Christmas Fun

I wanted to say sorry to those who have left comments on this post. I had to redo it because I was having problems with the format. I enjoyed the comments though!
We had a wonderful Christmas with a lot of fun memories. On Christmas Eve our tradition is to go and spend the day up at Brandon's parents house. Jeremy and Tisha are always there with their kids, and this year we were very excited to have Brandon's Grandma and Grandpa Simmons here, and also Jana's brother Scott. I was so mad because I forgot my camera! Tisha promised me copies of her pictures though. The kids exchanged presents, the women had an ornament exchange, and then the kids got to open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa Simmons as well. Nana was also so nice, and bought all of the grand kids a fun present to open. Alexis got a lip gloss making kit, Tori got a butterfly making kit, and Levi got some magnetics blocks. They all had a lot of fun playing with their new things. Then they got to open a new pair of pajamas. In the picture above Alexis, Tori and Levi are sitting by the tree after we got home, in their new pj's. We had a fun time with Brandon's family. We played a really fun game called "imaginif". It was so much fun and we had a lot of laughs. I think I will be purchasing that game. It was such a fun time, and it was hard to leave, but we made ourselves leave by eight so we could get home in time to leave cookies for Santa. We were able to keep the kids awake the whole ride home, so they could put the cookies and milk out. They were so excited for Santa to come they could hardly stand it. On Christmas morning,Alexis woke us all up at six thirty. This is the first time Brandon and I didn't wake the kids up at the crack of dawn. We agreed to let them wake us up this year. Although we both admitted to having a hard time sleeping because we were so excited. (we are still kids at heart lol) After Brandon went down to make sure Santa had come, the kids all ran down to find their presents piled beneath the tree. here they are going through their stockings

Here is Tori with her Littlest Petshop stuff the Santa brought. She was so excited that Santa brought her exactly what she wanted.
Here is Alexis with her printer that went with the computer that Santa brought. All she has been wanting for about a year is a computer so she can play all of her games on it, since mom and dad never let her load all of her games onto their computer. She must have been pretty good for Santa to bring this for her! Santa brought Levi a train table, and I just noticed when loading these pictures, that we didn't get a picture of him with it. I don't know how that happened! He loves it though.
Here are the kids wrapped up in their blankets that I made for them.
Here they are opening up new sleeping bags from daddy. The girls have been wanting their own sleeping bags for a long time, and they were so excited that daddy bought them pink ones. They have been sleeping in them ever since. Levi was excited for his too.

A great big thank you hug for daddy!
More presents
Here is Alexis brushing her teeth with the new electric "Brats" toothbrush that she got in her stocking. She had been eyeing that at the store for quite some time.
I got Brandon one of those little electric flying helicopters for Christmas. He loved it and had so much flying it for a couple of hours until it crashed and broke =(. Here he is trying to put it back together.
Every Christmas we always go over to my parents house, and have a big Christmas dinner, open presents that we get for each other, and just have a blast hanging out together. We were so happy that Daniel was home from his mission this year, and that Cindy and AJ were able to come down from Utah to spend Christmas here. Christmas would not be the same with out them here. This was the first Christmas in a long time that my Grandma and Grandpa Park didn't come for Christmas, and we were so sad they weren't here. We had a lot of fun hanging out, talking, laughing , playing games and watching movies. Here are Katie, Tori Levi and Kristalyn when we are getting ready to open presents

Here is Alexis with her Hannah Montanna microphone, wig and Hannah Montanna CD that Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She was SO excited.
Here she is trying it out. It took several tries with the wig, until we got it just right. Doesn't she make such a cute Hanna Montanna?
I caught my dad trying it out too. Haha.
Levi and Mason played so good, and cute together. Here is Levi pushing around Mason in a box. They are wearing matching pajamas that Grandma got them
Christmas was so much fun this year. I have so many wonderful memories of Christmas when I was growing up, and it has been so much fun to watch our kids, as they make their own memories of Christmas, and add to mine.

Christmas Cookies

I figured I had better start posting some of the tons of pictures I have taken this past week, or I would get too overwhelmed and never do it. On the Sunday before Christmas the kids and I made some cookies. The first ones we made were hamburger cookies. I always remember making them growing up so I thought they would be fun for the kids to make. Here is a plate of some of the finished products
Here is Tori with her "Ketchup only" hamburger. She didn't quite understand that it was really just frosting dyed red, so she insited on making all of hers with just "ketchup" because that is all she likes on her hamburgers =)

Here is Alexis with one of hers. She was very original with all of hers. She even made several without any "lettuce" for dad since he doesn't like lettuce on his hamburgers,lol
Here is Levi working very hard on his triple decker hamburger
And here is the finished product
Next it was time for Levi's nap, and then the girls made Sugar cookies. They had tons of fun cutting out the cookies and then piling them high with frosting and sprinkles. All in all it was a very fun cookie making experience

