Christmas 2010 and Tita

This was Katarina's first Christmas. Tita Chrissie came to Little Rock for the holidays, and we all enjoyed the week with her.

Tita reading Bella's bedtime story

Gabi reading to Lolo

Tita hides behind Gabi at the restaurant

Daddy makes Bella laugh at the restaurant

We gave the girls personalized books with coloring pages made from pictures of them. Gabi's book is a storytelling book, with creative story scenarios for her to write about, plus a few pages dedicated to her favorite things and thoughts about our upcoming move. Bella's book is an alphabet coloring book with a picture of her for each letter of the alphabet, plus some activity pages at the end. I highly recommend these books! If you're interested, you can purchase one from Kimba's Creative Outlet on Etsy.

A coloring page from the personalized books

Lolo had one of my pictures of Kati printed on canvas!

Silly siblings

Ninong Edward, Ninang Sylvia, and Cousin Steven (and Kati)

Mama and baby

Lolo and Lola came over early Christmas morning

Bella loves to dress up like a princess

Princesses driving their new remote control car

Outside the movie theater after watching Tangled

Bella's new ball castle

US map for the girls to explore with their new Tag readers

It took us several days to open all our presents, as the girls like to have a few hours to play with every new toy as they open each one.

The Polar Express

Riding the Polar Express

We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season. We spent all our time with visiting family and weren't able to keep up with the blog during the holidays, so now we'll catch up. One weekend in December, we drove to Branson, MO where we could take the Polar Express to the North Pole to see Santa!

All aboard!

Katarina on the train

Bella (and Lily bunny) waiting for Santa

Gabi sitting on Santa's lap

Annabelle didn't want to sit in Santa's lap, nor did she accept the bell from his sleigh. Once Santa left, she changed her mind and wanted a bell. Luckily, Daddy had one for her!

In addition to a visit with Santa, we enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate on the train, sang Christmas carols, and watched Christmas lights through the window. There were more lights decorating the train station, too.

Before our evening Polar Express ride, we had the day to enjoy Branson. We took a tour through Talking Rocks Cavern, which was the perfect activity for our family.

A nativity scene in the cave

Look how the cave is "growing" and taking over the stairs that Gabi is standing on!

Bella's defiant three-year-old attitude may bring a challenge to life, but it also allowed me to catch her in this model pose.

We spent a couple fun hours crawling (and slithering) through two "simulated cave" 3-D mazes as well. It was quite a trick to squeeze through some of those twisting tunnels!

It was a really cold weekend, but we had a great time! The chilly weather made hot chocolate at our hotel even more appealing.

Christmas Frolic Downtown

Our friends Joel and Cinthya visited from Honduras, raising funds for their missionary work. Their kids, Linda and Lisa, are the same ages as Gabi and Bella. We enjoyed a day in downtown Little Rock, riding the trolley and touring the Heifer International Village and playing at Peabody Park.

Lisa loved seeing baby Katarina

Lisa and Bella on the trolley

Gabi sightseeing on the trolley

Kati petting one of the Heifer goats

Bella checking out a duck up close

Linda and Gabi at the park

The next day, we went to the Christmas Frolic at the Historic Arkansas Museum downtown. We had gone to the Territorial Fair there in May and enjoyed it.

Katarina and Daddy looking at the pioneer quilts

Katarina playing with old-time blocks

Bella building with Lincoln Logs

Gabi watching the Lionel train -
not quite from pioneer days, but always a hit

Mommy helping Bella walk on stilts

Bella says, "Giddy-up, horsey!"

Gabi tries her hand at rolling the wheel with a stick

And the girls favorite activity of the day:
Dancing with Daddy!