Christmas and Kelsey's Birthday

Well Christmas is over! It is always so stressfull getting all the gifts and food organized and put together for the big day. This year my parents and sister Lea spent the day with us and we had a great time. The girls got everything they asked for and much much more! I made Christmas brunch and dinner so needless to say I was very busy in the kitchen. The food was very good (if I do say so myself!) and the company was great! We were so blessed to have such a very Merry Christmas!

Today is Kelsey's 5th birthday! We were supposed to be spending the weekend in Richfield, but at the last minute changed our plans to stay home. Which meant Kelsey got to have a little party for her birthday! Boy was she excited when we told her! Since it was such short notice we decided she could pick two friends and go to lunch and to see the movie Enchanted. Well of course two turned into four, but it was okay! Thank you so much to Tiffany, Cori, Erikka and Krissy who let their girls come out on such short notice. They all had sooooo much fun!!!! And I have to say they were all extremely well behaved. Kelsey had the best time and is so excited to be 5!!

This year for Kelsey's birthday my mom got her the most AMAZING Princess Aurora dress up. Even the shoes are amazing! Kelsey looks like a true princess when she is wearing it. Of course Maya got an Aurora dressup from my mom too. It took some coaxing, but now she loves to wear it! Thanks Mom for the great presents!!!

Kelsey's Preschool Christmas Program

Yesterday was "Christmas Sing-In" day at Kelsey's preschool. And of course, as room mom I was there helping with the party before the big Sing-In program. I made homemade sugar cookies and icing early Thursday morning and brought them in for Kelsey's class. I gave each child two cookies and a dollop of icing on each cookie. Then they spread the icing on the cookie and decorated it with red and green sugar crystals. They had so much fun! Kelsey was so happy decorating her cookies with her friends. It was a lot of work to have all of the cookies and icing ready before 10 AM but with some help from Adam I made it in time!

At the concert they sang lots of really cute songs. There final song was called "Where is Santa" and at the conclusion of the song Santa himself came into the auditorium! The kids were all sooooo excited! He took time to talk to each and every child and gave them a candy cane. Kelsey said she made sure to remind him of what she wanted for Christmas! She is so cute. It was such a great morning!

New Member of our Family and the Gingerbread House

Well our "Family Christmas Present" this year was a dog and she came a couple of weeks early! We were supposed to pick her up on Christmas Eve, but were thrilled when we got the call on Saturday that she was ready! Her name is Pepsi and she is a Shitzsu. She is so cute and the kids are in HEAVEN! They were thrilled that we were getting a dog and could hardly sit still on the ride to get her! She is so calm and sweet and great with the kids. We already love her so much!

Tonight we made a gingerbread house with the kids. The kids had a great time and Adam, being the home designer he is, outlined the whole "icing plan" for the house. It was so fun! I think Zac's favorite part was eating all the icing and candy! I think we all did a great job building our first house together!

Kelsey's Christmas Dance Concert

Today was Kelsey's Christmas Dance Concert where she and her team performed a ballet routine to "Sleigh Ride". I thought they all did a great job! Adam called it "Organized Chaos"! LOL! What do you expect from 4 year olds who only learned the routine a few weeks ago? Anyway, as you may be able to tell from the pictures, Kelsey's costume was WAY to small. So small in fact that during the rehearsal right before the performance, one of her straps broke! Luckily being the well prepared Mom I am I had safety pins in her dance bag (is that luck or is it just a requirement from her dance school to have it in there!). Kelsey was unphased by the whole strap fiasco and was very happy that after her performance Adam had 12 red roses for her. Thank you Lea for coming to watch Kelsey perform!

Through the Valley and Across the Mountains to Grandmother's House we go!!

This weekend we journeyed back to St. George to help my parents move into their brand new beautiful home! The most exciting part was that my sister Rae and her husband Darren flew in from New Jersey to help. I had not seen Rae and Darren since her wedding in July so I was thrilled!!! Unpacking however was not so thrilling. We unloaded boxes all weekend, and there were still more boxes to go! We were able to unload enough boxes so my dad can park in the garage so he was happy. The girls were so happy playing with the packing paper! Its amazing how the littlest things can keep young kids entertained!

Since all the family was together we decided to have Maya's 2nd birthday party in St. George! Her birthday is not until Dec. 5th, but she doesnt know her party was 5 days early! It was so fun to watch her face when she saw her Cinderella Cake. We all know how much she LOVES "Rella" so she was thrilled. She actually blew out her candles all by herself!

It was a wonderful weekend. I love when my family is all together. My sisters are so amazing and I am so happy when I am with them! Here are a few more pics of our weekend!

