12 Days of Christmas Holidays: Krienke Style

This is a recap of how spent our Christmas holiday this year as a family.  It's always nice to look back and see how much time we carved out to be with each other and to enjoy reconnecting.  DISCLAIMER ALTERT!!!  Though I love reflecting on all of our special moments I want all my mommy friends out there to know there were plenty of "when is school back?" moments as well.  

Day #1 - Happy Birthday to Anya!!!!  This little munchkin turned 7 years old and these milestones in her life always make me full of mixed emotions.  I held Anya in my arms at least 75% of the time in her first year of life and  now she is very much standing on her own two feet.  Though she still loves to cuddle up with me often, there has been a significant change in the past year.  She is a girl, Girl.  She is social and independent.  She no longer pretends to be my "baby" :(  She has her own ideas and her strong will shines bright more and more often.  We took her out for a birthday dinner to Montana's, we've never been, and both of the kids loved it.  I took the opportunity to capture a few shots with the moose horns on her head.  Ha, ha, ha.

 

Day #2-  We took advantage of a nice day before the cold hit again and went skating in our downtown, on an outdoor rink.

Day #3- Logan was off with us on Dec. 23rd, so we ventured to the Forestry Farm.  The kids grumbled, not wanting to the leave the house, but once we got there we all had a good time!  Favorite animals of the day were the porcupine and the parrot that can say "hello" (who knew?!?  We go lots and we've never heard him speak before).

Day #4 Christmas Eve Day = busy for this mommy who had a lot to do still so daddy took the kids out to Ruckers so that I could wrap all the gifts up.   In the evening the girls had to leave cookies and milk for Santa and say goodbye to Buddy, our Elf on the Shelf.  They always get extremely sad when it's time to say goodbye to him (I on the other hand am less sad).

Day #5 CHRISTMAS DAY!  OMG, the presents.  I couldn't believe how many there were, we don't really even go overboard but they accumulate.   The girls were grateful and kept saying, "we are so spoiled" (in the sweetest way) and I have to say Santa treated me pretty good too.  My hubby arranged with my friends hubby to get my friend and I tickets to go see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in June!!!!! My parents, my two grandmas, and a family friend came over to celebrate with us and have a Christmas brunch. 

The girls with their grandmother and their two great-grandmothers.  This is a memory keepsake!

Day #6 Boxing Day-  It was cold and windy but out we went to the dog park for 15 minutes.  We took the sleds and let the kids go sledding while Tanner ran up and down and got his exercise.  We also had Christmas dinner #2.

Day #7 Spa Day- We made  mud masks (not overly successful but fun) and lip-gloss from a "spa" kit the kids got for Christmas.  We were serenaded by spa music and orange juice out of fancy, wine flutes.   

Day #8- A 6-hour long playdate with friends!!!!  (What could be better than that?!?)

Day #9 Snowboarding/Skiing-  We hit the slopes at the local hill, no mountain, but we still had a blast.  Halie took a snowboarding lesson and learned to leaf back and forth!  We were so proud of Halie because even though she spent a lot of time on her bum she is willing to give it another day in the near future (though she switched to skiing in the afternoon so she could join the rest of us on the chairlift).

Day #10-  We had the opportunity to babysit our nephew/cousin Cooper.  Anya went into full-on mommy mode and did absolutely everything for him.  Check out the sweet video of her reading to him.

Day #11- Happy NEW YEAR everyone!  We brought in the New Year with family friends at their cabin.  On New Years day we woke up to the most beautiful sight (no picture) but it was straight out of a movie scene.  All the tree were covered in hoarfrost and big, fluffy, white snowflakes fell for hours out of the sky. It was the perfect way to being 2017.  Wishing you all a happy, health and prosperous 2017. 

Love,  The Krienke's