Christmas 2009

Looks Like Santa Came.

Opening Their Gift From Moama And Pops In The Garage.






All Settled Down For Their Long Winter's Nap.

We had a wonderful Christmas! We were very blessed. Nana and Tata were able to come from Arizona to spend the holiday with us. The kids of course were spoiled. We had Moama and Pops over for Christmas Dinner with us. Mackay got a magic kit for Christmas and he became a magician within a few hours with a little help from his Tata. After Christmas dinner Mackay put on a impressive magic show (look out Chris Angel!). It was so cute to watch him perform and take bow after each trick. Well only 363 more days until next Christmas just in case you were wondering.

All Aboard!!!

Last night in 2 below weather we took a ride on the Polar Express to the North Pole (AKA Grand Canyon Railway) . Yes, it was a quick trip and yes, my whole body was numb from the cold and yes, it was totally worth every minute! To see the smiles on my kids faces and to see them in such aww and having so much fun is just priceless! They never once complained about being cold, that was just me and my toes. They had a blast! They got on the train and sang their hearts out it was so cute. We will definitely be doing this again next year!

"Hot Hair"

The boys aren't all that into getting dressed up but boy is my little Hallie Kate. She was so excited to wear her new dress to church on Sunday. I think she is the cutest little girl ever of course, but it made her eyes look so amazing! My kidos all have some pretty blues :) The boys looked cute as ever too (sorry boys I mean handsome ). Hallie is getting to the age where she likes me to do her hair how she wants it. I think because it is cold out she wants it hot. Let me translate. This means she wants it blow dried for sure and sometimes a few curls put in it and since both of those must be hot to work she requests, "hot hair". Anyways these are some pics of my cute kids and some, "hot hair".

Gingerbread House Center Piece!

This year we are having Christmas dinner at our house. We are lucky to have Nana and Tata coming in from Arizona to spend Christmas with us. Moama and Pops will also be joining us for Christmas dinner. I am so excited and a little nervous for my first holiday meal gathering at my house. I know I will have a lot of help though. My kids have always wanted to do a real gingerbread house (we always do the foam ones). So we braved one last night with them. It turned out pretty cute and so we have decided that it will be the center piece for our Christmas dinner.

Deck The Halls!

Love to deck them. It is the undecking that is a agonizing. So last year I threw away the old bows for the tree that I had made years ago because they were falling apart. My crafty friend Sole came to my rescue and helped me out in making some new ones. I must say the bows look good with the new paint on my walls and that would be thanks to Sole's husband Chance for doing such a great paint job ( if you are looking for a good painter I would highly recommend him).
The kids had been anticipating getting the Christmas decorations up since Halloween (okay so let me be honest so was I). Anyways it was the boys job to set the tree up and get it going and I unpacked all the other decorations. The ornaments are so much fun to go through. Thanks to Robert's mom (Moema) who is very big on the yearly ornaments we have one to remind us of all the past years. Each one having a special meaning behind them. We have all of the ones that she bought for Robert growing up and now she has helped us start them for our kids. Don't get me wrong I love the designer looking trees but I love looking back on the ornaments each year and remembering what the kids were into or what we did that year. We put a twist on our tree we do the ornaments from past years and then to put a touch of "design" to it we put the matching bows and garland.
Now the decorations are up we can sit back and enjoy them.

Bringing in the holiday excitement!

Every year Rob's work sponsor's Opportunity Village and so we get to go in and experience it before it opens to the public. We actually went before Thanksgiving so yes, this is another belated blog post. It is always so much fun because it gets us excited for the Christmas season. The Christmas lights are always fantastic. The kids look forward to this every year. Their favorite thing is the train ride through the Magical Forest, and of course the goody bag.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love getting to spend time with family that we do not see very often. I love ironically enough the chaos of it all. The kids running around with their cousins and the rushing around in the kitchen to get the food prepared and the noise of everyone chatting and of course TV with the football game blaring in the background. It all just creates that memorable Thanksgiving atmosphere for me, to which I am so very grateful for.

I am thankful for the beautiful family that I have been blessed with! I am thankful for....

Robert...

that heart melting smile,

being the most amazing father to our children,

making me laugh,

loving me,

being my rock,

etc.

Mackay...

being the best big brother,

sweet smile,

our fellow discovery channel enthusiast,

for helping me cook,

for making us smile,

ect.

Jonah...

being the entertainer of the group,

for his big bear hugs,

sweet smile,

for making us smile,

ect.

Hallie...

sweet smile,

infectious giggle,

her love for her big brothers,

for making us smile,

ect.

I am so thankful for all of my family and friends we are truly blessed.

Trick Or Treat But.........

"Mommy I don't wanna smell my feet!" This is what Hallie replied every time I asked her if she was ready to go trick or treating. I guess she had heard her brothers say the phrase "trick or treat smell my feet" one too many times and she had interpreted it wrong. Well needless to say she did end up going after all and had a great time. We went across the street for a Halloween party at our neighbors house and then we all went out trick or treating together. They had tons of fun. This year we had Jonah as GI Jonah and Mackay went as the Unknown Phantom and Hallie went has the beautiful Snow White, or as she called herself No White.