Monday, December 30, 2013

Peyton and Tyler Sleep Over

Beth brought Peyton and Tyler to our apartment on Sunday to spend the night and came back to pick them up after she got off work on Monday.


The cash register was a big hit with all the kids--good thing Aunt Beth had gotten it for Mena's last birthday!  Note Maggie is behind the boys taking a picture as I am in front taking a picture!



On Monday we'd been stuck inside all morning due to the cold weather and I decided we needed to go check the mail and stop at the playground to burn off some of their energy.  We bundled up and headed outside.







From leaving our apartment to going back inside, it was probably about 30 minutes.  Maggie decided she was done with the cold and just left the playground so the rest of us had to run to catch up with her!




The kids enjoyed getting Puck out of his cage multiple times.  Sunday night I had to call Beth because Peyton had an allergic reaction to Puck.  He's never gotten watery, red-eyed before, but then we realized Peyton hadn't washed his hands after holding Puck.  Usually, I remind him but we both forgot.  Pretty sure he'll never forget to wash his hands again!  

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Decorating Cookies

 
 


Saturday, we went to Karen's house to decorate cookies.  She had three ice cream buckets of cut-out cookies baked and I had the dough made for gingerbread cookies.  Haley, Mena, and Maggie enjoyed frosting and shaking sprinkles on the cookies for about half a bucket!  Karen and I finished decorating the cookies.  The girls became interested again when the gingerbread boys and girls were ready to be decorated.  The girls happily enjoyed playing together while Karen and I worked in the kitchen.
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Thursday, December 26, 2013

New Robes



The day after Christmas we were supposed to go see Grandma Olson, but Peg was diagnosed with strep and influenza so we came home so as not to expose Grandma O incase we'd picked it up.  We came home and immediately put our tree away to make room for the doll house and a 3-drawer cart to hold all the doll house toys!  The girls put on their new robes over their jammies and had a fun day and evening at home.
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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas spending the night in Yutan



The girls and I spent the night at Mom and Dad's house.  After everyone else had gone home, I put together their new doll house.  It went together surprisingly easily with a few screws and a few snapping pieces.  The girls really like it.  At some point Mena looked at me and said, "Oh, no.  We don't have room for a big doll house.  That's why Santa didn't bring it."  I told her we'd find room for it.  Later when we were home, she commented on the doll house and on the fact that Santa didn't bring her a new computer like she'd asked for.  I told her that the elf on our tree doesn't just tell Santa if the girls were naughty or nice, it also tells Santa what it hears Mommy talking about.  She looked at me like she didn't understand.  I told her that he elf probably heard me talking to Grandma about the doll house so it told Santa not to bring one.  Then the elf probably heard Mommy talking about my new computer and knew that you were going to get my old computer so Santa shouldn't bring a computer either.  She seemed to think that the elf sure passed a lot of information onto Santa!
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5 Grandkids



All 5 grandkids on Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa Frye's house.  I wish we'd thought to take pictures of each of the families, but Peg was sick and took a nap during all the opening of gifts so we probably wouldn't have gotten one of their family anyway.
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Christmas in Yutan

 


Maggie was excited to see Dora on her new robe and then excited to find a Barney dvd hiding inside the robe!
 


Mena liked her new baby doll carrier and diaper bag.  They are getting played with a lot!


Maggie got a bowling set from Jake which has gotten used by the girls and their cousins when Peyton and Tyler came to spend the night.


Mena got a princess robe and a Barney movie.  Mena wears her robe to bed at night and then takes it off after about 5 minutes when she gets hot!


Mena got a princess story book that she creates the story by rolling the dice to see what happens next.  It's been fun to read with the girls although it is much easier to read on the floor than in my lap!


Maggie got a set of 4 princesses with clothespin style clothes that they can change on the dolls.  Thank goodness there are four dolls because Mena really likes this one, too!


Mena got Hungry Hippos from Tyler which all the kids have enjoyed a lot!  I bought Jake one for his birthday since he played with it so much on Christmas!  Good thing he can't read yet so he won't know what he's getting from us in February!


Maggie and Mena opened two shoe boxes and inside was taped a piece of paper with half a picture of a doll house.


Maggie looked at me and told me the box was empty!  She was truly stumped and disappointed that the box had nothing in it.  I showed the girls how together it made a picture of a doll house, but they looked at me like "So what? I didn't ask for a picture of a doll house!"


Mena's face was so excited to see Grandpa coming down the hallway carrying a box with the doll house in it!  Maggie was still trying to figure out the empty box as she looked at Grandpa.
 


Wow!  A real doll house!  They wanted to open it immediately but since it was "some assembly required" I told them they needed to wait until everyone went home.


Mom was excited to receive a Colton Dixon cd from us.  At some point Dad opened his Christmas gift but he was so busy helping the kids with their new toys that it was quite a bit later.  I also got them straps to hold their pant legs on bike rides and money.  Mom bought a cover for her ipad that Dad got her for Christmas and Dad bought a battery for one of his tools.  Mom and Dad gave me a membership to the Lincoln Zoo, a state park pass, and money that I used to buy a filing cabinet.

It was a great day!
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Christmas Morning--Stockings and Picture by the Tree

 
 
 


In their stockings, the girls found a candy cane filled with Rolo candy, a santa straw cup, a doll outfit, a small game, pencil and notepad, a mini book about Jesus being born, and strawberry shortcake flavored goldfish.  I liked the graham cracker style goldfish but the girls just wanted regular goldfish.  We'll have to tell Santa to just stick with the regular flavor next year!

 
 
Both of the girls were happy with all of their presents this year!

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Christmas Morning--presents from Mom


The first gift the girls received from me was matching shirts.  I've bought coordinating clothes for the girls before but this was the first time they had matching clothing.  They both liked the shirts and were excited that they were identical.



The potato head toys were a hit!


The girls each got 2 books.  Mena's were Pete the Cat books on cd.  Maggie got Sheep in a Jeep on cd and Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon that I'll read to her.  I'm glad my girls both enjoy reading!

 


Mena was excited as soon as she saw Hello Kitty on the box!  The game is similar to Candy Land and both girls enjoy playing it.


Maggie got Sequence for Kids which she enjoys.  It is a matching animal game.



Mena's first comment as she opened this present was, "You bought me another pair of boots?"  I told her I'd just used the box to wrap her present and there weren't boots inside.



Mena likes her two princess dress up clothes and tossed aside the vet outfit saying, "I've already got that at my dad's house."  She has played with the vet outfit more than the dresses since Christmas so I still think it was a good idea to get her!



Maggie got a fire fighter outfit and two princess dresses.  She wanted to know what the ax was for so I explained what it is used for.



Mena then asked Maggie if she could put on the fire fighter coat and went down the hall to cut down her bedroom door to save her baby doll from the fire!