This Christmas, I loved...

my three girls in their matching jammies on Christmas Eve

decorating a cake for baby Jesus and the way the girls loved to talk about Jesus all throughout the season, not just the stuff they were hoping to get

seeing the girls cuddle in their new personalized sleeping bags and pillows from Gramma and Grampa D. while watching a Christmas movie

my husband getting up at 6:00am on Christmas morning to clean the house, make coffee, get things organized, start the Christmas music and give Addi her bottle before the rest of us even got up. Plus, I got to walk out into the living room and see a beautiful white Christmas scene outside... it couldn't have been more peaceful!

Symantha's excitement over getting an American girl doll from Nana (the doll's name is Samantha and it was being retired this year!). Hailey got Nellie, Samantha's best friend in all the books, which she loves and has been taking with her all over.

my adorable little Addison's first Christmas

being with my family and spending time with all of our loved ones.

Hope your Christmas was just as wonderful!

Stircrazy

We still have lots of snow here. It was cool for the first few days, playing in the snow and having some enforced time at home - something I really needed to get things accomplished around the house and ready for Christmas! But a week later, I am getting a little tired of it. Yes, I have gotten some cute pictures of the kids...

And Addison had her first experience in the snow, which I took about a bazillion (yes, that's a word) pictures of. But the snow just keeps on coming and our hill is not getting any easier to get down! I am pretty much stuck here unless Derek takes me down in the truck, which means our whole family goes. I love family time and all, but I'd love to get a few loose ends finished for Christmas or just get out of the house for a while! Oh well, a couple days until Christmas when all the craziness begins. This year I can actually say I am totally prepared and ready for some craziness!

Symantha's holiday ballet performance

Symantha had a holiday performance in ballet class yesterday. It was very exciting for the kids because they got to wear tutus, decorations in their hair and even had a dancing visit from the sugar plum fairy! They had practiced a dance altogether, but the video was too long to put in here. It was the cutest thing! But here are some clips of her free dance time.

This last clip was funny because they were told to dance as a toy who came alive. Every girl picked a ballerina to dance across the stage as, but Symantha was last and she chose a Nutcracker (hmmm, could it be due to the show we had just seen a few days earlier?). Way to be unique, girl.

The Nutcracker

I took Symantha to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker for the first time this year. Since she is in ballet and has always LOVED it, I thought she was ready for the real show. It was fun to get dressed up together and spend some time together, without her sisters!

And of course, she loved it (even if she did get a little restless in parts... really, who doesn't?!). Plus, her cousin Lacey was sitting next to her and they could whisper about what was going on. She told me she was watching the ballet dancers for ideas of things she could do in her "free dance" time in ballet class. I'll be watching for some of those moves!

Winter Wonderland

It's cold up on the mountain here in Black Diamond! We have 4-5 inches of snow right now and we are expecting more this week. The girls were so excited to get out into the snow on Saturday morning, but Hailey only lasted about 5 minutes before she was knocking on the door asking for hot chocolate. Daddy and Symantha made the snowman on their own.

Here was the view from the front porch. I want to get some more pictures over the next few days because the clear skies make everything so gorgeous up here.

Church at home

Due to the number of colds in our house last Sunday, the girls and I stayed home from church. Whenever that happens, we try to do some sort of home church, which usually means reading from the Bible, singing some songs together, etc. This week, that turned into a Reader's Theater of the Christmas story! I read and they acted out all the parts, finding props as they needed. Hailey was the angel in the picture above, while Symantha was the Shepherd tending her sheep below. They tied blankets around them, as they saw fit, and each detail was so important to them!

When the Shepherds came to see the baby Jesus, Symantha was very excited to become Mary. She was so sweet, picking up the baby in the manger and kissing him.

We then moved on to the wise men seeing a star in the sky (Hailey in her bathrobe below. She is holding books, that are her "scrolls)

And then meeting the mean King Herod (with his sceptor made out of a cheerleading baton and a princess crown on his head!)

Addison woke up just in time to be the baby Jesus and receive the gifts the wise men brought to him.

The girls had so much fun with this and I loved the learning and reminding that was going on! They are always sad when we have to miss church, but I think our little home church was just as good today.

Sleeping Beauty

Full princess attire on and sound asleep in the chair. We keep finding her asleep at funny times - yesterday she had a snow hat that had fallen down over her eyes and she was sound asleep in the back of the truck - I was so sad I didn't have my camera! But at least I got this sweet shot a few days before.

