Christmas Eve 2010

I can honestly say that we all got what we wanted for Christmas. Quentin didn't really want anything for Christmas but he did set up a new blog and is enjoying having his own site for it. He also got a neat Kinnick Stadium during the black and gold spirit game and the neat thing is that you can see where he is in it. He also got money, an ornament, and a few other little things.

I really didn't want much either. I have been working hard on giving the girls a "big girl" room. They are growing and changing so fast. They have very different personalities but also are similar in so many ways. The Bunk bed was a big part in this transformation possible. At my in laws on Christmas eve they had a few gifts for me. I was surprised because I felt that the bunk beds was gift enough but Laura (my mother in law) heard me mention a few things that I had been wanting to complete the girls upgrade in furniture. I say furniture because we would like to do a little painting and changing of things but that will all happen in time. I opened my first gift and it was these great storage containers much like the ones I had expressed about having for the girl's room, I got 2 shirts from my FAVORITE store and then the long, HEAVY gift was left. I couldn't wait to see what it was but was nervous because I wasn't sure how I would store something so heavy. Well the joke was on me because Chuck and Laura got me the storage unit I was picturing in the girl's room. I could have cried right there in that moment. I've been dreaming of the girl's big girl room for a few years now and in one AMAZING Christmas the mental image I've had for so long became a reality. And I'm going to fast forward a little bit and share that when we got home I waisted NO time after putting the girls to bed in putting it together. I asked Quentin if he was going to help me and he said NOPE I know you can do this. SO I did, I'm very familiar with tools and building since I did grow up in a house that was always changing. I got it put together and Quentin took pictures. I did hurt myself 3 times but didn't quit. I scratched my hand twice, but only bled once. and then when using the hammer I... yes I came down right on my pointer finger. Quentin said ok you give up now, and I glared at him and said NO I'm almost done now. I finished the hammering on that section and told Quentin if he wanted to finish he could. He was much quicker at hammering than I was and it was up in no time. I then told Quentin that I wanted to put it in the girl's room for when they woke up. He picked it up and put it in their room with out waking them. I put a few of the things I thought would look nice on it but remembered a few more things later today. I must say it was such a wonderful moment to see the big girl room coming into place.

I think it looks great and I'm going to get 2 more container's for the girl's toys and then we will be adding new toys to some of the empty cubbies. But this is how it looked when the girls woke up. but now lets get back to opening gifts at Quentin's parents house.

The girls got lots of great things and I took so many pictures but I figured I would post a few on here to share...

Clarissa has been talking about a baby that cries for awhile now and has expressed that none of her babies cry. She has also gotten quite attached to a leopard print snuggie I got as a white elephant gift at our church YA Christmas party. And she had become quite fond of princesses and Cinderella is her favorite. She was SO happy when she opened her gifts to reveal that her wishes had come true. She loves her baby doll and has named her Faith. I thought that name was perfect for a baby that was given to her on Christmas Eve!

Clarissa's thank you- Thank you Ma and Papa for all the awesome gifts. My favorite gift from you was my baby doll that cries and my snuggie is comfy cozey. Oh and thank you to my cousins thank you for the strawberry short cake remote control car. I have been getting allot of use out of it. I I love you so much and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Kimberly really got to go first in the opening of gifts order because the 3 kids (my nephew was there too) she is the youngest and Laura said we are doing youngest to oldest. So my blog is in the wrong order but anyway. Kimberly is a big fan of Tinkerbell, Ariel, and is all about being comfortable. A neat story that Laura didn't know about till AFTER the fact...

Kimberly has so many pretend friends its hard to keep them all in check but they tend to be character's from movie's she's watched or even people that mean allot to her. She has a pretend Jesus and God who visits us on a regular basis and I always tell her that they are more than welcome here but they have to follow the rules too. She thinks that's funny but ok that was a little off topic. So Kimberly has all these pretend friends and lately she's been talking about her pretend baby Ariel. Pretend baby Ariel goes EVERYWHERE with us. And I we where thinking about getting one at some point in time but it was a little late to get her one for Christmas since we were all done shopping and she had already asked santa for a new watch since her other one broke. Well Kimberly was opening gifts and to her surprise she would no longer need a pretend baby Ariel. Yes Laura with out knowing got Kimberly the doll she had been pretending to have for about a month now. Kimberly was so excited she was shaking and screaming. She the held her little Ariel baby and Said " I love you baby Ariel," and gave her a kiss. It was such a sweet moment and I was so happy for her in that moment.

