The Never Ending CHRISTMAS Story

Okay, we're back in town and I'm FINALLY blogging again. Here are our updates from Christmas.

We got to Denver on Thursday. Our flight left VERY early and we had hoped both girls would sleep. Fat chance. Allison slept for about half and Jordan slept for about 3/4 of it. Luckily, they both slept the entire drive back to Longmont.

I know we went grocery shopping on Thursday. I have no idea what else we did on Thursday or Friday because I didn't take any pictures (Bad Mommy!). On Friday, we did go to the Twin Peaks Mall where they have this AWESOME train. It doesn't run on tracks! They have 2 guards walk alongside it and it goes through the entire mall. Allison and I rode it and Brandon, his mom and dad and Jordan met us throughout the mall. We asked Allison if she wanted to see Santa (because we rode right past him) and the answer was an emphatic NO. We didn't push the issue.

I remember what else I did on Friday. My mother-in-law and I went shopping!! She had won a gift certificate to Gymboree at the outlet mall near their house, so we went there. The girls got matching outfits to take to Disneyworld. And we went to a sporting goods store where Brandon and I got shirts (not matching, his is Broncos, mine is Avalanche). We also got pears at Harry and David. Yummy!! (What made me remember was seeing Allison's glasses...we got those at Gymboree too).

Saturday was a WHIRLWIND day. We started out the day by visiting John, Sarah and Leah. The girls had a good time playing (Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed playing with John and Sarah's dog, Ace). It's always funny to me to put Allison with other kids her age (Leah and her are only 8 days apart) and see how different they are.

Here is one of Sarah and Leah that I just couldn't resist putting in! This might have been one of the last pregnant pictures of Sarah because baby Norah Renee was born just a few days later on Christmas morning! Congrats to John, Sarah and big sister Leah! Hope everything is going well!!!

After we left John and Sarah's, we went to lunch at Cici's. There was one right around the corner from their house. Allison was SUPER excited!! Then we drove to Taylor and Stephanie's house. Allison had fun playing with Warren, although we really got to see the difference between boys and girls in action. While Warren played with cars, trains, dinosaurs, etc, Allison pretended to feed the stuffed animals.

And give Daddy hugs!

They both think bouncing on the bed is a fantastic game though!! (And yes, Warren is wearing the monkey-leash-backpack thing. Allison found it and wanted to play with it, so Warren had to wear it. Gotta love how 2 year olds think!)

They had a TON of fun playing together!
That night, we went to Taylor's parent's house in Longmont. Whew! What a day!

Sunday is another day that I'm not quite sure what we did. This is the only picture. Allison got to sleep in a BIG GIRL BED the entire time we were there. She fell off of it a few times the first night (apparently, going after monkey who had fallen on the floor) but by the end, she loved it. She LOVED that it was Elmo and was very happy to go to bed each night (if Grandpa Schrenk was there to tuck her in....apparently, I don't do it right). Ben and Steph came over to watch the game with us (but I didn't take any pictures).
Mom, Dad, Michael and Bri came up on Monday. We did Christmas Monday morning/early afternoon.

Jordan learned a LOT this trip. Here she is showing off her clapping skills to Dad and Bri. (She also learned how to wave, how to eat puffs, and how to splash in the tub...more on that later).

Here is Allison opening presents with Uncle Michael. She had a BLAST (but then again, so did Michael!)

Waiting in anticipation!!
I guess my girls have decided that it's better to sleep through your first Christmas and let someone else do the work for you. Then you can just play with the toys when you wake up.

That night we played board games and drank wine (beer for the boys) and ate tons of cookies. My mom forgot to ask about cooking at altitude so the cookies were a little weird looking but still tasted great. It was a very fun night; Bri adds a lot to our family game nights!

The next day, we just hung out and watched the girls play with their toys. Then we had a wonderful Christmas dinner. Bev cooked a turkey on a wooden plank on the barbeque. You have to try it if you have planks. The turkey tastes smokey but is still VERY moist. She also makes the best homemade cranberry sauce I think I've ever eaten. Then Mom, Dad, Michael and Bri left to go back to the Springs so they could drive to Alamosa on Christmas Eve to spend a couple of days with Bri's family.

Christmas Eve brought us quite a few visitors. First, Luke and Emily and their kiddos, Owen and Mia came over to play and visit. Once again, we were introduced to the difference between boys and girls. While Allison had used these robot pieces all week as a spoon and bowl (we forgot to bring her play ones), Owen immediately starting putting robots together.

We also had a visit from Bonnie and Russ on Christmas Eve. It was SOOOOOO good to see both of them (and at the same time!!!). The last time I saw Bonnie, I was 7 months pregnant with Jordan (at Michael and Bri's wedding). I can't even remember the last time I saw Russ. They came bearing gifts for the girls (thanks to Bonnie's mom and cousin).

Bonnie had fun playing with the girls.....
And teaching them things....

It was SO good to see everyone. There were a few people we missed, and we are really sorry. We're trying to plan another trip out there, maybe next summer (surprise Brandon!!). Actually, we'll be out there next summer for Bonnie and Russ's wedding so maybe we'll make it a longer trip.

We flew home on Christmas Day night. The airport was PACKED. Apparently, word got out that the fares were really cheap on that day. By the time we got home and got all the crap in the house, it was LATE. Luckily, the girls slept until 930 the next day! (I was good and got up early and went to Jazzercise...ouch!)

When I got home from working out, we did our Christmas with all the presents that Santa had left while were gone and that my mom had sent home last time I went to visit (Breakfast with Santa).

Allison had fun. She realizes now that there is really cool stuff under the paper, so she loves opening presents. The only problem is that she wants to play with everything right away.


Jordan was awake for this one!


Here is Allison opening the girls' BIG gift from Nana and Papa - an art easel! (She already LOVES it, btw).

Jordan got 2 sets of blocks (the old-school kind from Santa and a really neat MLB St Louis Cardinals set from Nana and Papa). I think they were her favorite gift of all!


Brandon and I didn't give each other gifts (since we're going to Disney in a few days) but the girls did get us some nice things. Allison picked out some very cool Simpsons pajama pants for Brandon and a Taylor Swift CD for me. I also got 2 BEAUTIFUL Disney snowglobes from my mom to add to my collection. The girls got TONS of Disney Princess stuff from my mom (I think you should all buy stock in Disney now that my mom is buying Princess stuff for 2 girls!!!)

It was a very wonderful holiday but I am happy to be back home. I'm ready for Allison to start school again but only because that means we're closer to Disneyworld! It's been nice being able to relax though. And Brandon has been coming home early from work (which has been nice too). He's definitely enjoying some quality time with his girls.

Oh, and we had another visitor when we got home. My BFF (and Allison's Godmother) Heater came to see us for a night. Needless to say, she and I had a GREAT time catching up!

I am looking forward to New Year's Eve. We're going to baby-sit Maggie this year so her mom and dad can go to a party. In case you didn't know, Brandon and I are "stay-in-ers" on New Year's. Thinking about all the drunk drivers makes me nervous. So we stay in and make fondue. (This year, we're doing a Smoked Gouda with Bacon and Almonds for the main course and my mom's Caramel one for dessert).

Okay, as promised, here's Allison teaching Jordan to splash in the tub:

That's all for now...more after the new year. Happy Holidays!!