Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well, okay, he came to the Library at least, and we got to see him. I was surprised at how few kids there were this year. It was good for us though because we didn't have to stand in line for such a long time. Grandma JoAnn was able to come with us, and she actually stood in line with the girls while I got ready to snap some pictures. Lindsey was so excited that she was jumping up and down in line. She has been really into Christmas this year. She loves to sit with me and look at pictures of toys, and she will tell me, "I want this for Christmas, and this for Christmas, and this for Christmas." So when it came time to sit on Santa's lap, she climbed right up there. He asked her her name and how old she was, and then he asked her what she wanted for Christmas. I guess Santa couldn't believe that a 3-year-old would ask for bunk beds for Christmas because he had to ask her twice. All the parents were laughing because they couldn't believe it either.

Megan didn't like Santa as much as Lindsey did. She just wanted to get out of there! But the candy cane did make up for things a little bit.

Megan with Grandma JoAnn.

Foam Christmas ornaments

I was in Billings last month and saw these foam Christmas ornament kits at Michael's. I thought that they would be a fun activity to do with the girls. It was fun, but really messy! Lindsey did the whole second row of ornaments and a few on the bottom row all by herself. Megan made most of the bottom row. The girls loved the glitter and the glue and to be doing something different. I think that these will make nice Christmas presents for the grandparents.

Helping to put the ornaments on the tree.
Megan

Lindsey

Saying "Cheese hamburgers!"

Big Bear

Lindsey has taken to calling our new giant bear "Big Bear". The other day she insisted on watching a movie in his lap. The next thing I know, she is sound asleep! She was too cute to resist taking a picture.

Are my kids the only ones...?

That are obsessed with ice cubes? I swear I have melting ice cubes all over my house lately! It is the middle of winter! Why are they playing with ICE CUBES?! Their favorite game is to get the small cups of tupperware from the lazy-susan, fill them up with ice cubes, and put the lids on the containers. I have to repeatedly tell them to close the freezer door, and I feel like I am constantly picking up these cups of ice cubes/ice water/water. Maybe it is just the fact that they can now open the freezer door all by themselves. It keeps them occupied though, and it IS just water. Maybe I will let them play with the ice cubes just as long as they close the freezer door!

Cookie thief

Well, there won't be any pictures for this post, but I just had to share a funny story about the girls. Lately, Lindsey has been getting Megan to do naughty things for her. Like if Lindsey is mad at me, she will tell Meg to come hit me. And Megan will do it, of course! The other night, I was making a big batch of cookies for Christmas. The cookies were on the counter cooling, and I told the girls they couldn't have any until after dinner. Unfortunately, the cookies were within reach of Megan. Lindsey told Megan to go get a cookie, which she did. And before I could stop them, Lindsey grabbed the cookie from Megan, took a huge bite, threw the rest of the cookie on the floor and walked right into time-out! She knew she was in trouble, but I guess it was worth it for one bite of cookie!

Auction

This last weekend, we spent most of Saturday at an auction. A construction company was going out of business and Jason wanted to get a saw and drill. Megan and I were able to leave for a couple of hours to get our grocery shopping done, but when we got back, I found that we were the proud new owners of "Teddy". As soon as the girls saw him, I knew that we were going to have to bid on him.

Both girls were so tuckered out from the day that they fell asleep almost immediately!
Close to the end of the auction, the girls were being so rowdy that I decided to take them out to the truck. We made some jingle bell bracelets while we were waiting for Jason. Megan was so tired that she fell asleep with it in her mouth!

Hogle Zoo

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we took the girls to Hogle Zoo. It was even more fun because our Hicken cousins were able to come with us. The girls had a great time looking at all the animals. Megan took to her cousin, Sarah, right away and was trying to do everything that she did. It was so cute watching Megan try to skip like Sarah. Thanks for coming with us, Hickens! We had a blast!

Lindsey, Sarah, Jenna, Megan, Anna, Andrew, and Addison

Close-up of all the cousins.

Lindsey checking out the animals.

Megan looking at the meercats.
Lindsey enjoying the ride in the stroller.

Revenge!

Jason and I with the girls.

Tiger

Megan and Sarah

Lindsey looking at the baby giraffe with Grandpa Joe.

Penguin

Megan taking a sip.

Zebras

Mama elephant with her baby. This little baby was so cute. They had a big log in there and he was trying to balance on the log.

