Christmas 2014

Well, another Christmas has come and gone.  It is always amazes me how much preparing I do, months in advance, for only one day, but it is always worth it.  This year's Christmas was fantastic, filled with too many toys and too many sweets, but lots and lots of happy memories.

On Wednesday. the girls and I headed to church for our Christmas Eve service (unfortunately Will had to work).  The girls were so beautiful in their Christmas dresses!  Their picture poses sums up their personalities well.

I figured out how to use the timer on my camera so I could get into the picture too. :)

Christmas morning brought a flood of presents and toys.  Maggie received a doll that looks just like her...blonde hair and blue eyes.

Kate was excited to receive her Doc-Mobile...a pretend animal clinic, on wheels.

 Opening more presents!

Maggie's BIG present was a new play kitchen.  Will spent almost 3 hours putting it together a few days before.  Keeping it hidden until Christmas morning was a bit of a challenge.

Maggie is my helper in the kitchen.  She loves measuring and pouring when I am baking.  On Christmas she helped me decorate Jesus' birthday cake.  She piled on the M&M's and sprinkles.  She takes her decorating job very seriously!  I am predicting she will have a passion for baking or cooking in the future since she loves playing in her pretend kitchen and helping me in the real kitchen too.

In the evening we headed to my parent's house for Christmas dinner with my grandparents and sister's family.

 Maggie and Kate always love singing "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" each year and blowing out the candles.

Great Christmas!  Now back to normal life and normal routines (well, after Christmas break is over and the kids go back to school.)

Christmas Baking!

Lots of delicious baking has been happening in our house.  We made a plate of goodies for our neighbors on Friday including pumpkin fudge, Russian tea cakes, chocolate chip bars and peanut butter/Hershey kiss cookies.  The girls were BIG helpers by pouring and measuring for me.  

Tonight we made sugar cookies for Santa.  We can't wait till Christmas!

Ready to bake in our aprons!

Cowgirls

It is the first day of Christmas break and after doing some Christmas crafts and shopping we are now pretending to be cowgirls.  The girls are using a styrofoam stick for their lasso and a rocking horse for their pony.  Giddy up!

Maggie's "Go Tell It On The Mountain"

Here are a few pictures from Maggie singing with her preschool at church on Sunday.  She is in the front row, wearing a red jumper with black sleeves.

Will's Birthday, Loscutoff Christmas and Christmas Singing...all in one day!

Yesterday, December 14, was the busiest day of our Christmas season.  Maggie sang at church in the morning for her preschool, Kate sang at church in the evening for Kid's choir, it was Will's birthday and we celebrated our Loscutoff Christmas.  Despite the busy schedule, it was a wonderful day, filled with special family time and joyous celebration!

Maggie was excited to sing with her preschool at church.  They sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain".  She did a great job singing up front and performing her hand-motions that went with the song.  She was super duper cute!

Kate was also a very enthusiastic singer!  The kids choir performed 4 songs and were all beautiful sung!  The highlight was  watching Kate's facial expressions while signing.  She was very animated and at times would yawn while singing.

We exchanged gifts with Dedushka, Grammalene, Uncle Peter and Auntie Megan.  There was quite a mess after all the gift opening was complete!

The girls received tennis rackets and balls from Dedushka and Grammalene....all kid-friendly for learning their skills.

We also enjoyed some birthday pumpkin cheesecake!

Kate received a "Sew Cool" threadless sewing machine.  She and Grammalene sewed pillows for the whole family.

First pillow, an adorable owl.  (all supplies provided in a kit)

The men watched football while the girls played.

 Happy family time...unfortunately I am not in the picture since I was behind the camera. :-)

Kate's Christmas dress matched her special doll, Lucy.

After the late Christmas concert at church, the girls were acting a little goofy and ready for bed!

I love my family!!!

Getting ready for Christmas

On Wednesday we started a new annual family tradition...drive to Apple Hill and cut down our Christmas the day before Thanksgiving!  This year we decided to get an early start on our Christmas preparations since Will had to work Thanksgiving night and the following 3 nights afterwards.  Will had Wednesday off from work so we took the opportunity to drive to Placerville and experience Apple Hill and get our tree.  The weather was picture-perfect, there were no crowds and we came home with amazing memories, delicious apple treats and a beautiful 10-foot tree!

First stop...High Hill Ranch!

Unfortunately the majority of tree farms were closed before Thanksgiving but we unexpectedly came across a perfect tree farm that was open with 13-hillside-acres of trees!  It was a true gem to find!

This is a vista point on the hillside looking down upon the whole tree farm.

The tree behind us was the tree we found and cut down...10 feet tall!

The tree farm also had a little wood hut to explore with fur blankets and historical native tools.

We also got to walk through a gold-mine and write our names on the wall.

 At home the girls were thrilled to decorate the tree.  Kate was a huge help with the lights and ornaments.

 We even got our house lights up before Thanksgiving!  After all the day's excitement was done we sat down for a special pre-Thanksgiving meal with Will so he could actually celebrate the holiday.  I made him sweet potato casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey.  It was seriously one of the best days Will and I could remember.  It was so awesome!!!

On Friday we continued in our annual tradition of decorating gingerbread houses.  I wish I could take credit for making the gingerbread and frosting but I have found it MUCH easier and cheaper to buy a pre-made kit.  The girls LOVE decorating their houses and sneaking lots of candy and frosting as they create their masterpieces.

We are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas season!!!