A Downey Sister Christmas

 My sisters and I continued our annual tradition of The Downey Sister Christmas.  My sisters and their families came over for cookie making, lots of food and of course, PRESENTS! 

To keep the kids entertained while the food was cooking, they decorated sugar cookies. 

Hmmmm... Sugar+Cookies+Kids.... you do the math!

Anna's cookie... nothing but sprinkles... which she ate one at a time!

At 3 months old, Tanner is a little too young to participate in the cookie making but he was full of handing out cute little smiles.

The Downey Sisters can make a cute bunch of kids!  Look at these faces!

 

After the cookies, the dinner wasn't quite done so we decided to open presents.  (Insert screams from children here)

After all the smiling, Tanner wore himself out so he missed the gift opening.  Luckily big sister Jacie took care of him and opened all of his gifts for him.

Another happy and succesful Downey Sister Christmas!

Sort of... From all the excitement from opening gifts, we forgot about the lasagna in the oven!  Whoops!  But still good.

Branson 2010

We decided to take a quick trip to Branson last weekend to do a little Christmas shopping and go see the Christmas lights at Silver Dollar City. It was Anna's first trip there and we invited Kevin's parents (better known as MeMe and Grandad) to keep us company on our little family vacation. We had a great trip, but man oh man was it cold! The weather while shopping was tolerable, but by the time we got to Silver Dollar City the temperature had dropped to 30 degrees with a wind chill of 17! We were all trying to make the best of it but as soon as the Christmas Parade was over, we booked it to the car to get warm. Brrrrrrrrrr!




The first thing we did once we got inside Silver Dollar City was go see Santa.  It was a long line, but worth it.  Anna was so excited.  Here we are waiting in line.



The whole time we were waiting in line, Anna said she was going to tell Santa she wanted a bouncy house for Christmas.  She was so excited to get up there and tell him... until it came time to actually get up there and tell him!  Yep, she froze!  Speechless!  Not a word!  Good thing I already told Santa what she wanted.  ;)

MeMe and Grandad... frozen to the bone!

In the end, although frozen, we had a great trip.  It might even become an annual trip, but maybe during the warmer months.  I was happy to share this adventure with my in-laws and I know Anna loved having them there.  I have a lot of fond memories of Branson from when my grandparents took me as a little girl and I'm glad that Anna can now have that with her grandparents.  

Lunch with her Babies

Anna's favorite thing to do is play with her babies.  She reads to them, sings to them, puts them to bed, and on this day, she put them all in a circle and made lunch for them.  She's such a good little mommy to her babies. 

She evens blows on the food so it's not too hot. 

 

And when all of the babies have their food, she enjoys her own snack for a job well done.  

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The Christmas tree is up!  Anna really got into the decorating this year and she's getting excited about Santa coming to town.

Anna enjoyed decorating the tree but she put every ornament on one branch!  I thought it was cute so I didn't move her masterpiece. 

Here's Daddy helping her put some ornaments on the top.

To continue the tradition, I got Anna her annual oranament.  I always try to get an ornament that shows what she's been in to over the last year.  This year there was no doubt that her "thing" has been Dora the Explorer!  Here she is putting her special ornament on the tree.

The finished product.  The Yarbrough Family Christmas Tree.

Then, of course, is my "fancy" tree.  This tree is MY pride and joy and I won't let anyone touch it but me.  (Sad, I know.)  Maybe next year Anna can help me though.  Maybe.  :)

 The front door.

 The column. 

Big Girl Bed

Our little girl is growing up! 

We bought Anna a big girl bed as an early Christmas gift and she absolutely loves it!  She thinks she's so big now.  She knew we had it in the spare bedroom but we couldn't put it together until we got rid of her crib and changing table, so all week she's been saying "Is it big girl bed time yet?"  Needless to say she was exstatic when we finally put it together.  And so far, she's adjusted to it very well and has slept through the night all week and hasn't crawled out to come get me.  I'm sure that will come once she figures out that she CAN crawl out.  :)

As much as she loves the bed, it was hard for us to let go of the crib.  Not only was it a sign that she's growing up, but also because we've had so many great memories of her in her crib.  Like this one...