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BONUS DAY! The beauty of a leap year, right? 

 We hit up a a NYE game night with some friends, but we bailed around 9 or so due to the little one's sleep needs. Once we got home we broke out a bottle of martinellis in IKEA kid cups. We tried to take a family photo, but I am not very good at getting all 3 of us in the selfy. Here are two of our best attempts. Happy New Year! Let's now see if the 2nd time is a charm for watching the ball drop on TV. (They cut out just before midnight here for local news and then showed the ball drop again, in theory, at midnight. Weird.) It has been a great year! I hope you enjoyed our day by day photo journey!

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Punkin stole my post church nap today. My bed. My blanket. That little thief!

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 Wha? An alpaca puppet? How randomly awesome. We found this crazy little toy store during our adventure downtown today. Don't be surprised if you have a kid that we buy a present for if it comes from this randomly awesome store.

But more fun was probably our family outing for dinner and games. We decided to try to teach our girl how to play some arcade games. Her best was probably whack-a-mole but she preferred to ride the mini carousel.

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I love my snow bunnies! Punkin was a little nervous about heading up the hill herself. I, on the other hand, got stuck carrying the sled back up the hill.

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 Car fatigue while running errands today. I love sleeping munchkin photos. I have to take them to remember how angelic she can be when she is a terror. (Um.... like tonight. Ouch for everyone!)

Punkin wanted to play wii with Daddy. So, I found her her own balance board so she wouldn't try to dance and jump on a little chair! It was super fun!

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Sad that there weren't any more presents to open. (Ironic since she got present fatigue and refused to open any more yesterdday....) So she made herself comfy under the tree to fill that void! Goof!

 Speaking of being a goof, she also decided to try on the super potato's mouth for size. I wonder where she got that idea.....

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 Christmas Photo OVERLOAD! Punkin playing with her Santa presents as she discovers each one! It was pretty magical.

 Punkin and KC trying out the new playdough kit while I make Christmas breakfast.

Punkin asked for Santa to bring her snow for Christmas. He delivered! Thanks Santa! Too bad we didn't have time to go sledding as we hoped we would be able to do.

 At Nana and Pop's house for Christmas afternoon.... Punkin decided to do Pop's hair!

 And skyping with one of KC's missionary brothers!

 And traditional holiday bowling took place on Christmas this year! Here is Aunt B helping Punkin push a ball down the lane.

Pops being a good sport with Punkin and her toy as we all return our shoes and figure out which family was the champs. (It wasn't us, despite KC's best efforts!)

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 I am sad my flash got messed up here, but, I couldn't NOT include this photo. Look at that excited face! How awesome is it to get to open up an "under the tree" gift a night early!

 My loves in their new Christmas jammies! Too bad Punkin's pants are so big that they fall off her as she walks! Looks like I am going to have to tack them up before she can wear them again.

 We got to skype-open presents with N and N! So fun! Too bad we couldn't see them in person at all this year. Let's not let that happen again, okay?

And... of course, my Birthday Party for Jesus cupcake. I need to finish food projects before dark to get better photos. Some day I'll learn.

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Of course, I failed to get a photo of Punkin in her super cute blue and sparkle Christmas dress. Instead, I captured her playing with this funky pen and little pad of paper that she got from her 12 days of Christmas presents today. Girlfriend was OBSESSED with this for a good 20 min. Thanks for the successful gift G-ma and co!

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Punkin's grandma sent her 12 days of Christmas presents to open leading up to Christmas. (Seriously awesome idea for a 2 year old who asks ever 5 min if she can open presents.) Look at her excitedly showing me today's package! Hopefully it isn't fragile!

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Punkin insisted on this outfit today... oy. Too bad we aren't in Maui for Christmas, she'd fit right in!

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First time Sledding! Punkin was in love until that "wet" feeling started to sink in.

 Christmas cards ready to mail! Faux chalkboard paint cards sealed with washi tape? Yeah, that is about as trendy as I will ever be....

We also made a "gingerbread" house with some graham crackers. It was a bit of a disaster, but Punkin LOVED the experience. We learned some lessons if we decided to ever try to make a house again. Please note the IF.....

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Playing in the snow from the safety of the garage. We are hoping that there will be snow on Christmas since that is all she is asking for from Santa.....

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Punkin LOVES coins. She calls them her "monies." Well, today I found in one of those "lingering from our big move" boxes this change sorter and a whole bag of change we used to keep on hand for laundry and meters. Punkin had a ball sorting out the "monies" that it kept her content for a good hour today.

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It is great having an uncle to teach you how to play the hand slap game, right? (She insisted on wearing the "beach princess" dress today. Seriously? December means nothing to her!)

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 Had to get the car towed from church today. Bright PINK tow truck, and this was the stick shift? A little creepy!!!

On a happier note, we also wrote letters to some missionaries tonight. This was Punkin's contribution. I find it lovely. (This is THE favorite shirt/dress right now. She asks to wear it multiple times a week.)

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Cookie exchange goodies! Most of the people did chocolate cookies. We now have a LOT of chocolate cookies.

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Daddy's work Christmas party. She was shy right here, but she cheered up once we let her run around. She found a friend and they literally ran circles around me most of the party. (Even running into the boss who seemed not to care at all.... so kind.)
After this, we went to see Santa at the mall. I have yet to scan that photo in. Not screaming, but not happy about it. Ironically she was talking about how so much she loves Santa before and after and how they are best friends and how he is so nice, etc.

