Christmas morning we all came downstairs to see what Santa had brought. Heaten saw Percy sitting on top of a new train track with a tunnel and that was that, instant love. Shenzie, my very girly girl, found her Cinderella Doll with a princess necklace waiting under the tree and again, instant love. They were both spoiled rotten and we had a great time playing the morning away with all of their new toys (Jeff said they are spoiled rotten, the spoiled part I totally agree, rotten, no way, they are too cute to be rotten).
I attempted to make a French Toast Bake that didn’t come out quite like I imagined (it was gloppy and soggy), so instead of a delicious french toast and bacon birthday breakfast we (I) had bacon and cream of wheat. Reminder to myself, never try out a new recipe on a special day and find out how to make the FT Bake because it looks yummy in the photos I’ve seen.
After much play the babies went down for their nap and I got caught up on some reading {The Time Traveler’s Wife}, lounging, and editing some of the twinzies photos. We had the great idea of going out to dinner for Christmas, but as it turns out not much is open outside of the Casinos which I didn’t want to go to. We then had the great idea to order pizza, but that was also a no go. Luckily I had bought ingredients to make Pioneer Womans Macaroni and Cheese so while the kids played I cooked some yummy dinner that actually turned out just how it was supposed to. =)
All in all a very relaxed, low key, lounge about Christmas [and birthday].
For my birthday Jeff and I had date night planned Saturday while Grandma watched the twinzies {thanks Mom}. We headed out to see Avatar at the Imax Theater in the Red Rock Casino. We didn’t get there early enough and were forced to sit in the very front row. After 2 minutes of this I called it quits and we snuck into another theater that wasn’t Imax, but still 3D. At first I didn’t really care for the 3D, but after my eyes got used to it, it was awesome. The movie was fantastic - I highly recommend seeing it!!! We got take out PF Changs, came home, put the kids to bed, and grubbed out on yummy food. The perfect end to a perfect holiday.
Was fabulous! When we were little we had a family tradition of opening one present the night before Christmas. Most times it was a pair of pj’s. We continued this tradition with Shenzie and Heaten and gave them their Christmas Pj’s which were the CUTEST pair of Curious George Pj’s just in time for the pj party.
We started off our Christmas on Christmas Eve for a pj party at Grandma’s. The twinzies had tons of fun with all of their cousins, running, screaming, yelling, wrestling, hugging, and dancing.
We even had a visit from a very special Old Man (aka Uncle Levi). =) As you can see Heaten didn’t care for him AT ALL. At first Shenzie was like NOOOOOOOO, but she soon warmed up to old Santa and even gave him a kiss. =)
There was tons of YUMMY food, birthday cake for Uncle Dave, Grandpa, and me, pies, cinnamon rolls, and lots of other yummy goodies.
The kids decorated cookies, decorated Grandma and Grandpa’s tree, and had a grand old time together. And then came the presents which of course were a hit! All of the kids draw names so cousins Trever and Ethan got Shenzie and Heaten new scooters!! Transformers for Heaten (which he lugged around for part of the night) and of course pink princess for Shenzie, which she LOVES.
Thank you family for a wonderful, fun, LOUD, Christmas and birthday!!!
We are starting a Barr Family Christmas Tradition where the kids each pick out a present for one another and get to give them on Christmas Eve (this year was Sock Monkeys picked out by Daddy since Mama dropped the ball). I anticipate next year will be SO FUN with the picking and giving. This year it was fun for Daddy and me, but I don’t think Heaten half heatedly throwing Shenzie’s monkey at her counts as giving. =) After the twinzies went to bed Jeff and I had our gift and stocking exchange and had a little Christmas Eve Movie Night. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve with my favorite people.
In the days leading up to Christmas, Casa de’ Barr was full of yummy delights. The twinzies and I were on a bake-fest and made cookies, chocolate chip pumkin bread, candied pecans, and our first ever buckeyes (daddy even got in on this one). Heaten and Shenzie had a blast helping me bake, and of course, had an even better time helping me eat it all!!!