Decorating the tree

Both girls must have a turn putting the angel on the top. That angel has been around a long time - it was the angel we used when I was a little girl. Derek thinks it is so ugly, and I must admit, it is getting pretty old! But our tree isn't exactly "stylish", with our miscellaneous sentimental ornaments, so it fits right in! One day I hope to have a fancy tree AND a kid tree!

I am surprised at how little interest Addison has showed in the Christmas tree! She crawled under it, looked at it a bit, but never really grabbed anything. It's been up for a few days now, and she still shows no interest in it. What a relief that I don't have to worry about it!

This Santa hat lasted on Addison's head for about a split second. I'm thankful for a quick camera!

The hunt for the perfect tree

Hailey saw this tiny tree and said, "A perfect tree for Addison!"

Our friends have a Christmas tree farm and they have an annual party to come pick your tree, eat yummy catered food, and visit with friends. It's such a more personal tree picking experience!

Grandma driving the girls on the four-wheeler with our tree on the back.

Addison checking out the tree... she actually didn't try to eat it! She wasn't so sure about the feel of it, so she was pretty tentative.

This was such a great family day all together! Breakfast at the Black Diamond bakery in the morning, picking our tree out, visiting with friends and family, and decorating in the evening (more on that later!).

Sibling Shots

My sister Megan, brother Blake and I got together to take some pictures for Christmas presents (parental request!). It was such a hilarious experience, as it is not often you have individual pictures taken of yourself once you are out of school! But it was a great time to try out my new camera, and I was pretty happy with the results. We had so much fun pretending to be professional photographers... if you could only see the tens of other funny shots that I chose NOT to share with the world! I hear a scrapbook page calling my name...

Addi's Blanky

Our first child with an attachment to an object besides a pacifier. Addison loves her pink blanky to cuddle and often chew on. She gets very excited when you give it to her and it generally goes straight to her mouth, even if the pacifier is in.

When she is tired, her arm reaches for it and she lays her head right on it. So sweet.

Happy birthday to me!

I turned 33 over the weekend. For the first time, I actually had to think twice about how old I was... seems like mid-30's become a blur! I celebrated Friday night by going out with Derek - my mom was nice enough to come over and stay with the kids. At dinner, he gave me my present, which was a new camera! We had been talking about investing in a really good camera for a long time, and he had done some research and gotten a Nikon D80. I am even more excited about the fact that it comes with 18 camera classes at the camera shop in Covington. I am always taking pictures of the kids and our family, and I am thankful that Derek agrees that this camera is a worthwhile investment - I can't wait to learn more and sharpen my photography skills!

Hailey's Thanksgiving Feast

Hailey had a "Thanksgiving Feast" at preschool. Each child got to bring small servings of a favorite food to share with the class, and then serve them. The kids brought in all sorts of different foods: raisins, cheese and crackers, indian fry bread, popcorn, cookies, etc. Hailey told me she wanted to bring "meat". Interesting choice! So we brought chicken nuggets, very simple and quite popular with the 4-year-old crowd!

They all wore their turkey hats, at least until the hats started falling over their eyes or bothering them. It was quite a sight!

We still had show and tell that day, and Hailey brought her diary she had chosen to buy with her own money at Disneyland. Funny story - here is how our conversation went:

Hailey: Mommy, I want to bring my Diarrhea to show the class.

Mommy: Do you mean Diary?

Hailey: Oh yeah, I mean diary. Diarrhea is that really bad kind of potty right?

Mommy: Yes, Hailey. Important you get those words right!

She cracks me up. One of the great benefits of being her preschool teacher is that I get to see and be a part of all these fun things we do as a class!

The only age you can stick your tongue out at Mommy

Addison has learned where her tongue is and she will stick it out on demand. I think it is so cute, I just keep making her do it over and over. Sometimes she mixes it up with giving a kiss though, and it gets pretty slobbery! I'll take slobbery kisses as long as I can get 'em.

Surprise for mommy

Party animals
Inside Symantha's card was a cute drawn picture of me and her

Hailey wrote this card herself - Daddy just told her the letters! And I guess the picture of me is in a polka dot dress, just like what I wear all the time :)

After scrapbooking all day on Saturday, I came home to the girls anxiously waiting to give me a surprise birthday party! They had streamers, party blowers, cake (which they had made with Daddy during the day) and ice cream, presents, cards and the works. It was a week before my birthday, so they thought they were being really tricky - I think they were just a LITTLE more excited than I was! It was very sweet and a nice way for me to come home. I almost was going to stay and scrapbook a little longer, but glad I didn't because I would have felt horrible!