Kimberly's thank you- Thank you ma, papa, Remi, and everyone for my presents. My Ariel baby is a good girl, I love her so much and (in my robotic way of laughing and talking) I got my watch from SANTA! Madden and Landon got me the slippers and they are my favorite. Thank you everybody.

Ma with the 3 grand children and baby Ariel. Madden

(Brenna's baby) will be arriving soon.

When we got home I got to work on the storage unit and the girls where fast asleep. Nothing woke them up until 7:30am on Christmas Day!

Giving is Better Than Receiving

This year we decided to focus on not how much we spent on gifts or who we bought for but we wanted to make Christmas special. This year both girls wanted to get each other something special. Clarissa and I were looking at Tinkerbell things online (one of Kimberly's favorite) and we came across Wendy's music box that is in the Tinkerbell Movie. Clarissa asked if she could get it for Kimberly and I said yes. We didn't order it online but Quentin went later that week and got it in the store. Clarissa has been SO excited to give her sister this music box that she almost spilled the beans from being overly excited. Clarissa wrapped her sister gift with very little help from me. She did a great job and was so excited to see her sister's reaction to a gift we have been planning on giving her for months now.

Kimberly is always talking about how much she love's her big sister. Quentin took her aside and asked what do you want to get Clarissa for Christmas? Kimberly thought and thought and said a few things that she's remembered her sister talking about BUT Quentin and I already bought a few of those items so we needed to think of something else. One day Kimberly was looking threw a magazine and saw what she called "The perfect gift for Clare" Quentin looked at her tiny finger pointing to a picture of a pink telescope. Clarissa has been wanting a telescope for awhile now and Quentin told Kimberly that it was perfect. He then picked it up at the store and brought it home for Kimberly to give her sister. Quentin assisted Kimberly's gift wrapping BUT Kimberly did the taping.

The girls made Quentin ornaments and wanted him to open them before Christmas. Quentin loved the hand made crafts and was excited to put them on the tree. The girls then went over to the tree and asked if they could open a gift. I looked at Quentin and we agreed that they could each open one gift and what would be better than to open the gift they got one another. They both were excited about their own gift but also excited about seeing how much their sister liked her gift. They ripped into the paper and nothing but happiness filled the room. "Clarissa I LOVE IT!!! Thank you so much!" Kimberly said hugging her music box. Clarissa finished opening her's and was so happy "Just what I always wanted sis, how did you know?" I was deeply touched at the moment of when they got to see the gift they so carefully picked out being enjoyed. It was a great moment and one I will hold in my heart forever.

~Giving is Better Than Receiving~

Christmas Tree's

We have 2 Christmas tree's this year! We have our main big tree that is in our living room and placed in the corner for the first year and we like it being there so much we think we might put it there in future years as well. We have a 2nd tree in the girl's room its purple and was given to them last year. Kimberly's favorite color is purple so she's very happy to have this in her room. Clarissa loves how it sparkles. So here they are the Painter's Christmas tree's!

Early Christmas Gift

The girls have been sharing a room for a few years now and the room has been feeling cramped because they hardly had room to play. I mentioned that we needed to get the girls bunk beds and Quentin's parents offered to get it for Christmas. Quentin and I were happy and couldn't wait to get the girls upgraded to a "Big Girl" room. Laura (Quentin's mom) took pictures while at homemakers and they had 3 different bunk beds to choose from so we picked the one we liked best and it was set. We all knew that this would most likely be given before Christmas because transporting it and setting it up on Christmas would be hectic.

Last night Chuck and Laura went up and got it and said that they would come over today and we could get it all put together. We told the girls they where getting a surprise. They were actually getting TWO surprises because their cousin was also in town and was going to visit. Chuck and Laura showed up and started getting parts out to put the bunk bed's together. Laura asked the girls if they knew what is was and Clarissa responded with Ummm no but its BIG, and giggled. Kimberly was to busy chasing Remi around and then stopped and said "OH WOW that looks awesome. Laura then told the girls to look at the picture on the box and they both got SO excited to see a picture of the bunk bed!

Hanging out while the "adults" put the bunk bed together.

Everything was going smooth until we realized a piece was missing. Laura called homemakers and they said they had the part and if we wanted we could pick it up. Quentin and Chuck volunteered to go to Des Moines to get the part tonight so that the girls could sleep in their bunk bed tonight. Laura stayed at the house with me and I took the old beds down stairs. It took me 6 trips up and down and boy was I tired but I was so happy that the old beds where out of the living room when the guys got back. Turns out the piece that was missing from the bunk bed was missing from other packages too. They had to take apart a model of the bunk bed they had in the back to give us the piece. When they got home we where ALL happy to get the bed finished.

