We had a geat Christmas this year. Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner and did all of our Christmas traditions. The next morning Ellie and I were up by 5:30 but let the boys sleep til 7. Santa was good to us this year and brought us a Wii. Our family has had so much fun playing it. We also got quite a few games that we really enjoy. We spent Christmas day lounging around, playing games, and eating lots of food.



I love this video. Caden and Ellie ran right to their stockings and started pulling out the candy that was on top. The stockings were right next to the Wii but it took them several minutes to realize that.

We have gotten a lot of snow over the past week but it has been so cold we haven't been really able to go out and play. The sun was shining today and it made it up into the 20's so when max went down for a nap Ellie, Caden and I went out to play. The snow was too dry to make a snow man but it packed nicely into our sand pail so we decided to make snow people. Can you tell who is who?

 

I attempted to get some fun photos for our Christmas card this year but not one photo turned out. After a lot of water, suds, and tears this is what we got. Enjoy!

This is what I was going for:

We finally got our first snow of the season. Ellie and Caden were so excited. It started snowing Friday night and we had a couple inches by Saturday morning. The kids wanted to make a snowman but the snow was too dry. Maxwell hated the snow and only lasted one minute outside. Caden was that way last year so we weren't too surprised. We've gotten more snow today and it is COLD. It supposed to be -4 tonight.

Ellie had her first dance recital last night. She looked so beautiful and did a great job. The HS auditorium was packed. She has only been to 12 classes (thursdays since september) but she had the rountine memorized and has been doing "shows" for us at home. They were swans and performed a dance from Swan Lake. It was fun to watch and Ellie absolutely LOVED performing. Enjoy the pics of my little ballerina and a short video. (Ellie is in the front left, sorry the video quality is so poor).

My poor boys have been sick since Thanksgiving passing the cold/flu back and forth to each other. Yesterday Caden wouldn't even get out of bed. He didn't want breakfast or to go to school. I knew it was bad. Sure enough just after I had left to volunteer at Ellies school he started throwing up. Poor guy. Lucky for me Ryan was the one to clean it all up. He is feeling great today and his teacher was nice enough to bring by all the stuff for gingerbread houses since he missed it at school. Thanks Miss Mindy!






The festivities are in full swing. Wednesday night I went to a cookie exchange. I tried out a new recipe. Chocolate cookies with sea salt on top. They were so rich and so yummy. Thursday night was the EQ christmas party. We had a dinner and a white elephant gift exchange. Alway very entertaining.

The snow is on its way. By tomorrow morning we should wake up to a beautiful white snow. Can't wait.

Ellie and I went to the nutcracker ballet on Saturday. This was Ellie's 2nd time seeing it. I took her back when she was three. We both really enjoyed it. The costumes were fantastic. Then we went out to dinner at Red Robin and took a carriage ride around the shops at the old mill. We did a little christmas shopping then headed home. We both had a lot of fun.

Since we haven't seen ANY snow this year we thought we would make our own snowflakes. Ryan is quite the master and Ellie is pretty good too.

We had our first Christmas Party of the year this past weekend. Our ward had a nice dinner and a program. Then we had a special visit from santa. Each auxilary was in charge of a tree to donate to charity. The primary did a warm clothes tree, the RS a gift card tree, the YW a book, bear and blanket tree, the EQ an underwear tree, and the YM a hygiene tree. We also made goal buckets to put our goal for the new year in. The evening turned out well and we had a lot of fun.


Ellie and her friends all wearing red.

The nativity scene.

Meeting Santa

The warm clothes tree.

Here are some pics of our house all decorated for Christmas. I love all my collections. I have one table with all my Christmas Krinkles. They are so fun and whimsical. Then I have my North Pole village set up on the mantle. I am getting quite the collection. My parents have bought us a house every year since we were first married. The kids are facinated by the tiny people and the lights. They especially love Santa's castle. I love the look and feel of the house at Christmas. I love sitting and looking at the tree lights. Now we just need some snow on the ground.



Link to high resolution video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrFxvxEDFP8

We went up to Hood River the weekend before Thanksgiving for a ride on the Polar Express. It was so much FUN. We travelled to the North Pole and Santa came aboard the train with his elves. We sang songs, had hot cocoa, cookies and read the story. All the kids dressed in their pajamas and had a very magical time. My kids love the book and movie and the train ride really brought the story to life. I highly recommend this to anyone with kids. But you have to book in the summer because the tickets sell out quickly. (I'm pretty sure the Heber RR does this too).

The kids were out jumping on the trampoline and a bunny came hopping through our yard. The kids came in to get some carrots and lettuce for it. Our new friend stayed a while and ate our weeds and nibbled at our plants. I couldn't figure out if he was a wild bunny or someone's lost pet.
 
 

Two saturdays ago I convinced Ryan to put the lights up on the house. (I promised we wouldn't turn them on yet). It was warm and he didn't really have any other weekend to do it before Thanksgiving. I also wanted to get out my Christmas Krinkles and Village. Ellie found the tree skirt and put it on like a cape to keep her warm. Then she went outside to "help" Ryan with the lights. We also put up the tree and will decorate it this Sunday. It finally started cooling down and is feeling a bit more like winter. Now we just need some snow!