Day at the Salon

Today I took Sadi to get her first real haircut!! (Yes, I know long overdue). She was very worried it was going to hurt. I blame Rapunzel partly for this (you know she wasn't allowed to cut her hair). What was I thinking taking her to see that movie before a hair cut? She clenched in fear at the first snip, but then it was all smiles!! She looked so cute after it was done. The stylist curled it and put in sparkles (like tinsel). Is this really my 3 year old?

CHRISTMAS!!

It came!! It finally came!! It was a loooong week but Christmas morning finally came!! The kids were ready to charge down the hall and see if Santa came. He did!! Sadi was a bit overwhelmed I think. Her eyes were darting everywhere. Santa brought her some new princess dolls and a castle. She also got a bean bag chair, some books, and chocolate!

She was very excited to get new dresses for her princesses.

Kelsey was ecstatic the big guy brought her the very best i-pod!! This kept her busy all day!

Chase was thrilled to see Santa brought him his toy story garbage station he has been dreaming about! He also got some books and a new bean bag chair.

He had fun playing with it all day. It even came with evil doctor pork chop!The kids also had fun opening some presents. Sadi got squinkies!! (These things are going to be the death of me...anyone get these? Sooo many tiny pieces!)

Chase got a new toy story game!If possible I think Kelsey's smile got bigger! She got a Colts football...

AND...a Peyton Manning jersey!! She really wanted an Austin Collie jersey but I think the smile says she didn't mind.

Kyle got some styling new clothes and sports things, and gift cards galore!

Sadi spent the day playing dress up....She was in love with her new princess dress-up clothes and changed back and forth between Cinderella and Snow White.She also spent alot of time in her new princess tent. Pretty cozy in there (I spent some time in there myself).And snuggling on her new "bed" (bean bag chair).

Chase played most of the day with his Toy story toys but took a break to play with any ones I-pod who wasn't using it, and LOVED playing with Uncle David's new Wii. He played until he was sweating.

A very fun, exhausting day!! 364 days till next Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

We started the day baking and preparing food for our company to arrive (Grandpa and Grandma Denning and Uncle David) who traveled from Southern California to be with us for Christmas. Once they got here it was time to start partying!! We had a bunch of yummy food and had a nice visit. All too soon everyone was playing on their i-pods. I knew it was time to change it up a bit when even Sadi confiscated Grandmas and was busy playing who knows what (I hope she didn't order anything for you Grandma!).

So we snuggled up on the couch and sang Christmas carols.

Then I had planned some fun games for everyone. We played Jack frost is not lost (a big hit with the little kids because it involved eating candy), we also played Do you hear what I hear:

I had several bags filled with jingle bells in increments of 5-25. The idea was you had one minute to shake the bags and put them in order from least to most. Chase had fun helping Grandpa. Grandma did it with no help!

Next we played face the gingerbread (same as face the cookie). Kelsey was the only one who had ever played this game so it was HILARIOUS!! Even Sadi had fun with this one (I'm pretty sure hers fell at one point and she ate a bit because she had wet gingerbread stuck to her nose).

Grandpa was in full concentration.

It was quite the race to the finish. Check out these two working at it...

I think we all laughed at Grandma the most on this one, what a sport!!

We even had a surprise visit from Santa who brought an early gift for all the kids! Sadi was confident enough with this particular Santa to sit on his lap and take the gift he brought but not to make eye contact.

Chase was positive he knew this Santa...he knew those eyes and hands he had seen before!!

Kelsey was all smiles!

The kids all got new Jammie's from Santa!!

Kelsey was not thrilled the big man brought her "baby" Jammie's. But, she at least put them on and let us laugh at her! (Who knew those elves could make such big footie pajamas)

We quickly frosted some cookies for Santa...and snuck in a taste for ourselves here and there.

I had Kelsey take a picture for me (our traditional once a year photo). I need to be better about that.

We even got a family shot!Soon it was time to hang the stockings. Sadi made sure to try hers on yet again this year to make sure it still fit! Yup!We put on our fireplace video so the kids could pretend to hang them by the fire.Before they trotted off to bed Sadi and Chase made sure to leave carrots for Rudolph outside. And FINALLY it was off to bed!

All aboard!

On Saturday we took the kids for a ride on the Santa train in Carson City. It was a little different than I had imagined in my head. I thought how fun would it be to go ride a train in the snow in the midst of winter? It would be just like the Polar express! It ended up being 60 degrees outside! It was a beautiful day, however I think I dressed the kids to warm because they were all shedding their clothes by the time we got off. It was fun, and Santa magically made his way on the train and gave out candy canes to everyone. After the kids got a picture with the real conductor and he let them hold his oil lit light (just like on the polar express). It was a fun day!

Questions

In the spirit of Christmas, we decided it would be a good idea to really teach our kids about giving to others. We thought we had the perfect idea. At Matt's work they have a tree with tags you can pick one off for a specific orphan child and buy a gift they would like to have. We found a five year old boy who wanted something toy story. Who better to pick something out than our five year old boy who LOVES toy story? I explained to Chase that we were going to buy some gifts for this boy who doesn't have any parents. This is when the questions began. I must say Chase was really bothered by the idea someone didn't have parents. It began like this: "That's okay Santa will bring him presents". (You see where this dilemma is going). Then it was: "Well didn't I come out of your belly?, then didn't he come out of some one's belly? Where is she?" Everyday it is a new concerning question. It's not just simple questions, I am finding some of his questions really difficult. I think it may be easier to answer questions about the big fat man in red!! Today was the day we took him shopping to buy for this little boy. He had alot of fun, and it made me happy to watch him pick out gifts he knew he would not be getting. A few of the things he picked out: He was excited to get home and wrap them up. When it was all done, he said "I can't wait to give them to this kid!".....ahh I guess I have some more explaining to do.

One house is not enough...

When you have as many kids as we do, one gingerbread house is not enough! Tonight we each made our own house. Sadi was in sugar heaven! She was not going to quit decorating until we ran out of candy. It went something like; one for me, one for my house. She undoubtedly had the most candy on her masterpiece!! Chase made sure his was even on all sides. He took his time and counted everything! So cute!

Kelsey is the pro, and made sure hers was the most artistic.

Matt always has fun decorating his, and well mine....I guess we were running low on candy because now that I look at it, you really don't see any on there.

So, instead of just one house...we have a village!!

I just caught Sadi hiding so she could give hers one last lick before bed!

Trimming the trees!

Yesterday we went and picked out our perfect tree. It is huge!! I think it is close to 9 feet tall. We spent last night decorating the tree. It smells soooo good! Some of us smell it more than others....

The kids all have their own little trees they decorate with their ornaments they pick out each year. Kelsey's is getting pretty full!

Chase needed to "borrow" some because he needed more on his tree he said.

Sadi was so happy to have anything to put on her pink tree. She had fun putting the ornaments on...now if I could just keep her to leave them there, she has been taking them off all day!!!

Now it feels like Christmas!!