Celebrating Christmas!

Okay, we're finally to Christmas blogs! :) And, I'll warn you, when you're this far behind, there is no easy way to catch up...so, this is a LONG one. And, quite random in the events that it covers. But, here goes.

Celebrating December...

There were quite a few nights of celebrating around our house, as the month went on. We decorated the house...in stages. :) We cranked up the Christmas music...daily. We shopped for gifts (later this year than usual) and made some crafts. And, we tried to fit in a few of the traditions that make this month fun for our girls. It seems that every year gets busy, and some things fall off the to-do list because of time. This year was definitely that way.

-Christmas cards never made it out (maybe you'll get a New Year's card instead!).

-We didn't decorate a gingerbread house or bake Christmas cookies.

-And, we didn't find time to even visit Santa at the mall (gasp!).

But, we did have a fun month of celebrating, and from the smiles on these faces, I feel like our girls are more than satisfied with their Christmas festivities.

Some of my favorite things from this season that we DON'T have pictures of:

1) Reading Christmas books. Our collection has grown with each passing year, and it is so fun to watch their eyes light up when that box gets opened. I, myself, get a bit giddy when we start opening them up!

2) Playing with the nativity scene. A couple of years ago, I bought a clay nativity scene. The characters are "kid friendly", with a stable, a star, and a special box for the people to go in at the end of the season. Some of the most priceless moments are watching my girls "play out" the story of Jesus' birth...over and over every day. Now, Abby Kate has started too. Only she likes to hide the characters. We were missing a donkey and the angel for a few days. Quite traumatic for my other two. :)

3) Watching Christmas movies. Kind of like the books...they've been gone for a year, so they become even more special when they come back out again. I don't know if it's still available, but if you get a chance to look for "The First Noel" on DVD, it's our absolute favorite.

4) The special Christmas countdown. Last year, we had an advent calendar that shared a new name of Jesus each day. This year, my mom did a very special countdown. They worked a puzzle, and each day got a few new pieces, as well as a small treat. On the back of that section of the puzzle, there was a job written for them to do for someone else. It was a sweet way to celebrate each day, as we got closer to Christmas day and the girls LOVED getting to open it each day. In fact, on Christmas morning, I walked in to escort them downstairs to see their Santa gifts. Carlie wanted to wait until she did her last treat bag before we could continue! That says alot!!

5) Christmas with Uncle Joe, Aunt Nancy, Josh, Uncle Don, and Kathleen (Mark's family from California and Colorado). Don't ask me why I carried my camera around all weekend, and only got two pictures...but it's true. It was a fun weekend catching up with family, and sharing some usual laughs and old stories. There was great food, and good entertainment, as we all tried our best at a "Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation" quiz, opened lottery tickets hoping for big wins, and looked through old picture albums of Papa and Grandma. I'm sad I have no pictures to show for it, except for this one of a very cute girl with her favorite new monkey from Aunt Nancy. :)

Now, for some other things we did this year in pictures:

1) PJ's and Christmas Lights. The tradition continues...Babe's chicken, PJ's, Blankets, Starbucks, and lots of ooo's and awww's. This year we actually took multiple trips to see lights, including one with the cousins to see an old neighborhood in Fort Worth that we enjoyed growing up. It was a fun year for lights, especially with Abby Kate. All of her "Looook!" and "Wow!" never got old. Look at the joy on this little face! She was amazed every time.

During one night of light-watching, Carlie said "This is the best Christmas EVER!" And, she has continued to say it often since then. These are such fun ages for the holidays and I LOVE it!

2) A trip to the Gaylord Texan (with a promise to return later to see the ICE display. :).

The Gaylord is amazing at Christmas, and we enjoyed taking the girls to see all the lights, sit in the sled, look at the gingerbread houses, and watch the many trains. They got their picture made with Mrs. Claus and pet a live reindeer, and we had a "big girl" dinner at the restaurant there, where they got to use real glasses...the highlight of their dinner!

3) Mark and I had a quick trip to Vegas to celebrate Christmas with his team of managers. I won't go into the ups and downs of a trip, but let's just say that Vegas had 10 inches of snow...which they hadn't had since the 1970's. And, our first flight got cancelled. We tried again the next day and finally got to Vegas over 21 hours later than we had planned.

It was all worth it, though, when we got to stop at InNOut on our way into town. Heavenly. We were both giddy as we took our first bite. And, Mark resistantly took his picture with his burger. I don't know why he felt silly posing this way! :)

Even with all the trouble of getting there, it was a fun time celebrating with JUST my hubby. We got to have a nice dinner out, I got to spend the afternoon at the spa, and he got to lose money at the poker table! All of our favorite things in one trip! :) The Bellagio, where we stayed, was decked out in beautiful Christmas decor, which made me wish our girls were there. I took a few pictures so they could see a little bit of the magical feeling it had, although pictures don't do it justice.