The missing piece

Up on the top bunk!

Thank you Grandma Laura and Grandpa Chuck

After the beds where put together we enjoyed some Casey's Pizza, chips, and 7up. The girls are so happy to have the bunk bed and so are we (Quentin, Laura, Chuck, and me) were happy they liked it and we are happy that the girls are going to have more room. Quentin and I have more plans for the girl's room to make it more personalized for the girls. We want to incorporate more of their favorite colors that thankfully go well together. Once again thanks Chuck and Laura for the awesome gift not only for the girls but for Quentin and myself.

Let It Snow

The girls have been wanting it to snow for weeks now. I too was thinking that it would be fun to have some snow. So when the weather forecast said that it would be this weekend I wanted to wait to tell the girls. I will never forget the look on their faces when it began to snow. Its wasn't heavy at the point in time but it was flurries and they kept talking about what they where going to do. Saturday morning they woke up and there wasn't much snow outside. The girls still insisted on putting on snow pants and winter gear when they went to say the night at Grandma Laura and Grandpa Chuck's house. We got an e-mail last night about church being canceled and we where sad about it because our family was lighting the advent candle in church. The girls where so excited to be a part of the service as well but like always there will be a next time.

So today the girls and Quentin decided to go get some play time out in the snow. I chose to stay inside this time but I did sneak out for a few pictures. They had a great time making snow angels, snow ball fights, and climbing on the snow piles. I told all three of them that as soon as they where ready their hot coco was waiting for them!

After they were done playing in the snow I made them some hot coco, and wanted to paint. So we have two adorable little Painter's painting!

A First For All of Us.

Quentin writes up the grocery list every Sunday and goes and get's the weeks grocery's once the girls are sleeping and then I help put things away once he gets home. He is always asking us girls what we would like for dinner and the answers change each week. Well this last Sunday (12/5/10) Clarissa decided to request something that we have never had before. Quentin even had to look up the recipe on his phone to see what all the dish will need to make it. Clarissa requested Chop Suey for dinner. She wanted water melon with it but since they are not in season we decided to have something else for fruit. Quentin planned for Chop Suey to be the meal on Friday night and Clarissa was talking about it non stop. She couldn't wait to have/try it. Now I bet your wondering how a 5 year old girl who's never had Chop Suey would think to request it. The answer is "The Lady and The Tramp". Its mentioned in that movie and the girls have seen it a few times lately since we aren't big on watching TV we watch more movies. So last night Clarissa was telling everyone at school about it being Chop Suey night, and when Quentin got home both Clare and Kimmy shouted "It's chop suey night for dinner!" I smiled at him and we where both thinking, I hope this turns out.

Here is the Chop Suey with out the Chow Mein Noodles

When I first saw it I wasn't sure what to think and then I was told by the girls to try it because I might like it. This is what Quentin and I tell the girls when they judge a meal before ever trying it. So after our prayer we served the Chop Suey.

Clarissa was so excited about this meal!

Clarissa taking the first bite of Chop Suey.

And she loved it!!! Actually we all enjoyed the meal and we all see it on the menu in the future. Great job picking dinner Clarissa!

I think its great that even after 20+ years of life I still get to experience a first with my family. I also have to say that Quentin could have easily told Clarissa no and to pick something else, but he looked up the recipe, put it on the menu, and made it. I think he gets AWESOME dad points for this one!

Kimberly didn't want her picture taken at dinner, but after dinner a precious moment occurred and I had to take a picture...

Clarissa reading her library book to Kimberly.

I was getting the girl's stuff ready to stay th night at Mama Mary and Papa Ray's house and heard Clarissa talking. I then went into the living room to find her not talking but reading to Kimberly. I love how close the girls are!

Bowling Play-date

Now that Clare has been in Kindergarten for several months and I've heard several friends names mentioned (some more than others) I asked Clarissa if she wanted to bring a friend bowling with us. She got very excited and asked me if I knew her friend's number. I did happen to know it because I'm on the home and school comity with her mom so I called them and asked if we could take her daughter bowling. The answer was YES! and so at 6:30 pm I went to pick up Clare's friend to go bowling. They both did great and they BOTH got spare's. While eating french fries the two girl where talking about their favorite parts. They both agreed that bowling with a friend was the best part and they can't wait to have another play-date and yes its already been planned.

Both girls couldn't wait to get started bowling.

Clarissa's friend doing a dance while the ball goes

down the lane.

Clarissa waiting to see what her ball hits.

The final score's

Enjoying some french fries