Christmas Quick 8

One week in Missouri = loaded Quick 5.

1.  Blessed road trips.  I completely failed in preparing for things for the girls to do.  I had a special coloring book for each of them, and that was it.  So they were bored out of their minds.  Bored Joya = Naughty Joya.  She began to realize that if she asked to go potty, then we would stop the car.  We're not in an electronic budget phase of life, so I didn't bring anything like that to keep them occupied.  My poor children have to look out the windows.  Top all that with an extra hour and half in the car due to driving through an ice storm, and maybe you can picture what our drive out was like.  (In case you were wondering, Bria screamed for almost three hours straight after lunch.  Then she slept for 30 minutes.  Then she woke up in a defeated state of mind, resigned to her fate of living the rest of her natural life strapped in that car seat.)

2.  But the trip was worth it.  We've had a deliciously full week.  Aunt Mindy treated the girls to the surprise of their life and took them to eat at Target.  We poked around for a bit before taking them to the snack area, and Alaina was so overjoyed that she just had to call Daddy.  Joya took it more in stride, but Alaina's mind was appropriately blown over the whole experience.  I'm a little afraid they'll make scene every time we go to Target from here on out, but I'll just be prepared for that.

3.  I had a lot of fails when it came to packing for this trip, but my one genius move was to bring the jumper for Bria.  We don't even use it at our house because we don't have a doorway to put it in, but I knew that the Kimbles did.  And it has been a life saver.  Bria goes nuts and has a blast.  And it's given us a break from having to watch her constantly, since now she can crawl, pull herself up to standing on couches, and climb stairs.

4.  We didn't seem to have time to make cookies at home, so Jingles came and made Ninja Bread Men for the girls to decorate.  That's right...ninjas.  Who needs boring old gingerbread men, when you can have ninjas to eat?

5. Of course, no trip to Gramma's would be complete without bathing the baby in the sink.

6.  Christmas Day was a wonderful, lazy day.  We had a delicious breakfast and opened presents.  Then we just played all day.  And ate.  And watched Alaska reality show marathons on Discovery.  All until Uncle Josh and Aunt Mindy had to go back home.  Confession: we opened presents while Bria was down for her morning nap.  Then she opened her presents when she got up.  As I knew would happen, she didn't care much.  She mostly wanted to touch things she shouldn't, no matter how many new toys she got. Thus was Bria's First Christmas.

7.  For my trip project I experimented making a child-sized beard hat.  We have friends who have boys who need them.  I had Alaina and Joya be my model, but it's too soon to tell if it will actually work for the boys.  They'll need to try it on.  But Joya sure was a cute model.

Yep, this pic will show up at her graduation and wedding.

8. We were able to see my grandparents during this trip too.  They came over for lunch one day.  I love that they live so close to Lee's parents, and that we can see them every time we come.

The girls and their GG and Papa.

The forecast for tomorrow's drive home looks sunny and in the 40s. Where were you last week, excellent driving weather??