Christmas 2014

Christmas Eve day was spent doing final preparations.  We made reindeer food (peanut butter and chocolate covered chex mix) and cookies for Santa (Chocolate chip since he told the girls those were his favorite when we sat on his lap earlier in the month.)  Then after naps we headed over to my parents.  We had a yummy roast dinner.  It was a little more quiet than normal.  The Taylors were there until right after dinner and then it was just us, my parents and Jennifer.  We sang some songs and instead of acting out the nativity, because my girls would have nothing to do with that, we watched old home videos of us acting out the nativity when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  Pretty funny to watch.  The kids were excited to open up their Christmas eve present. (well Jaron got some slipper socks)  The girls got Frozen PJs.  We headed home and straight to bed so Santa could come.

The next morning we all got up and headed downstairs.  The girls loved looking at all the stuff that Santa had left them but really they were most anxious to open presents.  They looked through their stocking and loved seeing that Santa actually listened to what they wanted and got them flashlights, lots of candy canes and even a unicorn which they added to their list a little later.  Jaron found his little car track and sat down immediately and started playing and never really looked up or cared about much else.

Then we noticed that there were some reindeer footprints leading down to our basement.  The girls were amazed and so focused on following the footprints that led down the stairs, through the basement to another set of stairs and when the footprints ended, there sat a huge trampoline!  Santa had remembered and was pretty smart to realize the trampoline with the netting sides fit exactly in our basement.  He was also pretty smart to set it up inside since it was snowing outside.  Yes we had a beautiful white Christmas.  We must have left some good reindeer food since the reindeer joined Santa and helped put it together.  The rest of the day I'm pretty sure the girls liked following the footprints more then they liked the trampoline.  Although they LOVE jumping on the trampoline.  Still to this day anyone that comes over and wants to jump gets the whole conversation about the footprints that were there but 'no footprints anymore, only on Christmas.'  since we told them the footprints only stay on Christmas day then they disappear.  Santa also left Jaron a little power ride on batman bike.  Jaron liked it on Christmas but hasn't cared much for it since.  He'll grow into it I'm sure.  This picture is the best I got of the girls on the trampoline.  They wouldn't sit still for a picture so I had to wait until they fell down, they were cracking up hysterical in this picture.

After that we came up and opened presents which the girls and Jaron loved opening.  Then we ate breakfast and as fast as I could open and put together one toy, they were on to the next.  It was a little chaotic as everything got opened and played with for exactly 2 minutes before their attention diverted elsewhere.  Jaron got a cute Pluto stuffed animal (since he is always trying to steal his sister's stuffed animals) and he loves it.  He sleeps with it and carries it around and asks for it before he goes to bed.

Later that morning Grandma Glover and Aunt Margene came over for lunch and to exchange presents.  The kids got some cute Christmas clothes and some rolls of coins/money which they LOVED putting in their piggy banks.  These pictures were taken the Sunday after Christmas.

After naps we headed back to my parents where more gifts were exchanged.  Jaron got this little bus that he doesn't think is so little because he loves to sit on it and ride it like a bike.  The girls got some cute Minnie Mouse remote control cars.  A yummy turkey dinner with some traditional Sees candy and our Christmas was complete.

After we got home Shad and Darienne came over and then it was off to bed late and exhausted.  But oh was it ever a fun day.  Just tonight Aria told me something that she is asking Santa for Christmas next year.  Really?  Already making her next list.  However, tonight they were also jumping around saying that it's almost Easter!  Haha, they're crazy.

PS  This might be the first post that I have more pictures of Jaron then the girls...3rd child syndrome.

Daddy Daughter Dates

During the Christmas season Shane and I wanted to find a way to teach the girls that Christmas is about giving.  They are a little young to understand giving to others they don't know even though I tell them all the time when I clean out their toys that they are going to other kids that don't have as many toys.  I've also been wanting to get the girls to have some one on one time away from each other every so often.  Except for occasional doctor appts. or things like that, they are never apart.  If I take one of them to the store, I usually just take both of them.  Also, Aria has been pretty demanding of me lately and not letting dad do anything for her.  If she needs something, Mom has to do it.  It's frustrating for me and for Shane who can't help out with anything.

So...we combined all 3 of these needs and told the girls that they were going on a date with Dad.  Aria went one night and then Siena went the next night.  The purpose of the date was to buy gifts for everyone else in the family for Christmas.  The girls were sooo excited.  They know Shane and I go on dates all the time so just the thought of a date had them talking about it the next 2 days.  They knew who was going when and couldn't wait.

While they were gone I planned a little fun night of tunnels, forts and books by flashlight.  Shane said they had a good time and each got an ice cream cone after going to buy gifts.  They are so funny because each of the things they got were something they wanted for themselves.  So when Aria walked in the door, she said 'I got you a treat mom...Skittles!'  It was so cute.  They were both excited as they went upstairs and wrapped their gifts and brought them downstairs.  Both of them as they handed their gift to each other proudly proclaimed what was inside 'It's a Frozen matching game!' or 'Here's your present, Elsa socks!'  They were just as excited to watch them open it on Christmas morning and were so proud they were able to participate in the gift giving.

It was fun for them to get out alone and we plan on keeping up the tradition and going on more 'dates'.

Meeting Anna and Elsa

In the middle of all our Christmas events we had going on, I happened to look up at our library to see an event that caught my attention 'Family Movie Night, Frozen sing a long'  Now normally this is not something I would go to but then I read that there would be 'visitors' there.  I was hoping that meant Elsa and Anna would be showing up but wasn't positive.  That day I almost didn't go, we had a lot going on and I was positive it was going to be so crowded that it wasn't even going to be worth it.  But we decided to check it out and I thought if it's too crazy we can just leave. 

