Christmas Eve

This year we switched things up and went to my aunt and uncle's Christmas Eve party in the evening.  That mean doing our little traditions earlier in the day, which ended up working out well because Daxton fell asleep on the way home from the party.

First up was the nativity.  Daxton and Maylee had both just gotten out of the bath and were grumpy so they weren't cooperating with dressing up.  That meant we had a naked Joseph and Mary.  Mikayla was more than willing to dress up, of course, so our angel looked super fancy.

Christmas jammies and sibling gift swap was next.  The girls got Elsa nightgowns and felt pretty marvelous in them.

And then the party with family was last on the agenda.  We did a nativity again and Maylee was an angry wiseman who stole baby Jesus from Mary.  It happens.

My Grandma and Grandpa made all of these little olive penguins. They were adorable!

Our kids didn't fall asleep until after 11 that night.  We were dying!  We survived though and Santa still found a way to come so we woke up to magic the next morning.

Merry Christmas!

Nativity

I had sharing time on Sunday and wanted to have the kids enact the story of Christ's birth.  Dustin helped me gather costumes and we just had to try on Joseph's beard!

I LOVE his two little teeth poking out!

    

Here's the picture of the kids dressed up in primary.  We needed pictures of primary for our ward historian so we snapped this one.  Mikayla was Mary-sometimes there has to be some perks for having your Mom doing sharing time, right?!

Walking Dude!

Daxton has been taking a few steps here and there for several weeks, but last week he started zooming.  His walk is hilarious because he walks with his hands in the air and is very wobbly still.  Dustin said Daxton reminds him of King Louie the monkey from Jungle Book when he walks.

He started really walking last Thursday, the 18th, and that same day he learned to clap.  I guess watching us all get excited for him walking and clapping like crazy did the trick.  Now he claps for himself every move he makes.  Love our Trouble Bubble!

Arizona Sunrise

Arizona sunrises and sunsets never cease to take my breath away.  To me they are a reminder that our Heavenly Father loves us...why else would He create these masterpieces for us?!

Santa

I think Santa's helpers might be on the naughty list this year.  They were super stingy and only let you take 2 pictures with Santa.  Now, I can understand 2 pictures per kid or something, but 2 total seems a little ridiculous, especially when you have 3 kids.  Luckily Maylee and Daxton had no interest in sitting on Santa's lap so we were able to grab a family picture for our second prime shot.  Seriously people?!  Mikayla had been looking forward to seeing Santa for a long time and waited very {un}patiently while her siblings got over their sicknesses before getting to see him.  Luckily, the mind of a 4 year-old is different than her Mom's and she enjoyed the experience greatly.  As for next year, jolly 'ol Santa's helpers-you can count on me turning off my flash so you have no idea how many pictures I'm taking and I will be taking a picture of each of my kids with the Big Man!

Mikayla wanted to wear her fancy Christmas dress to meet Santa and that's what we did.  During primary she told her teachers that she was going to see the "real" Santa.  We had talked about how sometimes the "real" Santa goes to malls and sometimes he sends helpers and you never know who you're going to get.  She was pretty thrilled when he was the real deal.  She asked for a dollie from Santa.  In the letter she wrote/drew for Santa this is what she asked for (I made the mistake of limiting how much she asked for last year and then Santa was bound to find the diamond ring she asked for.  This year we gave Santa lots of choices to choose from.):

After seeing Santa Mikayla talked my Mom into going and checking out the $1 jewelry store.  A girl's dream come true.

Maylee had no interest in taking a picture or participating.  Maybe next year.

Maylee told Maren on the way home that she wanted Santa to bring her a dump truck, peanut butter and jelly, candy, and ribbon.

Christmas Outfits!

Mikayla was begging for make-up to go with her new fancy dress and I finally caved and told her she could have some after pictures.  Well, she got lucky and we took more pictures after she got dolled up.  She was feeling pretty amazing in her "earrings" (ornaments) and make-up.

And some bloopers!

Daxton headed for the face plant.  He landed pretty hard poor guy!

Mikayla's face in this picture cracks me up.  Talk about attitude!

Dustin put the tree up this morning and the kids have been loving hanging out by it.  Mikayla took a nap by it this afternoon and then they all read by the tree.  I love Christmas lights!