Christmas Eve!

 We were invited over by Danielle and Mic for dinner on Christmas Eve.  They had made ham and oven roasted potatoes, it was so yummy, and most of all it was fun to enjoy each others company and be with family on such a special night!  After dinner at the Bowen's, we drove back home in the spectacular snowy weather, and made it home just in time for Twinkle Wink (Santa's elf who has been watching over our family for a couple years now), to drop off our new pajamas and remind us that Santa was soon on his way and that we needed to get into bed! 

Twinkle Winks can't help but make a lot of ruckus when he shows up, he must be covered in bells, because he lost some one evening and left a note asking Emmy and Brody to find them and leave them on the porch on Christmas Eve so he could pick them up!  It didn't take long for the kids to rummage through the snow and find the missing bells!  The Bells were in place on the front porch on Christmas Eve and no sooner had we closed the door than we heard Christmas bells ringing!  When the Kids opened the door Twinkle Winks had come and gone in the wink of an eye and left five brightly wrapped packages for each one of us, and a mess of Christmas dust and glitter all over the front porch!  Sophia was funny, there were two pajamas for each kid to decide between, and new slippers!  Sophia was quite adamant that she was going to put on the red and white poke-a-dot pj's!  When Dan showed her the other Santa pj's she'd shake her head and say "No!" 

Finding a Private Spot!

 For the most part Sophia is our little 'super star'! Everyone wants to see her, be by her, play with her, bath with her and totally smother her!  But every now and then, there really is a little too much Sophie in the room.  Her little fingers just like to grab everything and get into everything.  This is what I came in on one day when apparently Emmy had had enough Sophie time!  Looks like she found a spot to color with her little markers and notepad without any interruptions from Sophie!  She had barricaded herself in one of the corners in the office and moved a stool in front that was completely Sophie-proof!  Every once in awhile everyone needs a little alone time!

Brenchley Family Christmas Party!

 Thank heavens for a wonderful family!  Families are a gift that keeps giving and giving!  I love my family, and look forward to all those memories we create!  This year everyone made it to the party except Matt and Jeannine who we missed so much.  The kids had so much fun with each other.  Grandma asked us to bring them over as soon as they got off the bus from school, and she had a gingerbread house ready for each kid to make!  We got there a little later, the kids and Grandpa had the fire stoked and the Christmas music playing.  Grandma had made a delicious stone soup, and turkey sandwiches.  The Money Roll was a blast, my kids did pretty good, and Dan and I did okay, I Think Reed made the most out of the 'man roll!' I am not quite sure who won the most out of us girls!  Grandma had her home-made stockings stuffed for each grandchild.  Most of all we enjoyed the night together, I only wished I would have gotten over there earlier!

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Adventure #1: New Year's Day Sledding

 We wanted to go sledding for New Year's and decided to meet Berry, Melissa, Camille, Mom, and Dad at Old Main Hill.  However, Berry was in the process of framing a house in Mtn. Sterling which happened to be near the greatest sledding hill ever!  We changed plans and enjoyed a few hours in Mtn. Sterling!  Dad brought along his inner-tubes, which are 3x's as fast as our plastic sleds.  They are awesome!  Emmy with no fear hopped on one of them all by herself and went zooming down the hill, we could hear her giggle the whole way down!  Brodyn our ever cautious child wanted nothing to do with the inner-tubes and was perfectly content with the slower versions!  Dan wrestled him onto one of the inner-tubes with him, Brody was not happy and went down the hill once with him.  They didn't make it far and Brody was fuming!  He said to Dan..."NO MEANS NO DAD," then stalked off a short distance away to pout.  Brody is so cautious, but once he knows he can do something, and he gets over that initial anticipation, he loves it, but he usually needs that little bit of motivation from us, in this case a wrestle match with dad!!  He never got back on the inner-tube but had fun regardless on the other sleds!  We had so much fun! Dan and I went down once together on the inner-tube I laughed so hard it was hard to stop!  We can't wait to try this hill again!  Sophia has not yet gotten use to her "snow legs!"  She went down once then played in the back of Grandma's van!