Tori's Dance Recital

Today was Tori's Dance recital. Let me just say, she was sooo cute! I was a little nervous, because she tends to have a hard time doing things in front of people, but she did so great, and we were so proud. Here are a few of the tons and tons of pictures we took. She had the cutest little smile the whole time. They did quite a few little dances. First they wore their tap shoes, and did aroung four little dances. Then they changed into their ballet shoes, and did their nutcracker performance. I was smiling so much that my mouth started to hurt! It has been so much fun to see Tori slowly come out of her shell this past year, and this recital just proved it. We got it all on video too, so we can cherish her cute performance for years to come.

Shots

Today was Tori's 4 year check up. (it only took me three months after her actual birthday to make an appointmet!) Well I thought she would have to have one shot, so I was telling her all about it, just to prepare her for it. She was so scared! I was laying with her in her bed last night trying to reasure her that everything would be fine. She asked me how bad it would hurt, and I told her it would just feel like a little pinch and then be done with. She asked if I wuold pinch her on her leg to show her how it would feel. So I pinched her leg just a little tiny bit (I thought) but she started screaming and crying and sobbing actually. Talk about feeling like the worst mom in the entire world! I checked on her a little bit later and she was asleep at the bottom of her bed. So I moved her to the top on her pillow, and in her sleep she said "I don't want to have a shot.." So Today we went to the doctor, and it turns out she had to actually have 4, since she was going into Kindergarten next year. Levi was having his appointment too for his two year check up, and he had to have one shot. He went first. Tori sat up there next to him, and watched the whole thing (bad idea). He screamed of course, and then it was her turn. She started running around the room saying "I don't want a shot" I had to pick her up and carry her to the table (this is the same girl who didn't shed a tear while getting stitches put into her head) Well to finish up this story, she screamed and sobbed through the whole thing. I have never seen her that upset. Every time my kids get shots it is so hard to watch, but for some reason this time was the worst of all. I actually started crying a little! I had to quickly wipe away the tears before the nurse saw. I think it was worse because Tori never complains about anything and is always so easy going. It took the whole car ride home for my heart to stop pounding, and when I explained the story to Brandon he didn't seem to understand how traumatic it was so I told him the next time the kids get shots. He is going!

Mommy's Little Helpers

Today was Cleaning day at our house, and Tori and Levi were very excited to discover the pack full of colorful sponges that I bought. They wanted to help me so bad, and so I let them clean the sinks. They had so much fun. they actually did a pretty good job too! After they were done with the sink they walked around the house cleaning everything they could. It was so cute. Alexis was at school, or else she would have been just as excited and into it as them. Actually, the second the Alexis got into the car when we picked her up from school, Tori told her all about it. Alexis then proceeded to st art sobbing, saying theat it wasn’t fair that they got to have all of the fun while she was at school. I am sure I will be reminding her of that comment a few years from now, when she thinks it isn’t so much "fun" to help clean. =)

Decorating for Christmas

We actually decorated the day after Thanksgiving, but I am just getting around to downloading the pictures off of my camera. My Sister Cindy is so good about posting things right after they happen, so I am going to try and be better. I promised the girls that we would decorate the day afer Thanksgiving. (That was before I realized that I would be in line at Best Buy at 1 am the night before for a doorbuster, but that is a whole different story). I couldn't let them know that though, so I had to put on a happy face . It wasn't hard though seeing that I love Christmas and it doesn't take more then a glance into the Christmas decorations box to get me into the Christmas spirit. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast looking through the ornament box and finding all of the ones that were theirs. That is one of my favorite past times. Growing up we all had our own ornament boxes, and it was so much fun to put our very own ornaments onto the tree. Even though the only place my kiddos happened to put the ornaments was in a big clump in the front, I didn't intervene and move them all around. ( until later that night that is). Tori was very excited that she got to put the star on the top. This year was also the first year that we have a fireplace to hang our stockings on. The first thing our kids noticed when we were looking through this house, was the hooks already hanging by the fireplace ready for stockings to be hung. I just love seeing the excitement in my children's faces, as they anxiously count down until Santa comes

Christmas Time!!