Monkey

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Well, like I said earlier, Jason and I bought a new camera on Black Friday. It is a Canon PowerShot SX10IS, and I LOVE it! L.O.V.E. it! It is a lot bigger than our other camera, but it takes pictures faster and has a better zoom. We think we got a very good deal for it and I am very happy with it so far. Here are a few of our "test" pictures. What better subjects than our precious little girls?

Grandma's tub

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we were able to drive to Salt Lake and spend some time with Jason's family. The girls had a great time playing in Grandma JoAnn's big tub. They loved the bubbles that the jets would make. Lindsey wanted to take a bath in Grandma's "humongous tub" (her words!) every night!

Turkey hats

Well, it has been awhile since my last blog post. I am going to attempt to catch-up over the next couple of days. Jason and I bought a new computer and camera on Black Friday, so I am still trying to figure out these new gadgets! But here goes!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go on an overnight "girls night out". Jason was great about me being gone overnight and even volunteered to watch my "extras" that day as well. The "extras" are two neighbor boys that I have started watching a few days a week: Patrick and Teagan. I decided to have a fun project for Jason to do with the kids while I was away to help pass the time. Thanks to my sister for these great Turkey Hats. They were a hit!

Asian Chicken Drumsticks

I haven't done this very often, but when I do share a recipe, you better believe that it is a good one. This morning during MOPS, we made a take home dinner. Of course, I didn't have anything else planned for dinner, so this was it. It took less than 5 minutes to put together and then it simmered in the crock pot the whole afternoon. I hope you enjoy it!

Asian Chicken Drumsticks

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon bottled chopped garlic
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
6 skinless chicken drumsticks with thighs attached

In the bottom of a slow cooker, place all of the ingredients except for the chicken, stirring well to mix. Add chicken; stir to coat with the sauce. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

Notes: We used chicken with the skin still on it, and I cooked it that way. When it was done the skin came right off. The chicken was also really tender and came away from the bone easily. It makes a lot of sauce, so you could add more chicken if you have to feed a lot of people. This might also be good as a frozen dinner. Just put all the ingredients in a freezer bag, freeze, and put it in the crockpot when you're ready. I served the chicken with Basmati rice and green beans. It was really good!

South Dakota

Jason had to make a quick trip to Rapid City for work this weekend, and we decided to go with him. We stopped at a couple of fisheries along the way. The girls had a great time feeding the fish. We stayed over night in Rapid City and went to the WaTiki water park there. The girls had a blast playing in the water, but I couldn't get Lindsey to go down the water slides at all. Even the little ones. She just didn't want to. Megan went down a couple of the big slides with me. I think she got a little nervous. The best part though was the hot tub. Megan thought the jets were so funny. Every time she walked past one in the water, she would start to laugh. My favorite part was how well they slept that night. We decided the way to go was to keep them up late and wear them out in the water. That is a good way to make sure they sleep well. The next morning we headed home through Mt. Rushmore. That was my very first time to see Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty impressive. I think the best time to see those types of things are in the off season because there weren't any crowds and good parking.

The huge fish at the first fishery.

Lindsey feeding the fish.
Megan feeding the fish.

Watching the fish eat.

Megan trying to get more fish food.

Lindsey trying to get more fish food.

My cute girls.

Mt. Rushmore.

Jason with the girls.

Me and Megan.

A nice lady there took a picture for us. It turned out pretty well.

Happy Halloween!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. Lindsey decided that she wanted to be a "scary witch" after she saw part of The Wizard of Oz. She really wanted to paint her face green and she would even say, "I'll get you, my pretty." On Friday night, the city sponsered a Monster March where all the kids dressed in their costumes and trick-or-treated downtown. This was the first year that we have gone. The girls had a great time, but next year, I think we will go early and take the stroller. Megan decided that she didn't want to walk and I ended up carrying her for most of the hour and a half that we were out there. Then on Saturday, we went to the trunk-or-treat with the ward. Megan loved trick-or-treating! She would hold her bag open really wide for everyone to drop candy into. Lindsey had a great time too, but was a little more shy.

Lindsey with her witch costume. I painted her face for this picture.

Megan refused to wear a costume for the Monster March, but she did want a little paint on her face.

Halloween Night. Jason painted her face this time. Notice a difference?

I was able to get a costume on Megan on Saturday night, but she wasn't too happy about it.

Our lanterns.

Lindsey helped me make the green lantern.
The only picture of both girls in costume together.