Christmas Day!

Once again the kids slept in on Christmas morning.  I am more than okay with that.  We let the kids come downstairs youngest to oldest.  Lucky for Addy, she will always be the first down the stairs.

 

Hayden was happy about the Lego firetruck Santa brought him.  Mckenna was nice and helped him build it.

Mckenna was very happy with her new chair that matches the colors in her room. It is the perfect spot for all the reading she does.

 

Parker couldn't wait to try out the electric scooter Santa brought him. He has been riding it in the basement since there is so much snow outside.

 

Halle was thrilled with her American girl doll.  Kit has blond hair and freckles just like Halle.  It has been cute watching her take such good care of her doll.  It makes me happy that one of my daughters loves her American girl doll as much as I loved mine when I was little.

 

Dad helping Hayden assemble his toys.

 

Parker was really excited about his new Lego Batman wii game.

 

We gave Mckenna eight new books for Christmas.  She is into the Michael Vey series right now.

 

Christmas breakfast was delicious as always.  We had waffles with Nutella and whipped cream.  We also had all our favorite berries to put on top.

 

All five kids happily played with their new Lego sets for the rest of the morning.

 

In the afternoon we went up to Grandpa Foster's house.  I love this picture of him with Mckenna.

 

Grandpa Foster has these giant floor to ceiling windows.  They were perfect to enjoy the view of all that snow.  We watched the snow come down all afternoon.  We were thankful for our white Christmas.

The kids love their Uncle Spencer!  He and Parker were having a tickle fight.

 

We had a yummy Christmas lunch with a honey glazed ham.

 

We enjoyed the cousins gift exchange and the adult one too.

 

Then we went back to Grandma Sue's to open more presents.

 

Addy looked darling all ready and patiently waiting to open her gifts.

 

Spencer was happy about the Aggies decoration I made him.  The highlight of Christmas was having him home with us this year!

We all went in on the gift for Kev's Dad.  His present was as tall as him.  It was fun watching Kev and Kenna wrap it.  Mckenna held it up while Kev went around and around with the wrapping paper.  We know Grandpa will enjoy using his Little giant ladder.

 

The boys got right to work building their new lego sets.  It was a Lego Christmas!

Christmas eve!

We started off Christmas eve by visiting my Grandma at the nursing home.  It was a bonus that my Grandpa was there too.  We gave Grandma her Christmas present.  I made her a Shutterfly pillow with a picture of the kids on it.  She loved it and exclaimed, "now I get to see these darling children everyday!"

We then drove up to my Dad's for dinner and our Christmas party with them.  My Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Wayne brought some of their Iowa traditions with them.  We read Christmas scriptures and sang songs.

Grandma taking her turn to read to all of us.  It was so great having her there with us.

 

Then the kids got dressed up for the nativity.  Halle was the angel this year.

 

Hayden was happy to get dressed up as a shepard.

 

Addy and cousin Nathanial were the cutest little sheep and donkey you ever saw.

 

The whole group.  Uncle Wayne dressed up as a pirate for the nativity.  He was our comic relief.

 

At one point he tried to cut Brayden in half.  We were so glad they were with us this year.  They brought a whole new perspective to the Nativity scene.

 

Toward the end Mary ended up on the back of the wiseman.  There was a lot of laughter going on.

 

Then we opened up presents.  Addy was so happy with her stick pony from Grandma and Grandpa.

 

I was so excited to give my Grandma the photobook I made her.  I gave it to her with a box of tissues.  It was sixty pages of memories when Grandpa Steve was with us.

 

I love my Grandma and cousin Robin.  Family really is the most important part of Christmas.

 

We went home and the kids opened up their new jammies.

 

I take a picture of Addy every year with the Christmas bears.  Her first picture is when she was only two months old.  I will have to scrapbook a page with them all together.

 

The kids put out milk, carrots, kisses, and chocolate grahm crackers for Santa and the reindeer.

 

Dad read the family our new Christmas book for this year.  It is called "Santa comes to Utah".  Then it was off to bed!

Parker is Ten Years Old!

Parker turned 10 years old on Tuesday December 23rd.  I can't believe it has been a decade since he was born. He was a good sport and came with me to do some last minute errands at Costco.  He insisted on riding in the cart.  Funny boy!  We did get some good samples though.  Steak being one of them.

We went to pick out his birthday balloons.  He chose out a batman one.  It is always fun spending some time with just him.

Grandpa took him out for a birthday lunch at Wendy's with just the boys.

 

I spent most of the afternoon working on his cake.  I saw this idea a few months back and was so excited to make it.  Parker loves camping and I knew it would be the perfect cake for him.  It was so much fun to decorate.

We had a big family party that night at our house!  It was great having my Aunt Elizabeth, as well as cousins, Robin, Mark, Brayden, and Nathaniel here visiting form Iowa.

 

Parker looking at his scrapbook with Grandpa and cousin Tucker.

 

Parker was so happy when he saw the Pokemon pillow that Aunt Amy made him.  His big gift from us was Benny's Spaceship from the Lego Movie. When he saw it he said, "How can you afford this?"  We told him that we did not pay the $140 that we saw it in the store for.  He has spent the last few days working on it.

Our traditional birthday picture with Parker and the cake.

 

Parker getting ready to blow out his candles and make a wish.  It was such a fun birthday!

Holiday Highlights

We always look forward to decorating for Christmas.  The kids were excited to see the tree put up and also play with the Christmas bears. Hayden slept with one in his bed the whole month.

 

Kev got out his Christmas Pyramid from Germany.  It is beautiful! I am so glad he hauled it all the way home from Germany on his lap.  We even remembered to light all the candles this Christmas Eve.

We enjoyed going to the Stake Christmas Creche again this year.  Our three youngest enjoyed dressing up and acting out the Nativity.

The kids decided that they wanted to share their small tree with Great Grandma Rosen this year.  Halle and Hayden came with me to help decorate the tree in Grandma's room at the nursing home. 

 

We had a fun Mexican themed Ward Christmas party.  Addy got to sit on Santa's lap for the second time this year.  She was so cute telling Santa that she is three and trying to hold up the right amount of fingers.

Parker is looking so big sitting on Santa's lap this year.

 

We made Christmas treats for our neighbor's.  Mckenna was a big help again this year.

 

 Kev had his Friday off from work and was able to help with Parker's class party.  He was in charge of the cup stacking game.  Parker loved having his Dad in class with him.

We made the long drive to Park City to choose out our family Christmas ornament for this year.  Hayden was very happy that we chose out a train ornament.

 

Mckenna and Addy watching the snow come down on main street.

 

We have enjoyed watching lots of classic Christmas movies.  The girls and I were watching Home Alone in this picture.  Addy's favorite place to sit and watch is on my stomach.  I love my baby girl.

 

The girls and I all dressed up in our Christmas best for Christmas Sunday.  I sang with the ward choir for the first time and loved every minute of it. 

We had the Grant family Christmas party that night.  Cousin Liz and Kenna hanging out at the dessert table.  They are both the oldest great grandkids of I think forty now.

 

Addy and Hayden were both happy to help show off the star and the tree for the Christmas program. It was a memorable night with our extended family.