A Very Pink Christmas

Anyone who knows Emily, knows that she loves pink!  Last year she had a little tree of her own in her room.  She already has a lot of ornaments and we could hardly fit them all on last year.  We decided we needed a bigger tree.  Emily saw the pink trees at Garden Ridge and wanted a pink tree.  We were going to get the small one but it was only a little taller than her other tree so we decided to go with the 7ft. pink tree!  It is very skinny so it fits great in her room but let me tell you, it is a PINK tree.  We had to work for a few days to get the right ornaments on it to tone it down a bit.  It is very bright but Emily loves it and it is super cute in her girly- girl room!  Peggy took these pictures during our Christmas photo shoot.

A Christmas Visit

  The Saturday before Christmas we went to visit my dad, Emily's Aba and his wife, Emily's Nana.  We had a wonderful lunch and a great visit!  Here they are in front of one of their trees.

  A few days before our trip we were busy making Christmas ornaments for all of Emily's grandparents.  Emily decided all on her own to make some for Gran, my mother, too.  Gran died in 2001 so Emily was never able to meet her but we talk about her often.  It really touched me that she thought of Gran.  We made the ornaments and decided to make a stop at the cemetery on the way home.  We put flowers on my grandparents graves and flowers and the ornaments on my mom's grave.  We also visited my uncles grave. 

Winter Fun

Well we haven't seen any snow or ice here yet this year but we still had some fun on the ice today.  We went downtown to an ice rink and ice hill for some winter fun.  A local TV station and some other local businesses and radio stations sponsor this each winter.  This was Emily's first time ice skating.  This was actually her first time really skating except with roller skates around the house.  She did really well but she spent a lot of time holding onto the wall.  I did too!  It had been years since Jeff and I have been ice skating.  It took me some time to even walk in them again!

Here they are all ready to go!  It took us forever to get our skates on:)

She did actually let go a few times and skate off the wall.  She also fell down quite a bit!  She kept saying, "I'm okay!"  One time she said, "It's okay, I meant to do that."  Funny girl!  

When she was all done skating we went sledding on the big ice/mud hill.

We had a great time and we were proud of Emily.  She did complain about her arms hurting as she went to bed tonight!  I can imagine that she is pretty sore!

Christmas 2012

Well another Christmas has come and gone.  We are still decorated, eating Christmas treats and watching Christmas movies but it's technically over.  We had a great Christmas!  We had a very excited five year old girl this year!

Sunday, the 23rd, we went to a Christmas party. Emily and her little friend had a lot of fun playing.  There were a few other kids there and they played very well together.  

Christmas Eve we woke up to find that Twinkle had left Emily a good-bye note and a North Pole breakfast.  When Santa comes on Christmas Eve Twinkle flies back to the North Pole until next year.

We had a lot planned for Christmas Eve.  The first order of business was to make reindeer food.  Emily wasted no time sprinkling it on the lawn. 

Then we had Christmas cookies to make.  This year we "painted" the cookies and put sprinkles on them before we baked them.  This was really fun.  The "paint" is egg yoke, water and food coloring.

They turned out so pretty.

Then we cleaned up a bit.  Somehow sprinkles made it all the way to the living room.

Then it was time to go to the Christmas Eve service at church.  Grandpa came with us.

After church, Emily got Santa's milk and cookies ready.  By the way, we leave Santa chocolate milk.

Then it was time for bed and time to read The Night Before Christmas with Daddy.

Emily actually went to bed pretty quickly that night.

On Christmas morning she woke up about 6:40am.  Looks like Santa was here.

Santa brought Emily an American girl doll with her book and accessories, matching dresses for her and her doll, who is also named Emily,  Cinderella walkie talkies, a pink feathered boa, stompeez slippers and the movie Cinderella.

Emily checking out her stocking!  Don't you love her hair!!!

Santa brought her some nail polish in her stocking. 

Here are the Emily girls and their matching dresses and Christmas tree hair bows.  My Emily kept her pajama pants on under her dress all day.

Brushing Emily's hair.

Once the grandparents arrived we ate lunch.

Then it was present time!!!!!!  Emily enjoys giving gifts and helping people open them as much as she enjoys opening her own gifts.  Here she is helping Nana open a present.

Aba and Grandpa too!

One of Emily's gifts from Aba and Nana was a real tea set.

Ta-da!  All done!

A tea party with her dolls!

This was my favorite present this year.  Emily gave me a cutting board that she and Jeff made. This is the back of it!  So precious!!!  I love it so much!

Then we had a yummy birthday cake for Jesus.