Kendall and Her Doggo!

 Kendall is such a cutie.  This year has been tough on her, but she is showing true grit.  Grandma Karen made each of the girls these adorable new backpacks.  Kendall is modeling hers.

Bailey has become Kendall's buddy.  She has made him a bed in her room and he spends most nights with her.  He really is such a good dog.  These girls can wrestle and play with him and he just eats up the attention.  

Then, when he can, he sneaks away for some peace and quiet.  Sound familiar?

A Beautiful Christmas.

 Christmas was much quieter this year as many people stayed at home to celebrate.  We were thankful to have Terrell and my parents join us this year.  We had a festive Christmas Eve celebration complete with a fierce and fun game of bingo.  After a short night of sleep, we were up on Christmas morning.  The day was relaxing and full of good food and homemade pizza.

Sidney may not have a horse, but she now has a saddle.  She has been wanting a small saddle to decorate her room for quite some time.  Her and Kendall have had fun messing around with it.   

The best part, the hugs!  I am so thankful to have these girls.  They are simply amazing.  

Spreading Christmas Cheer!

 Sidney has had so much fun baking and trying new things this year.  Her chocolate bomb mold arrived and she was eager to try it.  They turned out awesome.

Here is a short video showing her dunk the bomb in warm milk.  Such a cool idea.

She had given me a small list for the grocery store.  As it turned out, she was putting these adorable little kits together.  She gave them out to a few friends and family.

Kristin sent some pictures of her girls joining in the fun.

Our elf has been hanging upside down a lot this season.  

He even took a horse for a ride on our Christmas tree this year.

He has been having some good times while we are fast asleep.

The Gingerbread House Contest.

Grandma Terrell joined us for our annual gingerbread house making.  Kendall missed out this year, as she stayed over with Hannah.  According to Terrell, she had done done this before.  How can that be?  Naturally, she was a pro.

Sidney decided to make it a contest and sent the pics to family members.  I solicited votes on Instagram.  Sidney's penguin house was a hit.  

My sled got me a few nods...

Terrell's sparkly roof earned her the votes of several admirers.

In the end, Sidney won by a landslide!

Congrats and Building the Farm.

 Gem Prep has started highlighting a scholar of the week.  Sidney has been working so hard.  I was super excited to see her get recognized.  They nailed her strengths in the description.

Sidney has been wanting to make a horse farm for her schleich animals.  The other night she asked if she could have a piece of plywood from the garage.  Then she set to work building her farm.

Here is a shot midway through.  the level of detail is amazing.

I am super impressed with the finished product.  She even has puff paint to represent horse droppings.  Seriously funny!  I guess that is what mucking stalls will imprint on your brain.

An Evening Out.

 It was a bit odd this year not doing a lot of our usual Christmas activities.  We attempted to drive around and look at lights before realizing that just led to car sickness for some.  So, my parents invited us out to dinner and a stroll.  We started out with good food, then headed to Scentsy to walk through the tunnel and enjoy the lights.

Then, it was off to the village to enjoy the sights and sounds.  We all had a really good time getting into the Christmas spirit.

What was I thinking?

 When we moved into our house 9+ years ago, it was a nice shade of beige.  Over the years we have painted a few walls.  Kevin had been trying to talk me into a gray color.  However, I was completely opposed because of two things; 1)  We would have to hire painters (or so we thought) and 2) I DID NOT want to redecorate and did not believe my current decor would match.  Then, along came Agreeable Gray.  The perfect greige color.  I started off by painting my office, then the girls bathroom, then before I knew it my entire upstairs was painted.  Since I bought a bit too much paint, I decided to do my bathroom and bedroom.  Why stop there?  After a brief negotiation with my dad on whether he and I could do the living room with the help of scaffolding, I went for it.  

Many people hate painting.  I don't mind.  In fact, I find activities like these rather relaxing.  The girls notice a therapeutic quality arise within me.  The same things happens when I 'puzzle'.  It is a busy, mindless activity.  So you see from the picture below, why I had to think this one through.

Here we go....

I got as far up the wall as I could before 'scaffold' day.

Moments after we had taken the scaffolding down and loaded it into the truck, Sidney looked up to see that we had left the tape around one of the can lights.  You have got to be kidding me!  I certainly am not brave enough to do what my dad is doing in this picture.  Yikes!

I had such a great sense of accomplishment after it was all done.  The color looks amazing!

Sisters.

I am so blessed to have a sister.  It is like having a built in best friend you just cannot get rid of:).  Steph told me I had a package on the way.  I was a bit nervous and expected a bunch of spiders or spring loaded snakes to jump out at me.  Instead I opened it to find this mug, which at first glance seems very sweet and sentimental.  Read again!  Yes, that is sisterhood.

It reminded me of a gift she got for me a few years ago.  Yep!

My mom used to call us salt and pepper, since Steph is dark and I am fair.  Thanks to the advent of hair dye, I have narrowed the gap!

I love this beautiful lady!