Swing set for the girls

My Mom and Step Dad wanted to get my girls a swing set for the backyard. We tried to get it installed in time for Chritina's birthday, but that didn't happen. We needed to get the approval of the HOA, then we needed to order it and wait for it to arrive at the store, make arrangements to pick it up and make arrangements to have it installed. Due to a damaged shipment and then out of stock merchandise, the process took much much longer than expected.

From August to December, we anxiously awaited the swing set. Two weeks before Christmas, it was a reality and we had our very own swing set. From a birthday gift to a Christmas gift, at least it was finally here. With only two weeks to go, we decided to hide it from Christina until Christmas morning, or at least until my Mom could be here to see her see it for the first time.

It wasn't too difficult to keep Christina from seeing it. Since it was cold and we weren't going in the backyard, I just had to keep her away from the windows. She was too short to really see out any of the windows anyway, so it worked out.

The day everyone arrived, we decided would be the day to reveal the big Christmas present! Evie was here for it as well, so all three girls were able to enjoy it.

The start of the install:


Install continues:


Finished product:


The big reveal:


Enjoying the early Christmas gift:

Christmas Cookies

The kids were pretty good through all of the excitement. We definitely had to control Christina's love for all things sugar, but we did let her indulge a little. Considering that one of the top items on her Christmas wishlist to Santa was M&M's, we didn't want to completely deprive her. Santa did bring her M&M's, plus Christina kept stealing candy cane's off of the Christmas tree. We also made a ton of cookies, so she had some of those. I thought it would be fun to have the girls decorate cookies. I think they really enjoyed themselves and surprisingly, they didn't shove the cookies in their mouths two seconds after I put them on the plate . . they actually decorated them and then waited about two seconds before eating them. It was enough time for Linzy to get some pictures:

Here is a little video of Christina with the candy cane.

Evie's Birthday

Our cousin Evie turned 3 on December 27th. She had never had a real birthday party before, so it was exciting that everyone was going to be in town for it. She had a Dora the Explorer party because of course don't all toddlers love Dora?

Birthday cake time!








Presents!








Playing with Evie's new kitchen:






Dress up time:











And more . . .