Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day was a pretty relaxed day. It had snowed the day before and so the kids played outside in the snow with friends and hung out inside playing with friends. I was able to just spend the day hanging out inside reading and getting things prepped for dinner that night. It was nice. I like not having anything to do and just being able to spend a day relaxing.  

The middle picture are Sydney Walls, Avynlea and Rylee trying to build a snowman. They got this big ball made and then went to work on a second ball, couldn't figure out how to get it on top of the first ball, gave up and smashed the first ball. Fun times!

Ryker and his friend Cody Walls were trying to build a snow fort and decided that their design was not going to work out very well, so they just threw snow.

I made a turkey dinner and then after we all cleaned up I told the kids they needed to work together to come up with a re-enactment of the Nativity. There was some arguing but in the end they put together  the best showing they could with only 4 people. Avynlea was Mary, Ryker was Joseph, Rylee was an Angel and the innkeeper and Kenedy was a donkey, a sheep and the three wisemen.

After watching a DVD about the Nativity from the church we let the kids open their new pajamas and ornaments. This year I bought them pajamas instead of making them. The Disney Store had a sale and I bought Avy and Rylee pajamas of their favorite Princesses. Kenedy was wanting silk pajamas and however much I looked I could not find cute silk pajamas in her size. She ended up with cute flannel ones. Ryker was the hardest to shop for. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted for him and could not find it in his size. I found the perfect ones on Amazon but when I got them I discovered the sizes were listed wrong and they sent me a size 8, when I looked to exchange for a bigger size they I saw that 8 was the biggest they went. I finally had to accept that what I wanted to get him was impossible to find and got him some fleece bottoms. 

The girls got ornaments of their favorite princesses and Ryker got a Stitch ornament. They all seemed to love what they got and it was a very happy Christmas Eve.

Out to eat at Applebees

Whenever our family finishes reading one of the standard works we take the kids out to dinner. We rarely go out to eat as a family and so it is a special treat. We went after we finished reading the New Testament and not to long ago we finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family. Kefford had received a couple of gift cards to Applebees and so that is where we went a couple of days before Christmas to celebrate our reading. Although now that I think about it I don't think we told the kids why we were going out, maybe Kefford did and I was not paying attention that does happen. 

When we came in we were being seated and we passed by a table that had a couple sitting there eating who were dressed up as Santa and Mrs Claus. It was interesting. Later as we were eating, the man dressed as Santa started coming around to all the tables that had kids and was passing out candy canes. He came to our table and asked our kids if they were good kids and then gave them each a candy cane. It was strange but it was Christmas time so ok. But then he went to Kenedy and it got a little weird. He gave her a candy and then asked her if she wanted to pull his beard. The look on her face was the best ever. She did not know what to do and just told him "that's ok". It was pretty funny and gave us something to laugh about.

Wearing Our Christmas Finest

The Sunday before Christmas is when most of us chose to wear our Christmas finery to church. Kenedy wore hers the week before and wanted to wear her new blanket scarf. These pictures were taken after church right before we went to tithing settlement so hair might be a little undone, but everyone looked good and it was a nice Sunday at Church. 

Elizabeth and Kefford

Looks like I am Kefford sandwiched in this picture! :)

Christmas Music Programs

On Thursday right after Dance classes I had to rush to the Elementary School to watch Rylee sing her heart out in the third grade Christmas Music Program. Seats to these events fill up fast and early and by the time I got there it was very crowded, barely standing room only. Luckily I texted my friend the day before and asked if she would save me a seat. So even though I arrived 2 minutes before it started, I had a front row seat! I love good friends!

Rylee likes to randomly sing around the house, in the shower, in her room, everywhere we go. I have been hearing one particular song for a couple of weeks now and thought it was super cute. The girls sing Winter Wonderland with the boys chiming in with their own version of the song about how much they hate it. It is a fun song and I liked being able to hear and see it sung by all the third graders. When they first came in and lined up Rylee spent a lot of time trying to find me. I was waving to her and trying to catch her attention but she was not looking in the front so it took her a couple of minutes to spot me. When she did find me her worried little look melted away to a big beautiful smile. I love watching her perform and seeing how animated she gets. 

Rylee got to play one of the instruments for a song, she did a great job and looked so pleased with herself.

That night was Avynlea's Honor Choir Christmas Concert. I brought a blanket with me to Rylee's so that I could save seats for us at Avynleas. I am glad we did because we were running late since I had to pick up Kenedy from Cheer and by the time we got there all the seats were again filled. My blanket was still in the front row saving 5 chairs just for us, I like it when my cleverness pays off. :)

Avynlea was another cutie singing her heart out. Picking Avynlea up half an hour later after school two times a week because she has Honor Choir practice is a big pain and super annoying and inconvenient but I can forget all of that while I am watching her perform and how fun it is. She did a great job and both my girls looked beautiful and were so fun to watch!

EDP Winter Show

Monday was the Winter Show for Elevated Dance. The Winter Show is a super informal "work in progress" show. A chance for the dancers to show a little bit of what they have been working on. Because it is so informal I never invite anyone, I don't even usually have Kefford or the other kids come. I probably wouldn't have my girls in it if I didn't have to be there. Avynlea and Rylee are in a Combo kids class this year for Ballet and Jazz. In class they have been working on learning their Jazz dance to "Safe and Sound" and that is what they showed at the recital, a quick 1 minute snippet of their dance. They did really good and looked so cute on the stage. 

