Post Christmas!

Christmas is over, and so's my birthday. Booo....

But, what an awesome last week it has been! Courtney helped me make a ton of different cookies. We made ornaments and gingerbread houses (both real and foam). We wrapped gifts. We did a ton of different and fun things!
Kasey decorated herself instead of her gingerbread house!
Courtney making ornaments!

Finally Christmas Eve arrived! Hubby and I got up at 4am and put the prime rib on the smoker. (Then went back to bed.) Later in the morning, Courtney and I went to the Children's Service at church. They do an adorable children's service at 10:30am. They have a lot of costumes for any kid that comes to the service. Kids can be an angel, a Shepard, or a wise man. Then they get to participate in the live nativity. It's a short service, but its so cute! I saw lots of my friends, and we sang lots of Christmas carols.

After church we stopped at Wild Birds Unlimited to get my dad one last gift. They have a cute little area outside to cater to birds that includes a pond. Wouldn't you know they have about 15 ducks that live in the pond. They let Courtney feed the ducks some corn. She got a kick out of that!

We then went home and had lunch and naps. After that, we got ready for our big dinner! Our friends Glenn and Alexis joined us for dinner. We had prime rib, cheesy zucchini, roasted potatoes, salad, and homemade bread. The food was delicious! For dessert we had pecan pie and homemade ice cream.

I forgot to mention that the day before we got an ice cream maker. Hubby had several gift certificates to William Sonoma from work, so we got an ice cream maker!

We had made reindeer food earlier in the day, so Courtney and Kasey went outside after dinner and sprinkled that on the lawn. Plus we put out the cookies and milk for Santa! We also spent a good portion of the evening tracking Santa, thanks to NORAD. We finally got the girls in bed, and Courtney told me she was going to lay in bed and listen for the reindeer landing on the roof.
The girls with Hubby checking on Santa's progress.

In the morning she woke us up about 7am, not too bad! She was upset because she was sure Santa had not come because she didn't hear the reindeer land on the roof. So, she was happily surprised to see the Santa gifts when we got downstairs! He did indeed come! And he ate his cookies and drank his milk!

The girls went crazy and opened all their gifts! Santa brought Courtney exactly what she asked for: a ladybug pillow pet, Princess and the Frog movie, and Toy Story movies. She was very happy! The other big hit for her was the Hungrey Hungrey Hippo game her Great Grandma (GG) gave her, and her twilight ladybug that Grammy and Granddad gave her.

Kasey really enjoyed the Monkey Pillow Pet Santa brought, the baby doll that GG gave her and the twilight turtle that Grammy and Granddad gave her. In fact here we are a few days later and she is still quite attached to those toys.

After naps we headed down to my parents' house. The girls had more presents to open there. Kasey got a big garage like toy for her cars. She is so funny, she is into baby dolls, but she is also very into cars! She's very well rounded! :)

Courtney was very excited when she opened a 7 Princess Doll toy. It has 7 of the Disney Princesses in one large box, like Snow White, Cinderella, Tianna, Sleeping Beauty, etc. She exclaimed that it's what she wanted and Santa didn't bring it! It was cute!

We had a good time opening gifts there! And then we had a large turkey dinner. After dinner we opened our stockings. And after that we pigged out on Christmas cookies for dessert. It was a great time! We brought two very tired little girls home and tucked them into bed.

The next day was my birthday! We were planning on going to brunch at The Sunbird, which I love and I was very excited that my birthday fell on a Sunday so we could do it! I was quite surprised to see about 30 of my friends there when we arrived! Hubby threw me a surprise party! It was wonderful!

After pigging out and spending time with my friends, we headed for home. Kasey crashed in the car. So, we got the girls home and in bed. During nap time, Zak and Susan came up to stay with the girls. Hubby and I went and got pedicures. That was nice and relaxing!

After we got home, we got the girls ready to go and we headed to Giuseppe's for dinner. We had a nice quiet family dinner. I didn't get much family time at brunch that morning, so it was nice to have time with just them. Plus the food was delicious!

My birthday was amazing! And there were some unplanned surprises in there too that made the day even better! One of our friends went into labor, and another set got engaged!

I tell you what, the last month has been quite amazing and so fun! Now I can't wait for Christmas again next year! I am so thankful for my Hubby and my girls who made this Christmas season so amazing!

And here we are at the end of the year. What a year this has been for me. I feel like I have gone through some big changes this past year. I feel so much happier and at peace. I try really hard to let go of the things that I can not control or that make me mad. I try really hard to pay attention to the mood I am projecting. I wish to always project a happy mood, not a grouchy one. And all of those things have made a big difference in my overall disposition! I feel like 2010 wasn't a perfect year, but it wasn't a bad year! In fact, overall, it was a pretty darn good year!

We of course have a ton of pictures from Christmas, and it's hard to pick a few to put up here, so I invite you to go to our gallery and check them out!