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Wow its been a CRAZY Thanksgiving Holiday!! We were fortunate enough to spend the holiday with both of our amazing families this year and it was so much fun! We went to Richfield on Thursday to Adams's parents house. 5 of Adam's 8 siblings and their spouses and children were there, in addition to my sister and Dad and of course Kent and Lorraine (his parents). It was a house full!! Dinner was great (Thanks Lorraine) and the pies were amazing as usual!!! It is always such a blast when Adam's family gets together! We play this game,which doesnt have a name but its made out of PVC piping, golf balls and string. Sounds boring, but its soooo fun and it gets heated quickly! This year Adam reined King Supreme winning all the games as usual, that is until Jody and his son Jayden creamed him!! Here are some pics of everyone playing the game and Jody and his new wife and son. Welcome to the family Jenny and Jayden!!!!

On Friday, Adam, the girls and I headed to my parents place in St. George. They are still in the rental house....until Wednesday! The construction of their new home is finally complete!!! We went to see it this weekend and its beautiful. The first picture above is of my dad carving the turkey after quite a time trying to get it cooked. The deep fryer was leaking oil so it took FOREVER to get hot! Then when the bird was finally done, we realized all their knives and carving stuff was still in boxes! We managed to find a little knife and regular fork and it worked fine :-) The dinner was very tasty! I can't wait until they move next week! No more air mattress when I visit!

This year at Thanksgiving I am grateful to not be in the hospital. The past couple of years at Thanksgiving I am always reminded of the year I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital alone. I was in preterm labor with Maya and spent the day watching TV and crying (love those pregnancy hormones). It was then I realized how lucky I was to have family and friends to miss! I have people who mean the world to me and love me unconditionally. I realize that some people, for whatever reason, do not have loved ones. I am so extremely fortunate to have wonderful in-laws on everyside, amazing parents, sisters that are truely my best friends, a great husband and the kids that are my heart!!

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Yesterday we spent the day putting our Christmas decorations up around our home. Our ritual normally is, the day after Thanksgiving we wake up, I make a big breakfast, turn on Christmas music and we spend the day trimming the tree and putting up our Christmas decorations. Since we will be out of town this year for Thanksgiving, we decided to put them all up yesterday. The kids were thrilled! Putting up Christmas decorations has to be one of my favorite things to do. The kids were so happy to trim the tree....except Maya. She didnt even want to touch the bulbs! She was happy to lay on the floor and snuggle with George, and that was fine by me!

The most entertaining part of the evening was when Zac started playing "drums" on the Christmas cookie tins. Of course Kelsey took that opportunity to show off her dance skills! It was so cute to watch them put on their "Show!".

We have a large plant shelf above the front door of our house. Adam thought that would be a great place to have a tree. I agreed, as long as I didnt have to climb all the way up there and trim it!! We were lucky enough to have some of my mom's Christmas ornaments from her NJ house that she had given to us earlier this month. We decided to use them for the plant shelf tree, and it made it soooo beautiful! My mother's house in NJ during Christmas is such a feast for the eyes. She has several trees all trimmed beautifully, a full Dicken's Village assembled ontop of her grand piano (and Adam taught her a few years ago how to add snowy mountains to the village so then it got REALLY huge!) and gorgeous Christmas decor everywhere you look. I have such fond memories of Christmas with my family in NJ. So it was really neat to have some of her ornaments for a tree at my house! Thanks Mom!!!!

Throughout our home we have tiny Christmas trees. This year I thought it would be fun to decorate one of them with the decorations my sisters and I made for my mom when we were in 1rst grade. My mom has saved some of the cutest Christmas decorations that my sisters and I made for her in elementary school. She still has a macoroni noodle christmas tree I made for her in preschool!!! If I do say so myself, its a really good noodle tree! Anyway she gave me the 1rst grade ornaments and I was proud to show them off!

Since it is Thanksgiving week I am going to take a moment to say what I am thankful for. I am thankful that I have a lot to be thankful for!! I am thankful for my amazing husband. He has an uncanny ability to find the good in any situation. He is a great dad and my kids and I are so lucky he is in our life. Best of all he is my best friend! He is so much fun to be around and hang out with. I am thankful for my children. Though challenging it is to be a stay at home mom, the rewards are better than anything else in the world. I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. I am thankful for my incredible sisters. They are smart, beautiful and kind. I am so lucky to have them in my life! I am thankful for my AMAZING parents. They are unbelievably wonderful grandparents and my girls love them soooo much. I am thankful for my friends. Each and everyone of them has impacted my life in so many wonderful ways. I am thankful for my in-laws! It is wonderful to truely love your husbands family like you love your own! And finally I am thankful for blogging. It has enabled me to look at life in a different light and capture moments I would have never thought to capture. This has been quite a challenging, chaotic, crazy year, but in the end I still have my beatiful kids and rockstar husband (lol) so I am happy!!