Shhhhhh... Oh my gosh! Troy and I had just gone to bed and we heard Rudy barking a little bit. We tip toed around the corner and look what we saw! We couldn't believe it! I was only able to snap two pictures and then we quick ran back into our room so he wouldn't see us! I can't wait to tell the girls in the morning!!

Christmas Eve... It didn't go so badly after all. Anne perked up around 3:00 p.m. and was able to get out of bed and have a little fun. She didn't have an appetite and was running a low grade fever so we had to miss church but we still had a good night! I'm so glad she is feeling better!

I think Rudy is going to hate Christmas forever. It involves too many pictures for his liking!

Opening their one Christmas Eve gift. Rudy was in on the action too. He kept biting their new jammies and trying to take them out of the paper. The girls didn't really want his help!

I think the jammies were a hit!

We went outside in between the rain showers to sprinkle the reindeer food.

Hanging the last ornament!

We tracked Santa on the computer most of the evening. We decided to pile in the car to look at lights and drive around trying to find him around 8:00 p.m. After about 20 minutes, we saw Rudolph's nose blinking in the distance. Anne about came unglued after that. We couldn't get home fast enough. She kept saying "Go daddy! We have to get to bed!" We came to a traffic light that had about 5 cars in line and she yells from the back seat "OH GREAT! TRAFFIC!" It was so funny! She was NOT going to be up when he came around to our house! We got home and they called Gammer to say good night, wrote their notes, and we put out the cookies and milk. They were both asleep within 2 minutes of getting in bed. So now I'm sitting here listening to Christmas music (and a power drill ... poor little elf!) and justing waiting for Christmas morning!

Isn't there some kind of law against this... no child should ever be sick on Christmas Eve. Poor Anne started throwing up early this morning. I'm keeping everything crossed that it's just a quick stomach bug that will pass quickly and she will be better by tonight...and that Allison doesn't wake up with it on Christmas morning. It's just not fair! I'm so sorry Anne. I hope you are feeling better soon honey.

Karate... Once a month our playgroup has a Karate class. It's by far Allison's favorite thing on the calendar. She loves going there! They practice punching, kicking, and basically just run around like nuts! Here are a few shots of her in action!

God help us... Here is a poem Anne wrote in her journal one night in bed.
One day I want to be a rock star
that will be cool
i wisy (wish) but i am a kid
i my (am) sad
i want to be a goun (grown) up
but I my (am) not so I brctrend (pretend)
my mom and dad are going to woth (watch) me
I am a rock star
a rock star

And when she recites it to you, you should hear the way she reads that last sentence. With such conviction. It's hysterical.
Here are a few pictures of the girls being rockstars and posing for the camera.

Another Anne funny... Anne: Why do I have to look so white? Me: What do you mean? Anne: Why is my skin so white? Me: Well, that's just how you are. Anne: I want to look like you. Me: Well you do. I'm white too. Anne: No, you are not. You are peach!

Better late than never... I made this video for Allison's birthday but I was having problems getting the music on there. So this is a little late but HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY PUNKY! I love you! Just click on the link to see her video! :)
My favorite Punky is 4 years old!

The gingerbread house... Troy and the girls got to work on the gingerbread house this morning! This place was a mess but it was worth it because turned out so cute! I wasn't sure how well it was going to go at first. They all had their own idea of how it should look and the girls were very eager to "help" this year (which can make Troy a little nuts if it's not going exactly as planned) but it all worked out and it looks great! And the house smells good too!

Gearing up for Christmas... The girls are so excited about Christmas this year! They are counting down the days! We have 3 different Advent Calanders this year so they know exactly how many days until Santa comes!

Our neighborhood had our big Christmas party on Friday night! Santa was there and we even had a snow machine! It's the very first time the girls have ever seen anything like it so they were in heaven! Now they keep asking us when we can go see more snow somewhere. It wasn't a huge amount of snow but it was enough to have a good snowball fight and Allison had a blast sledding on a cookie sheet someone had left at the party. It was freezing that night so we didn't have to worry about the snow melting at all! We were all bundled up and only lasted about 2 hours. Anne didn't even mind wearing her jacket and her "mittens with meatballs on them and the hat with the Chinese writing". That kid cracks.me.up.

Rudy doesn't usually feel too jolly around Christmas because we dress him up in all the festive crap that he hates.

I love sitting at night with just the tree lights on! It looks so pretty! The girls did a great job helping with all the ornaments.

No Dancing Daddy... That is what Allison said when she saw this warning sign on a ride at Disney! We all laughed our heads off and now it's become a running joke with the four of us! Anyway, we took one last quick trip down to Disney last weekend since our season passes were expiring. The girls had been asking to go for awhile and they had a great time. They are at such different ages though and want to do different things so Troy and Allison met with the characters while Anne and I hit Space Mountain. Anne is a roller coaster junkie just like her mom! :)