December 2015: Selfies, Christmas, and Snow, Snow, Snow!

December was busy, as it always is with the holidays and visiting family and friends.

On the 12, we had my family Christmas party. Kollyn sang Twinkle Twinkle for everyone and was so proud of herself when she finished (though she never really finishes because she just starts over once she gets to the end). She loved watching the girls do their gymnastic routine, listening to them play the piano and violin, and listening to the boys' poem.

She likes to play the piano whenever she sees one, so naturally she had to sit there while Kayla played and "play" the piano right along with her. She loves music and I love how excited she gets by it.

She's gotten really into the selfie function on my phone. She loves watching herself while we take a picture. She says "Hi" to herself while we're waiting for it to count down and asks to take more pictures right away. She's even starting to actually smile for pictures and I think it's so much fun!

December 17 was the Sirviso Christmas party. We are blessed to be involved with this company, it has definitely been a blessing for us even though it hasn't started paying off yet. I haven't seen David so excited about something in a really long time (I honestly don't know if I have ever seen him this excited about something that isn't Kollyn) and I love that he has something to help him feel productive and like he's contributing and doing something good. He loves being a part of it and has put so much effort into making it succeed in whatever way he can and I am really excited to see it take off. I definitely believe in the product and I love the friends that I've made in the other wives during this journey. It's definitely a special camaraderie that we have developed and I have been very lucky to now call these ladies friends. :)

Naturally, David had been counting down to Star Wars Episode 7 since its release was announced and was so excited to go see it. We had tickets to the midnight showing but I wasn't able to go to that. He ended up giving my ticket to a friend and I'm secretly (though not very secretly) relieved because I don't do well with midnight showings, they make me grouchy and tired and I will never see their appeal. haha. Luckily though, I'd won tickets from America First Credit Union for their private screening the next evening (Friday) and we were able to go that night with Adam and Carlee. It was a lot of fun and the movie wasn't bad, which made me happy. I may not be a huge Star Wars fan, but I do like Harrison Ford. ;) It was fun to have a nice date night (Thanks Melissa for watching K for us!) and go see a movie together. :)

December 20 we had a fun Christmas party with David's family. His parents flew in the day before and we had a great time eating dinner, making and eating donuts, and letting the kids run around wild for a while and visiting. It was fun to get together and watch Kollyn interact with her cousins. I'm always so intrigued by how social she is and how much she loves being around other people. 

Christmas Eve we spent the day at my parents' house and K was very excited about it. We played games, made cookies, and decorated said cookies. She had so much fun putting on the frosting and sprinkles and it was fun to see her get so into it and try to execute what she saw in her mind on each cookie. She was very engrossed most of the time and did not want to stop when we ran out of cookies. 

Her frosting the cookie. :)

Christmas Eve we also were invited to attend Aunt Mariolina's annual Christmas Eve Italian feast and as usual, it did not disappoint. She makes such amazing food (I really need her to teach me how to make some things) and K clobbered her meal and even ate seconds of several things, which is pretty unusual for her. She even pet their dog and that was a big deal because usually dogs scare her. We definitely ate too much and don't regret it one bit. :) Then we headed over to Karin and David's house to spend the night. David took his Xbox One over and after about an hour trying to set it up, we all played Perfect Dark for a while. It was a lot of fun. :)

Christmas with kids is so special. I love watching her get so excited about things. Each present was the best thing ever for her and she was so excited about them. A magnetic Elsa and Anna dress-up, shark socks (courtesy of our amazing friend Tiffany) that she wears as much as possible, new clothes from Sierra and Michael, and a Peppa Pig house and family. David's mom bought that for her and she has loved playing with it pretty much every day since. We take it with us when we go places and she loves it. She had never seen Peppa Pig before, but now she adores it and asks to watch it all the time.

They have their two very seperate interests, sharks for her (thanks Erika for the stuffed shark, she literally has to take it everywhere with us) and cars for Luke, but they play really well together for the most part,, even if she does annoy him (usually on purpose) by taking his cars. It's so fun watching these two grow up together and I can't wait to see how their relationship grows as they get older.

All bundled up and ready to go sledding! :) It snowed about 12 inches Christmas Eve night and so after we opened presents Christmas morning, we bundled K up and went out to sled down Karin and David's driveway.

She LOVED it! It was so fun watching her get so excited about it and run back up saying, "Again! Again!" over and over. She kept asking to sled and had so much fun. We tried to build a snowman for her but the snow wasn't quite sticky enough. She had a lot of fun throwing it around though! This was the first time all winter we've actually been able to play in the snow and she was so happy and didn't want to go back inside.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, some adorable K in the snow videos. ;)

Me and her sledding

Her and David sledding

Last one, I promise. ;)

Her throwing "snowballs" :)

We spent Christmas Day with Karin and David as well (and stayed that night there as well) because of the amount of snow and  us not trusting our car to get out of their driveway and back to our house since the roads weren't super cleared. Kollyn was not unhappy about it at all and had a blast playing with Luke all day. We are so lucky to have them so close and that they're always so willing to let us essentially invade their home. :)

We had friends over for New Year's Eve and rang in the new year with games, dinner, and plenty of snacks. :) We love having so many great friends that we love getting together with as well. We have been truly blessed in so many ways to be able to call these people friends. And we especially love that so many of them have little kids around Kollyn's age and that she gets along so well with them. It makes it so much fun to get together and do things because the kids love to play together and usually entertain themselves really well which leaves us all free to play games, chat, and snack on  delicious things.

We've had a very busy December, and we're really glad that the season has wound down because it was really crazy, but it was also so worth the crazy and we love that we have so much family so close that we get to celebrate with. :) Thanks to all our family and friends for making 2015 an awesome year and we look forward to everything 2016 has to offer!