When the girls finally saw Grandma they were very excited. I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since the last time we saw her. Of course, Violet needed some time to get warmed up to her, but Annie and Mimi immediately were all over Grandma. Grandma had sent two big boxes of presents for the kids to open when she got there. It wasn’t always easy convincing the girls that the huge boxes in the laundry room were for Daddy’s work, but it managed to keep them at bay long enough. The girls were quite ecstatic when they realized that the boxes were full of LOTS of presents for them. They got a 2nd Christmas! Grandma showered the girls with p.j.’s for the big girls and matching ones for their AG dolls, blankets crocheted by Grandma (also matching ones for the AG dolls), wicker chairs for the AG dolls, and much more.

Even though Violet also was showered with lots of gifts it was the $3 tiara/jewelry set that bonded Grandma and Violet together forever.

The girls were very happy with all their gifts from Grandma! Thanks Grandma!

We surprised Grandma with a Kindle for her gift. She’s very excited but has no idea how to use it yet.

In other news, I’m following through on my promise to post pictures of the bunnies.

There are two chocolate brown bunnies named Chocolate (of course) and Jumper. They are both boys.

And the white bunnies are Skittles and Fritzy. These are the ladies.

Each bunny has to have its own cage because they will apparently attack each other. Yikes! However, the girls were letting a brown and white hop around on the floor, and the brown bunny started to “attack” the white bunny. The only difference with this attack is that there may be baby bunnies in the future as a result. We shall see. Mike built a shelf for the bunny cages to go on so that they are easy to access.

We got home last night around 10:00 and promptly scooted the girls off to bed. Then we got to work to get the rest of the presents wrapped and set up for the next morning. The girls woke up at a decent time, and Mike and I got up shortly afterward. Then the festivities began. The girls were very happy with the gifts they got this year including lots of clothes, Barbie stuff for the big girls, Squinkies for Violet (she has been obsessed with those things since getting them from a gumball machine months ago), some games, craft kits for the big girls, science posters for Annie (Annie has shown quite a passion for chemistry lately), and much more. The big gifts of 2011 were a gear bike for Annie, a shopping cart for Violet, and rabbits for Mimi (yes, 4 WABBITS). It’s been lots of excitement under our roof since this morning.

Before all the craziness began.

My Christmas presents are the cards we have been getting throughout December. It’s one of my favorite parts of the season!

It was indeed a HAPPY Christmas!

I knew Violet would love her shopping cart. Always a toddler fave.

Annie got to work right away on her bead loom bracelet and actually completed it this evening. I expect a bracelet to go with each of my outfits.

I haven’t gotten pictures of the bunnies yet because by the time we got out to the barn I realized I forgot the camera (it’s a long walk back to the house). Tomorrow I will snap some pictures of the little, fluffy creatures. They sure are cute though. Tomorrow we are also looking forward to the arrival of Grandma Florida. We haven’t seen her in over a year, and we are very excited to spend time with her again.

We hope everyone else has had a safe Christmas full of merriment!

Fortunately, Hayley and Matt are old enough to watch the girls. We left all the kids with pizza and cookie dough, and we headed out to Lunker’s. I don’t have pictures from the evening, but it was really delicious food and good conversation. Most of us ordered steaks and were not disappointed. Bread, soup/salad, and dessert were also involved, and everyone seemed happily full by the end of the night.

The next day we kind of just lazed around in the morning eating a big breakfast of sausage and hash and devouring the scrumptious cardamom bread Sara baked for us. Thankfully, we have another loaf awaiting us in the freezer. Maybe this weekend. Yum…just thinking of it. A little before lunchtime Jim and Mike took Matt and Annie into town to get some supplies for another home project. Then Sara and I left Hayley, Mimi and Violet at home to go check out the flea market and one of the quilt shops in Watertown. Sara found some vintage hats and immediately became smitten with a couple and promptly purchased them. Here she is modeling one of her flea market finds.

