Must be Santa

Once again our ward family went above and beyond for our kids.  Last weekend the kids were invited to a Polar Express party at the church.  They got to wear their pajamas, bring their blankets and watch the movie on the big screen.  They also ate donuts and drank chocolate milk.  Then to top it all off, they got to visit with Santa!! 

Andrew didn't want anything to do with Santa, he did however have no problem taking the candy cane he was offered. 

Noah had a similar reaction.

Taylor was very excited to see him and tell him what she wanted this year.  Taylor is sweet and didn't want much this year.

Ellie and Santa, she brought her friend to help tell him what she wanted.

Joslyn telling Santa that she wanted a Lalaloopsy doll.  Something Justin and I didn't know about until last week.  But I am a strong believer that if you ask Santa for something, he will bring it.  Except once, when I asked for a balance beam.  Santa couldn't get one for me, but he wrote me a nice letter explaining why. 

Taylor's Christmas performances!!

Taylor has been one busy little lady this season.  She was in a 2nd grade Christmas program and in a ballet recital, in the same week!  First on Thursday I went and saw the school program, it was actually just the dress rehearsal, but it was still so good.  The kids sang 4 really cute Christmas songs.  They dances too, and all at the same time!  I really couldn't believe how well it put together.  I am so grateful that the kids have great teachers!  I am sure they spent lots of time practicing.  I will try to put a video clip on later, but it might be beyond my talents as a blogger and computer user, we will see.  Then on Friday night, Taylor had a dance recital.  She has been taking dance for three years now.  There is a sweet lady in our ward who teaches all the girls for free.  Each year they all work so hard to put together a performance.  Taylor was in 4 dances this year and did a great job.  She has lots of talent and a ballerina build!  She really enjoys it and I hope she wants to continue.  So, things have settled down a little bit.  We had school parties today, and then the kids have one more day tomorrow. Then I think we might be able to relax a little bit.  They haven't needed me to work at the hospital for a couple of months and I am so grateful, I don't think I could have done one more thing!  I can't wait to snuggle with the kids and celebrate, all we need is a little snow.  

A close up of Tay and some of the kids in her class.

I was really impressed with the moves those 2nd graders had!

Taylor in one of her costumes for the recital, this was for her Nightmare before Christmas dance.  She did cartwheels and everything!

House decorating

These are pics of our annual gingerbread house decorating.  This year we each did our own little house.  I have learned that this works the best.  Like I mentioned before we have been doing something special each night in December to celebrate Christmas.  I want the kids to really enjoy this time of year.  The only one missing from this activity was Andrew, he was already asleep.  I have a feeling he would have just wanted to eat all of the candy anyway.  Oh and the best part of this story is that the next morning I found Noah covered in red frosting.  We had some left over and in the middle of the night he went into the kitchen got it and took it to his room to eat.  It was high on the counter, but I guess he climbed up on a chair to get it.  It was a mess!!  Oh well, he needed a bath anyway. 

Taylor's house was kind of tricky because it was two stories, but she did a great job.

Noah and Justin worked on one together.

Ellie's did all of her decorating by herself.

Joslyn's turned out so well that Justin didn't believe that she did it herself.  She was so careful.



After a while the kids started to get a little crazy, adding faces to the houses.  This is how Ellie looks when she gets silly.




Sweet Jos



Here is Tay's silly face.



Justin of course stayed very serious and worked very hard on his house.



 The princess festival at the Provo Towne Center Mall was so fun!  They put together sets and take you through an interactive musical show.  The kids get to be so close to the performers and talk to them.  My kids and one other little girl were the only ones there, so they basically got the whole thing to themselves.  We walked from room to room as the story progressed and met new characters.  The sets were really well done and the dancing and singing were great.  My kids all loved it!  The best part was that it was all included in our pass of all passes.  I have been trying to do something everyday with all the kids to celebrate Christmas and this was a perfect activity.


One of the cute princesses that kept the kids entertained until the show started.

 


She read princess stories to the kids, so cute! 

 

The performers inside the play, they did a great job.  The sets were amazing too.



Holiday Photos by Taylor Lynn

Taylor took the camera around a few days ago and took some lovely pictures of the house and kids. They turned out so well that I thought I would share them with you! I am a bit behind on all of our Christmas activites....I have lots of pictures to post. Holiday parties, dance recitals, school programs, pics with santa, all coming soon!!

Hair and makeup salon

The other day, Taylor and her friend Ariana put together a little hair and makeup salon in our front bathroom. It was really cute and it kept them entertained for hours. They did the other girls hair and makeup and even made a cute sign for the door. I love the kid's imagination!

Family pics 2011

Family Pictures, We finally got our family pictures, and I shouldn't have waited so long. It was so cold and windy that day that everyone was miserable. We managed to get a few good shots, but you can see that the group pictures didn't turn out so well. But, we got enough to send out our Christmas card and thats all that matters! December is especially busy for us this year, we have dance recitals, school programs, and I have been putting together a special church activity. So, I haven't had much time for blogging. I hope I can get caught up soon.

Pumpkin patch

I can't believe I forgot to post all of these cute pictures! A few weeks ago I went with Joslyn's preschool to a pumpkin patch. I took the boys with me and we had tons of fun. The only hard thing was that a ton of other preschoolers were there having fun too. It was such a nice day, not too cold. The kids saw farm animals, played on a playground,went through a corn maze, walked through a lighted alley, and of course picked a pumpkin. Andrew LOVED the animals, he was screaming the whole time. Apparently the chickens were the most amusing of all the animals. Noah had lots of fun too, he thought he was so big hanging out with the older kids. I love being able to go on field trips with the kids. They have a pretty awesome teacher too, which makes it even more fun.