Snow!! - Dec. 28, 2012

We made it to Island Park!!  There is Snow here!  a lot of snow!

 Rock woke up and went right to the window.  He just stared out at the snow!

 Rock & Brian

Rock LOVES to snow machine.  Look closely, that is his EXCITED face, i promise!  He would cry and throw a fit every time we took him off the machine.  He just wanted to ride them all day long.  

 Dalia LOVED playing in the snow!  She enjoyed climbing the hills, sledding, and snow machining (she liked going fast!)

Justin & Tes

Tes even had fun snow machining!

 Brian, Dalia, & Rock

 Rock, Brian, & Britni

The only way i will ride on a snow machine with Brian is if Rock is on it too.  That way I KNOW that Brian will go slow.

 Tes & Emily playing in the Girls Hide Out!

Tes on the deck of our cabin for the week!

Christmas! - Dec. 25, 2012

Christmas 2012

We slept in Christmas morning!  Our girls woke up about their normal time around 8am and came to wake us up.  We got Rockwell out of bed and headed downstairs!  We all enjoyed checking out what was left in our stockings!  Dalia got a Lego Friends set and a stuffed animal bird that really chirps!  Tes got a Brave Polly Pocket!  And Rock got a little monster truck that he loved!  He instantly said, "Vroom"!  Check out the picture of him pushing his truck, you can see his bottom lip out as he says Vroom.  After we checked out our stockings and ate some candy we ate some sticky buns for breakfast!  Then we spent the day opening our gifts!

I love being at home with just the 5 of us for Christmas.  We spend the entire day in our pajamas and it takes us all day to open our gifts.  We take turns opening gifts.  Who ever opens a gift then gets to pick a present out for someone else to open.  When a gift is unwrapped it is then opened and played with for a little bit before we move on.  Like i said, our gift opening in an event!  It is so fun!  I love to see how excited the kids get when they open a gift and how they want to play/use it right away!

I

Brian got the kids some new books.  Dalia LOVES them, she thinks they are so funny.  Tes says they are just Dalia's, because i don't think Tes likes them.  They are called, "That's Mean", "That's Disgusting", and "That's Dangerous".  Aunt Callie made us an awesome snowman kit!  We hope to use it on our trip to Idaho this week!  Tes got mom a framed picture of herself that she wrapped in Sunbeams at church!  (Tes has the best sunbeam teacher!!  Sis. M.!)

Rock got a Thomas the Train blanket from Grandma Cr., a yellow drill just like his dads, and a race track!
Dalia got a non-fiction book about birds!  (she specifically asked for a non-fiction book!)
Tes got and Apple Peel-it!  Tes LOVES apples!  She also got PINK legos!!

Here we are will all out new stuff!  Thank you family!  We are so blessed!
Tes wanted and got: Brave Polly Pocket!  PINK Legos!  Apple Peel-it!
Dalia wanted and got: Lego Friends!  Non-fiction book.  Disco Ball Light.
We all got some new snow gear for our trip to Idaho!
Brian got remote control set to make his own remote control airplane.
Britni got a new kitchen faucet and sparkly shoes!!!

It was a great day to just be together.  We are glad that we get to celebrate having each other in our lives because of our Savior and knowing that we get to be together forever.  Happy Birthday to Jesus!

In the evening we ate left overs and packed our bags for our trip that we were leaving on the next day.  After the kids went to bed i took off all the decorations and lights off of the Christmas tree and Brian took the tree to our compost pile.  It was so weird to take our tree down on Christmas, but I knew it would be nice coming home to it all put away. 

It's Christmas Time!!

Merry Christmas!!

 Shepherd's Dinner with Cam & Kim's Family!

Dalia, Britni, Brian, Rock, Justin, Kim, Annissa, Cameron, & Tesila

 We acted out the Nativity Story!

Christmas Pajama's!!

Christmas Song Videos - Dec. 18, 2012

Merry Christmas from our family!! Enjoy some singing from the girls! Video: Dalia sings "O Christmas Tree" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia sings "Jingle Bells" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia sings "Our House is a Holiday House" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia & Tes sing a Primary song about Baby Jesus, "Samuel tells of Baby Jesus" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia feeding Rock his dinner! - Dec. 2012

Shepherd's Dinner & Chrismtas Eve - Dec. 24, 2012

This year Cam & Kim's family came to our house for our annual Shepherd's Dinner!!