We did Christmas art projects:
We played Hungry Hippo:
And as you can see, we spent A LOT of time in our jammies. =) A perfect way to start the week of Christmas if you ask me!
I can count on one hand the number of times I remember it snowing in Las Vegas. This year is not one of them. We did however see some snow of the foam variety which was actually not a bad substitute. Not too cold, no bundling required, and five steps later and it was gone! =)
Last weekend we took the twinzies to Town Square to see the “snow”, have dinner, and meet Santa. This age is so much fun with the twinzies. Eating dinner with zero meltdowns, walking around looking at all of the Christmas decorations, seeing the absolute joy on the twinzies faces over the little things, and of course twin love.
I’ll let the gazillion photos I took tell the story. =)
So my totally creative and awesome friend Denise came to me with an Art Photography Project and OMG I am SO excited to be a part of it!!! We’ve come up with tons of great ideas to make it happen, now we just need to find willing models, locations, props, and time to do it all. Denise put it best, “Hey, if there are any volunteers to dress up and play along as models for us… can’t say they will be flattering shots, but it should be fun… anyway if you’re interested in playing along and doing a little acting, let Denise or I know!!!”
*Disclaimer - most of the shots are highly controversial, so if you’re a stick in the mud this project is not for you. =)
Last year we took the babies to The Magical Forest at Opportunity Village and quite a good time. It did not however, compare to the great time we had this year! It was cold, but not freezing which was a real treat. Heaten, my little boy who refuses to wear a sweater or coat EVER, agreed to wear a coat and gloves so he could ride the choo choo.
While we didn’t actually meet Santa we did peek at him thru the window and that was enough for the twinzies. We saw LOTS of lights, pretty trees, mini houses, reindeer, and then Mama’s feet got cold so we missed out on Funnel Cakes and the Carousal ride. Booooo Mama!!
Shenzie found her brave streak and ran around like a loon looking at everything, running off on her own and exploring the displays [very unusual for my people shy girl]. Heaten on the other hand spent most of the time in Daddy’s arms and while he doesn’t look happy or excited, he truly was.
Next year I’m wearing my wool socks so we can stay and play and eat yummy funnel cake!!!
*ignore the crappy photos, I only had my PNS with full flash blaring, but better crappy photos than no photos. =)
*That big strand of lights going up goes to the lights on the banister that they can’t stop playing with. Just ignore Heaten’s mismatched pj’s. He refused to take off his bear shirt. =) Oh, and disregard the chocolate on Shenzie’s face, we had dessert bananas.*
I am not one to put up the tree at Thanksgiving and take it down at New Year. That is way too much tree time for me. Normally I can handle about two weeks of tree and then get that thing out of there! This year however, we put our tree up nice and early to get a head start on the twinzies Christmas. They had such a fun time decorating the tree, and were SO excited when we lit it up. Now, before you laugh your head off like my brother Levi, let me warn you we have a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. It is all of 4 feet tall and if we’re looking at the positive things about a tiny tree it is the perfect size for the twinzies. =)
We have mostly non breakable ornaments and they each got to pick out one special ornament. Shenzie picked Hello Kitty, and Heaten picked Percy the Christmas train (although he didn’t quite make it to the tree).
I love Christmas (and of course it is my birthday so I love that too), but I LOVE Christmas with Shenzie and Heaten. This is the first year they get it - the whole tree, lights, Santa, etc. Shenzie loves to sing Jingle Bells, and every morning they run over to the tree and tell me to turn on the lights. Their new favorite game is sitting behind the tree rearranging the ornaments.
Now that they are older Christmas is so much fun, I can only imagine it gets better and better!
Most of you that know me in real life know my friend Janae’. Her Little Peanut was born and I got to take her newborn photos!!!! Go check out the cutest little honey - and if you’re like me you’ll want to bring her home and eat her up!! Why you’re there leave a comment and say HI to me!! =) And because this post is chalked full of !!! I’ll just add a few more!!!!
