Christmas Eve

Every year we always do about the same things on Christmas Eve.

First,We have Dinner at Artie's parents house and the kids open their Christmas jammies and we play a game with presents. Then at home we Put out the reindeer food.......Put the magic key on the outside of the door so Santa can get in......We can't forget the Cookies and Milk for Santa..... I love Christmas Eve and the excitement the kids Have!

*New Traditions*

This year we started a new tradition. We got a little package from the North Pole. =) Santa sent us our very own elf and this book to explain everything. It talks about how every night our elf will fly back to the North pole and report to Santa. He tells if we are Naughty or Nice. So, every morning the elf is in a different place in our house and the kids have to find him. You can't touch him either or his magic will go away! This is so cute and the kids loved it! You have to officially name your elf whatever you'd like and register it at the North Pole online. Alley named our elf "Nod." I have no clue where that came from...but we all agreed that that would be fine. Now, we love our little elf, Nod. The kids had so much fun trying to find him every morning and they even told Nod to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas. This year we were so late mailing our letters to Santa so we just sent them with Nod one night. He even brought a letter back with him the next morning from Santa. It was also fun to see all the fun things at the north pole and the girls especially had fun making cookies for Santa in Mrs. Claus' kitchen and sending them to him. We haven't seen Nod since Christmas Eve and we can't wait to see him again Next year! =)

Santa Claus is coming to Town.....

Party, PaRtY, PARTY!!

*Work Parties* Friend Parties* B-day Parties* Ward Parties* Family Parties* School Parties*

The Month of December is always filled with lot's of parties. We had a fun and CrAzY time at Artie's (Legacy Construction) work party. He does the water pumps for them when they need it and so we always get invited to the Christmas party. They always have a nice dinner at Falcon Ridge Golf Course and then everybody get's to draw for a money prize. This year we got $100. Yahoo!! Maybe next year we'll be the lucky ones who get $250 or the $500 prize! =) But, wow...they are always so generous and it's pretty cool!

The last day of Preschool before Break was when all of Clark County was out for a "Snow Day"..(haha, yeah...it didn't snow here, but we are part of Clark County and so we got a Snow Day too) Anyway, so, Alley didn't go to school and I spaced Ashlyn's Preschool and they actually were having it like they should have been! But, Ashlyn ended up being 30 minutes late for her party

=( Sorry Ash...and I have no pictures! But, she had a great time and made lot's of fun things to bring home and sang fun christmas songs and things with her class!

The last day of School before Break Alley got to have a Polar Express Party! They wore their P.J's to school and had lot's of fun! She brought home a Polar Express candy train that she made! We always have fun at our family Christmas Party. This year it was at our house. We celebrated Javen and Darcee's B-day too. So, we did a pinata and had Cake! All of the cousins always draw names and so the kids have fun opening those presents. Then the adults do a white elephant game with ornaments that we all bring! We then gave presents to Mom & Dad and they gave presents to us. Then, us brothers and sisters give to who we have that year! There's always a lot of food and fun and it's nice to have everybody there and the kids have a blast playing! Ammon & Uncle Nick Ammon got about 10 little cars like this and he loves them.....A couple days before Christmas Alley went to her friend Carson's B-day. Carson is one of Alley's Best Friends from School. She talks about Carson, Cambria, Natalie and Jace all the time! She says those are her "bestest friends" from school!! awww...aren't they too cute!!

Getting ready for Christmas.....

*Putting up the tree* Christmas Lights* Listening to Christmas Music* Decorations* Making Ornaments* Making goodies* The Spirit of Christmas* Ammon kept wanting to lay underneath the tree on the tree skirt when we were putting up the tree...so, then pretty soon all of them were lying under the tree. And so much for a beautiful tree, the top half was pretty much decorated and the bottem half bare because Ammon loved to take everything off and throw it! We love to make new things at Christmas Time. We tried to make a few new ornaments for the tree. And of course we gotta get those stockings hung.......

SOCCER

The girls started Soccer in November. They had a lot of fun! Ashlyn was on the Red, 3 year old team. Alley was on the Bulldogs/Green 5 year old team. They had a lot of fun. The 3 year olds were pretty funny to watch. They pretty much just ran around like a swarm of bees around the ball. Ashlyn got a few kicks in and she never gave up even though she was sooooo tired of running after her 30 minute games.

