Christmas...and the day after

We had a fantastic Christmas Eve and Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, we finished all the last minute shopping and wrapping.  The girls sang Happy Birthday Jesus many times.  We went to the family friendly church service where Ashlyn sang with her choir and each child became part of the Christmas story.  This year, Ashlyn chose to be an angel, Aubrie wanted to be a star, Sabrina chose to be a shepherd and Kadence a king.  This was the first year Jim and I didn't have to accompany any of the children up to the front...they all walked up there by themselves and stayed!  We drove by some homes to check out the lights afterwards, although we didn't find any great ones.  We came home and met the grandparents at our home for lots of random food and soup.  The girls got their matching Christmas pajamas from Nana and Grandpa read the poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas"...a tradition dating back to my childhood.  Christmas Eve ended with Sabrina crying so hard from a diaper rash, she ended up throwing up everywhere...including on Mommy (yuck!).  It was a rough little bit before bed, but the night was uneventful (besides Santa visiting).

                                                                     Aubrie the star

                                           Ashlyn was an energetic angel (sarcastic)

       Not a great photo, but they wouldn't stand still...Sabrina was a shepherd and Kadence, a king

                                        Our attempt at a Christmas family photo

                  The girls in their Christmas dresses...not so easy to match them anymore

                                Grandpa reading his poem with the girls listening

 The first time all four girls were still near his lap by the end of the poem...normally the little girls would lose interest part way through

              We left cookies, carrots, and milk...Ashlyn wrote a note to Santa as well

Christmas morning the big girls got up first.  They saw our tree surrounded by gifts and were overjoyed.  We made them wait for their little sisters to wake up before opening anything...a long wait for the girls.  Grandma spent the night so once everyone was up, we had our Cox family Christmas...which lasted about an hour :)  It was the most chaotic present opening I have ever witnessed.  The little girls got their princess dolls they wanted and a puzzle, Ashlyn was excited to get an ice cream maker from Santa, and Aubrie got her blue t-rex from Santa (which she asked for) as well as a Nintendo DS...now she doesn't have to share with Ashlyn.  They also got many more wonderful gifts...too many to list here.

After our Christmas at our home, we went over to Nana and Grandpa's home to have our Christmas celebration over there.  Santa visited their home as well...lucky kids!  We had our traditional breakfast of baked eggs and a caramel roll (a blueberry muffin for Ashlyn).  With 13 people in attendance there were many presents to distribute and open.  The girls did well waiting their turns and loved helping everyone else.  Kadence was always cheering for people to open presents because the faster they went, the quicker it was her turn...smart child.  So many wonderful gifts were given and received.  The girls behaved so well!  We then went home for "nap" time (yeah right) and then went back for our traditional dinner, Curried Chicken.  We stayed around to visit everyone and then went home.

                              Waiting to open stockings at Nana and Grandpa's home

                                                             All ready for breakfast

 

                   Sabrina using a few of her new gifts to become a little more comfortable

                                 Aubrie loved her jersey from Uncle Scott

                                         Our two little princesses...with matching dolls

                                                     Serving up Curried Chicken

                                                Quiet time reading with Uncle Jeff

On the 26th, it was time to organize.  We needed to clean out old clothes, toys and stuffed animals to donate.  We also took the tree down (which we don't normally do so soon, but we needed to clean).   We chose to use some of our family Christmas money to purchase a new TV for our family room.  We got rid of our huge box of a TV and got one to mount on the wall...more floor space.  For Christmas we received a DVD case, so our kids can see all the movies and not distribute them all over our floor just to choose one.  It is nice to have a clean dining room and family room...we have one week to clean the rest of the house :)

                                           One clean room...with new entertainment

Merry Christmas!!

Well, we are almost done with December...so hard to believe.  This month has been extremely busy for our family.  Ashlyn had 2 church choir productions and 1 concert with the Allegro Choral Academy (all on one day), Jim had 8 musical performances, Aubrie sang in church with her sunday school class, Jim and I had 6 choir concerts between the two of us, and we decided to get a dog :)  We managed to make it through thanks to many babysitters and family members helping out.  We thank everyone!!  Dora, our dog, has been a great addition.  We are still learning things about each other, but she is great with our kids.

        Ashlyn is in the top row, a little to the right...Allegro Choral Academy

                  Ashlyn was an angel in her church Christmas production

                                       Dora...our newest addition

        Aubrie loves singing up in front of people...I think the boy behind her was trying to find his family.

We managed to fit in a visit to Santa and for once, no one was in tears and not one kid was afraid.  The kids gave Santa their Christmas lists and fingers are crossed they get at least one thing from it.  Ashlyn had to understand that Santa works in a toy shop, and not an Apple store...for some reason she thought Santa could bring her an iPad, iPhone, or a laptop...silly child.

Yesterday, the girls and I had to make Santa some cookies.  We made some sugar cookies and each girl was able to frost and decorate to their liking.  We have cookies with a lot of sprinkles and a lot of frosting...we hope Santa likes frosting, with the occasional sneeze remnants.  We had fun and that is what matters.

We are looking forward to a family oriented Christmas service this afternoon (Ashlyn will be singing).  Afterwards, we hope it will be dark so we can look at Christmas lights...no snow this year to help it look festive.  Then we will come back to our house with all the grandparents and eat, eat, and eat until bed time comes.  The girls will open up Christmas jammies from Nana and Grandpa and head to bed after Grandpa reads, "Twas the Night Before Christmas".    Tomorrow we will head over to Nana and Grandpa's house for breakfast and presents...a long day, but so enjoyable.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Introducing Dora!

We have been discussing getting a puppy for a while.  We have done a lot of research and we decided we wanted a Cavachon (Cavalier King Charles/Bichon Frise Mix).  We found a couple breeders in Iowa and one happened to have a litter ready to come home this past weekend.  We had planned to get one of their puppies, but then we found a 1 year old on a rescue website...based 20 minutes from our home.  Her name is Dora and we decided she would be a better fit for our family at this time.  She is already fixed, microchipped and she is house trained (for the most part).

We started the adoption process around Thanksgiving, met Dora and introduced the little girls to her.  The bigs girls knew nothing :)  This past weekend we had references checked and a home inspection.  Yesterday we were told we could pick her up...so the big girls were at a movie with Uncle Scott, so we took the little girls to pick up our new addition.

We surprised the big girls when they got home from the movie.  They were excited, but in shock...they were almost speechless, which is unheard of for these girls.

So far Dora is doing well.  She slept with Jim and I on her first night and snuggled near our feet.  She does bark when she hears a strange noise or if someone comes home, but quiets down quickly.  So far she has had no accidents!!  We are training her to go potty in a certain part of our yard, so we are leash walking her in our back yard for now...great timing with the cold weather and snow.  Slip on shoes and inches of snow are not a good pair.  We are hoping she will get comfortable here in a couple of weeks and be a little more independent.  She is connected to Mommy and Daddy, so where they go, so does she.