Preschool Christmas Program

Doing her part with a smile! ;-)

Mini meltdown!

Emma's awesome teacher, Ms. Jani!

Yeah, a smile!

Today was Emma's preschool Christmas program. She was so excited and knew her part by heart. We got to the library and she found her seat up front. Shortly before it started she got very scared and had a little bit of a melt down. After several deep breaths and a tissue she agreed to go back up and sit with the other kids. It took several minutes and a few of her favorite songs to get her back into the happy mood. By the time it came to her part she got up and did a great job. She said, "Please wait while we get Christmasy". The program was very well done and all the kids had fun. Ms. Jani is such a great teacher and Emma loves her to pieces. We are so greatful for all she teaches Emma!

Ballet Christmas Recital

Last Saturday Emma had her ballet Christmas recital. She did such a great job and we love watching her perform. Martina is such a great teacher and is so great and patient with Emma. The dances were great and so were the costumes. Emma had so much fun!

This is both classes posing for their group picture.

Emma in her cute little candy cane tutu!

They danced to "Fairies" from the Nutcracker.

CooCoo for Cocoa Puffs

The other day Jax decided he would bust into the pantry and get himself a snack of Cocoa Puffs. This is the result. There was so much cereal on the floor (it was almost a completely full box) that even the dogs got sick of them and gave up. So now all the cereal has found a home on a higher shelf. Live and learn I guess.

Aaww!

I just thought these were so cute and I needed to share! I love my little spuds!

The Joy of Having a Big Sister

I think the pictures speak for themselves. Such a good sport!!!

Christmas Tree Decorating

Okay, so Ryan put the tree all together and of course the strand of lights right in the middle was out, it's a prelit tree. So we wanted to get it fixed before putting on the decorations. After about 3 days of waiting, impatiently I should add, Emma decided to wait no more. She decorated the tree her way and put some of her prized items from her shelves on the tree. If you look close you will see her glass ladybug doll, a pair of doll shoes, and a doll dress her Great-Grandma Flegal made her a few years ago. She also put items wrapped in toilet paper around the bottom of the tree and told me that Santa wouldn't come until the tree was beautiful for him. What a character.

So finally Ryan just took off the offending strand, one bad thing about prelit trees, and I just added a normal strand. Which I have to say doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would. Emma and I started to decorate with the round glass balls. I put on a gold one and before I could even turn around and pick up another one that Emma had put a hook onto Jax had snatched it off the tree and thrown it across the living room floor where in proptly shattered into a million pieces. He thought it was great and eagerly looked at the next one in my hand ready to go onto the tree. So I made an executive decision and if you look closely at this picture you will notice that our ornaments this year are only above the garland that Emma made. We put the garland up at the level of his reach so we knew how high the ornaments had to be. Emma was a little disappointed because it's hard for her to see all the ornaments, but when I explained that it's this or only lights, she was happy with only half the ornaments. So here's my tree for this year. We'll see how next years looks.

Christmas Tag

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I love wrapping Christmas gifts and using fun big bows. But I have to say I use gift bags for those not so fun shaped gifts, with a big bow on it of course.

2. Real or Artificial tree? Artificial. Nothing beats an easy artificial prelit tree to make the season bright.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Shortly after New Year's.

5. Do you like eggnog? Can't stomach the stuff, but Ryan likes it in small amounts.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The My Little Pony Paradise Estate. The box it came in was bigger than me and I actually still have it. Basically anything My Little Pony or Barbie was ideal.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Ryan's dad and my dad. Never know what to get!

8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids. They like anything! Jax would still be happy with just the wrapping paper.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes and I love it. Ryan a few years ago built me a stable out of scrap wood from him brother's fence and it is the perfect size and the perfect look. My nativity scene is my favorite Christmas decoration I have.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I've never heard of emailing Christmas cards, how impersonal. Definitely mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I'm not sure. Probably when my parents would get us underwear a present. Who wan't to open that in front of your brother and sisters? I guess it could have been worse and been a bra!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I love the cheesy old school Christmas cartoons, Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman. I also love the Charlie Brown Christmas and the Grinch cartoon.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I shop the entire year, that way I'm not trying to buy everything all at once. Plus if I see something great early on then I get it and just hang on to it.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Oh, probably.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Anything sweet.