Alley really improved from last year. She really got in there and tried to get after the ball. She almost scored a goal once and she is an awesome goalie. She kicked the ball a few times and really stayed with the game the whole time. They really loved it, even though the last couple weeks were CoLd....and they were sick one week and then they got rained out another. Anyway, they love Soccer and can't wait until next year!

I got HoLeS in my ears!

A couple weeks ago Alley got her Ears pierced! For a while now the girls were always asking, "Do I have holes in my ears yet?" haha... Alley had decided she wanted to wait until she was 8 years old. But, the last couple weeks before she got them done she really wanted them so bad, she talked to me about it everyday! I told her it would hurt a little bit, but she said she was ready! If Alley was getting hers done then Ashlyn wanted hers too! So, we headed over to Valley Curls and Staci was going to do it for us. She did Alley's first ear and Alley cried (she's usually so tough with shots and stuff, she never cries....but her ears hurt!) I felt bad and Alley did NOT want to do the other ear! But, she finally let Staci do it! We asked Ashlyn if she was ready to be next and she said NO and was covering her ears ready to get out of there! I don't think Ashlyn will be ready for a while and I'm fine with that =) Alley loves her new earings and can't wait until she can wear all different kinds =) She saw earings that I was wearing that Artie had given me and she said, "I want special earings from daddy."Ashlyn reminds me everyday about twisting Alley's earings. She always says, "mom, did you twist Alley's earings today?" And the other day Alley said, "mom, I have a lot of things on me...glasses, earings and a bow in my hair." Yes Alley...you have a lot of accessories and you look so darn cute!

*Ammon's First BiRtHdAy*

Ammon turned "1" on December 3rd. I can't believe he is one already! We celebrated with a Party on Saturday, Dec. 6th, with Family. He didn't really want to open the presents. He just wanted to get the toys & play with them. (By the way, we just got Ammon's hair cut again. It grows so fast...doesn't he look so grown up with his buzz cut. It's not really done cute in these pics though! =)Finally Some "BOY" toys...haha...we haven't really had any trucks and stuff in the house yet....poor kid, no wonder he loves to put the girls princess crowns on! He's too funny, He's always trying to put a little princess crown on, he thinks it's like a necklace, he puts it around his neck and just smiles =) Later that night he just played and played with his trucks. Now he can hardly play with them, the girls have been playing for hours with all the new stuff! My attempt at a cake & cupcakes......& of course, it's Baseball!! We may have to do a baseball cake every year! =)He wasn't sure why everybody was just staring at him and singing.....Then he just wanted to touch the flame, so I hurried and blew it out! Yummy! The frosting tastes good....He had a few licks and then was pretty much done with it! (I put this on Little Water Bottles for everybody that came. It turned out pretty cute!)

Ammon is growing up so fast! I can't believe he is ONE! And now that he has his haircut he looks more like a little boy and not a baby anymore =(

Here are a few more things about him:

• He walks everywhere
• He loves to play in all the cupboards
• I'm finding out how boys are more destructive than girls at some things =)
• He's so easy going & happy
• He has found his nose and loves to put his finger in it =)
• He could play outside for hours, it doesn't matter if he's tired or hungry or anything....he's usually as happy as can be if he's outside, no matter how long...
• he can scream like a girl =)
• Can clap his hands, wave "bye bye," & blow a kiss
• Can also give you "five," and when you ask him how old he is he will usually show you his "1" finger
• He still loves to Dance and if others are singing he'll try to sing
• He loves to sit in chairs, he thinks he is such a big boy! If one of the girls are sitting down in a little chair where he wants to be, he'll just go sit right on their lap!
• He loves to play "catch" (or Roll) with a ball
• He gives Great kisses
• He loves spaghetti, eggs, peaches, pears, apples, chicken, ramon noodles...he'll actually eat about anything, but those are a few of his favorites!
• He wears size 3 diapers and size 12 months clothes & weighs around 20 lbs.
• He has 2 teeth on top and 2 teeth on bottom
• He can say Dada, Mama, Dog (in his own way), He tries to say Degan (his little cousin) and it sound pretty good. He loves Degan so much, he just wants to attack him when he's around him, he wants him to play with him and just be near him and he tries to touch his face and sit on him....it's too funny how he just wants Degan to play with him (but he's only 5 months)

Ammon, we love you so much! It's so fun to watch you grow and you are such a joy to have in our home! We Love You!