Last Christmas Video of 2011

Forgot I had recorded this on my iphone on Christmas Eve! 

The kids all dressed for the Christmas Eve service at church. 

Don't the look great???

I'm not sure how the clarity will come out but I hope it's okay.

Christmas Aprons

This year my mom decided she wanted to make Grace (her only granddaughter so far) a Christmas apron.  This led her to think she should make one for me to match Grace, which led her to thinking she should make one for herself to match Grace and I.  This then led her to want to make one for my sisters (and sister in law) to match us, which led her to want to make one for my grandmother to match all of us.  Therefore one small little idea led her into making 7 different Christmas aprons!

My mom designed, sewed, and made them reversible and coordinating! Impressive, right?? 

My mom, Grace & I

Grace's apron had a little bit of everyone's patterns.

All of the aprons (minus Lauren and Grandmom)

Needless to say we wore the Christmas aprons all day on Christmas, and I think we will every year from now on!

Thanks mom for all your hard work!  These aprons are a treasure!



Christmas videos

Here are a few videos of the kids opening their gifts on Christmas morning.

This one is of Noah opening the very much anticipated Polar Express train.  He was very specific on what he wanted and thankfully what we got was it! whew!

Gracie getting in on the action. 

Opening presents from Grammy Val & Poppy!

Playing with presents

 (sorry about the loud hammering in the background - I was putting Grace's cozy coupe together)

Needless to say this year was a very fun Christmas morning. 

Not only were we home but the kids really understood what was going on. 

They both eagerly opened gifts after the Christmas story was read and best of all they understood why - that Jesus was born on Christmas and was such a gift to us, that we give gifts to others.

Mission accomplished.

Christmas 2011

A preview of several Christmas pictures to come.

 Gracie all dressed up on Christmas Eve!!!

 My handsome little man on Christmas Eve!

The Dague Family 2011

Merry Christmas! We hope you had a wonderful day celebrating Jesus' birthday!

Reindeer munch

Today we made the easiest Christmas snack ever! And it's so cute too!

Reindeer munch:
Thin pretzels
Rice chex cereal
Craisins
M&m's
Salted peanuts

Vanilla candy melts (bought at AC Moore)
I also used green for fun!

Mix all ingredients in big bowl (except candy melts)

Melt vanilla candy melts & mix
Spread flat on wax paper until dries then break apart

It makes a TON I was surprised!!

Makes a tasty and fun gift for family & friends!

Christmas Tree Traditions

Today we made our 3rd annual trip to Yeager's Christmas Tree Farm. Every year it gets more and more fun with the kids.

We take a hayride down to the Christmas tree 'forest'. 

Then we walk around looking for the 'perfect' tree. 

I like to take a picture with the kids and a similarly sized tree.

Aren't these baby trees cute?



This year Noah had very strong opinions. 

In years past we would stumble upon a tree and Noah would like it just because. 

However this year we had criteria.  It had to be a) TALL and b) BIG.

 Here's the tree he wanted to get. 

However since we don't live in the White House we had to convince him we needed one a bit shorter.

"Noah the tree can't be too big or there won't be any room for the presents to go underneath"

It took him a second to process this information, but it worked!

Here's the tree we chose!  The perfect size for a Polar Express train to go underneath.  Deal.

  

It's a wonder we parents got anything done before we had such great helpers :)

 One of the best things about Yeager's is all of the photo ops they have set up.

That and the FREE hot chocolate and cookies they have after you cut your tree down.

Yup that's right we pay double for our tree...but we get free cookies and cocoa!! Hehe.

Don't they look so cute in Santa's massive chair?  I couldn't get them to both look so this will have to do.

New this year: GIANT SNOWMAN.

Decorating the tree...

The finished product.  What do you think? 

Kind of a hodge-podge, but I like it.  It's got character.

Gotta love all of the "handmade" kid ornaments.