16. Lights on the tree? Of course, who doesn't have lights on their tree?

17. Favorite Christmas song? O, Holy Night.

18. Travel or stay home at Christmas? We stay home and travel to Phoenix either at Thanksgiving or just after Christmas. Too hard to go day of with little ones.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph.

20. Angel or star on the tree-top? Star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Morning? We open Christmas pajamas the night before and then everything else Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People in too much of a rush. That and over played Christmas songs, esp the one about a little boy buying shoes for his mom. I know it's cute and all, but do we really have to hear it at least 4 to 6 times a day.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love red and gold together. But anything goes.

24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I love homemade rolls. Nothing better.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To see my family, but that will have to wait until shortly after.

Gobble, Gobble!

We had such a great Thanksgiving! There is so much to be thankful for that I could take up an hour of your time by listing them all. I'm especially thankful for my amazing husband, my beautiful children, and for my faith. I'm also greatful for family, friends and good food ;-). We had a wonderful time with my in-laws this year. It was a quiet, but perfect day! I hope you all had a great day and I just wanted to send my love. Happy Thanksgiving!

What is so great about toilet paper?

Okay, so this is what I found when I entered my bathroom this morning. What is so great about toilet paper that makes kids play with it, eat it, or drag it around the house? I guess it's the same concept as giving a kid a cardboard box and they are happy for hours. Now I know what will be under the Christmas tree for Jax, a big cardboard box full of toilet paper.

Once There Was a Snowman or Snowgirl

Emma has been dying for the snow since, well, last winter/spring when it all melted. So last week when it snowed she came running in our bedroom and announced "Merry Christmas" because there was now snow. We had to explain that just because there was snow didn't mean it was Christmas Day. She was a little disappointed, but quickly got over it when Ryan suggested they build a snowman. But Emma didn't want that, she wanted a snowgirl. So here is the result of their interesting snowperson. Looks more like Jaba the Hut to me, but I could be mistake. Emma had so much fun, but then quickly became upset when the weather started warming back up and her snowgirl began to melt. She was even more upset when Barkley, one of our Shih-Tzu's, proceded to use the pile of snow as his pee mound. We however promised her that the next time it snows we'll make another one. She became excited again and we escaped an emotional meltdown. Whew!

Jax's Monkey Crawl

Before Jax was walking and even a little still, he had this insanely fast and hysterical crawl. We nicknamed it the Monkey Crawl. This is only a short clip of it, but he would literally keep up with the dogs. He was so fast and it is so funny that I just had to share. Enjoy!

Sleeping Beauty

Emma has a way of falling asleep in the strangest places. The other day, for example, she fell asleep on her Primary teacher by leaning her head in her hand with her elbow on her teachers knee. She then proceded to start snoring during singing time, ugh! Well, here is a picture I captured of her sleeping in our office in her old booster seat that was upside down. She is all curled up inside of it and she has fallen asleep while snacking on her favorite, Lays Stax. I was working on the computer and only knew she had fallen asleep because the chip crunching stopped and the snoring began. Thanks my girl!

Crazy Face

Ryan's nephew, Sean, taught Jax the face that he is making in this picture. He constantly pulls it and he know that when he does it will always make us crack up. The fun thing about it is that Sean taught the exact same face to Emma when she was the same age and she would always make it to get us to laugh. It is the funniest face and I just wanted to thank Sean for teaching such mind blowingly important things to our children ;-).

Trick-or-Treat

We had so much fun "Trick-or-Treating". We finally had the first warm Halloween in 5 years. Thank goodness, you try getting a jacket over a pair of Tinkerbell wings. As you can see, Emma was Tinkerbell, and after wearing her costume to our ward Trunk-or-Treat, her Waterford Institute party, her ballet class party, and her preschool party, the wings had already started to take a beating. Jax on the other hand didn't much care for wearing his costume. I think he threw the hat overboard (over the side of the stroller) at least a dozen times. Plus he kept trying to take the cute little jacket off. But I think I had the cutest Tinkerbell and Captain Hook in history.