Christmas

The Likes family had a very busy couple of days. We are very exhausted for sure! Yesterday we made a visit to Frost, since Santa has to have Frost Doughnuts to take with him. Then we came home to make our Gingerbread and have some homemade hot cocoa. We finished the night off with UP the movie. What a sweet little movie.

Playing around with my early delivery from Santa. I decided to shoot a few quick shots.

This is Buddy the Elf. He gets into mischief at night while we sleep. He went back home to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. But will be back next year. Hunter cried and I let her kiss him good bye.



Gracie is always more than happy to flash her cute little smile at me.







The girls taking a picture of me while I get a picture of them too!




With all the festivities, I wasn't able to get a complete picture of the gingerbread house, but here is what it looked like mid way through. It was a very yummy house I must say.



Molly being mama Molly and holding Juliette while we make the Gingerbread house.



Christmas morning came and the girls were good and waited till 7:30 to wake us up. We have a rule that it must be daylight before they wake us up, but it is very hard to follow that rule here when it is very dark in the winter time. Right now the sun comes up around 7:30-8 and goes down about 4pm.

The girls made out this year. Santa delivered Molly a club penguin club card, converse, and a MP3 player. Gracie got Playmobil Pony farm and an add on for it. Hunter received City and Castle Lego sets and Juliette got Blocks and a train table. We got the girls a few board games, movies, and PJs this year. The funny thing is that they still haven't played with any of the Wii games. They played with Legos most of the day and Gracie was occupied with a puzzle for about three hours!

While downloading my pics, I noticed that Buddy was playing with my camera before Santa picked him up. That little Elf is always causing trouble! Here are a few of his self portraits.







Leaving Frost Salted Carmel Doughnut, Peppermint Joe Joes, Milk, and carrots for the reindeer.



Girls in the morning while opening the presents.











We had a great day! It was kind of bittersweet knowing that Travis won't be here next year, but we are very glad to have him here while we can!

We are hoping to get the girls on skis soon. Look for an update on that one!

Leavenworth-SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!

I always say I am going to keep up with this thing and never do. I have a feeling here in a few weeks that I will have a little more time on my hands in the evenings to dedicate to this blog though.

This past Saturday we took a trip to Leavenworth. We have been throwing around the idea to go for a while but since the pass was clear, we made the quick decision that Saturday was the day to go!

Leavenworth is a cute little town about two hours east of us. It is a Bavarian Heaven. If you are looking for a little town in the Alps you have found it. On the way there we stoped at Stevens Pass Ski Resort and let the girls see how deep the snow really can get. It was a couple feet above their heads. We didn't stay long though, we wanted to get going to see the Christmas lights at Leavenworth.

The girls were very excited to finally be at our destination. We quickly found some snow and began to make a snowman.

JuJu a little cautious at first.



Gracie and Hunter, very excited about all the snow!



Hunter and Gracie get started on a snowman.



JuJu starting to really like the snow.



Snow Angels.



Molly was already in Leavenworth for the weekend. She was staying with her friend Mia.



Gracie is gearing up for a snowball fight!



Travis and I pretending we are in the Alps on a vacation.



While planning out trip online, I ran across this gingerbread store. We got some of the best cookies ever and a super cool gingerbread house to make. Also scored an excellent place for the girls to make a HUGE snowman.



Waiting for the lights to come on. It was raining and cold!



The Christmas lights. The entire town lights up. It is really amazing and a beautiful place to visit. I can't wait to go back!

Sorry about the blurry pic. Hand held, while holding a baby, in the dark, is a hard thing to do.