New Year's Eve

We celebrated New Year's Eve over at Mom and Mike's, with Greg and Casey, and Ken and Cheryl. There was an amazing amount of wonderful food and a crazy game of Bunco. The girls played as well, although Meri and Johnna threw in the towel after a couple of rounds. The older girls continued to play, and in fact, Natalie won the whole thing, and Ali came in second!

Again, Meri didn't last very long...

We all toasted at 10:00 (midnight New York time!) and popped "poppers" until the floor was covered with confetti. It was a night full of laughter with special friends and family. Happy 2011!

Christmas Day

We started out our day (very early) and very excited. Santa had eaten all of the cookies and answered all of Ali's questions about Rudolph.

Santa brought Merilyn the princess baby doll that she asked for!

Later we headed to Gramma & Mike's for breakfast and more presents. The grown-ups all exchanged their gifts to each other... I got Greg this year, and I found the perfect gift... a beer making kit! (Or, we'll see if it's perfect later after he's made it!!)

Of course, Gramma spoiled all the girls... they each got their own Tangled princess castle. This was definitely the highlight of the day! All four of them spent all morning and afternoon in the living room playing together.

After dinner, the girls put on a play for us... a production of Snow White. It was quite a performance!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve - We started the day with the girls helping Daddy make Krispie treats for Santa. (They're his favorite, don'tcha know...!)

Later we went to Grandma Sandy's for dinner and a few gifts. Grandma got the girls a big set of the Ramona books... Ali was thrilled!

We put out the Krispie treats for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer!) when we got home... and tried to fall asleep. (Which was easier for Miss Meri than Alison; She was just too excited!)

A bit behind...

December 23rd - We went to Casey and Greg's to help celebrate Greg's birthday. Charlotte loved the ice cream!

On our way home, we stopped by Starbucks to get hot chocolate and peppermint mochas and took a tour of our neighborhood looking at all of the lights.

Meri pooped out before we were done...

Day 23

The day before the day before Christmas... hanging out with the Grinch.

Breakfast with Santa

A family tradition that dates back to when Casey and I were kids... breakfast with Santa. This year we went to a performance put on by the Billings Dance Studio at the downtown Hilton. It was a very cute show, and it was definitely for a good cause. The breakfast + show was a benefit for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. There was a silent auction going on during the breakfast buffet and one of the items up for bid was a cute puppy! The girls were freaking out, and I was thinking, "How much trouble could I get into? I'll just bid a small amount." However, the bid was already up to $550!! {Gulp! I knew I would get into trouble for that!!} Thank goodness for Mom... she convinced the girls the dog would have long hair when it got older and wouldn't be as cute.

The girls were in awe of the dancing and singing. The had great seats and I'm not sure they ever blinked!

After the show we took the girls to sit on Santa's lap for a picture. Natalie, Alison, and Merilyn didn't hesitate. They jumped right up and starting smiling. Charlotte, however, was NOT impressed. And Johnna wouldn't even come near the big guy.

It was such a fun afternoon. I love watching my girls around this time of year... such joy and magic!

Kicking off Christmas Vacation...