Decorating...

Brynn made the final decision on the tree. It was huge. Luckily we have tall ceilings, but it is still a large tree! It has already fallen over once (only a few ornaments were broken...) We now have it tied to the chair rail! Jesse has taught the girls to say we are having a "hillbilly Christmas". Lovely.
The girls each got a turn to put the star on top which gave daddy a good arm workout. My only Black Friday purchase was a train for the bottom of the tree... and I did it online. It is much bigger than we expected it to be, but the girls love it and it looks really cute.
Oh, and check out Brynn's new use of tree "skirts"!

Over the highways and into the woods....

Every year we meet up with Jesse's family on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and go cut down Christmas trees. The last few years we have been driving to Holt, Mo which is close to where Jesse's sister lives. It takes an hour to drive up there, so we always stop for breakfast on the way!
The girls make their Christmas lists before we go. They cut out pictures from magazines and mailers and glue them onto construction paper. Ainsley is pretty sure that Santa can't read, so this makes it easier for him. Brooke was not a fan of Santa this year. Ainsley gave Santa her list and then proceeded to tell him how much she dislikes "Elf on a Shelf" (which is a book that comes with a little elf that you are supposed to sit on your shelf. He watches the childrens' behaviors and reports back to Santa. She was terrified of it so we sent it back to Santa).
Be sure to click on the pictures so you can see them bigger... Brooke's face is great!

Welcome to the World!

My little sister had sweet baby Brecken last Tuesday. He is so beautiful and just totally precious. My sister is an amazing mother already. I love seeing her love him. And I can't get enough of him. The girls LOVE him! They will be moving to New York soon, but I won't talk about that because it makes me cry...

Thanksgiving Marathon

We turn a holiday into a marathon. It takes a few weeks to train for (plan) and we are exhausted at the finish line, but in the end it is totally worth it. Here are a few pictures...

My Birthday...

I turned 31 last week. It was a painless birthday. We had some family and close friends over for dinner and just hung out. Jesse threw me a big party for my 30th, so I was quite content just laying low this year. Here are a couple pictures from the evening. This is my little sister 9 months pregnant. Doesn't she look great!

Sad Day...

My little brother moved to Norway. He is engaged to marry his wonderful girlfriend who lives there. So, we had a going away party with him at Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop.

Goodbye Candy...

I read online about a few drop-off locations for leftover candy. We went through our HUGE pile of Halloween candy and chose a few pieces to keep and put the rest in bags to drop off. The candy will be shipped to troops stationed overseas. The girls were very excited to fill up bags for the troops. We talked about what it means to be a "soldier" and how much they must miss their family. We went to the drop-off location this afternoon and delivered about 8 pounds of candy and snacks! When we got back in the car, Ainsley said, "I think the soldiers are really going to like that stuff!"

Brooke at 19 months