Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve we headed over to Byron and Kathy's to celebrate. The girls stopped for a picture on the bench out front. Then we went inside where they showed off there Santa Baby dresses.

Every year we play a dollar game, but this year we thought we'd mix things up and play with white elephant gifts. But we decided to just let the kids exchange gifts. Angie didn't figure they had any white elephant gifts the girls would want so she made little hats and hair clips. They were a huge hit.

Allie modeling her hat and flower clip.

Kayla in her hat checking out all the different hair clips.

After our game we open the traditional Christmas Eve gift-pajamas. I think Allie likes hers.

Tyler was pretty excited by his pajamas too.

Wow! Kayla's hat even matches her pajamas.

Grandma bought the kids a little fun gift-Slinky's. It was one of Allie's very favorite gifts.

Jason, Kayla, Allie, and Tyler modeling their new pajamas.

Kayla read a cute, good version of the Christmas Story. Then we finished the evening by reading The Wooden Shoes.
The girls fell asleep on the drive home looking at lights. Nate and I were under strict orders to leave Santa a plate of cookies. Here is our proof.

As Nate was carrying Kayla into the house, she asked, "Did Santa come yet? Can we open our presents?"

She then woke up about 3am ready to open presents again. After convincing her to go back to sleep, and answering a wrong number at 3:30, we managed to sleep until 7:30am before little girls starting stirring for real.

Christmas Celebrating

Friday the 18th-Kayla's 7th birthday we headed for Pocatello. Nate was able to get off pretty early; so we thought it would be fun to stop at the Maddox for Kayla. We got there before 5:30, but we kind of forgot about it being a great place for Christmas parties. Two hours later we left after eating chef salads, fruit, and for some, rolls. Good thing we didn't order anything that needed cooked. :-) It was delicious, and Kayla shared her homemade birthday ice cream with Allie as we finished our drive.

We arrived at the party a little late, but nobody was really wanting to go to bed anyway...

5 Happy girls all looking at the camera.

Terra planned a whole weekend of fun. She started things off with a dance party for the kids! Notice Jordyn's skirt-it's a tree skirt, but it could be found on one of the 5 little girls the whole weekend.
More fun at the dance party.

We had a few little accidents with heads bonking-something to do with strobe lights and wild, crazy kids. But they were okay after some cuddling, which I didn't mind in the least.

Our girls stayed the night while Nate and I went to my parents to unload the van. I didn't have any little boxes, so everything was wrapped much larger than really necessary. It made it real fun for carting everything. I think I'll start saving some smaller boxes now so we don't have that again.

Saturday morning we hurried back to the Hulse's for a fun day. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, fruit, milk, and juice. Then we got to work, decorating Chinese boxes to deliver goodies in-well at least that was the idea. The kids had so much fun, they decided they couldn't part with their boxes. So they got to take home goodies for themselves instead.

Morgan and Kayla showing off their boxes.

Then the kids got to dip pretzels and decorate gingerbread men. Here is Allie eating the fruits (sugar) of her labors.

Christmas recital
VaLyn wearing -"The Hat." Grandpa bought this hat, and all the kids loved playing with it.

For Christmas this year instead of buying for siblings, Terra found a family who was needing a little Christmas help this year. We all had fun finding gifts for them and then wrapping them together. We then dropped the box off at their house, and decided to spread a little Christmas cheer among our own family. It was realized Terra and Josh didn't have a Christmas tree. So we decided it would be fun to get them one and decorate it in secret. Then we found out they already had one and we figured it would be more fun if they helped us do the decorating.

Everybody after decorating the tree for Terra and Josh.
(Sorry about some of the picture quality. I grabbed them off facebook, and they just aren't full quality. So Darla if you're reading this, please email me some. Thanks.)

Merry Christmas 2009

I was very late getting Christmas cards mailed out, but I did manage to do it. I'm even later posting it here. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We had a wonderful time, and I know the girls, especially Kayla, really understand the true meaning of Christmas. It has been such a wonderful season that I'm going to be so sad when it ends. We've listened to a lot of Christmas music at our house, and this year the song that really seemed to hit home for me is from the Forgotten Carols, "I Cry the Day I Take the Tree Down." I really feel that way. So don't mind me if I'm a little slow.

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a Good Night!

Cupcakes

Allie was very insistent on pink cupcakes with chocolate frosting. She'd decided on them probably while we were doing our Thanksgiving shopping. Since we went into SLC Saturday, we had to wait until Sunday to sing to Allie. She couldn't wait until dinner was over.

Waiting patiently while Kayla and Daddy light the candles.
I think Kayla was just as excited to get to carry the flaming cupcake.

Make a wish and blow! "Mommy, I wish for a Mandy doll."

After all that Allie only ate the top layer where the frosting was. Silly girl!

Kayla felt bad that Allie didn't have a present to open, so she hurried and colored a picture and wrote her a note. Then she wrapped the present all by herself.

I missed the picture when Allie opened the picture. She hugged it to her chest and exclaimed, "I LOVE IT!"

