Taylor's Christmas Program

Taylor's program was adorable! She was so excited to "perform" and that Daddy was coming to see her! This girl loves the spotlight! She sang loud and proud and had the biggest smile on her face. It's so fun to have her two cousins, Josh and Cambrie in her class. They are almost a year older than her, but they are the same school year. Taylor is the youngest in her class, but her teachers say she keeps up just fine!

I wish I had video of Taylor running up to Chad, smothering and kissing him. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. She just kept squeezing his neck and kissing him. When he first got there and she saw him in the audience she screamed, "Daddy!" Then she turned to the kid next to her and said, "That's my Daddy! My Daddy is here!" Made my heart melt.

At the end they had all of the Dad's come up and sing "Rudolph" to the kids. It was the sweetest thing to watch the kids glow as they watch their dad's serenade them.

For Family Night this week we went to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights. It's awesome because you don't have to get out of your car! You tune in your radio and drive through a spectacular show! There were hundreds of these set ups and lights. The girls enjoyed it and we stayed warm! Then we went inside for hot chocolate and of course had to visit the reindeer.

Taylor is ALWAYS singing to herself and is in her own little world. When we were waiting for our hot chocolate she kept singing this song over and over and I had to record it. Katelyn tried joining in at the end and Taylor was not having it. She always wants the spotlight all to herself.

Christmas Party

On Sunday we had our party at Grandma Patti's house. The cousins did their gift exchange, we had dinner and then Santa came for a visit! He was awesome! The kids were glued to him as he did lots of magic tricks and told lots of stories. Then each child had their turn on his lap, and he gave them a special gift from his red bag. It was a wonderful and crazy night!

First Dance Recital

Last night the girls had their first dance recital! They have been practicing for months and it was so cute to watch them onstage. Katelyn is in a tumbling class, and for their performance they did some tumbling then a really cute hip hop routine. Taylor dressed up as Ariel and did a little princess dance. It was adorable to watch those 3 year olds and to see how they reacted to being on stage. Taylor of course loved the spotlight, but had no desire to do the routine she learned. She started out dancing with the group, then just started doing her own little dance and twirling around on stage. Then she kept waving to the crowd and yelling, "Mom! Where are you!" The auditorium was huge and packed with people!

Katelyn shocked me the most. She kept telling me the week prior that she was not going to get up on the stage and that she did not want people watching her. She was the first performance, and she marched out there and did the routine perfectly without flinching! She even helped the boy next to her remember his moves. Afterwards she had an ear to ear smile and said, "Mom! That was my first time on stage and I loved it!!" I was so excited for her and to see her overcome a fear.

It was a great night and I am one proud mama!

Katelyn and her friend Macy

Ice Skating

Last weekend I was busy doing a Scentsy booth at a Boutique and Chad played with the girls. He was brave enough to take both of them to our ward party at an ICE SKATING RINK! I thought he was crazy, and after the fact he agreed. But he did awesome and the girls LOVED it! Katelyn won't stop begging to go back-which is surprising since she struggled this first time. I was surprised when Chad told me that Katelyn kept getting up after falling and trying again and again. That is not like her. She inherited my impatience and frustration with learning new things. She would have a little meltdown, but then was determined to figure it out. Now she wants to go back again. Chad was out there all by himself trying to keep both girls on their feet. Good job Dad! The girls had a blast and made some wonderful memories:)

Santa was there ice skating, and the girls thought it was the coolest thing ever! I wish I could have been there, but am grateful to have a husband who loves to take the girls out and do fun things with them, regardless of whether I am there or not.

Here's Katelyn with an awesome mom in our ward-Tammy Covey

I must frame this picture!

At Katelyn's school, every class draws self portraits and they make t-shirts for each class. Katelyn thought this was the coolest thing ever and loved looking at the pictures of her classmates. Here she is showing off her drawing of herself.

Gingerbread Houses

For Family Night the girls wrote their wish lists to Santa and then we decorated a gingerbread house. Katelyn has been asking Santa for a real turtle for about a month now. Don't know what to do about that one...I asked Taylor what she wanted and she said "A Barbie and an ice cream maker." I have no idea where those came from. We don't own one Barbie and I don't think she has ever seen an ice cream maker!

Katelyn has starting asking if she can sign her name Kate instead of Katelyn. We'll see if she decides to go by Kate later in life...

I love this month, and it goes by too fast! There are so many fun things, and it is so hard to fit it all in! We went to Temple Square on Saturday (forgot my camera), and it was awesome! I have never seen more beautiful lights or decorations! It's amazing how many thousands of lights they use and how every twig on every branch has a light on it!

The Elves have arrived!

The elves have arrived this year! The 1st of December they make their way to our house to watch over the girls and see if they are being "Naughty or Nice". They report back to Santa, and are Magic! Every morning when the girls wake up they love to see where the elves are hiding that day. Taylor especially loves these guys and takes them everywhere with her. She reads them stories to make sure they are entertained while they are here. Katelyn loves to find out when other kids in the neighborhood have elves too! Then on Christmas Eve, the elves make their way back to the North Pole and Santa comes and brings their presents.

Taylor got these PJ's from her cousin Kara, and absolutely loves them! She is obsessed with the Grinch and reminds me of Cindy Lou Who!

Here they are in our dining light

Let it Snow!

A couple of weeks ago we got a huge storm and about a foot of snow overnight. Chad went out to shovel the driveway and of course the girls had to join him in their PJ's! They absolutely love the snow and always want to play in it! Too bad it takes FOREVER to get them bundled up and then they want to come in and out of the house-ahhh! I hate snow and mud coming in and out of the house! After that one day of shoveling Chad has concluded that we wants a snowblower, but that will have to wait til next winter!

Holiday Dresses

Christmas Decor

The house is decorated and everything is up. I am realizing that I need more decor, now that I have a living room, dining room and family room to decorate. I will have to buy more decorations when everything goes on sale after Christmas! These pictures are frustrating because it looks so much better in real life. Oh well, I want to try and remember what this house looked like for our first Christmas in it!

The area above the TV

The cubbies in our built in cabinet in Family Room

Some day the rocks on that wall will be gone! For now, we must decorate around it.

Our new fake tree!

That clothesline is ready for some Christmas cards to hang on it!

The front dining room that still needs chairs!

Let the Countdown begin!

I saw a different version of this online, and decided to make one of my own! I recruited Chad's sisters to join me and we headed to Kristin's cabin for the night to complete it. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into! It took us all night and the next day to complete it. But I LOVE it! We added symbols and stories inside each tin to read every day. The tins have magnets on the back and the girls love to play with it! I think this was well worth it!