Holidays and Traditions

Well it's officially the holidays which means there is going to be an overload of pictures for at least the next month.

Monday Isabella came home from Preschool all dressed up like an Indian. She was soooo super annoyed that I got the camera out, this was the picture I was able to snap as she came around the corner saying, "mom don't take any pictures"....she ran away pretty mad at me after I snapped this. But, she looked so cute I couldn't help myself.

Tuesday was the blizzard of 2010...or so the news called it. Chris grew up in Wyoming, he thinks we are a bunch of babies here. He loves these snow storms and so do the kids. I love them too as long as I don't have to drive in them....which I did....it was scary! But we made it home, and the girls had a blast helping dad shovel, and then coming inside for hot cocoa...sorry my pictures are out of order.

Here is cute little Eva, with her mouth covered in hot cocoa, lovin life! We got into a little marshmallow fight, and were throwing marshmallows into each other's mouths. Eva has a very LARGE mouth....that's an understatement. We are always joking that she as born with a mouth like a snake, and she can unhinge it when she needs to open it wider. Ya Don't believe me?

Here's the proof...

I had to throw this picture in, Eva is a child of many faces! Hmmmm....just like her big sis, it must be hereditary!




Isabella wasn't so into things being thrown at her face.....miss neat and tidy (okay minus the cocoa ring around her mouth)...she just popped the good ol' marshmallows in her own mouth!




But, even though she didn't want them thrown at her.....she loved throwing them at her little sis. Eva thought it was hilarious!

Full of fun!

One more Eva face for ya!

Back to the blilzzard. I tried taking a picture because it was a pretty awesome storm...I went ouside and the wind was blowing so hard that this is the only pictures I could get......white flurries.

Isabella was such a big helper, she used the purple shovel be bought her to help put in the yard this summer, and she dug out the front steps.....it was so cute!

I was able to finally catch a shot of the front of our house, it looked like someone threw a ginormous snow ball at our house, it was so fun!

Chris said he needs to invest in a snow blower.....this is our first year shoveling a wide driveway....he isn't used to it!

Here was the next morning, iccccy cold!

Thanksgiving was yummy! I didn't get a picture of all the food. But, Wed. Isabella stayed up with me and helped me make 4 pumpkin pies, she is such an awesome little helper!! WE ATE WAY TOO MUCH~in fact last night I was telling Chris that the only thing that sounded good was a glass of ice water.....the thought of food just made my stomach hurt! That's when you know it was a good Thanksgiving!

I ventured out on Black Friday on my own this year, I have never done this before!!! I have always went out with my mom or mother and law. I left at 7:00 and I was home by 10:30, I got almost all of my shopping done, and I didn't stand in 1 line for more than 5 minutes.....from here on out, I am starting my shopping at 7 am, it was great! And all the stores still had everything I needed....who needs to wake up at 3 am when the good stuff is still there at 7, I like my sleep too much!

When I got home from shopping, it was time to gear up for the holiday decorating. I am a little ca-razy when it comes to Christmas and decorating, I revert back to a little kid.....I just get sooooo excited. So, while Chris ventured out and started his shopping at 10:30 hoping to hit the sales before they ended at noon, me and the gals got the house all cute. We stuck some Christmas tunes on and had some fun!

Isabella and Eva loved this little magnetic gingerbread house I surprised them with. This is going to be great entertainment while mom cooks dinner!

I put all the Christmas books away last year....so when I got them out this year, you would have thought it was Christmas morning as excited as the girls were. They just sat on the floor for like an hour and read book after book.

Then Chris took off to Salt Lake to the Laker game with his brothers, so we didn't get the tree up. I wanted to do something Christmasy with the gals, so we made some fun sugar cookies. I couldn't find the recipe from my magazine, so we just went with the flow. I will put the recipe to theses easy treats on my food blog. Half dipped vanilla sugar cookies, we had so much fun making these!

The house is all ready for Santa....I just love Christmas lights, I really wish I could keep them up year round. This year was extra special since this is our FIRST Christmas in our new house. I had so much fun decorating.

The kids thought the house was so magical...they just stared at the lights all night. I LOVE that they love the decorations as much as I do.

Then Saturday we headed to Preston for the annual Festival of Lights. It's been a tradition to take the kids the last few years. We stop and pick up hot chocolate and drink it while we watch the fireworks and parade in the FREEZING cold! It's so fun.

We couldn't stop laughing. Eva looked like Randy from the Christmas Story, she was not about to smile at the camera, she looked so annoyed because she couldn't put her arms down.

Santa was lame this year and stayed inside the Firetruck....since when can Santa not handle a little cold weather?

Every year as a kid, my parents would drive us up to Preston and we would go to see the "Hollingsworth's Lights" This family has a few acres of land, and they put together the coolest Christmas decorations....I had to post this picture for my parents, they have added a new display since I was a kid........

Ya gotta love Preston, ID!

And this is our newest TRADITION that we are adding to the Hernandez house. Meet Christopher pop-in-kins.....He came with a cute little book that Grandma T sent us. He came straight from the North Pole and he sits on a shelf and watches the kids to make sure they are being good so he can report back to Santa. The funnest part about Christopher the Elf is that at night he has a little fun and finds a new hiding spot to watch the kids, so every morning the kids wake up and find where Christopher is hiding. He's a fun new tradition.

The Christmas tree....oh what a story. Who knew there could be such a domestic dispute about white vs. colored lights on a tree? It has been an argument every year since we have been married. The first 3 years we were married and didn't have kids so we would take turns, white lights one year for me because that's what I grew up with, and colored lights the next year for Chris because that is what he grew up with. Then last year Chris threw it off by buying a pre-lit colored tree.....dirty bugger! So every year we will have colored lights (until the basement is finished and I surprise Chris with a new white pre-lit tree for the upstairs) wink wink!!!!

Along with the colored lights comes this skiing Santa Clause ornament. Chris made this when he was a little kid. When we were first married, I had "pretty" decorations, not "kid" decorations that we now have. It drove me crazy that Chris would purposely put this ornament front and center on the "pretty tree." Every morning I would wake up and move it to the back of the tree so it wouldn't be so noticeable....and then later on, I would find it front and center on the tree. Well, now it just adds character to our colored kid friendly tree and it makes me laugh every time I look at it. I hope this ornament lasts forever because it really is starting to grow on me!

Let the holidays begin, Merry Christmas!

And p.s. the weather couldn't be more fantastic for the holidays, I LOVE a white Christmas!!!