Sara also fell in love with a quilt in the quilt shop and bought the pattern. It inspired her to finally fill up a large wall in her foyer/staircase. I can’t wait to see it finished. She actually purchased 2 or 3 (I can’t remember exactly) patterns because she’s planning to do a seasons theme for that wall. We had a lot of fun with just the two of us hanging out and chatting. We got back to the house around 4ish. We made supper, watched a MST3K movie, and then the Evans headed back to MN. Yes, a short visit, but I’m glad that the Evans finally came out. We look forward to more visits from our family and friends in the future.

Despite all the mess and sleepless nights we did still manage to pull out the Christmas decorations. We finally rid ourselves of the 6 foot, $12 tree we’d been using for the past 7 years and bought a brand new tree that’s 7 foot tall and pre-lit. I can’t tell you how much more quickly the tree up went this year. Whew! The big girls also are old enough to do much of the ornament placement which was so helpful. Our house is now officially decked out for the holidays! We’ve opted not put lights outside this year because we really don’t have any outlets out there, and we have enough trouble tripping the circuit breaker even without the Christmas voltage.

In other news, we apparently can’t trust the cats around the Poinsettia plant. Grrr!

Thank goodness I won this replacement at the SDDA Christmas dinner the other night.

The girls have already come up with their Santa lists.

For Thanksgiving we had the usual cuisine of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, rolls, etc., but Jake added a twist to the way the turkey was prepared. He brought over what can only be described (in my mind) as a pool for Barbie dolls with a temperature-controlled heating mechanism attached to it. The turkey was prepared by cutting it up into parts, marinading it with a sauce and then vacuum sealing each part into plastic. The parts are then placed in the water and “cooked” in the warm water for several hours. This technique for cooking is called sous vide, and here’s a picture of the same equipment Jake had. What I can tell you is that it was the best Turkey I’ve ever had. There no loss of juice, so each piece of turkey is very tender and flavorful. I kept hearing everyone comment and say they may never be able to enjoy a roasted turkey again after eating sous vide turkey. Delish!

Anyway, it was a full house again with most Grandma Kathy’s children’s families in attendance. Of course, we always miss those who are far away and can’t attend. I told Kathy that one year once we’re settled into our final home that we’d love to host a Thanksgiving with EVERYONE in attendance. That means all the Smiths and Evans (including the ones away at college). On with the pictures.

Notice Violet and Maya not eating in that last one. I did finally nail Violet down long enough to shovel a few spoonfuls of food into her mouth.

After the tables were cleared of the meal I gathered all the children together to make candy turkeys. Most were reluctant, but once they knew candy was involved then they were game (even the “big big” kids). The turkeys were made of Oreos, Reese’s PB cups, candy corn, Whoppers, and icing for the “glue”. Sadly, the activity didn’t turn out quite as I had envisioned it where most turkeys fell apart as soon as they were put together. However, the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and gobbled up their turkeys just as quickly as they assembled them.

At the end of the night we played a game I hadn’t heard mention of since our trip to the Cascade Lodge in Colorado a few years ago called “The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow“. Marissa brought it along and had never played it and was hoping we’d play it with her. Of course, most of the kids were game, but many of the adults needed a little more convincing (or arm twisting). We eventually ended up with a group of about a dozen to play with Sara being the moderator for all but the last round. {We discovered that Sara had never once gotten to play, so we “allowed” her in on the last round. Sorry, Sara!} We had a lot of fun and laughs, and I’m glad I got another opportunity to play again.

On Saturday Sara and I got together for our annual craftapalooza at her house. We each came up with a Christmas craft to make. I found this adorable tutorial of snowmen made out of socks, and Sara found some ideas of using mason jars to make luminaries (no, not the Febreze Flameless Luminary). Lots of giggles and chatting later, and we came up with some pretty nifty Christmas decor.

And let’s finish off with the oh, so beautiful Sara:

It was once again a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in MN. We are so glad we got to spend ample time with all the relatives (the girls especially love to see their cousins). On a last note, I took Kathy to get her a 32″ flatscreen tv with a DVD player attached. She is very happy about her latest leap into the 21st century.