One For The Record Books.

Since we had planned on having Brandi and the girls for Christmas, we'd been scrambling to not only get the house ready, but to get it death trap free since we would be hosting two very active 3 year olds. Brandi ended up driving around - the ferry was booked solid but it only took her a little over 4 hours and the girls did very well - this was their first big trip! They were a bit out of their element for about 60 seconds, then started exploring. Molly is not a kid friendly- dog so she ended up in the bedroom when we were home, we tried but realized that it would not be worth it if one of the kids got bit and we would have to put her down for something that was not her fault. We were out everyday and she was out after they went to bed so it was not awful. Plus she was on the bed all day.....anyhoo,enough of that. As you might have suspected our house was a HUGE hit - you can see the horses across the sluice from the upstairs balcony and you can yell to Papa from the inside balcony. They also found Papa's tape measures so we spent a few hours having them pulled and retracted. Bob the Cat was weirdly loving the girls, she was letting them pet her and snuggling - since they love cats it worked out in both directions, I wonder if there were children where Bob came from?

But at some point during the night Delilah's asthma got set off(possibly Bob), Brandi had not thought to bring the inhalers (it's pretty mild) so she and Delilah headed off to the emergency room at 2am for  a treatment and prescription. She didn't want to disturb us so they were there and back before we knew they were gone, I sent Brandi back to bed (Chloe slept through the whole thing) and we played with little Miss Jacked Up On Steroids while everyone slept.  One of  the things we had planned was going to the movies - and the matinee of Frozen 2 was at 11:30am, so after breakfast and getting some sort of organization going off we went. You would be surprised at how many people go to the movies late morning, the theater was about half full and it's never too early for popcorn, is it? If you're wondering how the girls did for their first movie, they did great. They love Frozen and aside from the occasional excited yelling when Elsa and Anna came on screen they made it through the whole movie. And of course we used the bathroom after - they LOVE any public bathroom and Chloe yelled down the hall to Papa that she had Peed in the potty! 

After that  it was off to Joann's so Brandi could get some embroidery floss and the girls each got a doll from Frozen. Yes, we do spoil them - why wouldn't we? No, Target does not take Tricare but the pharmacy in town does so Brandi got that filled. Then it was home and a bath in the giant claw foot tub which is almost large enough for them to paddle around in. Sleeping was never a problem, they hit the rack each night like they'd been on maneuvers all day and we rarely heard a peep out of them

. The next day it was off to Aunt Kim's and Uncle Steve's in Seaside for Christmas Eve fun - Brandi loves to beach comb and the girls like to run around - the ocean here is so big, the driftwood is full logs you can sit on. We brought Kim's dog Piggles so the girls took turns walking him, we looked for sand dollars everyone chatting and taking pictures, it started to rain so we headed home. For lunch it was make your pizza, I think the adults enjoyed that as much as the kids, then presents. Kim made us a beautiful afghan for our home, it's so pretty! She also gave the girls each one of her daughter's dolls from her childhood, they are well loved already. Back home again, a few laps in the claw foot tub and passed out again for the night. We finished wrapping and charging the gifts - the Christmas tree was hanging in there. David bought it early for once and it dried out super fast so we had been limiting lighting it until the girls got here not wanting it to go out in a blaze of glory before Santa arrived. They ate breakfast before they noticed that Santa had been by - then it was on! They're old enough this year to understand it and they attacked the gift pile like a pair of honey badgers, it was a sea of paper and toys.

They loved all their gifts, they got a lot of princess gear, tool sets, books, blocks, games. My mother sent a frog game where you whack the frogs with rubber mallets, if you get annoyed with the other player you just give them a whack and you get the game all to yourself while they're busy tattling. It was so nice having everyone around the table, we had a real Christmas dinner which they pretty much hated, but they are three. I was back to work the next day so David took everyone to Astoria and they went to the Maritime museum and then out to lunch - the girls are so much fun now because you can really do things with them for longer than 11 minutes. They headed back home yesterday morning, I think they were ready to go back home as things have been pretty much nonstop since they arrived. But I have to say this was one of the best Christmases ever, it was a near to perfect as you could get - hopefully next year Jackson and Adam could be here too. I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday too!