Santa Arrived Early This Year!

We celebrated Christmas early at home this year since we were going to be on vacation for the actual holiday. Emma and Sophie enjoyed opening gifts, although at times they were a bit overwhelmed. ;) Emma was REALLY into Christmas this year which was fun for us to experience. Sophie caught onto everything pretty quickly as well!

**The girls posing for pictures on 12/18**

**"Christmas Eve" on 12/19**

**"Christmas Morning" on 12/20**

WORDS....LAUNDRY....DOGS

At bedtime the other night Greg was spending some time with the children...girls AND boys. He and Emma practiced writing words. He would write a word, erase it, and she would copy it. I thought that she did a pretty great job! :)


(HAND) (FROG)

Sophie had FUN just sitting in her laundry basket. Sometimes it is a car and other times a boat. :)

Jack is 8 years old now.

Mikey is six years old...the boys are middle aged!

Santa & Ponies

There is a great place in Wichita called C-Arrow Stables. They put together a WONDERFUL Christmas program that we took the girls to tonight. They had a live Nativity Scene, a hayride, a donkey, camel, goats, pony rides and SANTA CLAUS! The employees were very, very nice and the girls had a lot of fun. Unfortunately my camera stinks and many of the shots that I took were too dark or blurry to post. Too bad because I had snapped one of the camel biting Sophie's hat (all animals just LOVE her...) and Emma trying to touch Mary in the Nativity Scene. :) Oh well. Below are the salvageable pictures...

Sophie on her first (and last?!) Pony ride. She was yelling at the top of her lungs "Ohhh WHOA! Ohhh WHOAAAA! All done"! ;)
Emma of course LOVED riding the pony. She has ALWAYS loved horses as far back as I can remember. She is completely at ease and happy. Well, that is until the ride is over. ;)

Sophie eyeing Santa; I am not sure that she said a word to him, but she wanted to get in on things.

This would have been a CUTE picture if I had centered it. I was getting frazzled at this point. :0
Emma asking Santa to come to our house...

The girls waiting for their soft pepermint treats.

PS: I wanted to add that the girls had an EXTRA special day today. Before heading off to visit Santa Claus we attended our friend Mandy Rose Wenzel's 4th Birthday party. Mandy Rose is a cutie and my girls just love her...her folks are not too bad either. ;) Happy Birthday Mandy Rose and thank you for inviting us to your party...we had fun!

Merry Christmas from Our family to Yours...

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