Christmas Eve

I am so grateful for the Christmas season and all the love felt during this time of year. We had some wonderful opportunities to serve and show love for those around us.

We spent Christmas Eve and morning with Andy's parents, grandpa and grandma, aunt and cousin. We had a delicious dinner at Andy's parents house and spent some time visiting before we let the kids open their Christmas Eve pajamas. I didn't make them this year, and they aren't even Chrismasy, but they all got some nonetheless. They were very excited to open a gift early!

The kids each get to choose where they leave their stocking for Santa to find, and place there it before bed. Kayman chose the fireplace and finally left it there after wearing his stocking for a while. He kept putting his foot into it and thought he was pretty funny! :)

Syd chose the green couch for all her loot.

And Jess chose the big green chair for hers.

Once we got that all settled we got the kids all bundled up and headed downtown to see the lights at Temple Square.

It is tradition with Andy's family to go to Temple Square on Christmas Eve, no matter how cold it is. Luckily it wasn't too bad this year. It was cold and everyone had frozen bums by the time we were done, but I have endured MUCH colder outings to Temple Square! It was so beautiful.

After the Temple we headed back to Andy's parents house to put the kids to bed. It was just about time for Santa to come and the kids were hoping we didn't miss him. They thought maybe we were out too long and he passed our area already. Luckily we got home and they feel asleep just in time.

Syd was very excited about the digital camera santa brought her. She loves taking pictures!
Kayman's got another football! Jess picked this out for him.
Jess getting loves from Nana.

Everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the morning at Andy's parents and then headed to my parents for a while. After a gift exchange at my parents house we headed to my Uncle's house to spend some time with my extended family. It was such a wonderful day! I love spending so much time with family. We are so lucky to have so much family so close. We did miss Andy's siblings and their families though.

Christmas evening was spent putting away all our new treasures and packing for our upcoming vacation. We were headed to Maui in 2 days!

Dancing

The girls started taking dance at Vision Dance in September and have learned SO much! They have great teachers who have taught them very well. They have both improved so much since they started there!

Jessica has become so flexible and gained so much balance! Syd is getting more flexible and is so strong. She works very hard to be sure to get each step right. They both pay a great deal of attention to detail and practice a lot! They really enjoy dancing!

Syd danced to toe Nutcracker song and did such a great job. She has wonderful stage presence. She smiled beautifully the entire time and didn't miss a step!
The pictures I got of Jess were too far back and she was behind another girl the whole time so they didn't turn out. Luckily we got video of her dance. She danced to Mariah Carey's version of "Santa Claus is coming to town" and it was adorable! She took it very seriously and practiced at least 5 times a day as she was learning it!

I am so excited that they both love to dance and that we are able to take them to such a great studio!

A home visit!

On Sunday afternoon Syd asked me if she could borrow my gold pen (an old fashioned one that you dip into ink) to write Santa a letter. She was just getting it out when there was a knock at the door. I answered it and we were all surprised with a very unexpected visitor! Santa came to our house! Big red bag full of toys and all! He came in and and asked the kids what they want for Christmas.

Syd was in shock! She couldn't take her eyes off him! She told him she wants an American Doll, Baby Alive and make-up.

Jessica was thrilled and told him she wants make-up too. That's all she could remember when faced with the man himself!

Kayman sat on his lap but leaned as far away from him as possible. He wasn't scared of him, just a little unsure of why this strange man was holding him and talking to him.

Santa made sure to tell the kids to remember Jesus on Christmas because that is what Christmas is all about. He then gave them all a toy. The girls got new dolls and Kayman got a little stuffed animal. They were all SO happy! What a special day!

Thanks Santa for the personal visit!

Syd was very interested in his car. He drove a red car that Syd remembered seeing at church on Sundays. I quickly told her that his "helper" that came with him goes to our church (Syd recognized her too) and Santa was borrowing her car. She is a little too observant sometimes!

Big 2 year old!

Happy Birthday Kayman! My baby is 2 years old! My little man is growing up way too fast! He has changed so much in the last few months, it's amazing to me. He has found his sense of humor and loves to make us all laugh. He LOVES fire and was excited (although it's not obvious from the picture) to have some lit candles on his birthday cake.