Happy Happy Birthday Allie Dear

Our little girl is getting all grown up. Allison Marie is a big 4 year old, and very proud of that fact. We are so grateful to have her as a part of our family. Allie always has a smile that lights her whole face and a giggle that's so contagious you just can't help but join in. She loves to help everybody, and if she sees an owee, she'll do everything she can to make it better (kisses and all).

For her birthday we took Allie to see Santa at the Stansbury Park Club house. It was a quick in-and-out, taking maybe 10 minutes from the time we parked, til we drove from the parking lot. Allie was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Right after she hoped on his lap, Santa joked, "You weigh almost as much as Rudolph! Would you like a used reindeer for Christmas?" She was so confused, she jumped down and ran away. Oh well, I think he knows what she wants.
Kayla marched herself up to Santa and told him what she wants, "Clothes and things for Mandy (her Madame Alexander doll)." That girl definitely has her mind made up.

We had originally planned to just stay home for the day and work on things around the house. Then Nate decided we needed to go to Lowe's in Salt Lake to pick out the drain for the bathtub in the basement. He couldn't go any further until he got it. It seemed like a real waste to drive that far for nothing; so we decided to play.

We went to Red Robin for a late lunch since it is the girls' favorite restaurant. Kayla and Allie insisted on sitting next to each other. We agreed on one condition-and they did it. They ate their food.

Kayla kept telling people it was her sister's birthday. Allie would then tell them she was four. When our waitress brought Allie her birthday dessert, Allie's eyes got soooooo big. Holy Cow that's a big mud pie for such a little girl.

Kayla was really sad she couldn't have any. We told her we'd get her a treat in a little bit. In the meantime, she filled up on the yummy fries.

Daddy decided he'd better move over and help Allie with her pie.

Allie decided to try the cherry. Lick. The whip cream was good, but the cherry never made it into her mouth. For a fruit loving kid, she absolutely refuses cherries of any kind.

It was so much fun, and then we decided to go see the new Disney princess movie, The Princess and the Frog. It was definitely a fun, cute movie, but it also had some pretty dark and scary parts that make me question whether it would be good to own. They both loved it then, but a lot of times later all they can remember is the scary parts. This morning I asked them what they thought about the movie. Loud shouts of approval filled the room. They both are dying to see it again. So I guess it isn't too scary after all.

All I Want for Christmas are My 3 Front Teeth

Making a Gingerbread House

The month seems to be flying by. I don't know where time is going. Last night we decided if we were going to make a house, it was now or never. Last week Allie and I had bought some extras to help with the kit we'd bought (last year on clearance). Good thing too since those kits hardly have any candy.

Building the walls. The kit came with a tray. The girls decided to use the tray and a pan so they'd have plenty of room.
Waiting patiently while Daddy attaches the roof.

Allie was very serious about her decorations.

Kayla carefully decorated the roof.

Ta Da! Isn't it beautiful! They could have kept going for hours more, but it was after all a school night and already past bedtime.

A side view.

The other side-complete with Santa's sleigh. Side note-Allie is not a mint fan (just like her Grandpa Bert). So when we were looking for candy canes, she was very insistent to find some that were not mint. These came from a fruity package that had lots of pink and purple ones. I'm told those are the best.

I hope everybody is having as much fun as we are this holiday season. We're looking forward to seeing you all in, wow, 10 days. Merry Christmas!

Goodies for the Neighbors

I always like to get an early start on delivering the holiday goodies. I would rather people enjoy them now than get them the week before Christmas when they are already sweeted out. Plus, it is nice to be able to check it off my to do list early in the month.

I decided to put most of my effort this year into the packaging and go a little simpler on the actually treats. We decided it would be fun to dip fortune cookies. We split into teams. I would dip and Allie would add the sprinkles.
Nate and Kayla did the same on their side.

After almost all of our cookies were dipped and sprinkled, we let the girls try. Kayla was very careful, and she helped Allie dip just the right amount.

Aren't they cute?

We then got all cleaned up, had stories, prayer, and brushed our teeth. We put the girls to bed so us parents could make the peanut brittle. We made 6 recipes, small recipes. Did you know? If you use your microwave enough, the fan will turn on and just keep blowing and blowing until it cools itself down enough. We learned that. The oddest thing is when you open the microwave and the noise doesn't stop. It's really weird.

Saturday Kayla and I added tissue paper to all the boxes while Allie helped Daddy at Home Depot.

Then it was time to fill the boxes.

I thought this was so funny. Obviously Kayla knows she can't eat a cookie, but she loves posing for the camera. She thought this would make a great picture. It is crazy how her mind is constantly going. "Mom. Take a picture of this. Mom. Don't you think this would be a good picture. Mom, did you get the picture?"

We put the peanut brittle in little baggies so it wouldn't stick to the tissue paper. Kayla carefully counted out the right number of fortune cookies for each box.

Then I closed them and added tags and bows. These are the boxes from Orson Gygi's with the wire handles.

These are the Walmart boxes. They only had string handles so I tied the bows around the whole box instead of just the handle like in the picture above.

I don't know that the fortune cookies were as yummy as some of our treats from other years (For some reason, I didn't taste them), but we sure had fun making everything.