American Girl Doll Bed

Just before Christmas I built this doll bed for Amelia with the help of some good friends.  It was such a fun, yet intense project!  I only managed to just barely get it done in time, and all the bedding (including the mattress) was made in one night!  Not my best work, but I'm pretty sure Amelia and the dolls love it!  It was so exciting to put it under the tree for Amelia to find on Christmas morning.

Painting Ceramics

The day after Christmas we all went to a paint your own ceramics place and let the kids pick out something to make.  Jack teamed up with Mike and chose a little dog that he named "Scarfie."  Colin partnered with Grandpa Chin and painted a cool jet.  Amelia and Grandma Debi worked on a tea pot.

Christmas Stuff

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting about our Christmas.  We stayed in Philly again this year, and although we missed our family back in AZ, it was wonderful.

This very lame photo represents our trip to NYC with Ginny, who came to town to see Amelia in the Nutcracker.  My camera was on the fritz that day, so I wasn't able to really get any photos at all, except this one at the M&Ms store.  It was chilly, but fun to be in the city and see the holiday decor.  We met Jim's son, Jason, for lunch, rode the carousel at Toys R Us, let the kids pick out their own bag of M&Ms, and ate a yummy Thai dinner.  The kids were thrilled to go to FAO Schwartz to pick out their Christmas presents.  It was a really nice trip.

Here's a photo of us playing Uno with Mike's Dad and Debi, who came out for Christmas.  The kids get more and more into it each year!

Here we are after eating lunch at the Dandelion Pub.