They came up Friday night, then Saturday we went shopping & out to lunch.  After lunch Brian & Cam took the 4 older kids to the Frisbee Forest to play frisbee golf!  Kim and I stayed at home to prepare for the Shepherds dinner and so Rock could take a nap!  Later that evening we all got dressed in our best shepherd attire and sat on our living room floor to the glow of the Christmas lights while we ate finger foods and pita bread sandwiches!  After dinner we acted out the Nativity story.  Cameron was our Narrator.  Brian, Rock, & Kim were Shepherds.  Tes was the Angel.  Dalia was Mary. Justin was a reluctant Joseph.  Cabbage Patch doll as Jesus (even though the girls thought Rock needed to be Jesus).  and Anissa & Britni were Wisewomen!  I think it turned out well despite our shy angel.  Justin was even so good to participate.  We are thankful that they came to join us for a fun Grandma Carolyn Tradition!!  Side Note: Callie, Jerry, & Jami and their families were together the same night in Utah at Callie's house for their Shepherd's dinner.  And my mom and Lane were in the Philippines for their Shepherd's dinner with lots of other missionaries at the mission home!  We were all in sync just not together.  Thanks mom for the fun tradition!!  Oh, then we watched a cool youtube video about the birth of the Savior.  It was a great way to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!!

While Cam & Kim's family was here there was also lots of car racing on Grand Turismo.  Justin really really loved it!  We decorated some cookies Sunday morning and then the H. family loaded up in their car and headed home to Oregon.  We got all dolled up and left for Church.
Monday was Christmas eve!  The girls spent the day playing, Dalia enjoyed being home and doing whatever she wanted.  I wrapped presents and started packing for our trip to idaho.  That night we went to Mat & Bri's for a yummy Christmas eve dinner of Ribs and all the fixings!  Mat & Bri sure know how to make a feast!  The food was so good!  Thank you for inviting us!  We ate and enjoyed talking to one another as our kids played.  Back at home we opened our "X" presents!  Pajamas!!  Rock was SO excited to have cars on his feet.  He walked around the house looking at his feet and saying "VROOM!!"  We set out some cookies for Santa and headed to bed!

December Happenings - Dec. 17, 2012

December happenings...

Yes, it happened, Rock pulled the Christmas Tree over onto himself!!  I didn't really want to get a tree this year because i was afraid that Rock would knock down the Christmas tree.  But of course it wouldn't seem like Christmas without a tree so we got one.  To be honest Tes played and pulled on the tree more than Rockwell did.  The tree was up for 13 days before it fell over.  We had just got back from the mall in Bellevue where we were at Snowflake Lane.  We bought a Mickey Mouse ornament to represent our trip to Disneyland in 2012.  Back at home I took the girls upstairs to get them ready for bed.  Brian was left alone downstairs with Rockwell.  Maybe that was the problem?!  However, Brian says that it is my fault that it happened.  Brian was in the kitchen when he says he saw Rock pick up the new Mickey Mouse ornament, Rock walked over to the tree and was trying to put the new ornament on the tree when he pulled it over on top of himself.  (so it is my fault because i bought the new ornament).  All i hear from upstairs is the ornament balls (a lot of them) bouncing on the hard floor (since we have unbreakable ornament balls!  they are the best!!)  I run downstairs to find the tree on the floor and Rock underneath in shock, no crying, he wasn't even sure what happened.  Brian was standing next to the tree, he says he was waiting for Rock to cry or something.  Brian picked up the tree and i took Rock upstairs.  We set the tree back up, even though now it looked more disheveled then it did before, and only two ornaments broke.   All in all, it happened, and thankfully Rock wasn't hurt and it didn't happen again.

We went to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue where it "snows" every night at 7pm in December!  There are Christmas decorations everywhere and Christmas characters dressed up walking around, like drummer boys, and nutcrackers, and fairy princesses.  And they play Christmas Music.  It was fun, but one of those things where you go once and that's good enough.  When it began to snow Tes said, "Mom, it's just bubbles."  She was not too impressed.

One Saturday Brian went skiing/boarding at Stevens Pass with Brent so Lori & Owen came over to bake Christmas cookies with us!!  We made Gingerbread people and snowmen, peanut brittle, and peanut butter balls!  We had fun baking, i think the boys had fun skiing.  Rock enjoyed playing with Brian's gear before he left.  

I took the kids to the $1 store where they each got to choose one tube of wrapping paper!  They really enjoyed playing with the tubes!  Here they are pictured using them as microphones and singing in the glow of our Christmas lights!  They also used them as guitars, swords, and horses!

Dalia's elementary school had an ice skating night!  We didn't make it last year, so i promised that we would go this year.  We got a babysitter for Rock and Brian and i took the girls!  They have these walker things for the kids to rent.  I am not good at ice skating.  I was glad to have the walker thing to hold onto and push the girls around.  Brian did get Dalia to let go of the walker and they made it around the ring once holding hands.  However, she did not like it, and she had a hard time controlling where her feet went even when using the walker.  Tes did great at keeping her feet straight and LOVED to be pushed around on the walker, especially by her dad, because then she got to go fast!!!

It is fun to see Rock playing with toys!  and acting things out.  Here he is making the dollhouse mom and dad kiss!  Um...he made Woody and Jessie kiss too.  Maybe there is too much kissing going on in our house.  I do kiss Rock a lot.  I really need to toughen him up.  But i just don't know how.

Dalia's First Grade Concert - Dec. 10, 2012

Dalia's First Grade Holiday Concert!!!

