Christmas 2015

We had a wild Christmas this year! We decided to go to Dallas on Christmas Eve so we had to open Christmas presents early. The girls opened family gifts first. They LOVED everything they got!! Thank you to everyone!! 

Maddy wrote to Santa and asked him to bring the big gifts to our house for Christmas Eve. We figured it would be hard to bring them home from Dallas. We had to say goodbye to Pantala that night. Maddy gave him a big hug. Evelyn was still suspicious of the tattle tale elf so she just said bye instead. 

Santa got the letter and a few gifts arrived on Christmas Eve morning! 

Before we got on our flight, they all got a little exercise in. 

We had a good flight to Dallas and arrived the night of Christmas Eve. The girls got right to work with their cousins making cookies for Santa!

Then it was time for wildness and silly faces!

The next morning we woke up and saw that Santa knew where we were! We had a lot of fun opening all our gifts!!

Evelyn needed a nap so Summer, Andrew and I went for a walk. It was so nice and warm! Caroline needed a nap too, I guess. So cute!

Uncle Andrew heated the pool for us and we were all able to go swimming on Christmas Day!! How fun is that?! The girls stayed in for hours!! 

Andrew's gift to Summer were some Moose Mugs ... Andrew and Nick made sure they were high quality mugs. :)

 

That night before bed we got all the girls together for a matching PJ photo. So cute!

This is the keeper!

The girls loved ZsaZsa's phone!

"Uh - hellooooo? Want to play with me? An actual person?"

Guess she said no.

"What in the world? Why won't this kid even look at me?!"

E started to get sick this night. She snuggled with her ZsaZsa.

In the morning ZsaZsa and her babies watched a little TV

The boys came over for some fun that night!! They also tested out the new mugs. 

On the 27th, we went to the airport to catch our 10:15pm flight. Poor Evelyn was running a fever and feeling super crummy (super cold - which is why she is bundled up).

Our flight kept getting delayed more and more so we set the girls up on cots. E fell asleep which was good. 

Well ... after all the tornadoes, flights were cancelled right left and center. That meant us too! We rebooked Nick on a flight for the next morning and headed to a hotel. Long story short, we eventually got Nick home (after another cancelled flight) and the girls and I decided to just hang out in Dallas for a few more days. No need to rush it or fly standby with two kids when you have family in town. 

I let the girls sleep in in the fluffy hotel beds - it was good for them!!

ZsaZsa came and picked us up and brought us back to Summer's house. All our bags made it to Portland so we did a bit of shopping and went out to dinner. Campbell was not excited about the fire and was prepared! So cute!!

The next day we went to the Perot museum and had so much fun!! Maddy made her own bird.

These two had so much fun playing together!!

I was told not to open the tent but I did it anyway! 

Our big girl in the little kid area. :)

Silly girls

Maddy and Campbell were totally in love! It was so cute!!

After the museum we went out to lunch. Summer tried to put Campbell's coat on her and she did this. She looks SO cute but she is actually being a toot because her mom can't get her arms in her coat this way! She cracked me up!!

After a little quiet time, we got all bundled up and went and played in the sunshine.

We got some cute photos of the 4 cousies together.

****This one is the best of the bunch!****

They played find the bouncy balls in the grass. They would close their eyes and then we would throw the balls and they would find them. Evelyn and Caroline caught on really fast. This photo cracks me up!

Campbell was quick at picking up the rules too and came over the join in. This photo is too much!!

Then off they went to find their ball in the grass!

Maddy and her ZsaZsie

That night we went out for delicious Mexican food! 

When we got inside we saw some horses to ride. ZsaZsa had quarters and they all got on and had so much fun!!

Evelyn ate a TON of chips, salsa and queso!! She loved it! Maddy ate a million warm fresh tortillas. Mommy ate everything ... probably too much in fact. 

Then these two started hugging each other like crazy. I think they might have had one too many frozen margaritas! They were hysterical to watch!!

We rode horses again on the way out.

That night I told Caroline I would blow out her hair after the bath. The curly haired girls bonded over round brushes and hair dryers. :) 

Caroline loved her straight hair ... but I love her curls too! She is so lucky to have beautiful hair that has incredible curls and straightens easily too! She will be shocked when she sees my hair in Hawaii!! There is no straightening hair at the beach!!

The next morning, ZsaZsa came and picked us up and took us to the airport. Thank you ZsaZsa for all your help!! We love you!!

To make up for all the insane events of the attempted trip home, we were somehow bumped into first class! Yep! FIRST CLASS!!! It was great! The girls adjusted very quickly to the extra room. :)

Poor E was still getting over her fever and was just exhausted. She fell asleep as we were taxiing out. I set her up with a pillow and leaned her seat back and she slept for most of the flight. She needed it poor girl.

Maddy did it up right. She enjoyed her warm towel, warm almonds/cashews and her real glass cup of sprite (I offered her a straw cup and she told me she was good ... haha). She set up her iPad, took her shoes off and settled into the first class life.

E woke up and ate a bunch of bread rolls and watched the iPad with Maddy. Mommy went to sleep! :)

Daddy picked us up at the airport and we headed home! Thank you to Summer, Andrew and ZsaZsa for a wonderful Christmas! How wonderful that we ended up getting a few more days together!