Christmas

Christmas morning the girls slept a little later than in past years since we went to the 10 pm service the night before.  They were excited to find root beer in their stockings since this was the first year I'd done that.  The new dresses weren't very exciting for them, especially since I'd just given them new dresses for the Rosemont program.  There was a sale so I was able to get them each 2 new dresses this year, plus the new shirts I gave them the morning of the Frye Christmas gathering.  

Maggie was super excited for her Barbie style head, as well as for her Jojo Hairdorable doll.  She was disappointed that the clothes I bought for the Jojo doll were the wrong size.  They were made for a different Jojo doll, but they fit her Barbie doll so it all worked out.

Mena was ecstatic to get a new pillow like the one she has at her dad's house.  She says she sleeps so much better now :)  She was excited to get a watch that tracks steps and sleep, but unfortunately it was too big for her.  She also got new earrings.  Later in the day we looked on Amazon for a new watch.  She had enough money that she got a watch and a doll house family for the price I paid for the other watch.  Returning the watch to Amazon was easy the next morning.

My parents took the girls shopping to get me something for Christmas.  My stocking had the fixings for s'mores.  My two presents were a pressure cooker cookbook and Pictionary Air game.

Mena chose Chicken Pot Pie for Christmas.  My parents joined us for lunch.  After lunch we set up Pictionary Air on my phone.  The girls took turns drawing while Grandma and I guessed what the pictures were.  Papa took a nap.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve the girls were with their dad.  I worked the church nursery for the 4 pm and 7 pm service.  I picked the girls up at 8:30 pm.  We went home and the girls got dressed.  We attended the 10 pm candle lit service.  I got about 5 hours of sleep before they woke me up the next morning.

Decorating a Gingerbread House and Ugly Sweater Cookies

We have a new points system where the girls can earn what they want to buy.  They have the possibility of 3 points per day at home (morning, afternoon, and evening) and 2 points per school day (morning and evening).  They earn their points by following our family rules that can be summed up by Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe.  We have 3 rules under each to show how we be respectful, responsible, and safe.  Mena earned having the smaller TV in her bedroom and then I implemented this plan for both of the girls.  Mena earned a gingerbread house and Maggie earned an ugly sweater cookie kit.

Frye Christmas

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with my family.  The weather was nice enough that the kids were able to play in the backyard to run off their energy instead of bouncing off the walls inside the house!

12 Days of Christmas Lights

The city of Lincoln puts up the 12 days of Christmas light decorations in downtown Lincoln.  For the first year, we were able to find all 12 in our first evening of looking and it only took us 30 minutes!

Joyful Noise Children's Choir at St. Paul UMC

The girls' choir, Joyful Noise, sang "He Came Down" during church.

Maggie at School

Mrs. Hyde shared this picture of Maggie working on paraphrasing with her classmates.

Rosemont Christmas Program

Mena had a part in the opening skit "Poems, Presents, and a Promise" of the Rosemont Christmas Program.  Then the younger classes sang 2 songs each.  Then Mena and Maggie's class came on stage to sing "O' Holy Night," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Go Tell It on the Mountain," and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"  Both girls did great and then we went to Runza for supper.

St. Elizabeth's Miracle on 70th Street

St. Elizabeth hospital had a free event with a really good free breakfast, crafts, booths with freebies, crafts, tours of 3 parts of the hospital, and live reindeer.  One part of the tour was in the new burn unit.  Later Maggie wanted to use my hot glue gun to make the craft she brought home.  I said only adults can use the hot glue gun and that I'd burned myself once and didn't want that to happen to her.  She asked with excitement if she could go to the new burn unit if she burned her finger on the hot glue gun.  I really don't want a reason to go to the burn unit other than our tour!