4) Another fun celebration that had nothing to do with Christmas...except that it is the reason our London friends came home!! We got to celebrate Carter's birthday with the Ownby's and Smith's and a few other friends at Planet Pizza...and it is SOOO good to have them home! We've had a couple of different lunches and dinners with them while they're been here, trying to catch up before they have to return.

The best part has been watching our kids reunite, and they have all just fallen right back into their friendships without a hitch. And, new friendships have been started for the little ones too! Carter and Abby Kate had an instant love, and walked around the party like this:

They even sat together at the "big kid" table! How are they this big?!

It has been great having these families here, and we look forward to the day when they're home for good. :)

5) My last pre-Christmas celebration to share--the Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Breakfast at church---is obviously too much for blogger, so I'll be back with a little more!

Happy Birthday to our Cousins!

As you can probably tell, today is catch-up-on-blogs day! We are supposed to be in Abilene celebrating Christmas, but only half of us went. Abby Kate is very sick (again) with double ear infections, sinus infection, and a high fever. She is scheduled for ear tubes and an adenoidectomy on Monday, so we thought we better keep her indoors and recovering for now. She got a shot in her bottom this morning and was started on oral antibiotics too. Whew! That girl has been sick for months it seems!

Anyway, while she is sleeping the day away, I should be cleaning up the Christmas tornado that is our house...but I am determined to catch up on our busy December!

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We celebrated two big cousin birthdays this month---Braden turned THREE and Caleb turned ONE! Both of these cuties had adorable parties planned by their talented mommies. And, of course, our girls had a blast at each.

First, Braden had a "campout" party at his house. It happened to be the night of FREEZING cold temperatures, so the tent-in-the-yard party quickly turned into a camping party in the living room. And, Cortni did a great job of turning this outdoor party into the CUTEST indoor party!

There was a campfire with sleeping bags, pine trees, and camping chairs, lanterns and picnic cloths...

We had hot dogs from the grill, cheese dip and chili, and, for dessert, check out this cute S'mores "cake" for Braden! We all enjoyed our s'mores on the fire pit outside! (Mine was hand delivered indoors by Carlie because it was too darn cold to make it myself!)

Here's the birthday boy with his "faybrit" (favorite) presents:

And, here's my sister, Cortni, reading her campfire stories to the gang.

Next, was an outdoor 'bug hunt' with flashlights, neon bugs, and buckets to hold them in. The kids loved this part, even though it was cold, and Carlie especially was excited that she got to bring the squishy bugs home with her! Even AK found a few creepy-crawlies outside!

It was fun to celebrate with big boy Braden. So hard to believe he's already three.

Next came Caleb Ryne's big one year celebration! Another adorable party "under the big top"! It was a circus party and it turned out so cute. Cassie made her dining room into an actual circus tent, and the treats were all the favorite circus fare, from hot dogs to cracker jacks to cotton candy. My girls were in hog heaven!

And, Kendyll got to be the one to deliver these yummy treats to the guests. Wasn't she cute?

Here's the birthday boy, and two very excited cousins. He had just woken up and they could hardly wait to greet him.

Abby Kate, along with the rest of us, enjoyed some yummy Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert. She enjoyed banana, while my very rich chocolate peppermint cupcake left my tummy beyond full!

And, of course, we ended the party with yet another attempt at a cousin picture. Why do we continue to do this to ourselves (or to our kids)? Eventually, it WILL work. :)

So, happy late birthday to Braden and Caleb! It is so fun to have cousins like you...and we look forward to many, many fun birthdays together!!

All About Carlie

There have been quite a few posts about Kendyll this fall, because there is more going on in her busy life! So, it's time to catch my small blog-world up on Miss Car Car (who does NOT like that nickname...even though she thought of it herself. :)

She has had a great semester at Providence and has met some sweet new friends. Our Carlie is what you call a "slow to warm" personality...it takes her a little longer to get to know new people (and even longer to like them!)...so we have been very proud of how much she loves her little preschool friends now. Her teacher is the most gentle and sweet-spirited teacher and is absolutely the perfect fit for our little Carlie. Carlie tells us all the time that "Mrs. H loves me and especially my hugs". Mrs. H. has sent countless encouraging notes to Carlie, and it is so obvious from conversations I have had with her that she understands Carlie completely and loves her little personality...which Mark and I very much appreciate. It is a good reminder to me that a teacher--at any age---can have an amazingly profound influence on how a little girl sees herself. :)

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One of the only outside activities that Carlie is involved in is ballet. She takes from a Christian program called "Dancing Angels", and it is just a sweet beginning to dance class. Every week, she goes in, the door closes, and all I hear is little feet tapping the beats. We have never actually seen her dance, so I've always wondered if she was doing well.

So, their last week of the semester was a Parents' Day and small program. It was our first peek at our little ballerina. And, my oh my. It was funny. Any class of four year old ballerinas is funny. But, miss Carlie made us smile the whole time.

