christmas 2013 and the end of the year

Here are the last of our holiday photos.  Just some quick memories to be shared and captured.  Here are the kiddos in the Christmas jambes.  They get to open them on Christmas Eve and they love matching and getting new jammies.

Here are the girls with the rainbow loom kits.  It took a few weeks to get into these little things, but now they are going full-force in our house.  I have even gotten in on the action.  They are addictive, those little rubber-bands!

Jake got a few things Spider-man related and he loved them.  He has decided that his next birthday party is going to be Super Heros.  I think we are all set for that!

Ella got this cardboard Sweet Shop and it has been the best present ever.  So much time spent coloring it and playing in it.  It is on its last leg now, but still a favorite of the kids.

We went to see Frozen finally!  The kids loved it and we have been listening to the Soundtrack everyday (all day long).  Luckily the music is great, so we aren't tired of it yet.  

We spent New years Eve with our friends.  We celebrated EST NYE.  The kids loved it... all the noise-makers, silly string, glow sticks, hats, confetti, etc.  What's not to love.  It was a blast and the kids had so much fun together.  Than we went home, but the boys to bed and the girls and us stayed up for the real NYE.  

It was much less exciting.  Hannah was ready to party again, but the rest of us just enjoyed the show!

Holiday Tid-Bit

The holidays are full of fun things here and there. This is my documentation of some of the little things we did this season.  

I discovered the 25 Days of Christ.  It is the best thing we did this year to help us keep Christ a part of the season.  The kids got to paint and decorate the ornaments and each day we put on our "tree".  The kit also comes with daily readings about the life of the Savior.  It was perfect and a new tradition we will be doing each and every year!

I saw this cute idea here and thought I would whip some up for Jake to take to his preschool class.  Since he goes to a christian preschool, I was thrilled that we could share this message with his class.   (not something we can do once they get into elementary school :-(  Jake loved sharing them with his friends.

This year I made frozen cookie dough balls for our neighbors and friends.  Chris and I love freezing cookie dough and baking 2-4 on the nights we need a little treat.  So, I thought I would do the same for our friends.  And who doesn't love a little variety.  4 different kind of cookie dough.  This might be what I do each year... we will see.

I was able to go to Hannah's class party.  It was pajama day and they did a fun breakfast.  

I didn't post this in my last entry, so it gets to be included here.  How cute is that reindeer?!

Here are our christmas cards.  A little extra effort with the added touches, but so worth it.  And who doesn't love to read what people are up to with a little pictograph?  Always more fun to read this way :-)

We went to the Zoo Lights with our friends and enjoy the animals, cool air and  christmas lights.  It is one of my kids favorite thing to do at Christmas time.

And we saw Santa at the Zoo lights.  Isn't that the scariest Santa you have ever seen?  Even Graham things so.  Get us out of here!

Holiday Performances 2013

It has been a month since the hoop-la of the holidays have ended and I am just getting pictures up of the season.  Here are all the different performances we participated in this holiday season.

Ella had her elementary school Christmas (they don't call it that, but I do!) performance.  They did some really fun songs that I had never heard before.  Like Hip Hop Reindeer.  It was super cute.  

Then we had the girls Christmas Dance Recital.  I wish I could remember the songs they performed to, but I don't.. but you can tell from the costumes and props the theme behind their dances.

How cute is this girl!?

This might be one of my favorite pictures of these two girls together.

This girl doesn't pull off gangster very well... (thank heavens).  

Jake had his preschool performance and they did the Reindeer Pocky.  It was so cute. When they turned around to "stick their tail in" they had a cute little cotton tail.   Such a cute reindeer.

Last performance of the season was Hannah's piano recital.  She played Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.  She did a great job and always makes me so proud.

There you have it.  Our singing/dancing/playing festivities for the season.  

Graham's Polar Express Party

Graham had his 2 year old birthday party last week.  Since, I still have say over what his birthday party theme will be, I really wanted to keep it Christmas-related so the decoration would coordinate with my house :-) (I know I'm crazy like that. I'm I the only one that thinks like that?  Please say, I'm not!).  

But as luck would have it, he loves trains, so the Polar Express was the perfect theme for both of us!  And come on, how much fun would this party be to plan?  I'll tell you right now, it was so much fun!

Here is the tablescape and central theme of the party.  Since, the Polar Express' story occurs mostly in the snow and the North Pole (well besides on a train).  I wanted to use snowflakes and snow as my theme (besides the train itself).  I made the 3D snowflakes.  Seriously so easy and such a great decoration.  I might use them every year… they are so cute.  Here is a tutorial if you are interested.

Then I made the BELIEVE banner, because isn't that the message of the whole story :-)

You can't real tell, but I used fake snow and snow covering as my tablecloth.  The train tracks were placed on the snow to add to the whole north pole feel.

Then for the food.  I saw the cutest party on Pinterest and had to copy it to some degree.  So, I made all the food tags be from "The Figgy Pudding Company".  So, cute huh?  And all the food was centered around different reindeer.  

