The Pierce Personalities

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Merry Christmas 2013!

Oh, how we love Christmas! And as fun as it was as a kid, I think I enjoy it even more as a mommy now! Caeden was 4 and Callie was 14 months old this year during Christmas....what fun ages! We continued to do a nightly Advent with Caeden, making sure he understands the reason we have Christmas. Callie obviously didn't understand much. But she could point out "baby Jesus" in our nativity, and if we said "What does Santa say?" she would reply with "hu, hu, hu!" She did great at leaving the tree and presents alone, especially after watching Caeden touch them daily. It was a special Christmas....Here are some pictures to recap the holiday!

We celebrated Christmas with Reid's side of the family on Dec. 23....a few days early:

Checking out the stockings!

Already digging into her snack!

First presents to open!

Playing with the wrapping...the best part!

On Christmas Eve we managed to get a few pictures of them together in their matching Reindeer shirts. Nana made these with them at Thanksgiving, use their own footprints & handprints!

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church that night, and then had to take some pictures in their dress clothes!

Cousin Elise (10 mos) & Callie (14 mos)

Nana & Papa with the kids

Nonni & Grandpa with the kids

And as is the tradition, Santa paid a short visit before getting started on his rounds! Caeden got to tell him one last time that he wanted a "Jake ship with the crocodile that pops out!"

Callie was not a big fan!

He read "Twas the Night Before Christmas!"

And gave each kid one early present!

Then it was pajama time...and of course, we had to lay out cookies & egg nog for Santa!

Christmas morning, they woke up to find that Santa had left Caeden the Jake Ship (Bucky) that he wanted! And he left Callie her first doll house!

A few days later, on Dec. 27th, we celebrated Christmas with Ashley's side of the family.

Christmas Cousins - Caeden (4) & Emerson (2)

While at Nana's house for a few days, it warmed up enough to go outside for a little bit!

We are so lucky to have our families live so close to us. It's always such a blessing to spend time with them, and get some rest & relaxation! We are a blessed family....Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Gingerbread House Contest!

This year, while with Reid's family for Christmas, we spent one day making Gingerbread houses! We decided to add a twist, and make it a little competitive. There were 9 of us, so we split into teams of three (by random draw) and each got to work! First we put the houses together...

Team #1: Becky, Rhett, & Gram (not pictured here)

Team #2: Jennifer, Reid & Kendall

Team #3: Ryan, Ashley & Caeden

Once the houses were put together, we took a lunch break and let them dry...

(FYI: The "childish-looking" house on the far right is Rhett's team. His strategy was to make it look like a kid worked on it...so people would vote for the kid...and he would win....

And he did come in second place...)

That afternoon, it was back to work! This time, decorating with candy! Caeden and Callie were ready before anyone else....taste-testing everything of course!

Lovin' her some M&M's!

Everyone working hard!

Caeden's house in progress.

He smeared the icing on the roof,

and made the wreath.

Nonni & Callie

Still decorating!

And these are the finished houses....we posted this picture on Facebook, and let the voting begin!

At the end of the voting, house #2 won by a landslide! The fake-child-like-looking house (#1) came in second! And poor #3 only got 2 votes.... :( But that's okay- we had a great time and I think we have started a new tradition!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas Cookies!

We made our annual Christmas cookies right before we left town last week. We split it up into two nights this time. It's my Grandma's homemade dough recipe...So we cut out the cookies and baked them one night. And decorated them the next night. Of course, each kid did 3-4 cookies and they were off to play! So Reid and I were left to cut out and decorate 2 dozen cookies! Oh well...we made memories and had fun making cookies as a couple at least! Here are a few pictures I got...

NIGHT 1: CUTTING OUT & BAKING!