presents!  What happens when mom is busy... ornaments come down and presents become unwrapped!  Actually, the girls have been really good about not touching the tree too much and Maylee hasn't tried to unwrap any presents, until today that is.  It was wrapped in a bag, so maybe she thought it wasn't the same!  The suspense was killing her, but I think she felt a little guilty afterward!

Little mommy

Now that our little Brooklyn is 6 months, she is eating baby food.  She loves her sweet potatoes, and I love that Maylee wants to help.  Hmmm... I think I like this.  Now if I could only teach her how to change diapers! :)

Zoolights

This last weekend, we were able to go and check out Zoolights with some friends.  We got free tickets for getting a zoo membership, which enabled us to get out of waiting in the longest line I have ever seen (besides, maybe, Disneyland!)  The girls enjoyed walking around, and hey- if they are happy, I'm happy (even if we picked one of the busiest days to go!)  They did an amazing job- I'd like to know how many lights they put just on one tree!

Gingerbread houses

Grammie gave us this cute gingerbread house kit.  Maylee, Cailin, and Halle had a good time putting it together for one of our playdates.  It was the way to go- everything was included... the houses, frosting, and candy!  I was impressed with the skill level of the girls.  They turned out pretty cute.  Maylee decorated hers pretty much 100 % by herself, well, I guess I should say 90%! :)  She loaded on the frosting and then added tons of little tiny candies to the roof! 

It is sitting on our coffee table now and every once in awhile, I'll see her go over and try to take a candy off!  She tries to be sneaky, but I'm pretty sure I see her every time!  Funny girl.

Winter Wonderland...

For a ward playgroup, we met at Bass Pro Shops for their Winter Wonderland.  I was hoping to get a picture of Maylee and Brooklyn with Santa... but this was the best I could do.  At least Brooklyn isn't crying in the second pic! :)

And here is what Maylee enjoyed spending her time doing!  Guess I can't blame her- this looks like way more fun than sitting on some guy's lap that you don't even know! :)

Trimming the tree

Who doesn't love this time of year?  Well, this year, Maylee is no exception!  It is so fun to see her excitement as we get ready for Christmas.  She was quite the helper decorating the tree.  We turned on the Christmas tunes, drank hot chocolate (which I found out she doesn't really like...), and ate cookies.  You can't ask for a better family night than that!

I loved the way she hung the ornaments on the tree.  She ended up hooking them onto the little light bulbs and not the branches!  Thank goodness I didn't invest much into these ornaments... they are cheap and shatterproof!  Occasionally, one would fall and Maylee would always say- That's okay, Mommy!

Thanksgiving holiday

For Thanksgiving we headed up to St. George to spend it with Jeff's family.  We were able to have a nice visit since Jeff was able to take the whole week off.  We made the drive up on Tuesday morning and made it in record time with the kiddos- 8 hours (how sad that we think that is good these days!) :)  The girls were great- we stopped for lunch and to feed the babe and then again at Jacob Lake.  I always love going through Jacob Lake, but this time was even more fun since they had SNOW!  Maylee enjoyed getting out and walking around, along with throwing a few snowballs at me and Brooklyn in the car!  They also went into the store and came back with some Starbursts (Maylee's non-dairy pick) and heavenly cookies (for me and Jeff!)  Yum!  It is now our little tradition to stop and get a cookie if we go that way... any tradition with cookies involved is a nice tradition!

We had a wonderful time visiting with family, doing a little black Friday shopping (us girls), biking (the boys), playing, reading, watching movies, 4-wheel riding, and temple light seeing! :)  Maylee LOVED playing with Anna, Aimee, Nathan, and Ryan.  The first day they showed up, she followed them everywhere they went.  They were good sports.  We had a great time and can't wait to see everyone again!