Rylee has been wanting a camera of her own and I told her she could borrow mine. She brought it to the recital and took a bunch of pictures of performances and backstage. I copied the ones I liked and that were relevant to us and then deleted the rest. I was really glad she had the camera because I was able to use it to take my own pictures since I forgot my phone at home.

Jr Warriors Cheer Clinic

In September the Cheerleaders were planning on doing a cheer clinic for kids and after two days of practice the mini cheerleaders would perform at halftime at a football game. All of the Warrior Cheerleaders were to get little ones to sign up. Kenedy got Avynlea and her best friend as well as Rylee, her best friend and her friends little sister, 5 in total. After the the deadline for signups had passed we got an email from the head coach saying they were canceling the clinic because they only had 5 participants sign up. Kenedy was the only cheerleader to actually get any signups. The girls were so disappointed and I was pretty ticked. Grr

They decided to try this clinic again in December and luckily they had more participants so it was not cancelled. Kenedy again was able to get 5 girls to sign up. Her two little sisters, 2 of Avy's friends from school and the girls neighbor friend. Those of us who had signed up before got $5 off the price this time around so that was a nice perk.

After two nights of learning routines it was time for the girls to perform at the Girls Varsity Basketball game. They were so cute and did such a good job. Avy and Rylee were in different age groups and each had their own cheer and dance to perform. I loved watching them and they had so much fun. Avynlea was even able to be a flyer and she LOVED that. 

Paige, Rose, Avynlea, Sydney and Rylee

Rylee

Avynlea

After they performed I asked them what they thought about it all and Avynlea said she loved it and wants to do more cheer. Rylee said she had fun but would rather be playing Basketball. I love that my girls are willing to try new things and like to have fun. They were so cute and I love watching and supporting them in anything they are willing to try!

The Nutcracker Ballet

A couple of months ago my Dance Connection boss contacted all of us Dance Teachers letting us know that as part of our Christmas present she was getting us tickets to go see The Nutcracker. She also said that if we wanted to take our kids or a spouse then we needed to get our tickets online and she would reimburse us for our ticket. I have always wanted to see the Nutcracker live and was really excited for this opportunity. I knew my girls would enjoy it and so I bought tickets for them to go with me. I asked Kefford and Ryker if they wanted to go and they both said absolutely not! Oh boys! hahaha

The Ballet company that was putting this on also does a Clara's Tea Party for a small additional fee that you can attend before the ballet. I knew my girls would enjoy that so I signed us up for that as well. 

The Ballet was put on by the Eugene Ballet Company and performed at The College of Western Idaho. I have never been to this College in Caldwell or to Caldwell for that matter and was really unsure on the directions. After going to the wrong building and asking for help from a person we saw in that building we managed to make our way over to the correct place. As we were parking I rolled down Kenedys window to talk to the parking attendant and after we came out of the ballet and got in the car we realized I never rolled her window back up :/, oops. Good thing nobody noticed and my purse, which I left in the car, was still there when we got back. 

The Tea party was different then what we all were expecting but it was still a lot of fun. The girls were announced as they walked through the doors and that was pretty cute. Kenedy opted out of being announced :). They got to wear their new Christmas dresses and all three of my girls looked beautiful!

Once inside we found that there were different stations set up upstairs and downstairs with activities for the kids to do. We took the girls first to the nail art station where they got to get an accent nail done with festive Jamberry nails, the rest of their nails painted and then they each got a beautiful glitter tattoo. I am not a fan of the fake tattoos at all and rarely let my kids have access to them. Since this was a special event and the tattoos were elegant and glittery I let them have one each but only on their arms. 

Clara made a brief appearance but had to leave to get ready for the ballet. We were able to visit with her for a few seconds and get a picture which was fun.

Avy and Rylee made cute little Gingerbread men and we all ate the refreshments. We had cake, gingersnaps and cheese and crackers. We did not get to eat dinner before we had to leave and so we were feasting on those cheese and crackers, yum!

In October I entered a giveaway on Instagram sponsored by Annie's Forget Me Knots and ShabbyApple for Breast Cancer awareness. I had to comment on the post by tagging three friends and then hash tagging ShabbyApple, the winner would get a free pink dress.  Every Hashtag they got they donated money to Breast Cancer research and I could comment as many times as I wanted. I commented the perfect amount because a week later I got a message telling me that I won! I was so excited!! I have always wanted a ShabbyApple dress but could never justify spending the money one of their dresses cost. So it was just way too exciting that I actually won one. I was sent an email with about 25 thumbnails of different pink items I could choose from. I narrowed it down to two and then had Kenedy tell me which one I should get because I really loved both of them and could not decide.

The day I got the dress in the mail was a very happy day. After trying it on I realized it was more of a party dress and not really one to wear to church, I hung it up in the closet with the intentions of wearing it to the Ballet. The dress I chose is called "The Nutcracker Dress' so it was so perfect that the first time I wore it was to see the Nutcracker. I felt beautiful and that is how it should be anytime we put on something to wear. I cannot wait for more special occasions to wear this dress to.

We all loved the Ballet! Rylee's favorite part were the mice, she thought they were hysterical, and the rest of us chose the Russian Dancers as our favorite. I loved the way their legs moved when they danced and how in control they were. Avy and Kenedy liked the middle dancer and how happy he looked throughout the dance. It was a fun night with my girls and a perfect way to kick off the holiday season!