Merry Christmas!

We have had such a neat Christmas. Since the beginning of December we have been spending our family worship time celebrating the coming of our Savior. The girls have made our time in God's Word so much richer by their level of understanding and excitement at the miracle of the Savior birth. Then the girls had a great gift from Nana and Papa (my Dad and Kathy).....a surprise visit! We had to keep the secret for what seemed like an eternity, but it was all worth it to see their faces! It's been special celebrating with Nana and Papa AND Grammy and Grandpa. What a special Christmas for all of us!

Grammy and Grandpa with the girls

Nana and Papa

Off to do some Christmas Day sledding....I love taking the pictures
of my girls from the back. :0) 

I know it can be hard to tell them apart for some of you....this is Marian. :0) 

Macy :0)

My favorite picture of the day!

Another Visit to the Barn

Marian was really wanting to go check out the barn Macy and I had found the other day, so we headed over as a family earlier this week. The sky was beautiful, but I'm not sure we picked the best day....it was like 10 degrees.....we were so freezing and my hands hurt for so long afterwards! Kind of hard to be real creative in that kind of cold....so we just took a few and went home and had some soup! :0) Maybe I can get better ones as a family in the Spring!

Macy looks tired...she fell asleep in the car on the way over. 

I snapped ONE family picture because it was SO cold...

Thanks to the tripod :0) 

My toothless girl....Macy's in sleeping in the car for this one. :0) 

Marian looking through a hole in the barn to see what's in there.

American Girl Dolls

Grada and Grandpa Webster gave the girls their American Girl Dolls when we were down in CA this Summer. The girls just love these dolls. For Christmas, Grada and Grandpa gave them matching jammies for their dolls and of course (because they're trained well :0) asked if I would take some pictures with them and their dolls. It was so fun....we laughed a lot!

Macy and Emily

Here's Marian with her doll Molly. The cool thing about Molly is that Marian
wanted to have her because my Great-Grandma's name was Molly and she died earlier
this year. When Grada sent the jammies she put a broach of Nanny's on each of the dolls' jammies.
Marian is especially sentimental, so it really meant a lot to her. 

Macy's request EVERY TIME we take pictures, "Can we do silly faces?"

I LOVE this one.

Marian found some of my photo shoot props for babies and was so cute.
She set this up all on her own.

Grada and Grandpa-- as you can see the girls are thoroughly enjoying matching with their dolls. Thank you so much!

Out For a Little Drive...

Macy and I went for a little drive last week looking for some good photo spots. I only had 35 minutes total before we needed to pick Marian up from school....good thing we don't have traffic! :0) I didn't even plan to take any pics...It was too "midday" for the right light and I'm not even sure Macy's hair was brushed, but how could I deny taking pictures of a willing subject! She begged to get out and because she knows my weakness for an impromptu photo shoot....I gave in! :0) We came across some great abandoned barns and farm houses.....can't believe we're so blessed to live here! 

The wool socks over the leggings crack me up...

Love the poses this girl comes up with.
The funniest thing about this barn was how freaked out Macy was by the critters
 running in and out of it while we took these pictures.
I have to admit that she wasn't the only one who jumped a few times. :0)

This was such a neat farm house...I think she's probably looking for
critters. :0) I had a hard time getting her to lean back against it after our experience at the barn.
I never knew she was so jumpy-- wherever could she get that?
Must be from Jon. :0) 

Expecting a Savior

Wednesday night was "Dress up like a Bible Character" night. Marian wanted to dress up like pregnant Mary. Her and Macy love to dress up pregnant, so she was beaming all night. She even won 1st place, which made it all the more fun. Macy was hilarious asking Marian, "Are you tired, do you feel sick, etc.....?" The funny thing is, she was completely serious. :0) 

Not sure I've ever seen a pregnant Mommy with missing teeth, but oh well. :0)

Marian was so funny that night when I was putting her to bed. She said, "I bet I won first place between I was going to have the Savior." 

Pictures of a Little Angel...

Okay, so not a real angel, but she's about as close to one as I've ever seen. My good friend Brenda was so gracious to let me "practice" on her little girl, Elliana.  I had so much fun taking pictures of this little cutie pie. She was so easy to take pictures of (which is good for me since I'm very much in the "learning stage") and loved being "pretty." Still saving up for my new lens, but at least I'm having a blast learning with the equipment I have. 

Doesn't she look so angelic??

Children's Musical at Church

Every year my Mom directs the Spring Children's Musical at church. This year she did a Christmas Musical called Back to the Manger and Marian got to be apart of the choir. It was hilarious as they "went back in time" to different eras. The 70's was my favorite! Thanks to Grammy for blessing our church body once again with her amazing talent and gift! 

Macy's not old enough yet to be in the choir, but
her job was to be Grammy's assistant
and hold the flash light.

Marian doing her dance moves. :0)

Gingerbread Houses

Marian stayed home sick from school yesterday. We took a break from the couch to do our Gingerbread houses. I always love to see the girls' creativity come out. 

The finished product

Poor thing....she really looks sick, although
she loved getting to work on the houses.

Back to the couch :0(

Marian's Christmas Program

How blessed we are to be at Heritage Christian! The program was so great and brought so much glory to our Lord! Here are some pictures from the evening....

Marian with Grammy

Proud Mommy

The Marian Montoya Fan Club :0)

Marian with her music teacher Mrs. Heide

Little sister wanted to get all dressed up too :0)