I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it. I always have, and it is even more fun when you have kids. It is so magical to them, and I just love it. Last night we went to the mall so the kids could see Santa. I think this was the first year that all three sat on his lap willingly. I love the Santa at our mall. He has been the same one for the past 6 years, and he is so great with the kids. I just had to get on and post the cute picture that we got. As a side note, I had to join in the fun, so I elfed Brandon and I. Take a look! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1117278869 and we couldn't leave the kids out! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1117722700

HALLOWEEN

WE had such a blast this Halloween. (Don't worry, the scary guy is Brandon)
Alexis was a Charm School Witch
Tori was a Butterfly Princess
Levi was a Tiger, Not Tigger (Brandon thought it was much cooler to just be a tiger haha)
Here they are Trick or Treating and Grandmas. Levi was so cute Trick or Treating this year. He would run up to the doors and yell "TEET!" If they didn't answer he would pound on the door. It was the perfect weather for trick or treating. I can't remember many Halloween where it wasn't unbearably cold. It wasn't bad at all! After Trunk or Treat, and trick or treating around the block, Tori had enough, so we dropped her off at Grandmas while we took Alexis and Levi Trick or Treating with us and some friends of ours .I did learn one lesson though. My boots may match my outfit perfectly, but they are not a good idea to wear trick or treating...ouch!

Western Day

Last week was Western Day at Tori's preschool. As I stated in an earlier post, Tori has been learning several songs that they were going to sing to the parents. The morning of Western Day came, and I got Tori all dressed and ready to go. She wore a jean skirt, white shirt, cowgirl boots, and a purple bandana tied aroung her neck. She was excited and happy all morning long. Then...the nerves hit. As we got into the car, to drive to school she suddenly developed a stomach ache."mommy, I can't sing, I just need to stay home", is what I heard over and over as we drove. I tried to reasure her that everything would be ok, but nothing I said seemed to calm her nerves. The bandanna around her neck started to itch her so she ripped it off. I thought for sure we were doomed. I gave her a pep talk, and told her, that when she was up there, to just look at me, and just sing to me, and pretend like no one else was there. By the time we got there she was feeling better, and she even let me put the bandanna back on. The little program wasn't until the end, sp I left her there and returned early for the program. She was so cute sitting on the end of the bench. Miss Patti had a fake campfire and they pretended to roast marshmallow over it. Then came time for the songs. The music started, and I could see the fear set in on Tori's face. I just smiled big at her, and she looked right at me the whole time. She may have only gotten a few words out, but I was so proud of her, and I could see that she was proud of herself too. It has been so fun to see her slowly start to come out of her shell. She brings such happiness to our life =)

Pictures, Pictures, Everywhere

Latley I have been realizing that I am so far behind on my scrapbooking that I may never get caught up. I have Alexis's first two years perfectly documented and scrapbooked. Then comes Tori. I have her birth, and a few other events done, and then for Levi, I have his birth done and that is all. I have been feeling really bad about this, and while talking to a friend the other night she told me of http://picaboo.com/. It is a website where you can download all of your pictures and create a cute book that is bound together and then mailed to you. I know it isn't the traditional handmade kind, but at the rate I am going that will never happen. So For the past few days I have been dowloading pictures and creating pages for my book. I debated what kind of book I would do, but then settled on a whole book about our family in 2007. So I am going to to pages of all the main events in 2007. Kind of like a family yearbook. I am really excited about it. If all goes well, hopefully I can create a Family Yearbook every year from here on out. I still have plans to finish scrapbooks for Tori and Levi for the first two years. That seems a lot less overwhelming to me. I will let you all know how the finished project turns out. In the mean time, has anyone else heard of any websites that do this? I found http://www.shutterfly.com/ as well, but they didn't have as much of a variety of page layouts and designs.

Some New Additions

We have a few new additions to our family. A couple of weeks ago, Brandon called me and said that he had a surprise for the girls. I thought maybe he had gotten them candy or something. Boy was I wrong. One of his customers gave him two , six week old baby kittens. We had talked about getting the girls a cat when we moved into this house, but then we were started talking about maybe getting a dog. So I was a little reluctant at first. But it didn't take long for these cute little kitten to wriggle their way into my heart. The kids love them so much. It is so fun to see them play with them and take care of them. We originally thought that they were both girls (I guess it is harder to tell of kittens), Tori named hers Sarah and Alexis named hers Molly. Well we took them to the vet and it was confirmed that "Sarah" was in fact a boy. Poor little Tori burst into tears right there in the office. She came around though, and we decided to name him Ash. Alexis then decided (with a little persuasion from Dad, since he used to have a little cat names Sarah) to change Molly's name to Sarah. My biggest concern when we got these Kittnes, was that my house was going to smell like Cats. In our last house, the previous owners must have had a cat and locked it in the basement or something, because the smell of Cat Urine down there was so strong it was almost unbearable. We didn't think anything of it when we moved it. We thought a few airfresheners would do the trick. We were SOOO wrong. The smell never ever went away. So, I am determined that my house will not smell like that ever again. It has worked so far, as long as they keep using the litter box. So anyways, it has been pretty exciting over at our house. =)