Merry Christmas!

I Love this moment before the room gets attacked-- all the beautiful packages from Santa and family, glowing lights, and the feeling of excitement in the air!

My little munchkins in their Christmas jammies!

Somebody likes legos!

We looooove Christmas!

Will is trying to guess what's in this package.

Ella is modeling her new dress-up dresses!

I made some of these flower bows for Ella's hair. This one is just perfect with her new Belle dress! Such a pretty princess.

Christmas was so nice and laid back this year. We opened all of Santa's presents and then waited awhile to get to the family gifts. We even managed to wait until Alex woke up at 8:30 to get to most of it!

Alex saw this book of dinosaurs and screamed out, giggling and shaking back and forth. Such a cutie!

Alex is so cute bringing us presents. Such a little helper.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at Grandma's house. Ella was being really shy all night. Uncle Doug promised her $5 if she would give him a hug. Somehow she got the $5 without giving the hug! All of our encouragement was in vain until . . .



Uncle Adam got Ella her favorite thing, dress-up! And with wings no less! She immediately ran and gave Adam a hug. I guess her love and gratitude were overflowing because she then ran over to surprise Uncle Doug with a great big hug!

Sweet Moments

Will was super patient all night waiting for his turn to open presents. He loves this activity book from Grandma and spent over an hour working on it that night. He also got a Playmobil Pirate ship from Uncle Adam!

When Alex saw this present he squealed "McQueen! McQueen!"

This dinosaur was a little scary, but Alex loves it. After he pushes the button he screams and runs back from it.

This was another favorite for Alex. The doggy barks and walks with the remote. Alex kept standing over it and barking with it. So cute!

Playing Around

Alex has been totally enthralled with Will's Thomas Train sets lately. The tracks often run through the living room and kitchen. One night, Kimball even set them up to go from Will's room out in the hall, to Ella's room, and back again. I was cracking up when I saw Alex making a tunnel with his legs and hands.

This train was actually long enough to pass under Ella and Alex at the same time. So cute.

I took Alex to get his 2 year pics done the other day and the woman there happened to have a small steel train that she handed to him. Alex gasped and said in excited, reverant tones, "Oh yeeaaahhh!" and "Thaaaank you." She couldn't stop giggling at his enthusiasm.

Alex had so much fun taking his pictures. He kept giggling and high-fiving the photographer. It was the best photo shoot we've ever had. Afterwards, Ella said, "Mom I wanted them to take my picture, too. I give such good smiles." She really does. I told her next time we'll do both of them. Love the self-confidence, though.

Speaking of funny things the kids say. The other day, Will lay his head on my stomach and got some kicks on his cheek. He giggled and was so excited. Then came the question, "How did it get in there anyway?" He then hypothesized, "Do you just hurt really bad for like 30 days and then everything you eat turns into a head and then grows a body?" I think he's interpretting morning sickness, but he wasn't too far off! He sure got me giggling.

Caroling Party

We had our annual Caroling Concert at Aunt Erika's house. Will played Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells. Cousins Matti, Merri, Dallin and Cameron also played songs. They did amazing! I can't believe how talented everyone is!

I thought this was a good picture of the layout while between songs. Doesn't everyone look comfy?

This would be the peanut gallery. Love the backup singing, but the Twelve Days of Christmas felt more like 99!

I should've gotten a picture of the yummy desserts that followed. That's the real reason I came this year. What can I say? I have a sweet tooth!

Playing in the Snow

We had a great snowfall the other day and I thought it would be fun for the kids to take some pictures and play around a bit.

They had a lot of fun throwing snowballs at each other!

Will's concert

Will had a concert at school where he sang two songs. The first I didn't recognize, but the kids did a great job going from loud to soft. The second was Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and they did great! He's hard to see, but he's between the two boys in maroon shirts to the right of the choir teacher.

Reader of the Month

Will got Reader of the Month for November! He read 890 minutes! Wow! His favorite books have been Pokemon, Horrible Harry, and The Magic Treehouse. Did I mention he lost one of his front teeth? It's hard to see in this picture, but the other one isn't too far behind. He might be asking for his two front teeth for Christmas!