Home for the Holidays

We decided to switch things up a bit this year.  Rather than staying home for Thanksgiving, we spent a lovely week in Iowa, and spent Christmas here in good ol' Colorado.  We missed the family so much, but made the most of our little homebound holiday.

We spent Christmas Eve making sure everything was ready for Santa and his reindeer.  First up,
baking Santa's cookies.  Ava was pretty sure he wanted them to be pink and purple. 

She decided Santa needed to come into her room to claim his treats.  I told her that if she ate them he wouldn't leave her any presents.  Hey, for all I know that's the truth.

We also had to sprinkle the reindeer food in the yard. 

All that was left was to snuggle into bed, and wait for Christmas morning to arrive.  Santa, as is his way, did not disappoint.

 

 

 

 

Remember the Easy Bake Oven?  Yup, it's still awesome.

Thanks so much to Grandma Sally and Grandpa Mac, Grandma Pat and Papa, Grandpa George and Grandma Raili, Aunt Kristen and Uncle Joel, and Aunt Lisa and Uncle Ryan for all of the wonderful things you sent.  You helped make our little Christmas even more wonderful. 

The Art of Happiness

I know I still have Christmas to get to, but I'd like to take a small detour...

I'm always looking for new ways to exercise my girls' minds and bodies, but I must admit that the art museum seemed like a bit of a stretch for us.  I pictured us walking from room to room, staring at paintings while my kids screamed from sheer boredom.  But when Andy suggested we give it a try, I figured the risk was pretty low.  If the kids went bonkers, we'd just bail. 

And then we walked in. 

We were greeted immediately by a museum volunteer ready to fill us in on all the family-friendly activities the museum had to offer.  We were directed first to a collection of backpacks, each related to an exhibit in the museum, full of coordinating games and art projects.  Ava chose one with animals on the front, and off we went.  Less than 5 minutes later (long before we found our exhibit), we reached our first little child-centric gem.

 

The kids used these blocks to build house after house.  Lila delighted in knocking them down.

 Then we found an Asian inspired dress-up area...

A room dedicated to dressing wooden Spanish dolls..

And another where we got to decorate and build our own crowns and treasure boxes.

Then the girls created (and may have briefly tried to eat) their own magnetic canvas creations.

And that isn't even the half of it.  What a beautiful way to spend a day.