Carson City Christmas

Posted: January 2, 2011 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Ava Rae, Noelle, Other Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: Christmas | 4 Comments

This might just be a post that only a family member can love… it’s a long one! We were so very blessed this Christmas to be gifted a trip to Carson City, Nevada to spend the holiday with Kurt’s Aunt Peggy and Uncle Carter (along with the rest of his aunts and uncles on Mary’s side). It was so much fun that we just had to share many moments from each day of our wonderful winter vacation! If you weren’t there and you make it though this post… wow 😉 But Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our wonderful friends and family! We are ready to embrace 2011 and so excited to see what it brings!

And we're off! Yay for finally being at the airport! I think my relief came from not even having the option to pack/remove anything else from our many, many suitcases 😉

Kiddos after flight #1 still smiling and happy!

Notice our teething baby...reaching for anything and everything with her mouth open!

Sweet Aunt Jessie! Carson City Here We Come!

Peggy and Carter's Beautiful Home!

Merry Christmas!

Kurt and I cooked up Christmas Eve Brunch...for 16 people! It was much harder that we thought it would be but so satisfying to prepare a meal that was enjoyed by our family!

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus! And thank you Lord that our Monkey Bread turned out!

The kids had so much fun with Grandpa! This trip he introduced Ava to the game "tripper"! I'm mentioning it here because you won't be finding any pictures of it...I only know about it from the shrieks of pure joy and craziness I heard from across the house:-)

There goes Elle trying to eat everything...this trip she ventured into the world of Ham, Brisket, Meatballs, Potatoes in various forms and even the traditional Lefse! This girl is a fan of "real" food!

Oh what fun to have a live-in playmate for 6 whole days!

I loved the sweet little B&B that Peggy and Carter put us up in... It really warmed my heart to read this over the front door when just days before I asked Kurt if he'd had any holiday Angel sightings!

Our Room

Kitchen

Game Room

Noelle's First Christmas- almost 7 months old!

Dads

Best Christmas Eve Surprise EVER... Peggy took Ava and Brody shopping for COWBOY(GIRL) BOOTS! They are Ava's first pair and I can honestly say that she has worn them E-V-E-R-Y day since (including to church on Christmas Eve with her fancy dress!).

Pretty Girls getting ready for church! (boots still in place)

1 Gift before bed on Christmas Eve

Elle is into this gift thing! (or maybe just the paper?)

Matching...

PJ'S!!

New PJ's on. Served up some milk, cookies and oranges for Santa and his Reindeer. Off to bed!

Adult White Elephant Time!

Hopeful (for a good gift and maybe a little sleep tonight!)

Mrs. Clause?!?

Match made in heaven...Jess wouldn't let this guy out of her sight!

Did Santa eat his treats?

Squinkies

He Came!

Noelle woke up... at 9:30! She missed stockings and everything! Not sure either of us look wide awake at this point, but we are READY for gift-time and Danish Pastry for breakfast!

Don't Break The Ice was a hit all week long!

Merry Christmas!

Great Grandma Wood on her 95th Christmas!

What a beautiful and bountiful Christmas tree!

First gift of the day...

Ava- "A Pillow Pet!" Brody- "They're machine washable!" Ava- "It's a pet and it opens up into a PILLOW!" Brody- "Mine's a dolphin!" Ava- "Mine's a ladybug!" Both- "AHHHHH!" Wow, who would have guessed that this would be THE gift of 2010 🙂

What did you get Noelle?

Something in a box...

Blocks! And she was content for the rest of present opening time!

It was a joy watching the little ones open with such excitement!

2 grandmas and a baby~

Loading up to walk the 2 blocks from our B&B to Peggy and Carters! (boots)

Sledding Day! Ava and Uncle Em!

Not seeming to mind the cold weather a bit!

Mom and Ava getting ready to attempt the hill!

Such a fun idea Grandma!

Ava and I had a so much fun sledding... for one run 😉

This hat was my White Elephant gift... I think I was the winner of that game!

The snowman building didn't go so well but Ava was so glad to have Grandma all to herself for some snow playing!

SO beautiful and cold!

Thank goodness Dad's so big and warm...I seem to remember him doing this with Ava too 🙂

Elle did a lot of this and not nearly enough sleeping on our trip... I wanted to be mad but gosh she's so cute!

Making a Cookie House!

With only a few minor construction blunders...

and just a tiny bit of grown up help...

it turned out pretty cute!

After this picture I think most of us got caught snacking on the house over the course of the evening 🙂

Cousins- oldest and youngest!

