(a little advent and) Christmas

Ah, we start with the cranky Mlada from Gaudete Sunday. Were they all matching? Yep. Was Mlada happy about it? Apparently not. #shestartedthetwosearly

With Daniel off to see the new Star Wars with a friend, we trekked off to Boulder to visit a friend and have a coffee date.

Then there was decorating the tree (we rotate a bit on when this gets done, as my family always waited until Christmas Eve, and Daniel's did it earlier in the month).

Finally, finally, just a couple days before Christmas, we got some snow! It felt perfect to roll into Christmas Day with snow on the ground.

And, as my girls all know, with snow comes hot chocolate.

There was lots and lots of reading. Anni loved being out of school and having as much time as she wanted to read (though chores still existed much to her chagrin).

We also decided to dive into cookie baking (gingerbread). On the whole, we had a blast, but as anything with toddlers, we ran into some rough waters when one sister wanted to share the chair with the other.

We decided to try Polar Express while the cookies baked, and, honestly, the girls spent more time concerned or stressed than enjoying it, so I don't think it was quite a check in the win column.

Then came Christmas! I didn't get a photo of all three girls together, because, with the double Mass days, we decided to do Christmas Eve Mass, and Mlada woke up from her nap just in time to have clothes thrown on her (as she protested mightily) and hop in the car.

We had a relatively traditional (for my Czech/German family) dinner, at least in that it was vegetarian. We had creamy pasta, shrimp, a yummy salad, and bread.

Then it was time for the traditional Christmas jammie present (and they so sweetly posed for a photo! They were loving the snuggles.)

Finally, our Christmas Eve closed out with reading The Night Before Christmas. My dad always read us this poem, and Daniel continues the tradition when we aren't in Wichita for Christmas.

Christmas morning was such fun! We try to keep our gifts to a three gift maximum, but we really enjoyed trying to get something they would each love this year. Colette got a dollhouse, which she has spent every day since emptying, rearranging, and creating all kinds of wonderful stories.

Anni got an Our Generation Doll (Target's version of an American Girl doll), which was the one thing she reallllly wanted, and despite a tragic loss of one of Franny's shoes at Nonna and Papa's, she is quite enamored with her sweet doll.

We gave Mlada a doll to go with a big gift we knew she was getting from my mom (a darling doll pram!) and the sweetest doll quilt from my sister, Katie.

Then we were off to my lovely in-laws' for food, gifts, and lots of cozy time together.

It snowed softly all day the day after Christmas, which just made things seem all the cozier.

Then we faced down the hard part of our break: Daniel leaving. He headed off for SLS18, and we missed him awfully as we rolled into the year, but made it!

Santa Lucia Tea Party IV

Santa Lucia Day! The wonderful thing about having this tradition pretty well established (four years is established, right?) is that it pretty much plans itself. At 38 weeks pregnant, that's almost a necessity. Things were simple and small this year as we had three families who ended up staying home at the last minute due to illness. The three mamas who were there (including me) are all rounding the end of their pregnancies, so while we missed the other families, we were grateful their germs stayed home!

We had the quintessential white dress with red sash and candle crown for our eldest, and a white(ish) dress and sweet headband for her little handmaid.

I stuck with my stand by braided cinnamon bread and reshaped orange rolls from the refrigerated section as our "lussekatters". "Tea" was some yummy juice, and we were set to go. I love how easy it is to please a group of little girls and honor a wonderful Saint.  

St. Lucy, pray for us!

2nd Annual St. Lucy's Day Tea Party!

Happy feast of St. Lucy!  We continued our family tradition this year and had a little tea party with a few of Anni's sweet little friends (and their mamas, whom I just happen to be friends with, too, of course).  And my sweet girls?  Aren't they about as darling as they come? 

This year I actually homemade some braided cinnamon bread (no saffron rolls, two loaves of the one baked good and a breakfast casserole was enough for me!)  It was yummy (and pretty... as long as you don't look where I tried to join the braid!)  

We lit some candles (Lucy does mean "light" after all) and sang "Happy St. Lucy Day to you" (yes, to the tune of "Happy Birthday").  I had also picked up some little battery operated candles in the dollar aisle, so every kid had their own candle to take home.

Oh, and this darling little sunshine?  Isn't that smile just the best?!

Happy St. Lucy's Day!

7 Quick Takes Friday

I decided I'd join in on the "7 Quick Takes" this week.  Easy way to share our week without too much brain energy...

1. Anni is POTTY-TRAINED!  I'm not saying she'll never have another accident, because, well, I just can't promise that.  But we're on our fourth day (and soon to be night!) in panties only.  Thank goodness we ran out of diapers and just decided to grin and bear it.  That being said, I'm really glad we took the slow train and let her do things her way... we definitely don't need one more reason for tantrums and tears (from any of us) around here.

2. Colette sleeps sometimes... this is a big, happy deal.  That's all.
 

Oh, and then she wakes up like this:

 So, pretty much, life is good.

3. It's still snowy... stillllll.  I'm really grateful for the precipitation (for our state, not really for me, I have no yard, therefore no garden that notices that we're in a drought), but I'd love it if we could transition into a nice spring rain now.  Maybe? 

Maybe I should drop the dreams of Anni's 3 year pictures having any sort of green in them... cuz it doesn't look like that's happening quite yet.  At least I've been trying to get creative with snow-y crafts so we aren't so bored being trapped inside (well, Anni, I'm an introverted introvert of the homebody type and it takes some serious prying to get me to leave my cozy little home... disaster that it is).  Anyway, Anni got her first go at scissors annnnd we brought some snow inside. 

4. Oh, yeah, Anni is turning THREE in less than 3 weeks.  eek!  When did this itty bitty baby

grow up and become, not a baby, not a toddler, but a little girl?!  I'm not sure what our birthday plans are for our sweet gal as we're leaving for Kansas the next day.  Thoughts welcome.

5. Daniel and I celebrated 5 years since we started dating this week... and by celebrating I mean that he completely surprised me flowers by sneaking them up from the car after I'd gone to bed and then we skipped going out because I'd already been out in the freezing snow/rain with girls the entire afternoon and while we had a babysitter for Anni, Lettie is still definitely in the "mommy is not letting you out of my sight" phase.  Soooo... we ordered pizza and didn't go straight to bed the instant Lettie was down for her longer stretch... nope, we watched Dr. Who... romance at its finest :).

Us... just a couple of weeks after we started dating... it's a good story, someday I'll tell you all about it.

6. I love my sister's homesteading life. It just makes me smile every time she tells me about their new adventure (and... I love mooching off of her delicious produce!)

7. We're still house hunting!  I'm accepting the fact that I may need to keep practicing patience for several more months... things are just not easy for buyers in our area!  Here's hopin'!

Find more 7 Quick Takes at Camp Patton.