This past month has been a blur due to our jam-packed schedules and the fact that the girls really aren’t home long in the evenings (the bus drops them off close to 5 p.m.). It really did catch me off guard when the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like only a week. We were originally planning to spend all of Christmas break at home, but some friends we hadn’t seen in ages were going to be in the Twin Cities. We were also looking forward to the annual Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma Kathy’s house which we usually miss. It was nice to see our friends, and we were glad to be able to visit with family again so soon after just seeing them at Thanksgiving (one of the benefits of living only 3 hours away from MN now). The only kicker was that we didn’t want to have to drag all our Christmas presents with us to MN, so we decided to head back to SD right after the Christmas Eve dinner last night. We literally spent all of 30 hours in MN, but it was worth it.

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!

A few months ago I was out searching for a used dresser for Violet because the two dressers the three girls had been sharing just didn’t provide enough room. Unfortunately, finding a used dresser in this town is seemingly impossible, so I ended up getting a new dresser for Violet which now goes in the guest room. However, while on my search through the thrift stores I came across a deal I couldn’t refuse. I saw a chair for only $25, and I could immediately envision its potential. The original fabric had to have been dated back to the 60′s or 70′s, a mustard tweed. As much as I love mustard and tweed, this didn’t prove to be a good combination.

Have a look for yourself. Would you want this chair as is sitting in your living room?

Here’s a close-up of the fabric just so you can see how fabulous it really was.

It took a few weeks to get motivated to start the project of reupholstering the chair and to also order the fabric. After a few upholstering sessions and getting sick of looking at it my living room half completed I finally finished it earlier this week. Now I’m certainly not going to win any upholstering awards. In fact, if a the upholstering community gets a glimpse of my skills I may just be banned from any quorums, committees, clubs, organizations, or what have you. There are some parts that look like it was put together by Frankenstein, but I’m satisfied enough with the results. I can’t complain too much since this project cost less than $50 to complete and now provides extra seating in our living room.

Here is the final product from the front.

A view of the back.

And this is how it looks in the living room.

It was the official Prairie Ridge Endodontics Christmas Party this weekend which amounted to 4 couples going out to dinner at a place called Lunker’s Restaurant. It is apparently “the” classy place to go to in town since it’s where the Watertown Dental Society had both events we’ve been to, and it was the place both of Mike’s assistants chose for the dinner party without question. The Evans traveled to our neck of the woods in order to attend. They arrived a couple of hours early, so they took advantage of that time to check out the chickens and barn kitties. The pictures below are actually from Sara’s blog, and I stole them without permission (I hope you don’t mind, Sara.). Evidently, Matt needed a little coaxing and coaching to pick up a chicken, but now he’s a pro. Sara couldn’t resist attempting to name the chickens. I refuse to do this since we’ve got a couple dozen. Way too many names to remember, and who can tell them apart anyway.

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.

Much to my chagrin, Violet is growing into a little girl and leaving Toddlerworld. Lately, she has been wanting to play dress-up. When the big sisters have had friends over Violet will usually appear in a princess dress and high heels. The other day she brought me a dance costume that our neighbor gave to the girls before we moved from WI. I delightfully put it on Violet expecting much appreciation from her. Instead Violet was surprised by what she was wearing and immediately wanted it off. My guess is that she was expecting it to be a big, flowy dress in lieu of the fringe covered leotard. I tried to get a picture of her wearing it, and what I got was a series of laugh-inducing images.

After I agreed to remove the fringy garment Violet appeared with a tutu for me to put on her. I gladly obliged, and once again Violet was disappointed.

At last, Violet chose an item that pleased her. Even with shoes to match.

I also forgot to mention that Violet absolutely loves having her hair in piggies and/or have those flower clips in her hair. I certainly can’t complain about that.

A very generous family from church brought us over numerous treats the other night. One of the treats was a platter size gingerbread man made of Rice Krispie treats. The girls were also given several bags of goodies to decorate the man. It actually fit in perfectly with our Family Home Evening lesson as the suggested after lesson treat was actually gingerbread man cookies. So I let the girls have at it and decorate the man anyway they saw fit. They had a lot of fun collaborating and sneaking tastes of Mr. Krispie’s accessories.

I just had to include this picture, too, because look at Violet’s hair. De-pig-tailed.

Introducing Mr. Krispie all decked out for the holidays!