2nd Annual Neighborhood Christmas Party

Last night we hosted our 2nd Christmas party for our neighborhood. It was chilly, but Nate made a nice fire and everyone had a really nice time. We were able to meet a couple new neighbors and reconnect with some neighbors we met at last year's party. We're excited about some opportunities to cultivate new friendships this year!

Holiday Fun

On Tuesday we were able to go to play group at Cristina's and do a fun Christmas craft and a book exchange with the kids.


How did she get so big???




Then after naps Amariah and Easten came over to play for a couple hours and we made 'puppy chow' (chex mixed with melted chocolate and peanut butter and then coated with powdered sugar). The kids had so much fun playing together and liked being able to help making the puppy chow by shaking the mix and powdered sugar in bags.

Emily's new thing...

The other day I was at Nate's parent's house making Christmas goodies while the girls were 'napping'. Well they were so fussy I finally just went to get them up and this is what I found...

Emily completely naked! ...poopie diaper in the corner of the pack n play!!! This has been an everyday occurrence now, so I guess that means zip up pj's for every nap and night time now. :( She even walks around the house now pulling down her pants or just taking them off. So I've decided to introduce the potty, because I'm pretty sure she's not liking being wet (or dirty) at all! (probably a whole year earlier than I did w/Alyssa!) She was so cute on the potty reading her book. :)

Tag I'm It - Seven Random Facts

Here's 7 random facts about me:

1) I used to have my tongue pierced ... got it done New Year's Eve 1999 and it lasted for a couple months (too hard to hide at work).
2) I was a host for a teenage radio talk show called Blunt...it was an hour long weekly show where we interviewed people in the community (congressmen, lawyers, etc.) about controversial topics (i.e. gay rights, abortion, etc.).
3) I'll go off Michelle's 'travel' answer since mine is the complete opposite...I've only traveled outside the US to Quebec, Tijuana, and Nogales, but I've been to at least 29 states and P.R.!
4) I can touch my nose with my tongue and I can fit my fist in my mouth.
5) I used to play the trombone.
6) I can put a lobster to sleep...you do it by standing the lobster on it's head and rubbing it's head between the eyes.
7) I played soccer through h.s. and was the goalie.

I tag Andrea, Lexi, Leala, Heather H. and Amy W. :)

Cardinals vs Vikings

This Sunday Nate and I were able to go to the Cardinals game...Nate is from Minnesota so it was fun to see the Viks play the Cards. We decided to take Alyssa with us and it was SO much fun!!! She had such a great time and did great, even despite it being during nap time...and as many of you know, my girls LOVE (and need) their sleep! ;) All she's been talking about, since she found out she was coming with us, is getting cotton candy...so pretty much as soon as we got there we got a bag of that. After that disappeared she asked for popcorn. How does she know that food is such a big part of sporting events??? ;)

She was so good at cheering for the Cardinals the whole game, even though there wasn't too much to cheer for yesterday...actually every time the Vikings scored she thought it was the Cardinals so she would start cheering, I had to stop that very quickly!!! ;)

Alyssa on the bus taking us from the parking lot to the game.






We scored, we scored!!!

Getting tired...

Christmas in the Park

Friday night Nate, Alyssa, and I went to a concert in the park, hosted by our friend Kami. It was so much fun and all the performers were wonderful! It was so fun to get all bundled up and sit outside and listen to great music celebrating our Savior's birth. ...and Alyssa even snuggled with me for a little bit, such sweet time! Check out this song some friends from our church wrote for the concert, they did such a great job! ... http://www.myspace.com/AuthorityRecords

Our friends Rachel and Aaron were able to join us!

Alyssa and Amariah sharing her princess chair. :)

Beautiful Sunset

The sunset last Friday was so beautiful I had to take a picture. God is so good to create and show us beautiful things like this!

Lunch with friends

Last week we got to have our friends Amariah and Easten over for lunch...and since my kitchen table was in my garage for the yard sale I was having, I took the kids outside to eat their lunch. They had a great time eating together on the little picnic table (Emi did so good sitting like a big girl!) and then playing outside for a while after. Alyssa was so sad that Amariah had to leave and that she wasn't going to nap at our house, too cute!

Then the next day we were able to meet Mercy and Kristina for lunch...I'm glad it was a last minute decision to meet them, because I heard all about it from Alyssa the entire time before we met them..."Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!", "I'm eating lunch with Mercy!!!", "When are we going to lunch?", etc. etc.! :) They had so much fun running around together...and Emi was so cute following them all around doing everything they were doing! One cute thing was Mercy kept laying down on the ground pretending to be sleeping or something and all of a sudden Kristina and I look at the girls and both Alyssa and Emily are laying down just like Mercy. :)

I think I'm done catching up! :)

I really can't remember any funny stories from the girls over the last couple weeks except that Alyssa doesn't think it's Christmas time because there isn't any snow, which is pretty cute! ...and every time we ask Emi a question she'll answer "Yeah!". Emi do you want to eat, "yeah!", Emi do you want to read a book, "yeah!", ...even Emi do you want to go to bed, "yeah!". It's really cute!

Ok, I think that's all for now! :)

Our annual friend Christmas party

Thank you Michelle for hosting this year's party, it was very fun! :) I wasn't great taking pictures, but here's a few...and I just remembered we didn't do our group shot this year, oops!

Michelle's beautiful Christmas tree...my picture does not do it justice!

Not great pictures of the girls...but the only ones I got of them in their dresses. ;)


The Minnick Family

Shannon, Liz, Stacy, and Maria w/baby Dylan

Shannon and Liz

Ethan with Aunt 'Ne-ne'

Alyssa and Aidan playing :)

Baby Dylan

Me and a very tired Alyssa

Sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone! :(

Alyssa's 1st Dance Recital

Alyssa started her 1st dance/tumbling class a couple weeks ago and this past Friday she had her recital. Besides being HILARIOUS, it was very adorable! :)


Play time beforehand...Alyssa teaching Emily some things. :)



Grandma, daddy, and Emily watching Alyssa

Alyssa and her teacher Miss Kathy

My little ballerina

Alyssa 'stretching' before the dancing and tumbling begins.

Yeah, kinda like that???

Just hilarious!

The End! ;)