Our tiny princess!

Merry Christmas Wood Family! Thank you for blessing us and our children! We loved celebrating the holiday with you!

Minute To Win It: Herig-Style

Posted: December 21, 2010 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Ava Rae, Noelle, Other Family, Us Sorenson's | Tags: 2010, Christmas, Games, Gifts, Love | 4 Comments

On Thursday the 4 of us along with the rest of the Sorenson/Prochnow gang will be heading out to Carson City, Nevada to celebrate a “Wood” Christmas. We are really looking forward to some snowy weather, Norwegian meatballs and quality time with the Sorenson part of our family!
Since we will be out of town we got to celebrate an early Christmas this past Sunday. Kurt and I felt that the Christmas Spirit really found us as we watched Minute to Win It – Christmas Style these past few weeks so…we decided to spice things up a bit for our early Christmas celebration this year! Here’s a preview of our Minute to Win It inspired game day! We had so much fun and so many laughs, in the end I don’t think anyone could remember who won… I think Ava would argue that it was her 🙂

Breakfast Scramble

Assemble the front of a cereal box that has been cut into 16 even pieces.

Candy Elevator

Use an “elevator” made from 2 pencils and string, to lift 3 M&Ms into the mouth.

Caddy Stack

Stack 3 golf balls 1 atop the other.

Bite Me

Pick up paper bags of varying heights using only the mouth.

Hanky Panky

Using only 1 hand, pull all tissues out of a tissue box.

Christmas Ball

Move a tree ornament across the floor and into a target area only by “fanning” it with a gift box.

Face the Gingerbread Man

Using only the face muscles, move a gingerbread cookie from your forehead to your mouth.

Junk in the Trunk

Wiggle a box that is attached to your waist filled with ping-pong balls until the box is empty.

Christmas Ball Conveyor

Teammates, spinning in place, transfer ornaments using a ribbon looped around their waists.

What a fun way to work up a Christmas appetite!

Oh how I love a little princess in a Christmas dress! I’m so glad that Ava reminded me this week that, “we didn’t even buy a fancy dress to wear to our Christmas celebrations…”

How blessed we were by our parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

Elle all snuggled and laughing in her homemade Christmas swaddle blanket. Our “Big” baby just loves to be swaddled and has outgrown every receiving blanket on the market. Thank goodness for JoJo and her new sewing machine. We are loving our made-with-love big baby swaddles!

Don’t Break the Ice, anyone?

Our sitting girl 🙂

Ho Ho Ho… Merry Christmas (said in a semi-creepy Santa voice following each and every present 😉 )! Thanks for the fun Family, we love you very much!

*Most of these pictures were taken with our brand new Cannon S95! Thanks Unexperts for the recommendation and THANK YOU PaPa JoJo for the wonderful gift!

Santa

Posted: December 16, 2010 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Ava Rae, Noelle, Us Sorenson's | Tags: Christmas, Santa | 1 Comment

Kurt and Dani: “Ava, Do you want to sit on Santa’s lap and take a picture?”

Ava: “Umm, No Thanks.”

Kurt and Dani: “Ok, Noelle will.”

Photographer: “How about if Mom and Dad are in the picture too?”

Ava: Shoulder shrug and clinging to Mom’s leg

Santa’s Helper: “Ok, here is a cookie and little gift from Santa for you and your little sister!”

Ava: Takes her gifts and walks away slowly dragging her feet

Kurt and Dani: “Ave, do you want to take a picture with Santa?”

Ava: “Ok, but I don’t want to sit on his lap…”

I think someone realized that this is the guy who she’s banking on getting a Pillow Pet from 🙂

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. “

Posted: November 21, 2010 | Author: K&D | Filed under: Ava Rae, Fun Food, Noelle, Us Sorenson's | Tags: Christmas | 2 Comments

One short year ago no one (including us) thought we would have 2 pink stockings hanging by the fireplace! Actually, equally surprising is that we actually have a fireplace to hang our stocking from! What a year of wonderful blessings we have had! Thank you Lord for our precious new baby girl and our beautiful new home!

Thank God also for Dad’s! Just a few bribes (eggnog and cookies) and he was more than happy to pull our Christmas Tree down a little early 🙂

Elle made fast friends with our tree! So bright and sparkley, what’s not to love?!

What’s a Christmas Decorating night without ELF??? And Dion’s pizza, (GF)Peanut Blossom Cookies and Eggnog!

“Ava, make Noelle laugh”- this phrase can be heard just about every time a camera is pulled out these days! Those sisters can really get each other going… LOUD!