Christmas 2009

This is going to be a long post with lots of pictures. You know, for the grandmas who are missing their girls this Christmas.

Here's June and Winnie in their Christmas church dresses. They were so pretty.

Kolby finally got a couple weeks off from school, and he planned a surprise holiday trip for the girls. They were guessing for days, but had no idea we were heading to the Great Wolf Lodge in Texas for some water fun!

On our first night, we ate at this Rain Forest Cafe. Once Winnie was able to uncover her ears and just enjoy the animals' screeching and howling, she loved it. Especially the Elephants.

We finally checked into the Lodge and headed for the water park. These girls were going non-stop. Winnie spent all of her time on these fun kiddie-cat pool slides, and shooting water at unsuspecting passers-by.

June got a bit more daring on this trip and took turns going with mom and dad on the bigger slides. She takes after her mom in the height department, so the life guards had to measure her for every ride. She even got to sneak onto a few that she was about an inch too short for. But Kolby and I loved taking her down. It's like she's really growing up!

Here's how Winnie eats a hot dog. She takes the "corn on the cob" approach.

Kolby, as usual, turned into a big kid. He really needed this break from school!

Here's June, Winnie and their pal Sofie. By the end of the day, these girls were raisins from the water, but we still had to drag them out of the pool.

There was so much to do at the Lodge, even if you weren't swimming. At night, the girls got to listen to animal story time in the magical lobby that snowed. And they finally got their turn to sit on the big guy's lap and make sure he got their letters.

June's only request of Santa: A white Christmas. Little did she know that we would be coming home on Christmas Eve to a blizzard. That girl always gets her way, I swear.

June played outside right through the blizzard. Winnie made it outside to the edge of the back porch, turned right around, and headed back inside. Too cold for her!

And June finally realized her dream of building a snow man in Oklahoma. His name was Leafer. And he is still standing.

Here are some shots from Christmas morning. I think everyone got exactly what they wanted!

So thanks to all of those who love our girls and sent so much good stuff to keep them busy for the next few weeks. It was a great Christmas!

Love,

Jess, Kolby, June, Winnie, oh, and our mystery baby on the way!