The food was as follows:

Comet's Crazy Bread (monkey bread)

Rudolph's Red-Nosed Muffins (cranberry/orange muffins)

Prancer's Petit Pancakes

Vixen's Vanilla Yogurt

Blitzen's Buttermilk Syrup

Dasher's Delicious Quiche

Donner's Dusted Donuts

Dancer's Delightful Drinks (milk and OJ)

For the cake, it decided to do a cupcake train.  I found this idea on Pinterest too.  I just used graham crackers, mini oreos and vanilla wafers under the graham crackers for support (axels).  You can use frosting or melting chocolate to attach the "wheels" to the "bed".  I love the way it turned out, since I am not very good at cake decorating, the thought of making a train cake, scared me to death.  This was so much better in presentation and ease!

These are all over Pinterest too.  And they fit perfectly with the theme, so I had to do them!

And what's a Polar Express Party without the Hot Chocolate.  I made the best Hot Chocolate!  They aren't kidding when they say this is the best Hot Chocolate you will have.  it really is!  here is the recipe.  Here are just some of the goodies in the Hot Chocolate Bar.  But I also had marshmallows, a bunch of different flavored creamers and Peppermint Syrup (which is the only way to do Peppermint hot chocolate by the way).

You can't see the cups, but they say Comet and Cupid's Brewing Company.

Okay, now for the other non-food related details.  Here are the invitations.  Of course, it looks like a train ticket.  Each family got a ticket and they were to bring them to the party.  

 And when they walked through the door, the train conductor punched their ticket and let them on board.  The kids were told to come in the PJ (it was optional for the parents :-)

We started with a craft.  I didn't take a picture of the end product, but hopefully you can see it.  I had train pieces out on the table and the kids assembled and glue their own Polar Express Train.

Then each kid got a letter to santa.  They filled them out and put them in an envelope to mail to Santa.  My kids have already got their letter back from Santa.  Love that!

The Mailing Label says "For the immediate delivery via Registered Mail"  One Reindeer Lane, North Pole.

Then we ate some cupcakes and ice cream.  I think this little guy liked with party, that is one happy boy!

and we opened some presents.  He loved all the trains he got :-)

Then we had a Reindeer Food Bar.  All the kids got their own jar and got to feel it with all sorts of goodies for the reindeer.  And of course a tag with instructions on how to use the reindeer food.

You can't read the food tags, so here is what they said.

Bread Crumbs - a staple item for any reindeer diet

Cocoa - Something sweet to keep the reindeer's energy up all night long

Flying Powder - a secret ingredient that helps the reindeer fly

Glitter - something to shine and help the reindeer find  your home

Oats - a hearty bite to fuel the flight

Potato Chips - Prancer's favorite snack food and Santa doesn't give it to him at Christmas time

(he needs to stay in shape)

Red Sprinkles - these sprinkles help re-charge Rudolph's nose so he can light the way for Santa

The instructions said  "reindeer food bar because reindeer need food too.

step 1 - grab a jar

step 2 - fill it with your favorite foods

Step 3 - sprinkle the mix on your lawn on christmas eve

step 4 - go to sleep and wait for santa

*reindeer food is only for the reindeer, no people or pets!

These were the favors we gave to the kids.  A conductor's hat, a train whistle, a candy cane, a bell and a tag that says "the bell still rings for those who truly BELIEVE"

There you have it. Last party of the year!  Now, time to focus on Christmas.  it was a super fun party for my super fun boy!

Fall Photo Shoot

There are two times of the year that our little city is pretty.  I am not trying to dump on my little city.  But I do come from Utah, Colorado and the East and it is hard to beat the mountains and lushness of the east when it comes to beauty!)  But here the beauty shines during the spring when the blossoms come out and during the fall when the orchard's leaves start to turn pretty fall colors.  I love the orchards and their pretty leaves and blossoms and so each year I try and sneak in a photo shoot with the kids to capture the beauty around us.

Here are some pictures of my kids and the pretty fall colors.  Always so much fun!

There is just something about capturing my kids on camera.  Pictures really do capture the moment and freeze time.  Maybe that is why I love them so much!  I wish I could stop time now!

Playing Catch up

I don't know what it is (well really I do) it is having 4 kids.  My poor blog has taken a back seat.  I have done so much, but I don't have the time to blog about it.  So, sad… but I am going to try to be better and hopefully after the holidays, that will happen.

Here are a few things to catch up on.

Our back to school trip as a family consisted of going to Hanford on the train!  We took Amtrak and the kids loved it.  They loved looking out the window at all the was passing them by.  Even Graham did very well, as long as he was by the window :-)  In fact, they all did well, if they were by the window.

Once we got to Hanford, we headed straight for Superior Dairy.  The whole reason for the trip was to get a "little" serving of ice cream.  As you can see, those mountainous dishes of ice cream were smalls.

That is why everyone loves this place.  The kids of course got their sherbets.  They love sherbet!

Then we had to hit the town's carousel.  Our kids also love carousels.  So, we went on a few rides and of course, they could have ridden the thing all day :-)

It was a fun little day trip and I am glad we finally did it after living her for 9 years.  It was way overdue!

Also, in October, Hannah was a part of her first (I am sure of many) school drama productions.  She was in the chorus.   The musical was called WIPEOUT.  For 2 months, we heard the singing of a cute little girl singing and saying all the parts of the play.  She could have definitely been an understudy and ready to take on anyone's part if there was a last minute need.   It was a big time commitment in the early mornings, but she loved it and it was fun to have her be a part of it all.  I have a sneaky supsicion she will be involved in more of these things for years and years to come.