Carlie did NOT want to have parents' day, and she did NOT want us to come watch. She is not a performer and does not want the attention. So, this made her very nervous. Of course, poor Carlie was born into a family that is quite the spectacle at events like this. Kendyll got out of school early for it, and was THE proudest big sister around. We had the video camera out, the digital camera, along with a loud baby sister who kept saying "Hiiiiii!" and waving at Carlie. For the first 10 minutes, we would catch her eye and wink or smile at her. And, she would just nervously bite her lip and roll her eyes. It was hilarious.

Eventually, she did get a little more "into" the performance, but what we found is that it takes intense concentration for Carlie to do ballet. And, any time that Carlie concentrates, the tongue is out. So, it took all we had in us not to laugh, as she did the entire 45 minute program with her tongue hanging out. We have 40 pictures of her and they all look like this one:

But, don't you worry. She didn't miss a beat! And, we made sure she felt like the best ballerina in the room. :) And, in our book, she was!

A few days later, she had her Christmas party at school. And, the tongue was used again, as she concentrated on her craft...So, now I've decided that it's not only a concentrating tool, but also a little bit of nervous energy too.

She, along with her class, recited "All Things Bright and Beautiful", and although she refused to do the hand-motions that everyone else did, she at least said the whole thing...while looking at the back wall. :) That girl may not be destined for the stage. But, boy, is she an amazing little girl, full of life and energy, smiles and hugs. Just don't make her share them with a room full of people she doesn't know. We love you, Carlie, and just stand in awe at the way God knit your personlaity together. You were made for a specific purpose, and I can't WAIT to watch God work His magic in you. We love you so much, and are SOOO proud of you!! (even if you'd rather us not show it.)

Nutcracker 2008

Well, obviously, life is NOT slowing down like I was hoping (ha ha), so it is time to blog about the events of December!
A few weeks ago, was Kendyll's big debut as a gingerbread girl in the Nutcracker! It was a show that really went beyond my greatest expectations as a whole...from the patient and loving directors to the amazingly skilled dancers to the fun and festive background sets....it was all absolutely wonderful and made our first Nutcracker experience great.
The older dancers in the show (who have been doing this for many years) were Kendyll's "demonstrators" as they are called. They really got to know each other so much over these weeks of practice, and I was extremely impressed with the way the highschool girls treated the baby 6 year olds. They showed them the greatest respect and love, and were giving them pep talks before their performances. Here is one of the girls that Kendyll loved so much. I really appreciate that Kendyll had these girls around to look up to...and believe me, she can't wait to dance their part someday!
We got to photograph Kendyll on stage only during rehearsals. Here she is with her big smile ready! (She is second from the left...) I only have about a hundred more pictures of these same poses. But, I won't make you look at ALL of them.
And, here they are marching with Mother Gingerbread. Absolutely adorable. :)
Really, my emotions surprised me on her first night of performing. You other parents out there know the feeling I'm sure. But, I literally could feel my heart swelling with joy as I watched her sweetly dance up there. My tears came as I thought about how in the world my baby girl could be this big...but also from just seeing that she was truly enjoying herself and was proud of the hard work she put into this. It was definitely a great "mommy moment". :)

We also enjoyed having so many of her school friends in the shows with her. Here are a few of her gingerbread friends!

We commemorated Kendyll's first Nutcracker with a new snow globe that plays the famous song (what is it called?) and shows Clara dancing with her nutcracker. She also got a gingerbread for her charm bracelet. It was fun to celebrate this with her.

And, to say this girl had the greatest fan club around would be an understatement!! Between the two shows, she had so many family members (and her sweet friend Emma & her mommy, Nicole) come to cheer her on and show their support for Kendyll. It meant SOOOO much to this sweet girl, and her eyes just lit up when she saw everyone after each performance.

The Saturday gang:

Grankay, Grandad, Kevin, and Kylie

Uncle Chris

Uncle Brad, Aunt Jodi, and Sophie

Sophie was so sweet to Kendyll and really enjoyed watching the dancers. It was so fun for Kendyll to have her cousins there. :)

Mommy and Daddy

The Sunday gang:

Pops and Grandma

Gammy and Papa Ron

Aunt Cortni, Uncle Adam, Braden, Aunt Cassie, Uncle Austin, and Aunt Cailee (this picture doesn't include the boys)

And miss Emma, who was so sweet to come with her mom to watch Kendyll perform. We all had a good time watching it together and Kendyll so enjoyed having her friend from church there too.



Carlie came to the Sunday afternoon show and enjoyed getting to meet some of the characters, as well as see her big sister dance on stage! Carlie told Kendyll later that she was so excited to watch her and that she did a really good job. Precious sisters. During the show, it was very funny to listen to Carlie loudly ask questions about every single dancer and scene. She was trying to figure it all out. :)

After the show, she got very shy...and very hot...a bad combination for Carlie. She did not want to hug Kendyll, give her the flowers she brought for her, or take her picture with Kendyll. There was "people overload" and that is when my Carlie shuts down. However, as soon as we got outside and were away from the crowd (and the heat!), this is what she did...and would NOT let go.

That funny girl is always making us laugh.
We are all so proud of you, Kendyll, our little ballerina, and we hope for many more years of watching you light up the stage!