Christmas Afternoon

On Christmas Day we go over to my parents for lunch and to exchange presents. We just wanted to have a nice, relaxing Christmas so we didn't even get ready... well, we brushed our teeth, but we went to my mom's still in our jammies.

Christmas Morning

Here's what the house looked like before the kids got up. So peaceful...




A few days before Christmas Kaden had a great idea. He got out a piece of paper and asked me how to spell 'youngest'. Then he asked me how to spell 'oldest'. Then he took the paper and hung it on the tree and said, "Ok, mom. Here are the rules for opening presents on Christmas Day!" Doesn't that just work out nicely for the youngest?



I actually surprised Dusty with a Blu Ray player this year. Usually he guesses what I'm getting him so it was nice that I was able to keep it a secret.



As you can see, Mia was quite fond of Ashlyn's snuggie also. She'd lay on it every chance she got.




Great Christmas morning! It's always so fun to see the excitement on the kids faces and just sit back and watch the magic. I love it. Some of the kids favorite things they got this year:
Mady - Juicy bag, Ed Hardy shoes, clothes, clothes, clothes
Ash - telescope, Ed Hardy shoes, Twilight (Jacob) key chain, make-up
Breckyn - Barbie house, Barbie jet, stuff for her American girl doll
Kaden - Indiana Jones Legos, Dragon Fortress, Bakugan
Dusty - Blu Ray, apron that the kids decorated for him (since he is the cook!)
Me - Ugg boots, perfume, books!

Christmas Eve

We celebrate Christmas with Dusty's family on Christmas Eve. We normally go to Dusty's parents house to eat dinner and exchange presents but this year their new place isn't finished so we got to host the party at OUR house! Yeah. Actually it was really fun and not a very big deal, I was worried about hosting a party at my house on Christmas Eve but I had nothing to worry about. We all had a great time and there wasn't even a very big mess to clean up!
So, we always start off with the nativity scene. Dusty's mom made all the costumes and the kids walk in as their parts are read in the story. Kaden was such a lucky duck, he got to be Joseph again!




After the nativity, we all went downstairs to open presents. Kaden was a bit beyond excited to be getting Lego Batman for the Wii. Have I mentioned he is addicted to video games?



B-A-R-B-I-E, Barbie girl!



Ah, the snuggie. Can I just tell you how badly Ashlyn and her cousin Kalli wanted snuggies? I swear that's all Ash could talk about. And my sister in law and I had the girls convinced that they weren't getting snuggies so they were VERY excited when they got them. They obviously had to put them on right away.



Hmmm, that's a nice look for you Tim...


Every year Dusty's parents give the kids new PJ's. The kids love having new jammies to wear on Christmas Eve and they also like that their PJ's match their cousins! Now off to bed so Santa can come!

Christmas party at Grandma Petersons

My Grandma and Grandpa Peterson always host a "Christmas Eve" party the Monday before Christmas. We go out to dinner and then we all meet at my grandparents house for a program and present exchange.




Here are some pics of the kids singing Christmas songs. Kaden and his cousin were so funny. Kaden was singing as loud and clear as he could and his cousin was next to him signing in his low mumbly voice. It was quite a contrast. And miss C. just jumped around in her tutu flashing everyone her adorable smile!



Bella wouldn't sing unless Alisa was up there with her. It's kind of scary to sing in front of a lot of people when you're used to just singing in front of your mom and dad.


It can't be a Christmas program without the nativity scene. Breckyn got to be Mary and Kaden was so excited to be Joseph.

Candlelight Christmas at This Is The Place

We went to the 'Candlelight Christmas' at This Is The Place monument with all my family. We weren't sure what to expect since none of us had been there before and all we knew was that we would be celebrating Christmas 'the old-fashioned' way. Well, we've decided that the old-fashioned way is pretty fun! All the houses are decorated for Christmas and if there is a candle in the window then you can go into the house. There are one or two 'actors' in period costumes in the houses and they tell stories and some are making popcorn or cakes that you can sample. In the bigger buildings they have crafts that the kids can make and puppet shows and even dancing - which I think we all agreed was our favorite part! They have a train ride, a manger scene, a little elf village and Father Christmas (whom we didn't get to see because we took too long doing the other stuff). I think we will definitely go back next year!




Here we are dancing the Virginia Reel. It really was so much fun! Even my brothers who hate to dance had a great time twirling their kids around.






Going on a little train ride

Kaden's Preschool Program

Here are some pics of Kaden's preschool program. My sister in law Jenn, got a lot better ones so I'll have to steal some from her sometime. But anyway, this gives you a basic idea. The kids sang some cute Christmas songs, Kaden was cracking us up the whole time because he gets very animated during these things.



They each got to say a line of "The Night Before Christmas" and Kaden had been practicing his for weeks. Kaden's line was, "fiwled awl da stockings den turned wif a jwrk" (I"m trying, unsuccessfully, to imitate his lisp/drawl)


Kaden with his teachers, Miss Cheryl and Miss Juwana

Shoes for Elves

Whew! I'm finally caught up. As you scroll down, you'll see that I blogged 6 events in one day. I was almost two weeks behind, but no more! Wow, last week was really busy. Anyway, last night the kids put their shoes out for the elves. What they do is pick a night in the middle of December to leave a shoe on the windowsill and if they've been good then the elves will come and fill their shoes with candy. They love it! So let's see if they've been good... oh, yep, I see some candy. Looks like it's gonna be a good Christmas.

Forgotten Carols

Dusty and I took Mady and Ashlyn to The Forgotten Carols on Monday night. Dust and I haven't been for a few years so we thought it was time to go again and we figured the girls would enjoy it. It's really a neat show, we all enjoyed ourselves throughly.



If you have been to the Forgotten Carols you will know that at the end of the show, Michael McLean has everyone link arms and sing. Well, I really don't like this part, I don't want to link arms with the stranger sitting next to me so Dusty and I told the girls that we got to sit in the middle and they got to sit on the ends. Here is what they looked like...
"DaAAad. Noooo. We don't want to sit on the end. Noo, please, you sit on the end... wah, wah, wah, whine, whine, whine."



"You are the parent so you should sit on the end. I'm not sitting there. Dad, seriously, move. More wah, wah, wah and whine, whine, whine" (You can just see the attitude in Mady's face)


They were so funny! I'm sure the people around us were wondering what was going on. Two tweens throwing a fit while their parents laughed at them... and took pictures. Hilarious!

Somehow, I ended up sitting on one end and Mady had to sit on the other but we lucked out. The people next to me left before the dreaded linking and Mady's neighbor didn't try to link arms with her. It could be due to the fact that she was practically leaning across Ashlyn's lap making herself out of reach...

Ash lost her tooth while eating treats. One minute it was in her mouth, and the next it was stuck in a starburst square.

Piano recital

Mady and Breckyn had their piano recital last week and they both did a wonderful job! Mady played "Where are you Christmas" and Breckyn played "Good King Wenceslas" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain". The recital was at a church but I really wish their teacher would hold it at a music store or something. The church's piano needs a tune up. :)




The girls also had their dance recital last week (busy week) but it was downtown, in a venue way too small for all the people who were there to watch and it was so chaotic that I didn't get any pictures! Ahhh! It was very frustrating and I wish I had a pic but they danced beautifully and I'm especially proud of Breckyn because she was really nervous to perform. Good job girls!