oh hey, 2015

And since I've been working on this post since the day after Christmas, let's see if I can actually finish and post this bad boy!

Now that Lily's countdown for Christmas is over, I'm not sure what she will do until the next one: before we had even had breakfast Christmas morning, Lily was asking when the "next" Christmas would be.  I somehow don't think that we have the tenacity to actually keep track over the next year for her, so we may need some short term goals instead.

We had a nice day here at home, and while we both love being with family, we were happy to stay home with our girls and do our own thing here.  It has been fun last year and this trying to figure out what "our" Christmas day will look like, and what things we did growing up that we want to continue on with our girls.  It will likely take a few years to figure out what we will do for us, but we are having fun so far.  Some favorite things from this year I'd like to repeat:

• reading Luke 2 on Christmas Eve.  We read it through twice this year because the first time, the girls just listened and the second time, they decided they needed to act it out with my Willow Tree nativity...
• watch the Nutcracker on Christmas Eve.  Judge appropriately, but this year, it was Barbie Nutcracker.  I know, the dancer inside of me cringed a little, but Lily is enthralled.  My family went to see a local performance of the Nutcracker every year, and honestly, it wasn't until I was older that I actually realized there was a story line.  Oops.  I just always enjoyed the music and dance, but apparently there is a story!  So I'm glad that Lily now knows (roughly) the story line, so that when I get a chance to take her to a live performance, she won't be lost.  
• the last two years, Jesse and I have hidden all the presents until after the girls are in bed on Christmas Eve before piling them around the tree and I love this.  I believe we both grew up with that: going to bed and waking up Christmas morning to see the tree all lit up with presents around it.

Things I missed doing, either because the month went too quickly or because we are really watching what we eat right now: I didn't make any cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning breakfast, Jesse said no pies and I didn't make any cookies with the girls.  All of which can be made at other times of the year, but you know, Christmas baking and all.  We also completely forgot to make a gingerbread house!  Well, we did end up getting one at the store that was discounted we let the girls decorate, but I didn't make it from scratch, and Jesse didn't to be all artsy/feisty pants on one...maybe next year.

Highlights:

• hearing Jesse tell Lily for the first time that "the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner it will be morning."
• watching the girls unwrap presents and their reactions.
• homemade eggnog- it should also be noted that I've tried several recipes last year and this.  I knew I finally hit the one I'll be keeping when Jesse and I fully intended to share some with the girls Christmas day, but drank it all Christmas Eve and I had to make more Christmas day.  oops.
• being home and spending all day together as a family and watching the girls play together, interact in general and share toys.

Unfortunately, my phone was acting up a ton, so I didn't really get any pictures of them unwrapping the presents, and for some reason, I just didn't have my camera out.  And no, I didn't get a picture of us all Christmas morning, no surprise there.

Since then, we haven't been up to much.  Jesse and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on the 29th with our typical awesomeness.  He worked late, came home to a late dinner and our annual surf and turf, and then spent the evening together just relaxing.  We know we are exciting people.

New Years Eve was a bit more exciting, in that we were able to go out to dinner with some friends of ours, minus kids and everything!, before we were super cool and came home for bed before midnight.  Go Team!  The friends that watched our girls took them to another family's house for dinner, and from the report I heard back from everyone, Hildebrand girls had a blast and blended right in with everyone else.

Since then, we haven't done anything exciting.  At all.  It's been kind of nice, to be honest.  Not like we did a whole lot in the previous months, but there was always something going on, or so it seemed.  Now, I am just trying to get back on track with the super exciting house tasks, and have started going through the first bit of real schooling we are going to do with Lily.  Oh look, I said that without panicking or crying!  My baby is getting to be such a big girl!  

We had some snow last week, which was so much more fun now that the girls are old enough that I feel I can properly bundle them up to play outside in it.  While Kaylee was napping one afternoon, Lily, Emma, Zeke and I bundled up and went out for a fun romp in the snow, including a few runs down the hill on the sled.  And since our roads were a mess and we hadn't seen a car go by for hours, I ran (as best as I could on ice in snow boots) up and down the road a bit, pulling them on the sled.  They enjoyed that, and then had to roll me back into the yard when I almost died.  Spring time resolution: cardio!  

Emma's new preferred way to have Quiet Room Time

Ok, time to move on.  Until next time!