Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve we did our traditional evening of having the missionaries over. They were all told ahead of time that there were to be no injuries or trips to the emergency room this year, so we made sure there was no crazy horse play! Everyone had a great time and the food was awesome! We had a full turkey dinner with pumpkin cheesecake to finish it off. In addition to the two sets of missionaries we also had Josh, a newly baptized member of our ward come over to join us. He is a really nice kid and told us all about life in Africa before he moved to Cleveland. Definitely an eye opener as to how blessed we are to live where we do and have all that we have. Our kids have no idea how good they have it. We read the Christmas story and watched Joy To The World with him and had a great night. We try really hard to keep our Christmas Eve focused solely on Christ. It is a good time for the kids to really think about it because Christmas morning I think they tend to be a little preoccupied!

So this year our nice neighbors let us borrow their extra fake tree. This is the first year we have ever had a fake tree, and after we put it up we remembered why we get a real tree. They smell so good and look so pretty - fake ones just aren't the same. Either way, the borrowed fake one was in the budget, so that's what we went with! The first picture of the kids is always my favorite from Christmas morning. We always make them wait upstairs while Larry and I come down and get the cameras ready. I always like to see the looks on their faces when they come down and see what Santa brought. They are always so excited, and the look on their face is just that innocent joy that only kids seem to get. Love it!! Of course after that it's just semi-organized chaos as we try to keep everyone take turns opening presents. We all had a fun morning, ate sticky buns and hung out in our pajamas all day relaxing. It was great!! Hopefully next year we'll get to hang with the family at least a little over the Christmas season. We'll have to see how it goes.

Our Goofy Kids

Here's Asher showing off his underwear to the world. He is so cute and thinks he's so big and cool in his undies. We decided while the kids were out of school for Christmas break was a good time to do potty training. We've been wanting to for the past few months but between four trips back and forth to schools everyday, dance, scouts and whatnot we aren't home much. I decided this was the best chance we have to be home to do it. So far he's doing pretty good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get him done. Can I just say no more diapers in my life, yeah!!

This poor kid doesn't stand a chance against his two adoring sisters. It's a good thing he is truly all boy or we might start to worry. When they dress him up now he has to pick out his own dress for them to put on, they don't get to pick anymore. Luckily he more than compensates by his need to jump off of, throw, tackle and fight anything he sees. Like I said, he's all boy!
Here's Mayson showing off yet another lost tooth. She's such a pretty little girl!
Asher being fashionable in his sister's cowgirl hat!
Here is Rhyan and Asher at their dance recital. Asher has started to take movement classes with Miss Lacee, the same teacher Rhyan has for dance. He loves donkey kicks and somersaults. They both have so much fun going and are so cute to watch.
Here the kids are in the cowboy hats mom and dad brought them back from the trip to Texas. They were pretending that the chairs were their horses and were playing like they were riding in a cattle train or something. I don't know, but it was pretty funny to watch!

Rhyan's Holiday Concert

Rhyan's did a holiday concert at preschool the Asher and I got to go watch. She sang songs with the rest of the preschool kids and looked so cute. We also had a little party with her class where they sang some more songs, talked about everyones holiday traditions and we ate sugar cookies that the kids made for us. Rhyan really enjoyed herself - she loves being in preschool. He little brother is forever telling everyone that he'll goto preschool too when he's bigger!