The First New Elle

The rest of Christmas break was spent snuggling babies, skiing, eating, playing games, completing puzzles, watching LOTR and basically having way too much fun.

The Sheas.

Everyone got to enjoy a snuggly Anna.

I'm funny.

Blue cheese cream sauce for the steak. You are probably thinking ... what's the big deal? Its just sauce. Let's just say I pass on the steak and just eat the sauce.

Please pour it over my dead body.

Evil game players.

Thank you Dollar Store.

Snuggling, matching and watching a movie on Grandma/Grandpa's bed. 

She literally wore these every day for an entire month.

Also, my house is super clean.

Pretty sure Anna is eating garbage in the background.

Anna enjoys eating at Evie's Bistro too.

She is such a stinker.

A stinker who loves to eat toilet paper.

Dream big, Anna.

Okay, by far the best part of Christmas?

Meeting Elle.

There is nothing like having a new baby around the holidays. Ellen Jan, we have been waiting for you a long time! Welcome to our crazy family.

Also, ignore my nasty face in this picture.

Seriously! This baby. She is PERFECT. Look at that little chin! Burnett chin genes cannot be taken down, and for that ... I am grateful. 

Chelsea Jan and Ellen Jan.

Snug Life.

Don't you wish this picture was a scratch and sniff?!

We made Darel shower before she met Elle.

On New Years Day, we went to Salty's. A buffet that is actually okay in my book. If you know me, I'm not a huge fan of eating food that has been sitting in a warming tray for five hours, BUT Salty's was delicious. And the company was fantastic. Everybody in the same place for the first time in several years.

I mostly chatted with Ally about her friends, Strawberry Shortcake and soccer.

Anna out ate EVERYONE.

Our family.

We barely fit in one photo. What that says about us ... I'm not sure.

Scrunchy face!

Nick and I took the girls skiing one day. And by that I mean we stuck them in daycare and let Ev have a ski lesson. See ya kids! (totally worth it!)

I had never skied at Meadows before and I loved it. 

Plus, babies in snow gear?! Yes, please.

Most expensive date of our lives, but like I said, totally worth it.

A lot of this happened once Darel was home from the mission. 18 months of bottled up aggression, passion and krumpin'. 

My favorite picture in a long time. Such sweet, perfect children in our family. Obviously, its hard to look at this and not miss Keith, but we feel incredibly blessed. Kids make Christmas so special, especially these guys.

Ally (5), Elle (2 weeks), Cole (7), Anna (1), Ev (3).

Can you say Ally, Elle, Evie, Anna five times fast?

Neither can we.

Also, if I'm still blogging about Christmas on St. Patrick's Day... pinch me.

Grand Opening: Evie's Bistro

For Christmas Evie asked for a Jack-in-the-Box. Yes, you heard that right. A Jack-in-the-box. Not the fast food place, but the creepy toy that gives you nightmares as a child. I asked her twenty times what she wanted for Christmas and she wouldn't say anything else but that. (Last year she only asked for jelly beans, so she's pretty tough to please) Once I realized she wasn't going to ask for anything else and came to terms with that, it was actually sort of nice. I got to choose everything else she got since she basically asked for a whopping $10 gift.  

Since this was our first Christmas at home, Nick and I had to discuss some things that haven't yet come up in our marriage. Like ... how do you do Christmas morning? How do you display presents? Are Santa presents wrapped or unwrapped?, etc. I won't go into details, but we did it my way since I'm the criminal mastermind in our house. I'm 100% open to suggestions, but I'm probably going to do it my way anyway. So I wrapped the Jack-in-the-box and stuck it under the tree.

If you read this blog, or you know my child, you know that nothing in the world is more fun to her than play food. She loves to play chef in and out of the real kitchen, so I figured our little cook needed her own restaurant.

Evie's Bistro.

I have NEVER been so excited for anything in my entire life. I knew she would just love it.

And she did! First, she came out and didn't see her Jack-in-the-box and kept asking where it was. We handed it to her, she opened it, excitedly showed it to us and moved on to the restaurant. 

She didn't even want her other presents. All she wanted to do was play restaurant. We couldn't get her to unwrap any of her gifts. Finally, several days after Christmas she took a break from the restaurant to finish opening her presents. 

It made me so happy to see her happy and playing with her restaurant EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY. Plus I spent much time working on it and making sure it was perfect. I even included pictures on the menu (since she can't read) of food that looks exactly like her play food. Hunting down all that clipart was not easy! 

Evie will say, "Hey mom, do you want to come eat at my restaurant?" at least five times a day. She's lucky I'm always hungry...

On Christmas Eve, we went around the room and the people who had served missions shared their favorite mission Christmas story. Since I did not serve a mission, my dad asked me what was my favorite Christmas memory. I replied that it would most likely be this one. I had so much fun preparing gifts for the girls, but mostly for Evie since Anna doesn't give a rip. 

