Christmas Eve

Here's our little girl on Christmas Eve!  She was so excited!

 Here's Sydney and Mommy being silly!

When Aaron was little, he would wrap an empty box for Santa to fill, so Sydney did it this year.  This is her with her box and a note for Santa.

 

 Sydney and Mady both had so much playing with Grandpa John and Grandma.

 

Here's a hilarious video of Mady singing "Jingle Bells" on Christmas Eve.  Her version goes "Tinkerbell, All the way, Fun to ride a pony, YAY!"  It cracks me up every single time.

Christmas Morning was so fun.  I awoke to Sydney in my face saying, "Mommy, Santa came and put presents in our socks!"  She was right!

 Even Frodo got in on the action and opened a present!

 The girls got a sled from Nana and they immediately dubbed it "a boat" and have been sailing ever since!

 Grandpa & Grandma got some books of the kids to see all their cuteness when they are far away.

 Here is Sydney with her new guitar.  Mady got a piano, so I guess they can start a band!

 Mady got twin babies (one for each hand!) that she's been carrying around ever since.

We had a great Christmas and had so much fun!  Hope yours was equally exciting!  Happy New Year!

Christmas Week

The week before Christmas our ward had a great little party.  Sydney decided she wanted to go up and sing with all the other little kids. Never mind that she hadn't practiced with them.  She sat and twisted her skirt in her hands around her waist and smiled.  Cute.  Then Mady tried to play a piano solo.  She was getting up on the bench when I reached her and she cried, "Mommy, push buttons!" when I took her away.  That's her with the red poppy pigtails on the left.

 A special visitor even came - Santa!  See how nervous Sydney was?  She was twisting her dress like crazy.  Guess what she requested?  A rock.  Not even a special rock.  Just a rock.  We're pretty sure this is the only time she'll be so easily pleased.  After the party Sydney informed me that Santa "did not say 'Ho, ho, ho' or 'Merry Christmas!"  She's a quick one that little Sydney Bean.

 On Monday I took the girls to the zoo with some friends.  We got to see some fire dancers and it was very entertaining.  Mady was entertained for a little bit.  Sydney was entranced the whole time and could not be pulled away for a picture.

 On Tuesday Aaron's parents came to town and on Wednesday they treated us to a concert!  We all headed downtown to watch the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

 They had some really cool stunts they did, like in the opening number where the violinist and two guitarists came down from the ceiling on platforms.

 Then they had these cool wing platforms that came out over the crowd with performers on them too.

 There was also a stage not far from us so we got to see some of it close up.  There were some amazing performers and great voices!

 The violinist was incredible and I had never seen an electric violin, so it was really cool!

On Thursday we went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  It was very cool, although missing some big pieces that I would have loved to see.  Mady had her hands all over the glass, which is apparently a big no no, because the guards came and told us the alarms were going off!

After that excitement Aaron's dad and I headed over to watch The Nutcracker (we're the only 2 adults that enjoy it!).  It was an AMAZING performance and totally the highlight of my week!  It was so fun and I'm so glad we got to go!

Festivus

A good friend had an awesome Christmas party a couple weeks ago for all the girls.  Our very own Festivus!  It was hilarious and so fun.  We had all sorts of feats of strength that we did that night including lots of food related ones.  My group started off the night by eating our way through piles of whipped cream on top of mustard and soy sauce.  (sadly, there is no picture of me winning that challenge, so use your imaginations).

These ladies had to do push ups to eat their gum drops.

 These ones got sandwiches with mayo, captain crunch, and pixie sticks on them.

 These gals were puppets trying to put on their makeup

 The lovely winner!

 I was involved in the eating ones.  Eating cotton candy off a baby's head.

 Wall sit champ on the right.

 Some of these girls had some great moves in a dance off on the Wii.

 The final challenge of the night involved rolling dice, eating as many skittles as you had rolled, but only being able to chew or swallow while it was your turn.  In between, you just had to hold it in your mouth, so you ended up with a big wad in there.  The game ended when the last person spit out all their skittles.  I must have a rock solid stomach (and my affinity for all types of candy helps too) because I won this one as well.

  We had such a great time and had so many laughs!  This was a great party!  Thanks Brooke!

So Much Christmas!

To get all ready for Christmas, we took a little trip to the zoo and sat in Santa's sleigh.

 

 A trip to the museum to learn about astronauts

 And sit in crators

 Our little budding paleontologists

 And hanging out with Daddy!

So Sad.

My Christmas presents have all been wrapped for a week.  I'm going into withdrawals because I LOVE wrapping Christmas presents.  Around this time every year Aaron starts offering to let me wrap my own presents.  So far I've held firm.  We'll see how I do.  Anyone need help?  No seriously, anyone?

Thanksgiving!

Aaron's parents came out on Veterans Day and then the following Sunday we all traipsed off to the airport.  Sydney was very excited to "ride the big airplane like daddy" (sometimes he has to go on business trips).

 Sitting with Grammy & Grandpa on the airplane.

 Mady and I were one row ahead.

 While visiting, we ripped out the old wallpaper in my mom's kitchen, painted, and did board and batten.  Hooray for a fresh new look!  Thanks for letting me work out some project urges out there!

For Thanksgiving, we had a big combined dinner/extravaganza at the church with both of our families.  It was so fun!  The kids went on a little train ride while we were setting up.  We ate dinner, I choked on a pickle and lost my voice, and then the games began!

 Most of the adults joined in to play volleyball, and those that did not feel like participating brought in the couch and chairs from the foyer and watched. 

 The kidlets made Indian headdresses, colored, got their faces/arms/legs painted, got animal balloons, and turkey cups with treats.  They were in heaven!

 The next day, Aaron's grandma came up to spend some time with the family. 

 We put up Grammy & Grandpa's tree and Mady decided the beads would look better on her.

 This is a decoration on Aaron's parents tree.  It is a small beaded bell that Aaron's great grandmother made.  Lots of family history stuff going on!

 Four generations right here!

 Lots of play time with all the various cousins!

 Nana was kind enough to drive us back to Salt Lake at the end of the 3 weeks so we could go home. 

 On the plane we even ended up in a first class seat that was big enough for the girls to fit in together!

We sure had fun everyone!  Thanks for coming and seeing us!  We got to see all of our siblings, our parents, lots of little cousins, some grandparents, friends, and even old teachers!  The blizzard and getting snowed in reminded us that we REALLY enjoy Colorado weather, but it was fun to go back and visit!

November

Since Christmas is right around the corner, I'm doing 2 big posts to record November, then I promise we'll move on!  First, and foremost, Mady discovered pink milk.  I'll let the picture tell you what she thought.

Yup, she's a fan. And both girls liked the new park we went to that had a ginormous field. Turns out they like to run!

Such a classic Mady picture.  Pigtails sticking out, cape, skirt, and 50 necklaces on.

 

  Always find time for a zoo trip with your bestie.

 We played in the leaves

And a few days later Mady got to relearn what snow was.  I really don't think she remembered! 

 Look at the turkey on the right side of my mantel.  I made him!  Isn't he darling?  I love him a lot lot lot.

 And Aaron's parents came to visit.  There was a lot of dancing to a certain former Beatle and my kiddos have a new favorite song!