Christmas Vacation!

On our way! For the trip we bought a set of 2 portable DVD players and they were great to have! It was our first time driving in the van too and it was great. We had a good amount of room and it was fun to sit in the back and watch a movie with the girls. Ashlyn and Brinley got along great. Brinley likes to hold our hand when she gets fussy in the car. Ashlyn was a great sister and held her hand to make her feel better.

Grandma Martinson left her dentures out again...

LATE NIGHTS!

Claire got to meet her cousins and aunts uncles. Sawyer enjoyed her company.

Ashlyn, Brinley and I (Derek) went and had fun at a park!

Watching "The Snowman" cartoon movie. One of my personal favorites during Christmas.

A great gift! Papertowels cut in half so I don't have to rip them in half on my own! (Tammy's way of making fun of me for being a cheapskate.)

Fun at Granny's house!

Christmas Eve Jammies!

New princesses!

Ashlyn's initial reaction was too thrilling when she opened this doll from Grandma Martinson. She was expecting a bow and arrow like Merida (Brave). 

Although she warmed up to the doll as soon as she saw Brinley playing with hers.

We all know that the best toys are actually just the packages that the toys came in.

Ashlyn has enjoyed wearing her new outfit to gymnastics and dance!

Grandma Martinson never passed up an opportunity to hold Claire. (Even though she was spit up on several times.)

New dress ups!

Baby Claire's blessing day!

Martinsons

Granny and Gramps Williams

Great Grandma and Grandpa Robertson

Williams and Robertson Great Grandparents

Claire met her cousin Amberlin!

Whenever Claire stops breathing, Brinley is quick to start mouth to mouth resuscitation!

Brinley sure missed Amberlin.

 Never passing up an opportunity to be the star of the show! Our little performer!

Tea Party at Nana's with Frozen cupcakes!

 "Wow! What did you put in this punch!?"

New Year's Eve! Tammy put together a basket full of fun prizes that we could choose after winning different "Minute to Win it" type challenges. We had a blast!

Ashlyn loved getting violin tips from Aunt Maren!

Sledding at Peteetneet school in Payson.

Aubrey was so nice to pull Ashlyn around!

My Love Gift to Trevor this year!

He wore it to Chic-Fil-A!

And even approached two girls and asked for their numbers! What a dude!

Ashlyn listening to David and Maren sing and play guitar.

Ashlyn loved spending time with Nana.

Trevor with baby Claire.

I couldn't find the girls one Sunday afternoon until I went downstairs to Uncle Trevor's room!

Grandpa's favorite Christmas gift?

Of course! He loves his granddaughter! 

We were spoiled with gifts! We barely fit everything in the van on the way home! Thanks to all our family who made the visit so fun!

Unfortunately we ran out of gas on the way home! The GPS said there was a gas station coming up soon and it turned out that it had been closed down for years. We didn't have enough gas to get to the next gas station so we opted to use the remaining gas to keep the car warm while we waited for help. We have Triple AAA roadside assistance. It took 3 hours but they did come. There was another guy who actually came with gas right about the same time. He actually called me later that night to make sure we made it to our destination safely. So kind! And thank goodness for those DVD players!

Home Again!

Quotes from family night tonight

Me: what is a talent that mom has?
Ash: she cleans!

Me: you're my ashy-babes!
Ash: I'm not a babes! I'm a child of God Dad!

Thanksgiving Pics continue...

Well we took our first family adventure to the Mall on Black Friday to see Santa!  This captures our experience perfectly... Brinley walked right up to Santa and was so happy until she saw the way Ashlyn reacted.  Ashlyn didn't want to even get close to Santa.

When we got to the Mall, Santa was on break so we found a little play area and they girls had a blast playing around.  

At one point Ashlyn says, "Look what Brinley is doing..."  And we found her in a display window with her little cute faced squished against the window.  It was hilarious.  She is our little adventurous girl!

(we were too slow to capture the moment). 

  

Ashlyn and Daddy went to see Big Hero 6 yesterday. They saved money on a ticket by having Ashlyn sit on Dad's lap during the movie. 

Yesterday was 64 degrees outside! It was so nice, we went to the Bancroft Elementary playground. We always have a good time there.

After a successful No-Shave November, this was the facial hair of choice for the Thanksgiving break.

Ashlyn was sick for 2-3 days over the break. This is her falling asleep after two blocks. She didn't sleep well, coughing and throwing up throughout the night. She was a trooper.

Brinley loves the slides at the children's museum!

We didn't put up our Christmas tree last year but we did this year! Derek set it up on Thanksgiving but we waited until the next day (for Ashlyn to get better) to decorate. Our house feels so Christmasey we just love it!

Claire is so blessed to have two great sisters that love her so much!  They are great little helpers!

Brinley loves giving hugs and kisses to Claire.

While Mommy was out having a fun girls time with Grandma Martinson, Ashlyn was Daddy's big helper in taking care of Claire.  She is such a cute little mommy.

Brinley is always trying to steal Claire's binkie and get into her bouncer seat.  

She was caught in action!

It is hard to be stuck in the house for so long.  There is RSV going around in Village Green and I don't want Claire to get it.  It has been a little harder staying home because we usually go places like the forest, children's museum, and even errands a couple days throughout the week.  Daddy was so nice to take these two little munchkins to the Children's Museum for some Daddy Time!  They sure love their Dad!!

Thanksgiving Break

We are enjoying every moment with Baby Claire! 

Ashlyn loves her time with Claire

Brinley is always saying, "I wanna see!" and she will repeat until she gets a good look at Claire.

Believe it or not, Brinley did her first #2 experience in the toilet... but I don't even want to think about potty training yet!

I am so grateful that Grandma Martinson was able to spend so much time with us when Claire was born.  One of the days, we were watching an ABC Family Christmas movie that is a musical and Ashlyn got all dressed up to preform for us. 

Grandma and Claire

Grandma and her three cute granddaughters. 

This is Brinley's favorite thing to do when Daddy gets home for school.  She runs to give him a hug and kiss when he walks in the door and then runs to the kitchen to lay on the floor all ready for dad to spin her around on the floor.

Everyday for the month of November, at dinnertime we would get a feather and pass it around to share something that we are grateful for.  Ashlyn loved this activity and asking to do it for every meal.  We have a lot to be grateful for. 

First bath! She loved it!

Baby Claire Photoshoot!

I have been excited about getting our camera so that we can take our own family photos. This was my first real effort with it. I was pretty pleased with the pictures we got. Our camera is a Canon T3i and I bought a fairly affordable external flash that really makes a huge difference in indoor pictures.

Ashlyn is always always asking if she can feed, burp, hold or do anything with Claire. She is such a great and loving big sister. Brinley has also been so loving. We have been very impressed.

We saw a picture like this in the hospital and tried to replicate it. 

 This is definitely my personal favorite.

We said goodbye to Grandma Martinson today. It was a sad goodbye. While I was selling my blood plasma yesterday morning (yes I still do that) the girl that stuck me asked if my mother in law was a help or just a nagger. It was an easy answer. She hasn't stopped helping since she arrived. She took care of the girls by herself so that I could stay with Jenny at the hospital. She has been constantly cleaning the house, doing our laundry. I told her on Friday night that she had really hit the bottom of the totem pole when she was folding our underwear. She even ironed my shirts! The girls have loved having her here as well. They had so much fun and it was tough to say goodbye. Needless to say, it was so great to have her with us.