Christmas 2011

It's about time I blog about Christmas!!!

Last year we started the tradition of getting Build-a-Bears for Christmas.  The kids made their bears several months ago then I wrapped them up.  They were going to be for Christmas Eve, but we ended up opening them not he 23rd, just to keep the peace!

I really think we have enough of these bears!

Christmas Eve pajama opening.  They can't wait to do this, so they did it first thing in the morning.

Christmas Eve tradition of swimming!  This is one of their favorite parts of the holiday. 

Christmas Eve dinner with Todd's family.  We started the tradition of making rice krispie treat houses a few years ago.  The kids do a great job.

The nativity by the cousins.

Mitchell's new hat.  So funny!

Santa brought Mickey & Minne for Mitchell & Emma.  They were seated at the table when the kids came down in the morning.

Ready to tear into the loot!

Sideways view of the mess from the opening.  That saucer sled has yet to be used!!  No snow.

We got a Disney waffle maker.  Not quite as good as the ones on our cruise, but still fun.

Ready for church.  The kids did well during church considering it was Christmas.  Mitchell was even a little disappointed to not get to go to nursery.  

We rushed up to grandma & grandpa's house after the meeting.

We like to do a picture by grandma's tree each year.  The kids were less than cooperative this time.

Ava & Emma got Minnie shirts.  From the back these two look like they should be the twins!

It was a great, exhausting Christmas!  As we left my sister reminded me, "Only 366 days until Christmas!"

December randoms

December was crazy busy as usual!  

Sarah wanted Nutcracker tickets.  We saw Ballet West's version at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake.  We had a great time & loved the show.

Todd & I took Mason & Sarah to see Jon Schmidt's Christmas Concert.  It was a great show, but got a bit long for Mason.  He was thrilled when it was over & sad when Jon came back on for an encore number.

Mason's first grade class did a little Christmas program.  It was really cute.

Emma had a little performance for ballet.  She was not very cooperative at first, then got into it.  She loves going to ballet class.  Mitchell was pretty good for it but by the end he was ready to be done!

Sarah's in her school's special choir, "Shelley Sounds".  They performed at a mall one night (so Sarah had to miss her ballet class performance night).  They also performed at school for all the grades.

Sarah with some friends after their performance.

Sarah & Mason went to Temple Square with some friends.  Sarah had her camera so she's got a few fun pictures of the evening.

This is Emma not cooperating in ballet.  She was great until she remembered Grandma & mom were watching her, then she'd do her "candy cane" pose as I like to call it.

I think this sums up most of our busy month leading up to Christmas.

Mason is 7!

Mason loves cinnamon rolls, so he got to have them for breakfast on his birthday.

My kids can never wait to open their birthday presents, so right after breakfast he dug in.

Mason has wanted a motor scooter for a long time.  Todd found this online.  It was a bit larger than we thought it was going to be, but Mason thought it was GREAT!!!

Mason got dressed super fast so he could give his new scooter a spin.  It's a bit big for him but he got the hang of it pretty quickly.  Good thing he's a tall kid.

On Saturday after Mason's birthday we partied!  He had a friend party at his karate studio.  Best birthday party ever from my point of view.  All I had to do was bring the cake.  The kids seemed to like it too!

Our party day continued with our family party that night.  We had a special visitor again.  Santa brought each child a present.  He even brought something for grandmas & grandpas (much to their delight).

Mitchell liked Santa a little more than he had the previous year.  He even knew Santa's name.

We had a family picture with Santa, but Emma wanted nothing to do with it.  Oh well.

The kids were so excited to open their presents from Santa.

Saying goodbye to Santa & hoping to catch a glimpse of his sleigh.

Mason has more presents!!!!

Breton was feeling a bit festive.

Mason got mint brownies for his family party cake.

Whew.  What a weekend!  It's a good thing Mason's birthday is only once a year!