This and That

Ella started really crawling the day after Christmas. We are so proud of her. I now have two shadows that follow me around the house. I haven't had a crawler in the house for awhile and let me tell you it's a HUGE reminder of how dirty our floors get. Ella followed me into the bathroom and came out with a head full of hair on her legs. I also had a little visitor join me in the shower the other day as well. Life is changing everyday at our house. Why do they have to grow up so fast.

Minnesota Christmas

After a long week in Iowa we were finally home and ready for our own family Christmas. The girls slept in pretty late so our Christmas didn't start till after 8am. We had a wonderful morning opening presents and playing until it was time to head to grandma Joyce and Paul's house.

My chipper little ladies on Christmas morning. They look so excited don't they:)
Ella having fun with some of her new books and toys.

Alivia working so hard on opening her presents

Go Alivia Go... Get those open....

My little lady who looks like she has been through the ringer.

One of our new outfits in our dress up chest. We had to put it on before we finished opening gifts.

On to grandma and Paul's house for a wonderful brunch. Alivia starting to open if only she new she would be doing this for the next 2 hours thanks to grandma and Paul's extravaganza gift opening.

Ella enjoying one of her new toys.

As you can see Alivia changes many times through out the gift opening. If something new was more interesting we put it on.

Here is Alivia's new dance floor. The girls tried it out and it was pretty cool.

dance...dance....dance

On to papa and nana's house for dinner and more fun. Alivia enjoying some cereal at the table.

Alivia working her crown like a princess.

And the big group this year with a lot of babies, kids, family and friends.

Christmas in Iowa

Christmas in Iowa this year was a HUGE success. We had a great four days down there with family. The girls got a lot of auntie and uncle time and also grandma and grandpa time. They played, did make-up, baked and watched daddy and uncle chad work. Couldn't ask for a better holiday with a wonderful family.

Thursday we headed to Tara and Jeff's house in Des Moines for a fun gathering of family and friends. Alivia got her fix in with all the kids and ran around like crazy people playing tag and hide and go seek.

Ella got some baby play time in with Stella, Aryton and Jonny. Even though Ella scared Aryton to whole night they still had a great time.

We even had time to fit in some ginger bread house making. Alivia and Auntie did a great job working on a almost perfect house.

Auntie had a hard time with Alivia wanting to eat all the candy or like the icing. I finally had to say "no one is going to eat it when were done so eat away"

Final product... Not to bad

Ella working on her tractor

Christmas time....... Ella with her new train ride on toy

Alivia enjoying her new rocking chair that auntie Courtney and uncle Mark made.

Alivia trying on her new slippers and robeOh and the best gift of all..... the trampoline

We jumped all night long

Ella even got in on it too

Oh and can't forget the big monkey tent uncle Chase and Rachel got....

Holiday week (round 1)

To start off our holiday week Clint and I headed down to the UofM campus for some Monday night football. It was cold, but a lot of fun! Even though the Vikings were horrible we had a great time with everyone around us and enjoyed the game.

With all our traveling this week updating our blog will have to be put on hold till this weekend. We want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and safe travels. When we return we have a lot of photos of the Vikings game, Christmas in Iowa and more......

Christmas Pary

Over the weekend we had Clint's work Christmas party and we got to get all dressed up. I was so excited since my days of dressing up like this are small it's nice to look pretty once in a while. We had a great time and a fun evening out.

The party had a photo booth, harpist during dinner and fun games. It's always nice to get some Clint and Allie time together. I would have to say this was a great way to start all our holiday fun. The following day we were having some friends over for our own little x-mas gathering.

Santa take two

Another great holiday experience with the girls. This day we headed down to the 8th floor which is at Macy's downtown. We got all pretty and made our way down. Alivia was excited to see Santa again and Ella was just happy to be going. The day started off great except when mom started taking pictures. I thought that the girls look cute in their outfits why not take a picture before we go. Well I guess the girls weren't on the same page because this is what I got......

Alivia is so annoyed with me

Finally made it down and are heading in to the elves workshop

My little Ella having a great time with all the lights and people

Finally a smile out of my 2 1/2 yr old going on 13 these days

Trying to sneak into the display

At the end we wrote our letter to Santa. Let me tell you there are about 8 letters to Santa with beautiful 2 yr old drawings on them. For some reason we had to do one for each gift we wanted.

Deep thought on what to put down. It has to be the perfect gift.

And then we sent them off to Santa. What a great day!

Oh can't forget this picture. Ella wasn't to sure about Santa this time. When he started talking it freaked her out a bit. Alivia once again wishing she was somewhere else.

Snow days...

What to do when your snowed in.. Well the Varley family did a lot of things. We worked on presents, we learned how to play the Wii with daddy and also played a lot of games. Alivia and Ella did a great job being patient with the weather. Sampson on the other hand had a hard time figuring out where to go to the bathroom.....

Alivia doing a great Vana White of the snow level in the backyard.

My little helper did awesome with helping with bows and name tags...

Ella did a lot of laughing and playing since that is what she does best.

Santa time....

First Santa visit of the year in the books. Both girls were a little hesitant at first, but then warmed up and gave Santa a try. I think Alivia was just excited to get the candy cane after. I think each year will get better. Ella was a little unsure when Santa started talking. His deep voice was a little much for her.

Mommy and her girls

Ella, mommy and Santa
Silly willy and mommy