Twelve Twenty-Five Thirteen

{christmas day}

2013

Watching The Nativity before heading out

to see presents.

I was so excited to see her open this:

She had a serious jam session (all the classics) right

after she opened it. I would love it if 

she inherited some of her daddy's musical talents.

She calls the guitar pick her toothpick. :)

Her trademark cheese smile.

Of course we had to have a little duet!

Even baby #2 got a little present

in it's stocking.

The gang drove down from Kamas...

Mabel has been talking about wanting 

"beeknockers" for a month now.

Nana and Grandpa Kraig made

all her dreams come true.

Check out that face!

Nana couldn't resist getting her second 

grandchild a few things. :)

Kraig was really excited to try out his 

Turn & Churn on the drive home!

Nate decided he wanted to be in charge of 

Christmas dinner! Sounds good to me.

He made bacon wrapped rosemary chicken.

Here he is making the brine several hours before:

Mrs. Claus brought Nate a few new cymbals for 

his drumset for Christmas. He got some good drumtime
in on Christmas day...and we all thought we had a
bandmember living in our basement.

He cooked the chicken in the oven for a little while

and then put it on the grill. It was so moist and tasty - 

and that is coming from someone who 

is very picky about her chicken!

I wish I had some right now.
Good job babe!

Dr. Mabel had to perform a few emergency procedures

 on Nana before dinner.

Earlier in the day we got to Skype with my dad & 

family in Michigan.  Thank goodness for Skype,

we love being to "see" family that we don't get to

visit often enough!

We got to talk to our missionaries in Austria too!  They were

wearing their matching his and hers sweaters.  

We sure miss these two!

...christmas eve...

My mom, my step-dad Kriag, and younger brother 

Jacob drove out to Utah to spend Christmas with us - 

YAY!!!

We spent Christmas eve in Kamas with my grandparents,

my Aunt Kristy, and a few cousins.

The love that Mabel has for her Uncle Jacob

is the sweetest thing. She has always had a special bond with

him and I love watching them interact. 

He would go downstairs to get a drink, or go to the bathroom

and Mabel would come running to me asking where

he went. I'm hoping Jacob wants to move to Utah 

and become our nanny. Please Jacob, I'm begging you,

at least for the winter!

When I was a kid my grandma would always makes

pounds of sugar cookie dough for me and my cousins

so we could cut out cookies and decorate them.  

We are carrying on that tradition...

but instead of quadrupling the recipe we just made

one batch for Mabel and Jack.

(Santa doesn't need the extra sugar cookie calories!)

Just a FEW sprinkles:

Mabel got some new doctor stuff

that she was very excited about.  She 

has been pretty obsessed with playing doctor

for a few months now since she had

her last vaccines.  She pretends she

is "Marci" our pediatrician's nurse.

(The one who gave her the shots.)

She helped everyone open their gifts:

  Grandma & Grandpa tried to stump

us again this year with a tricky plastic maze

with money inside that had to be solved 

in order to get the money out.

Nate got it first and I was second!

(Usually I am always last at figuring

out Grandma's clever puzzles.)

On the drive home we 

experienced a Christmas 

miracle....something

that hasn't happened for over 

two looooooong years...

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Mabel fell asleep

in her carseat!!!!!

Poor thing was exhausted from waking up at 

the crack of dawn, refusing to take a nap, and being

part of all the Christmas festivities. Instead of 

tap dancing in the backseat while yelling at the

top of her lungs - like she normally does when 

she is tired in the car - she just shut her eyes

and fell asleep.  Nate and I were in shock 

and I kept turning around to see if it was 

really true or if maybe she was just faking it

and her eyes would pop open and she would yell,

"Gotcha Ya Suckers!" 

But she didn't. She slept all the way home and

Nate and I got a glimpse into what life is 

like for most parents whose children

sleep in the car.

Heaven.

Merry Christmas 2013!

we wish you a 

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

and a 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

xoxo,

the tew family

Baby It's Cold Outside

Lately it's been COLD and SNOWY and we have been 

trying to keep busy as winter sets in.

Extreme Play Doh Creations:

I rolled the balls for our blueberry "suckers"

but she decided to make a "big big ice cream cone!"

She also loves to mix all the colors together.

There should be a law against that.

Taking both babies to Harmons & Target...

the two stores she recognizes and 

names when we pull up.

(and they both give stickers at the checkout!)

Painting.

This girl loves arts and crafts and painting is 

about as cool as it gets right now.

The cats have been hanging out inside a lot more

now since they can't do much out in the snow and 

Mabel loves to play with Fritz.

She is getting a lot softer, and Fritz is getting 

more needy for attention so it's a win win.

She wanted me to take a picture of her tiger on

his back. "Silly Fritz" she said.

She likes to "write notes" to people and then read them.

The other day I found her on the couch reading a note to

her baby. I love how she is holding baby's head to

make sure she is paying attention. :)

She is still a bookworm and has started to want to read the books 

to me now.  They always start with "Once Upon a Time" and 

it's cute to hear what she picks up and remembers from a book.

This is her just being silly.

My favorite part is, "Say cheese turtle!"

Turtle is her best friend.

Storytime at the library has been on break for almost two months and we really

miss it each week! However, we found a few new TV shows on Netflix 

so that has been a nice break for mama. She loves Daniel Tiger's 

Neighborhood and Super Why.

She loves looking at the Christmas tree and will

sit in the green chair next to it and just talk about the ornaments.

She also thinks it's hilarious that Fritz sleeps underneath.

She has been wanting to build a snowman so bad so 

the other day we got all dressed in our snow clothes and

went out to build one.

Unfortunately the snow was too 

powdery and dry and wouldn't really stick

together so we built a snow lump

and put the face on it.

Then she was entertained by sticking the

turkey baster in the snow which I thought was pretty 

funny!

We are looking forward to the new aquarium opening in Draper!

Hopefully it will open soon. (hurry up!)

We also have plans to go to the children's museum down at the 

Gateway, and also the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving

Point. Winter activities so we (I) don't go crazy!