Playing at the Church

The day after Christmas is always a little tough, am I right? All the Christmas hype has settled down and it's over. Just like that. We made a fun day of it with the Simons at their church building and had such a fun time watching the littles play with each other. They are the best entertainment, I tell ya!

Christmas Day 2016

Merry Christmas! Christmas was on a Sunday, which I actually love. There's something incredibly special about singing Christmas hymns on Christmas in church. We woke up and had waffles and opened presents, got ready for church, and then spent church with the Simons.

After naps, we headed back over for lots more playing and a yummy Christmas dinner.

^^Kate is so attached to this polar bear G&G gave her for Christmas. Her name is Penny and she is the first thing Kate has insisted on sleeping with. So, so sweet.

We ended the night with a fun Bean family video chat with Elder Bean. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas with the Simons this year and had a total blast. I love these people so much. We went over after naps on Christmas Eve and the boys pulled out their old Rokenbok toys and went to town. Robbie was in Rokenbok heaven all afternoon.

We ate a delicious soup buffet and then Bob & Dayna gathered the littles around to tell them story of Baby Jesus' birth. They started all sitting in their chairs and then slowly creeped up closer and closer.

 ^^The little snuggled up to G&G while we watched the Nativity story

 ^^On our way home, our taco soup spilled all over the car and that was super fun and kind of hilarious. Kind of.

 ^^All ready for Christmas morning.

Christmas Festivities

We packed a lot into December, the best month of the year!

 ^^Putting the tree up with the twins was magical and they just loved it. The entire month they talked about the Christmas tree and loved taking the ornaments off and then attempting to put them back. I pretty much redecorated the bottom half of the tree each night :)

 ^^Visiting Grandma and seeing her tree.

^^We took the girls to see Santa and it went about as anticipated: Kate went to him just fine, but Olivia flipped and wouldn't get near him, hence the whole family getting in the photo :) Love these memorable experiences!

^^Cookie day at G&G Bean's house. Sugar cookies, Peanut Blossoms, Gingerbread cookies, and chocolate dipped pretzels. So fun and yummy. I love mom's classic ornament apron in the background.

 ^^Grandma stopped by to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie with us.

^^The girls helped me make some neighbor gits and were pros at unwrapping the chocolates and putting them on the pretzels. Seriously, I was amazed!

My New Baby

As an early Christmas gift this year, my parents bought me a PIANO!!! Never in a million years did I think I'd have a piano this soon. Robbie and I recently started saving for one and I thought we had a couple more years ahead before we made the purchase, so this was THE happiest surprise. Because I ask too many questions and think about things way too much, I ended up finding out about the surprise (shame on me) but I had no idea what it was going to look like. I think it's just the cutest thing in the world and I'm so thankful to have music in my home. A huge thanks to my parents and to Robbie (and our brothers) for moving it and storing it and working so dang hard to get it to our house. There was a ton of work behind the scenes and I'm just humbled people would do this for me. It is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.

One Year Older...

I turned 27 last month and it really is true that the older you get, the more you lose track of your age. Like right now I'm rethinking that I turned 27. Was it 28? I'm pretty positive it was 27. Yeah, sounds good.

Anyways, it was a wonderful birthday. Mom came and spent the morning with us and we all went out to breakfast (an impossible feat by myself, so it was so fun to have another set of hands!).

 ^^Our waiter: "1...2...3...Whiskey!"

I came home from grocery shopping to find Robbie had done all of the cleaning I was planning to do as soon as I got back. Cleaning surprises are the best kinds of surprises :) He made an amazing dinner (cream cheese chicken) and then sent me on a fun scavenger hunt for a few gifts. There was a little gift from each member of the family in various locations throughout the house with a sweet note attached. It was sweet and so thoughtful. I sure married a good one. So, so good.

Bowen Christmas Party

Because we were the ones on the Bowen side of the family with the newest baby, we got to be Mary & Joseph and Madelyn made her big debut as baby Jesus. The girls were sheep and it was one of those times where I wanted time to stand still. I died with their cuteness!! Sweetest thing ever.