It's Christmas time!

The fam with Santa Jay!

Wow! Where do I begin. Well, first I will begin by saying that Spokane has literally become "Sno-can". Pretty clever, huh? Well, we have had record levels of snow dropped upon us this December - which made for a beautiful white Christmas, but also made for treacherous road conditions. We went to Church early on Christmas Eve (the Children's mass at 3:30 at St. Mary's) with Mom, Kristi, Aunt Tonn, Mom and Jay. It was snowing heavily when we got there, and when we left, it was an absolute white-out! We made it over to Mom's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of chili (and all the other yummy stuff that we continue to eat year after year!). Then we opened family presents -- Audriana and Sofia were so excited that they decided to help everyone open their presents (whether we needed the help or not, Sofia would assume that she would do the honors!). It was a great time and very joyous. We braved the roads once again and got home about 10pm. The girls were exhausted, thankfully, so all we had to do was carry them up to their beds and close the door. Then the work of Santa began! It was fun. I also put together a quick sausage, egg and cheese casserole for the next morning. That way, all I would have to do is pop it in the oven and we would have a yummy hot breakfast. Mom and Jay, Mike, Kristi and Aunt Tonn all came over that morning (after shoveling over 8 new inches of snow off their driveways!) to watch the girls open their Santa presents. We are so lucky to have such a loving and happy family - we love being together and sharing these special memories! Audriana and Sofia were so excited to see that Santa had left a note for them --- thanking them for the cookies and the carrot and making note of the strong snow storm that he had to navigate through (not a problem with Rudolf leading the sleigh).

The girls in front of Mom's tree on Xmas Eve! Ready for Church!

This was taken before Mass began -- notice that Baby Jesus is not yet "born".....he was brought out during the Mass.

Sofia's favorite gift by far was the giant Barbie Jet plane. She loves it....Mom is thinking, "where am I going to find room for that?"!

Total excitement. They are now in the Christmas PJ's and ready to open more family presents at mom's.

Audriana hit the jackpot with this gift from Uncle Mike. She's been wanting one of the Nerf ball shooters, but Mommy would never buy her one. Uncle Mike really came through for her!!!!!

This is how Santa left our tree on Christmas morning......

Here are the girls just before opening their first gift from Santa (circa 6am!)

Happiness and smiles all morning long!

This is Audriana after she put on her new "kid makeup" that she had asked Santa for. He delivered and she was so excited to put it on!