Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was so much fun! I just love how magical it is for the kids. The night before Aspen was so anxious, she was sure if we didn't hurry home and get in bed that Santa wasn't going to come. Santa left a present in the kids room's so when they woke up they were extra excited. I was already awake so I just laid there listening to all there little squeals of delight, it was probably my favorite part of the day. After we were done opening our presents we headed over to Gardner's for a yummy breakfast, and more presents. We stayed there all day, the kids played with their new toys, the boys played Nintendo, and the girls played games, It was Fun!

Later that afternoon we headed over to Thompson's for a yummy dinner, and more presents! Then we stayed there all night while the kids played with their new toys and the adults played rock band, (my Dad got the new Beatles version). It was a long, day, we all went home that night happy and exhausted.

Zoe got her own little karaoke machine and sang in it all night long, she loves it!

Christmas Eve...

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We went back to Bethlehem, and saw the Wisemen, Shepherd's, the Angel, and the Star. It was Fun, my Dad was the narrator and he even wore his authentic clothes from Jerusalem. All the kids had parts, and sang solos. We all felt the spirit, it was a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Zoe was a Wiseman

Aspen was the AngelChase was a ShepherdAnd Scott was the star (he would not dress up, but he would hold up a star)

Chase and Aspen sang "The First Noel" for everyone

Christmas Eve Eve...

We spent Wednesday night with the Gardner's, and even though it wasn't Christmas eve we still stuck with tradition. We made homemade pizza's, sand karaoke, played games, went hot tubing, and opened our Christmas PJ's.

Everyone loved their new pj'sMatt and Rick don't ever wear their pj's so they always get Christmas Eve tools.Chase forgot his swimsuit, so he wore Scott's. And on the way out the door he decided to sing some karaoke. Funny kid!Matt and Rick had no idea what we were laughing at, when they sat down next to each other like this on the couch.Zoe was a little tired by the end of the night.

Visit's with Santa...

The kids ran into Santa a few times this month. He showed up at a couple of Aspen's shows, and at some different Christmas parties, and we even made a special trip to the mall to see him too. The girls were consistent. every time he asked them what they wanted they told him make-up. Scott was consistent, every time he saw him he wanted nothing to do with him. Chase on the other hand asked for something different every time. At first it was a race car track, and then it was a bike, and then it was a magician set complete with a cape, hat, wand, cards and anything else magical (except a bunny to put int he hat, he already had one of those.) Well I missed that, I didn't pay attention that last time, and was pretty surprised on Christmas Eve to hear what he was expecting...

Christmas Programs,,,

Yes this is really late, but my computer kicked the bucket so rather that constant blog updates I have a feeling it is going to be more like monthly blog barfs ( you know 10 posts at a time). Anyway, The kids all had their school Christmas programs a couple weeks ago. Aspen's and Chase's was a Christmas sing, and Zoe's was a play. Zoe's was a learning experience for us. We learned that she does not like to perform. This is shocking news, because she pretends to perform all the time. She will tell us to watch her show and then she will sing and dance for us just like Aspen does. But when the show started she lasted about three minutes and then she started crying and ran off the stage. It wasn't like she was performing by herself or anything. There were 50 other kids up there with her, but she did not like it.

Here she is before it started, all smiles !

Matt talked her into going back up there but she would only go if he came with her, so Matt joined the preschool Christmas program.

Matt brought each of the girls a rose for after their performances...
Here is Aspen with her friends Bryce and Lexi after they sang...

This is at Zoe's Dance performance. The same thing happened here, she cried and ran off the stage. But we bribed her with a treat so she ended up going back up and finishing her Dance.