My girls got to play in the snow!

The day after Christmas, we packed up and headed to Illinois to spend time with our families. The girls were super duper hoping for snow. They wanted to watch it fall, they wanted to play in it, they wanted to go sledding. We arrived in Pekin on Friday, December 27th and it did not snow gobs until the day we left, January 2nd. So, while i packed up the car to leave Illinois, the kids bundled up and played in the snow.

It was the first time Vivian had seen or played in snow. She was surprisingly very excited.

 Why does your Vivian have a sore on her forehead, you ask? Because she likes to rub her head against walls. Completely normal...

 How cute are they all bundled up?  We have zero reason to bundle up like this in Texas. Zero. In fact, yesterday, it was 76 degrees.

 What kind of boots are your girls wearing in the snow, Virginia?  Oh, pink cowboy boots. Matching ones. They're the only boots we own...

 What I loved is that Ethan and Owen were so excited for the girls to see snow. They wanted it to snow just as much as my kids did just so they could all play in it together.

And, because they are awesome, Nina and Papa had the toboggan ready just in case it snowed enough. They came over in the morning and took all 5 kids sledding down the hills on the golf course behind Kyle's house. 

I'm very thankful that the girls got to experience a white Christmas. I do miss the smell of snow and how glittery and pretty it is after it has freshly fallen. However, I will say that there was a part of me (a large part, right around pancreas) that is so very glad that we do not live where it snows. Dude, it is cold up north.  Like, painful to breathe in cold. And, you have to scrape your car and warm it up. There is so much to make sure you have to avoid your children turning into popsicles like gloves, scarves, hats, big coats, all clothing fleece, tall socks. We took up an obscene amount of room in the church pew due to having to take off all the layers. I do not miss those parts of winter. 

See? I keep telling you all, the longer I live here, the more Texified I become!! It's in the water, I swear it.

I apparently love Santa.

I am almost done Christmas shopping. I have a few presents to buy, wrap and mail for my family in Illinois and a couple of Santa gifts and stocking stuffers to get the girls, but otherwise, I'm pretty much done. And, I would like to thank the internets for being such a fabulous place to purchase gifts.  I hate shopping and I have had to do very little of it in actual stores this year.  :)

 Oh, and I need to tell you my GENIUS idea this year.  Instead of dragging up the wrapping paper and box of bows, tape, gift tags, etc.every time I need to wrap something, I got smart.  I set up a wrapping station in my basement.  I put up the card table, set up all the wrapping essentials, and as presents are purchased or arrive in the mail to be wrapped, I just bring them straight downstairs and wrap presents while I'm downstairs doing laundry.  GENIUS! I tells ya!!!  I don't have to wait for the girls to go to bed or stare at the mess of wrapping things because I don't want to haul it up and down stairs all the time!  Best idea ever.

 I am reading a fabulous book called Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham. It's about the friendship of FDR and Churchill (duh) and it is well written and has my complete attention (which is hard to do when I am growing a human in my belly). I am sad that I won't be hitting my goal of reading 100 books this year.  I'm only at 68. But, like I said, when I'm pregnant, I just can not concentrate on books long.  I have started and put down numerous books that I just can't get into that I guarantee, once this baby has evacuated the premises, I will be able to try to read again and be fine.  It's so annoying how pregnancy just saps the brain cells from your head.

 This weekend, we are taking the girls to Sea World.  We have one in San Antonio, and the girls have been begging to go, but I did not want to pay good money to go when I'm pregnant and slow as molasses and need frequent breaks to sit and try to breath and whine about how slow and waddle-y I am.  But, I found a coupon for military members for a free day pass, so we printed it out and are taking the girls on Saturday. They don't know yet.  :)  For zero dollars, I don't mind being slow and waddle-y.  Plus, Julia is in love with The Polar Express (which, we have the movie but not the book...so unlike me!  So, she's getting the book for Christmas :) and they have a Polar Express 4-D show at Sea World we're going to go see.  She's going to be beyond excited. Then, once this baby is out and the weather is warm, we'll buy passes for next year.  They have a fabulous water park that everyone keeps ranting and raving about, so I definitely want to be able to take the girls this summer when we can.

 While looking around my holiday decorated home, I realize that I super like Santas. I have a lot of him.  Not just any Santas, mind you, but unique one.  This is my ultimate favorite Santa:

 He's the one on the upper left.  I bought him when we lived in DeKalb and I named him Fat Santa.  Every year, I make the girls come and ooh and ahh over how beautiful he is and make my annual speech about how they can not touch him because he is breakable and if he breaks I will cry like a baby.  Last year, I bought Elisabeth the Santa in the lower right corner.  He is a plastic Fat Santa that she can touch and put on the tree (because she loves my Fat Santa so much, she has asked for him when I die...which is not the first time she's tried calling dibs on things of mine after I croak).  She put him right next to my ornament, which I found cute.

Oh, and my lovely friend Kim bought me this cookie jar last year:

Omg, I love him.  He is still sold at Target and when we go, Julia says, "Oh, look, there's your Happy Santa!".

Well, I have deemed it a baking kind of day. I have a list of Christmas cookies that "need" to be made and I have totally been slacking on it this year.  I mean, it's December 7th and I just made my first batch last night! I know!  I am a slacker.