He didn't love all the attention though. There were about 15 people singing Happy Birthday to him and he got pretty shy. He just started this hiding behind his hand thing recently and does it whenever he gets embarrassed.
He loved his gift from his great grandma. She gave him a little teddy bear that he carries around everywhere.
Syd and Jess helped him open his other gifts. He got some puzzles, bean bags, stacking blocks and a big monkey pillow! He loves it all!
I absolutely adore this little boy. He is my little man. I love the way he giggles so hard when I tickle him, the way he kisses each cheek and then my lips, the way he turns my head to look at him when he wants to tell me something, his new dance moves, his independence, the way he looks at me as he runs away when I try to get him dressed, that he cares so much what shoes he wears, that he loves having his hair fixed, that he tackles his sisters already, the goofy faces he makes at me, and that he loves to cuddle up on the couch and watch Nemo with me. He is the most loving boy. I am so grateful for him and the joy he has brought to me. Happy Birthday Man! Love you forever!

Thanksgiving weekend

We headed to St. George to spend Thanksgiving with my family. My parents have a place down there that they purchased with the intent to flip, but now they have fallen in love with the house and all the amenities that go along with it. Our whole family is able to stay there without feeling crowded.

We had 19 people sleeping there, and ended up with about 25 there for Thanksgiving dinner, and everybody had something to do without getting in anybody's way. They house is very accommodating to large groups, and is equipped with a pool, hot tub, pool table, theatre, game table, trampoline, and basketball court. Everyone had a great time just being together at the house. We were all there most of the weekend spending time together, and everyone was busy so there was no reason to leave the house! It was a wonderful weekend!

Here is Jess showing off her turkey she made in Preschool. She really wanted to take it with us, but was okay with just taking a picture with it instead.

The traditional Thanksgiving morning football game. I was the official camera (wo)man. Good thing, cause I'm not much of an athlete. They played at the Encampment Mall at Dixie College.

Kayman kept running out on the field thinking he'd like to play a little football too!

My two guys wiped out from the game!

This is my dad with his 2 most recent interests. The house behind him is the one spoken of earlier in the post. My dad has spent the last few months completely remodeling the house...I mean completely! He moved the staircase, tore out and re-built walls, basically stripped the place to the studs and floorboards and changed the entire look of it. He was the contractor and did much of the work. He has such vision and it turned out so beautiful! I love my dad and am so grateful for his generosity!

And the motorcycle. He just purchased it and is off to ride around St. George with one of his buddies.

This was definitely the best Thanksgiving ever! We spent lots of time together as a family and with lots of extended family we rarely get to see. Thanks mom and dad for sharing your home with us and for helping us so much with the kids! We love you and are SO grateful for you!

I am very grateful for my family and for how close we all are. I am so blessed to live close to them and to get to see them all so often. I love my children and my sweet husband. I am so blessed.

All I want for Christmas...

...is my 2 front teeth!

It's been about a year since the tooth fairy has visited our house...until last week! Syd lost another tooth. It was hanging by a thread so she just pulled it out! She came running in the room and just said, "Tooth Fairy!" and showed me her tooth! She was so proud of herself for pulling it out by herself.

Her top front tooth is also just about out also. It's starting to stick out and discolor, as you can tell from the picture. She's learned and is prepared to sing the song "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth."

One, Two, Buckle my shoe

Syd had her first presentation at school! She memorized the nursery rhyme "One Two Buckle my Shoe" and presented it to her Kindergarten class and lots of parents. She didn't even get too nervous. We came up with some signs I could give her from across the room to prompt her if she forgot, and she only needed my help 2 times!

One, Two, Buckle my shoe

Three, Four, knock on the door

Five, Six, pick up sticks

Seven, Eight, lay them straight

Nine, Ten, big fat hen

Eleven, Twelve, dig and delve

Thirteen, Fourteen, maids in courting

Fifteen, Sixteen, maids in the kitchen

Seventeen, Eighteen, maids in waiting

Nineteen, Twenty, my plate's empty

I had never heard the whole thing before so we learned it together. Syd took a shovel for her prop and pretended to dig during the line "dig and delve." She did so great! I was so proud of her.