Christmas

Is there a better day than Christmas? It was wonderful as usual, and I can't believe that it's already over. Luckily the kids still have a couple more weeks of vacation. It's so crazy getting ready for Christmas, that I feel like you need a little while to relax and recuperate. On Christmas morning my parents come over at 6 to watch the kids open presents. (Although the boys had been up most of the night waiting. Travis went to check on them at 2 and 4 and Brody and Trey were just sitting there quietly on their beds reading books!) The kids were so excited, and this year we made them take turns opening presents so we could see everything. This is the first year that Alyssa really understood, and she loved each thing she got. I think that Trey forgot what he had asked for because he seemed so surprised with each gift. Then we ate our traditional breakfast casserole, and spent the rest of the morning assembling things. Later that day, we went with our neighbors to see the movie, "Bedtime Stories," and we all laughed our heads off! This might be the last "magical" year. Everyone is still excited about Santa. A couple of weeks ago Brody said that he didn't think that Santa was real. I just told him that those that believe, get presents. So like an Evangelical preacher he replied, "I believe! I believe!" That was the end of that! We also were really touched because someone did the 12 days of Christmas to us. Each night they gave us little gifts just like the song. We could hardly wait each night to see what the surprise would be. It was so much fun, and it meant so much to us. Next year we want to do the same thing for someone else. It just made Christmas even more fun! Another funny thing that happened was, the Sunday before Christmas Trey came to me and very matter of factly said, "Mom, Santa's at the door," I told him, "Yeah, right!" But when I went to the door, it really was Santa! Charli could hardly believe it! She was so excited that Santa came to her house! The only thing we missed this year, was not being with all of our family. We can hardly wait to see Halls at the end of January! The kids are already planning out what they will do with their cousins! I'm excited for next weekend, because my sister Tara and her husband, Don, are coming for a visit. So even if we can't see everyone on Christmas, luckily we don't have to wait too long!

Christmas Parties

We went to some really fun Christmas parties as a family this season. The first one was put on by a realtor in our ward and we got our picture taken, got to see Santa and then eat. Alyssa was a little scared of Santa, but the rest were excited to tell him what they wanted.

This is a picture of TJ's Christmas school party. I got to help out with this one, and it was great to spend some time with him. Although you can't tell because he ducked for all the pictures!

At this party, our neighbors had several of us over and it was a "talent night." The kids ate this up! TJ and his friend did a puppet show. Brody and Cameron sang "Rudolph, and Cameron "played" his belly, Charli sang Hannah Montana and even Trey sang "Jingle Bells." For the finale, Luke Jones came and sang. He is our favorite! It was an awesome night!

Charli's Christmas Play and Party

It is always a treat going to see Miss Melody's Christmas Play! I figured that this year was my 7th Christmas program of her's. Wow! That makes me feel kind of old! Anyway, Charli was a shepherd in the nativity play and she actually traded so she could be that part. Can you believe it? She said that she wanted to be a shepherd so that she could hold a sheep! She was a very cute shepherd too! Then the class sang some songs. Charli likes to sing, but in the last song, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," she really opened up! She must have really liked that song! She was very excited to see Santa and have punch and cookies! She loves everything about preschool! I think she will really miss her friends and teacher when we're on break!

TJ's Christmas Play

TJ's had his Christmas play right before school let out. This is the play for the acting group that he is in. They had 4 shows, and he loved it! They all did a really great job. They do skits and songs. In TJ's skit he and 2 other boys were filming a scary movie in a creepy old house. They keep hearing noises and think that the house is really haunted. At the end they all find out that it is just some girls making noises to keep the boys out. It's fun to see how much more comfortable he is in front of an audience after doing this for a year. On his group songs he smiled the whole time! It was awesome!

TJ's Orchestra Concert

TJ did a great job at his orchestra concert. This is the second year that he has played with the school orchestra, and it was hard to believe that only a year can make such a big difference! As you can see, he was thrilled to have his picture taken!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful as always, but we sure did miss our family that weren't with us! We always have dinner at my parents house and we all bring something to help out. The food was awesome and the kids had a blast together! We were also with my sister's family (Nikki, Mitch and Lauren). It was a relaxing day! When we came home that night, we put the boy's knife collection together. My Uncle gave them a whole bunch of knives when we were in California, and the boys could hardly wait to get them behind glass so they could hang them up! The boys have showed them to every single person who has been in our house since then! It was so nice of my Uncle to do that for them! I'll be posting about our trip later!

Trey's Thanksgiving Feast

December has been so busy, I feel bad I haven't written for so long...I'm going to have to do some back tracking. Thanksgiving was awesome! It started with Trey's thanksgiving feast. We were all invited to eat at the feast, then we got to see the program his class prepared. It was the cutest thing! When the kids were loading up their plates, Trey had a plate of only desserts! My kind of guy! Charli only had mashed potatoes! It was fun! When it came time for the program, our quiet little Trey shocked us! His class sang songs and Trey was hamming it up! His teacher had to keep saying, "Trey...Trey..."(to calm down). I didn't hear her call out to any of the other kids, but I guess Trey was just really excited! When he was singing, he was swaying and really acting out the actions! I guess Trey is coming out of his quietness! He has more of his father in him than we thought! He has grown up so much this year! I was a little worried that we might have some issues, but I only had to have one little "chat" with the teacher about his stubbornness, and since then he has really improved! Phew! Way to go Trey!