I was so excited for Dalia's holiday concert at school!  She tried out for one of the speaking parts and got one!!  There were about 8 parts for her first grade class of 24 students.  That night there were 3 first grade classes performing together.  Dalia was excited!  She has been singing the songs at home for months.  Brian & Eric made it back from their car race in San Fransisco monday morning about 10am!  Yeah!!!  I was worried that they might not make it back and that Brian would have to miss the concert.  We went as a family and Eric & Emily came with us!  However, the we sat on the left side of the stage and Dalia was standing on the right side.  To make things worse we couldn't even see Dalia from where we were sitting because the music teacher was standing right in our way.  So i had to move around a bit to see her.  But i enjoyed it all and how excited Dalia was!  She did great at her speaking part!  Videos of her speaking part and a song are below.  After the concert we all went out for ice cream at jack in the box!  

Side Note: Notice the little dolls in the Christmas tree!?  Tesila loves to hide her dolls in the Christmas tree.  When i first noticed one i asked Tes why her dolls were in the tree and she said, "They are hiding from the humans!"  She is so cute!  Each day there were more dolls hiding in the tree.  She would also play with the dolls in the tree making them jump from branch to branch.  You would think our tree was a decoration, but nope, it is a doll house!!

Video: Dalia's Speaking Part at her First Grade Holiday Concert - Dec. 2012  

Video: Dalia's First Grade Holiday House performance - Dec. 2012

Weekend without Brian - Dec. 8, 2012

 

Brian went out of town for a car race near San Francisco for a weekend in December.  Even though he was gone that didn't slow us down.  Friday we went shopping for gifts to give to kids in need.  I take the kids to the store and tell them to choose a gift that they would like to have and that we will be going to a little kid that is their age.  It is hard sometimes, because they think that they get to keep the gift.  So i have to keep reminding them that it is for someone else.  After we shop we go to the mall where we look at Santa as other kids sit on his lap and get their picture taken (i am cheap and don't want to pay for that).   Behind Santa's display is a huge toy box where you can put unwrapped toys.  After we dropped of our toys we went and played at the dinosaur play place before heading home.  Later that night our friends came over for Pizza and a movie.  There dad was out of town too, so it was just us moms and kids!  Alycia, Preston, Carter, and Owen!

Saturday we went to a first birthday party for Owen Mc. (different Owen then the one from Friday .  Then Dalia had a birthday party for a friend from school.  That night there was a Nativity display at the church!  The girls had fun seeing all the different nativities!  And we had fun dressing up for our own version of the nativity.  It was a busy weekend, we had lots of fun, but we did miss our dad.  However, i know he had so much fun at the Infineon raceway in Sonoma, CA!!  It made it even cooler that he has been racing on the infineon track on his Grand Turismo PlayStation game and now he finally got to race on the track in real life!!  However, their car was too loud that they kept getting penalties and had to try and fix it, but the car just got loud again.  So they didn't place very well, but they had FUN!

Rockwell - Dec. 2, 2012

 

Our little Rockwell started Nursery!!
The nursery leaders said he did well as long as he was playing with cars, reading books about cars, and didn't see the doors in the room open.  However, when we went to get him he started to cry, he was so excited to see us!  Yes, it is true, my Rock LOVES cars!  We usually find him carrying a car around and making it drive on everything and of course making awesome car noises!  Recently Rock has started to act like a puppy or a kitty or a puppykitty.  He will crawl around on all fours and stick his tongue out and pant like dog, but then he will meow.  Whatever he is, he is sure cute!

Christmas Tree! - Dec. 1, 2012

What better thing to do on December first then get a Christmas Tree!!

We drove to our favorite U-cut Christmas Tree farm up highway 92 where any tree is $20.  Well this year the price was raised to $25.  Tes was so excited because she remembers that they give candy canes to the kids!  The girls & Rock had fun running around and around and under the trees!  I tried following them so that we didn't lose Rock among-est the trees.  We were pretty quick this year with our tree choice.  However, Brian and I had to convince the girls that this was the tree we wanted.

We had to stop off at the $1 store for some items and the girls were excited to find Nutcrackers!!  I was so because i almost bought them one for $7 at Fred Meyer.  I am glad i didn't because this way they each got their own and they could play with them all they wanted and if they brake i won't care.

Back at home, we set up the tree and begun to hang lights on it and put Christmas decorations around our home.  We took a break to go to our Ward Christmas Party!  It was really fun!  They called it a "Night in Zarahemla!"  It was as if we were in Book of Mormon times!  We ate carne asada, Rice and Beans, Salsa Bar, lots of fruit, churros, and leche cake!  The food was good and it was fun to have something different than ham and potatoes!  The program was also set in Book of Mormon times.  So we heard the Christmas Story from the Book of Mormon perspective!  It was neat.  The Primary Children also sang songs during the program.  My two primary girls were so cute front and center!!  They were most excited to sing "Samuel tells of baby Jesus!"

It was a good way to start off our December!