We got there about 10 minutes early and NO ONE was there.  I thought I must have had the wrong day but when I looked it up it said it was right then.  So we walked in and I was shocked when it started there were only about 10 kids there, including my 3 and my sister Michelle's 3 kids.

It was such a fun event.  They had Frozen karaoke going on which I never thought my girls would do but they totally did.  We have a video of Siena singing 'Let it Go' and Aria singing 'Do you want to build a snowman'  They had little coloring pages, and a craft to make a little Olaf.

Then of course the main event was when Anna and Elsa showed up.  The girls were a little shy but I could tell were so excited.  Anna and Elsa were so cute talking to the kids.  My girls were so excited they were in their Anna and Elsa dresses to match Anna and Elsa.  Anna and Elsa played a few games, read some stories, gave out some bracelets and then posed for pictures.  The library even gave out little goody bags for everyone.

I was so shocked that it wasn't crowded but as I talked to the library ladies they said they were afraid to advertise but fear it would be so crazy. I'm sure they regret that a little bit but seriously it was such a fun night and made it even better that we had the place to ourselves.

Christmas Month

We had such a fun Christmas season this year.  Probably one of my all time favorite Christmas years I've had.  The kids are at such a fun age, we had a warm December which allowed us to get out and do so many things that I otherwise would've skipped over, and I had most my shopping done by Thanksgiving which made December so much less stressful.  I won't bore you with all the details but wanted to remember all the fun things we did leading up to Christmas.

The kids each wrote Santa a letter then we took it to the mall where they have a special mailbox for letters to Santa.  I was also pretty proud that with very little help from me, both girls signed their own name on their letter.

We visited Santa for our annual Santa picture.  Since the summer when they saw a Strawberry Shortcake episode with a candy cane on it, they've been telling me they want a candy cane for Christmas.  So when they sat on Santa's lap and he asked them what they wanted, they both said a candy cane, to which he pulled out candy canes for each of them right then.  They then asked for a trampoline and he said he would see what he could do.  As we were leaving Siena turned to me and said 'Mom, Santa forgot to give us a trampoline!'  It was so funny.  I think since he gave them their candy canes right then, she thought he would just pull out a trampoline as well.  No one cried sitting on Santa's lap, well Jaron did a little when the girls got up and he was by himself but didn't do too bad.

Jaron is obsessed with sugar, he eats way more then the girls ever did at this age.  If he sees his sisters eating candy, then he feels he gets to as well.  We had advent calendars and each day as soon as his eyes spotted his, he started begging for his chocolate 'peeeees' as he would say.  He's too cute to resist.

We made and decorated Gingerbread men.  The girls had been begging me to do this as well from the same Strawberry Shortcake show.  It was fun and they loved all the sprinkles and candy they got to eat.  We then took a few and delivered them to Jennifer's house with a little round of caroling 'Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town' which were the only 2 songs they knew at this point. 

We made our annual trip to Temple Square and this year we planned it on a not so busy night and actually got to see the Christus which we had never done before with the kids.  Last year the line was over an hour long.  They loved the manger scene as well.

We watched Small One, family tradition, and Aria was obsessed with Donkey's the rest of the month.  We have a little nativity scene at our house that I allow the kids to play with (as opposed to my nice one that they don't touch) and it was fun to see them play with them all, arrange them and talk about them throughout the month.  The first presents that showed up under the tree was also a huge hit.  They were really good about not opening them but I did catch Jaron carrying his around a few times and then he came over and said 'peees'  Funny boy.

With the warm weather we even made it to Gardner Village to see the Elves on display.  Brigitte, Holland and Tagg joined us and Bostyn and her mom from dance class.

Our Elf from the north pole, Sparky, showed up this year.  He stayed up high each day and all the kids, especially Jaron loved finding him each morning to see where he ended up.  You should've heard Jaron's squeals each morning when he spotted him, it was so funny.

We talked about the true meaning of Christmas a lot so the girls at least understood why we celebrate Christmas and they at least now know that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday.

Even though we did a lot, there were also a lot of nights we just stayed home listening to Christmas music, doing little crafts and playing.  To me it was the perfect combination of enjoying and being together but not being overly busy.  Fun, fun month.

Fall Round up

I have got to catch up.  So here is my fall round up of things happening in our lives.  We had such a nice and warm fall season.  We went to the park several times and did lots of things outside when normally it would've been chilly, it was down right, nice, perfect weather. 

The girls have been begging to go on a train ride.  We pass the trax train a lot when we're driving places and they always point it out.  I've also been trying to teach them their letter sounds so one week we did the letter T and talked about trains and other T words.  So for our activity that week we went on a train ride.  The girls were soo excited.  They stood looking out the window the entire time.  They got a little concerned that our train wasn't on train tracks when they look down and saw the tracks for the train going the other way.  It was quite the fun adventure for them and they keep asking when they can go again.

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch with Whitney and her boys one day.  They loved it.  Their favorite part was the corn maize.  We got little pumpkins and sat on all the tractors.  It was a fun morning and it was nice cuz it was in the middle of the week and wasn't crowded at all.

We also went to Gardner Village for our annual Witch Fest.  The girls got to ride a pony again and we had fun looking at all the witches.

And of course we had to do our annual Snowbird tram ride for customer appreciation days.  We went up the first Saturday and they were already sold out.  We went up the following Saturday earlier and had a great ride up and back.  The girls thought the tram ride was pretty cool.  "Kind of like a train with the tracks on top"

I also signed the girls up for the first ever swim lessons.  I was worried Aria, or both of them would cry because they are not big fans of water (unlike their brother)  But they did great.  They had a great time and were very brave.  They learned to put their face in the water and by the end they were jumping off the side to their teacher.  Next set of lessons start next month.