The spirit of gift giving is so special and you don't have to spend a ton of money to give your kids the Christmas of a lifetime. I seriously don't think I can ever top this. Evie still loves her restaurant and forces everyone who walks through our door to order up! So, if you're bored, hungry or both, feel free to head on over and taste the magic at Evie's Bistro. 

The Reader's Hangover

 Its no secret that I enjoy reading. However, I've lately been feeling the absence of a good book in my life. One of my New Years resolutions was to read more, specifically to take one day a week (regardless of how busy I am) and read for an hour. Well ... do you know any reader who can only read for an hour? My friend recommended this book about a Lithuanian girl during WWII who is sent to a Siberian labor camp (its called Between Shades of Grey - unfortunate title, given how much publicity that STUPID BOOK THAT I WILL NOT NAME IS GETTING) Anyway, I picked it up to just read for an hour and SIX HOURS LATER aka 2:00 in the morning, Nick rolls over and bumps into my headlamp and he's like, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET THIS. YOU HAVE CHILDREN."
And I sort of did, when I woke up with a headache and swollen eyes and terrible dry mouth. But then I remembered the high that I get when I finish a good book after a marathon of reading ... and I'm already looking for my next conquest (amazing book).

Moving on. Now that Anna doesn't take two naps a day, we are getting out more! (read: Target Debit Card is a good idea) Anna seems to enjoy unlimited time with me ... so getting out is a must.

Ev pretends to take "naps," with her "friends."

Should I be concerned that she still cares more about her stuffed animals than actual human beings?

These pictures are old, but whatevs.

Here we are at Evie's Preschool Christmas program.

It was cute and hilarious all rolled into one. I try not to be one of those parents who is obnoxiously proud of their child, but when I saw Ev up there in the front row, picking her nose and yawning and scratching her face ... I was proud. 

Seriously proud! 

My kid picks her nose cuter than your kid.

And that's a fact.

I also should mention that I am the world's worst mother and forgot to dress her in fancy clothes. So when she showed up in leggings and a top and all the other kids looked like Sacks Fifth Avenue... I ran home and started digging through the laundry basket, because luck would have it ... not a single church dress was clean. Anyway, I found one that didn't have chocolate or boogers smeared on it and ran back to the school (it's five minutes away).

Leopard is the new Christmas print, right?

Either way, Ev rocked it.

So grateful my Grandparents live close to us and that they are incredibly supportive (even for stupid things like preschool programs). Had to get a four generations girl shot.

This uploaded for some reason and its a terrible video, but Anna's in it so I'm physically incapable of deleting it, for fear that I will destroy a drop of the world's most adorable cuteness. 

I have mentioned this before, but she is LITERALLY obsessed with socks. She whines for me to put them on her constantly and she often wears more than one pair at a time.

I always oblige.

Some snapchats!

Here's another awesome story about my parenting.

My mom buys all of her grandkids Christmas outfits (which I love!) and they are always just darling. Usually around Thanksgiving, my girls start wearing them and they wear them through the new year. Well I'm an idiot and forgot to wash them so on Christmas Sunday I was like ... SON OF A BEE STING WHAT THE HECK ARE MY KIDS GOING TO WEAR...IS A SWIM COVERUP APPROPRIATE FOR CHRISTMAS SUNDAY??! Then I found these outfits in a bin. Ally's Christmas outfit from last year fit Ev perfectly and Ev's outfit fit Anna. BAM! And Christmas miracles live on, people.

Evelyn insisted on posing with her Bitty Baby. Its name is Charlie Bumble Kitten Socks. At least it was last time I asked. I'm sure her name has changed by now.

Then I asked Ev to take a picture of Nick and I. The result? A series of the most awkwardly angled pictures in the history of the universe. Thanks Ev!

Charlie and Bear Evelyn HAD to be in this picture with us.

The best part about Christmas was having Darel home. We weren't all together (Darcee was too busy having a baby or something so their family couldn't make it), but it was still amazing to have Lil D back krumping and making ditzy comments.

Our Christmas Eve tradition for dinner is appetizers.

The fruit and cheese plate always steals the show.

Although my mom made this hummus that was pretty dang tasty. 

All the cooks.

And one with the food, since that's all that really matters.

A Christmas Eve tradition that Nick's family does is pajamas. Nick's mom ships them to us and we let the girls open them Christmas Eve. I wanted to start some variation of this in our family, so I've started getting the girls slippers to go with their jammies. 

Anna was a huge fan of Christmas Eve ... obviously.

Everyone's water cups: Busta Rhymes, Betty Boop, Tauriel, Legolas, Hulk Hogan, Evster.

A good time was had by all!