Ava's 1st Christmas.

I can honestly say this was the best Christmas I've ever had. It wasn't because of presents, or the activities or the baking or the music, even though all of that was enjoyed too. But it was the best yet because sweet little Ava was here to enjoy it with. She is the greatest blessing.

Holiday Baking: Round 2.

My Sister and I had another day of baking last week and bake we did...for over 12 hours! We made several different things including: Jam thumbprints, Reindeer Chow, Pecan tassies, Peanut butter kisses, Ritz dipped crackers, No bake's and Roly Poly's.
We packaged up several tins and gave them away to family and friends. Ava mostly played around all day but she wanted to be in on the action too so she observed a lot. Next year she will be able to "help" much more :)

Christmas Party.

Friday night was the 4th Annual Barkshire Christmas Party and this year I got to bring Ava along. There are always several children with Jeff's Sister Carrie's 2 girls, Shelby's Sister Rachel's 2 girls and Shelby's friend Sarah's little boy. It was fun to watch all the kids, especially Ashley and Ava crawling around. The big joke was that the entertainment would be baby races :) It was a fun night as usual!

Holiday Baking: Round 1.

Every year my friends Jeff & Shelby have a Christmas party for their families and friends. I always go down and help Shelby do some baking for the party and yesterday was our big day. She started molasses cookies before I got there and then together we made the spritzers, peanut butter balls, peanut butter kisses and Ritz peanut butter sandwiches dipped in chocolate. We had our aprons on, Christmas earrings, and Josh Groban's Christmas CD blaring in the background...Jeff was not impressed :)

Barbie.

Barbie Pink World 3-Story Dream Townhouse

It is amazing to me how many Barbie's are available these days, and new ones are always coming out. Campbell is a huge Barbie fan. She has so many that I don't even know how she keeps track of them! For Christmas, Melinda wanted to get Campbell & her cousin Cassie the new Barbie 3 story townhouse but as we went to Target to get one, we realized that they were a hot item and weren't so easy to get. We ended up calling all of the Toys R Us's in our area and tracked down a delivery truck and made the trip there at 7am this morning to get 2 of these. They are 3 ft tall and come with 55 pieces! The girls will be soo excited to get these, I can't wait to see their reactions.

I have already gotten Campbell the 3 following 'Barbie I can be' sets for Christmas...

Barbie I can be: Pet Vet Doctor

Barbie I can be: Gymnastics Coach Barbie

Barbie I can be: Newborn Baby Doctor

But today, I see this..Race car driver Barbie and since Campbell is my travelling racing sidekick, I just had to get it for her :)

Barbie I can be: Race car Driver

This little girl will be having a very good Christmas :)

We ♥ Santa.

I was so excited to tag along for Ava's first trip to see Santa and I thought Campbell & Cooper would love to be there too, so I brought them along. Ava was at the perfect age for Santa..she loves everyone right now so she wasn't afraid of him. She tried to give him a kiss right away and then just stared at him. He kept moving around trying to get her to look at the camera and she was just trying to follow him around. Everyone in line was laughing at her, she was being so funny!

Cooper walked right up and wasted no time telling Santa that he wanted a BIG dump truck as he showed him with his hands exactly how big he meant. It was too cute!
Campbell was shy and quiet but I think she was requesting more Barbie's..how many Barbie's can 1 girl have??

Needless to say, it was a successful trip to see the big guy and the kids can't wait until Christmas and I am just as excited for them :)

Thanksgiving Weekend.

After looking through my camera, I realized that I didn't take very many pictures on Thanksgiving weekend. That is probably because I was too busy enjoying it as it happened! Here are some of the things we did...

Cooked Thanksgiving Breakfast for the Bennett side of the family. Looked through Black Friday ads. Had Mimosa's at breakfast...and pretty much all afternoon long. Cooked a complete Thanksgiving dinner. Laughed..literally until we cried..many times. Enjoyed Dailey & Skylee. Got up at 3:45 am to go shopping on Black Friday. Between Becca, Rachel & I, we saved $400 just at Target. Took Travis & Zach to the airport. Shopped at Bellevue Square and had dinner with the Bennett/Rehaume family. Had so much fun. Went to Tri-Cities and spent the day with Karen. Lounged around and just enjoyed each others company.

I am thankful for many things in my life and my family and friends that are like family are at the top of my list!