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Stuffed mushrooms for the womens group from church's progressive dinner. Delicious!

December 12 on 12

1. In the wee hours of the morning I was quilting. 2. That late night quilting meant little one got some extra mickey time this morning. 3. Punkin built her own super road/train track! 4. Someone went crazy with the bathtub crayons on the outside of the tub while I was in the shower. 5. Fun snowman art we found on our way to lunch with one of my high school friends who lives here in town. 6. Playground! Until some bigger kids came and growled at her until she was super scared. 7. Car seat goof. 8. We painted cute ornaments. Unfortunately all the paint flaked off when we picked them up. 9. The shadow of our bannister all decorated for Christmas. 10. Tonight I let Punkin decorate the wrapping paper to use for gifts she got for people.  She LOVED the activity. (Any excuse to use markers, right?) 11. Dr. Punkin checkin my blood pressure. (Her favorite is checking for the heart beep.) 12. And puzzles for the evening. How fun!

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Wolverine Yoga.

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Punkin decided that our Christmas stockings should be worn like real stockings! She was so proud of herself! (Super ironic since the girl all but refuses socks.)

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Playing in the snow! It was our first snow adventure play time of the season! It was AWFUL trying to get her in her snow gear, but she had a lot of fun once we were there in the snow!

 

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My snow angel singing about her first snow! (And stealing my boot!)

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 Busy Day- It started with a tour of the new Judicial Building in Denver. We had a lot of fun. Our favorite part was checking out all of the "public art" installations . I apprecaited the "one size fits all" booties we had to wear. Punkin HATED them, but we thought it was pretty cute!

 We also had our church Christmas party. KC was our table captain. He had LOTS of fun leading us in "5 GOLDEN RINGS."

Punkin was terrifed of the rock band that played but she was really interested in Baby Jesus during the nativity.

 

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Playing possum. This girl loves to play sleep. I mean, look at that smile, she know's she  is up to something.

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Last day of the super long poney. We chopped it this afternoon. It still needs some touch up, but I need someone to distract her while I try to cut it. (Lesson learned.)

Local Restaurants

So my brother and SIL keep a food blog. They are foodies of the first degree. KC isn't, but I figured it would be good for us to keep a log of our food adventures.

My Big Fat Greek Restaurant - This is a SW Chain of Greek restaurants. With pretty good Greek Food. KC got a pasta dish that I thought was just weird. I had a more traditional Chicken Gyro-it was good. I would definitely go back, just not for the pasta. Oh, Punkin got some french fries because she ate earlier at home. She was more interested in the lemons and ice from the water glasses. (As usual.) It was located in an old Italian restaurant so the ambiance was pretty close, they even added some Greek Mythology murals. (Murals are great for toddler distraction.) They also had a fire breather and the wait staff did a traditional Greek dance around the restaurant every hour or so. It was pretty fun.

Squeak Soda Shop - So this was fun. It is set up deli style with the big chalkboards and such. The food was nothing amazing, but the sodas were fun. They are super sweet-made with cane sugar. Mine was a cola base so it wasn't too sweet, but KC and Punkin had fruit based ones and those drinks were SWEET! There were like 100 options of flavors and, for the non-cola drinks you could pick the color of your drink. Punkin's drink was half pink and half purple! There are games and such to play when you are at your table. And it just had a funky fun atmosphere. Also, it is a candy shop, so we picked up some candy for the road. It was a fun little family outing!

Kura Japanesse Restuarant - We came here for the Teppanyaki Grill. It was delightful. 1/3 of the restaurant is the grills, 1/3 is the sushi tables where you sit on the pillows and such, and the last 1/3 is normal tables. Our chef was fantastic. He even got KC to eat steak not well done. (That is amazing if you have ever had steak with KC.) He was entertaining, personable, and the food was delicious. We would be back regularly if only Teppanyaki was more in our regular price range.

Tucanos -  This place, while a chain, is new to town so it was PACKED. (The fact that it was Thanksgiving weekend I think only magnified that fact.) I love Brazilian Steakhouses and this one was no exception. For the price, it was even better. They even have a mean salmon dish! I also loved the raspberry lemonade, but the mango version you can pass on.

Thai Basil - Okay, so I am a Thai food snob. The flavor on this food was delicious. My noodles were slightly underdone and too skinny for the dish traditionally. Otherwise the flavor was great. They didn't give KC enough rice, but all in all it was delicious. In the future, I will only do take-out with them. The restaurant was too small/packed for my personal taste, esp. when entertaining a little one. Also, to get there from my house was tricky, it would be easier for KC just to pick it up on his way home from work the next time we decide to get Thai.

So those are the places we've checked out since we moved to town. Any recomendations of places to check out? I am excited about trying out the restaurant that is in an airplane!

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Santa hat skyping with Uncle N. Good times had by all. His funky work schedule has the small bonus of making moments like this possible at lunch time.

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Toddler Tantrums at the library leave us a little dishevelled looking, but we had fun with the farm felt board until some unruly boy ripped all the pieces out of her hands and wouldn't share. That is when we left the library. I swear, at this age sharing comes super easy or super difficult depending on their mood.

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 So our holiday activity for the day was to go see the Gingerbread "village" at the mall. 5 houses, even if they are delightful, do NOT constitute as a village. So, we decided to make some decorative and countdown chains instead.

 Punkin loved coloring her chain links and then making them "cozy in the tape blankey" to make them circular. Silly girl.