Christmas '09

We had such an awesome Christmas this year. We are so grateful that we were able to have such a great time with our families celebrating the season. It's hard to believe that Christmas 2009 has come and gone.

Christmas Eve
We spent Christmas Eve with the Cook side of our family. We went to Eric's aunt and uncle's house for dinner and the traditional talent show, nativity, and cousin present exchange. Sadly, Ellie refused to participate in the nativity and the talent show this year. I guess she was feeling too shy. We'll get her better prepared for next year... Eric's little cousin, Summer, is the same age as Ellie and they have gotten to be great friends over the years. Ellie had so much fun running around with Summer at the party. The boys loved all the commotion. They loved the Little People farm and school that they received.

Ellie and Summer with Ben. Cute cousins.

John and David with their Little People. We could hardly tear them away.

Next, it was on to Grandma Teresa and Grandpa Dave's for another present exchange. Eric and I were pumped about the new clippers and Wii game from Catherine and JD. Ellie and the boys received some very cute outfits from their grandparents. John is especially crazy about his basketball shirt and has wanted to wear it every day since Christmas. (David has wanted to wear his Halloween pumpkin shirt...)


Ellie and the boys got right to bed when we got home. Ellie almost forgot to set out cookies for Santa! On Christmas morning she told me how glad she was that she remembered because she was sure she heard Santa "crunching" them in the night.

Christmas Morning
I have to admit I was the first one up on Christmas morning. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. When the kids finally got up we headed right in to open presents. Ellie was like a little present-opening tornado. It didn't matter whose name was on the gift, it was all fair game as far as she was concerned! Her excuse was that she was "just helping my brothers." The boys didn't know what was going on, but they had a great time. John would open a gift halfway and say, "Cool," even if it was just a shirt box. Then he'd move on to the next thing. David just wanted to play with everything.

John is obsessed with basketball. He was so excited about this new hoop. I can't believe how much he has played with it since Christmas. The first thing he tells me when I get him out of his crib in the morning is "baket! baket!"

Ellie's favorite gift is her new DSi.

David really loves his new Cookie Monster...and John's Elmo. He goes back and forth. I told him to say cheese for this picture and he got Cookie posed right up like this!

Christmas Day
We went to Grandma Jean and Grandpa John's for our traditional Christmas brunch of orange rolls and "Christmas" casserole. Then we opened gifts with our Allred cousins. Ellie loves her new Barbie and the boys are crazy about their bus and tractor. John loves to push the button on his bus and dance to the music. It's hilarious. We spent the afternoon at Eric's parents house with the Mecham side of our family. We enjoyed playing video games and David ate his weight in sour patch kids. It was definitely a memorable Christmas.

John "helping" Grandma open her new pots.

Ellie and her Barbie. Even cousin Owen thought this one was cool!

David tearing into his new bus.

You can tell it's been a great Christmas when:

you can't even eat one bite of lunch because you are so tired from all the excitement, and...

you crash before Mom has a chance to get your jammies on.

The Nutcracker

My niece, Olivia performed in Imagine Ballet Theatre's production of the Nutcracker. Ellie and I got to attend her performance on Saturday with Grandma Jean, Alaina, Mike, and his family. Olivia did such an awesome job. She is such a beautiful ballerina. She was part of the Snow Corps, the Waltz of the Flowers, a Spanish dancer, and a party girl. Ellie was so wiggly during the show and didn't really know the story, but she loved watching Livi!

Ellie and Livi after the show.

Santa Party

We had our annual Santa Party with the Allred Family last night. It was so much fun. We had a great dinner and lots of homemade candy. Next, we built and decorated gingerbread houses. It was definitely an adventure. Ellie is a great decorator, but our house isn't going to win any contests any time soon. Then Santa came! The kids were so excited to see him! Mysteriously, none of them could remember what they wanted for Christmas as soon as it was their turn to sit on his lap. I guess it was a temporary lapse due to excitement, because Ellie still really wants a DS, and hasn't hesitated to tell me. The boys were terrified of Santa, but we kind of expected that would happen. After Santa left the kids and their cool Aunt Alaina dressed up and we read the Nativity. Ellie was a beautiful angel. It was a great party!

"Get me outta here!" Poor John...

David's turn

Jeremy, Olivia, Alaina, Ellie, Josh, and Owen performing the Christmas Story.

Tending Ben

We had a great time tending Ben so Matt and Erin could go to the temple. He's such a fun cousin. He especially loves Ellie! It was a fun night.

Festival of the Trees

The Festival of the Trees was so much fun this year. Our kids had a great time. We were glad that Aunt Alaina and Grandma Jean joined us. The Kids Corner was a hit with Ellie again this year. She made a sand necklace, got her nails painted, made a jingle bell reindeer, and got a Santa tattoo on her cheek. The boys made reindeer out of paper sacks. They loved the glue, but Alaina and I did not love it as much as them... Sticky, sticky! All three of them got a kick out of standing in a bubble. Ellie was a little disappointed because we didn't wait in the huge line to sit on Santa's lap. We'll have to make a special trip to the mall to see him this year. Oh, and the trees were cool too!

Ellie's Santa tattoo

The boys were very fascinated with the bubbles!

Disney on Ice

Ellie and I went to Disney on Ice with Alaina and Grandma Jean last week. It was Princess Classics this year. We all had a great time. Ellie loved getting a spinning light souvenir and cotton candy. She also love the princesses! Snow White and Cinderella were her favorite.

Here we are anxiously waiting for the show to start.

This girl loves cotton candy!

We were a bit early for the show. I'm never early for anything so I was worried I had the wrong night. Mom and Alaina had a great time making fun of me for being nervous about being early. We actually had to wait outside for them to let us in. First ones there!!

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures taken this morning. We haven't had a professional picture taken since Ellie was a baby, so it was about time!

Thanks to Terra Cooper (magnifiquephotography.com) for taking such cute pictures of us. She did a great job!

Halloween '09

We had a great Halloween this year. Ellie had a busy week of Halloween activities that included her field trip, ward party, class party, and trick-or-treating. She was exhausted by the end of the week! She was the most beautiful Snow White. I just loved her dress. We picked out a witch costume earlier in the season, but I just couldn't get enough of that princess dress. David was a Tiger and John was a lion. John loved his costume and started to roar at us as soon as we pulled it out of the closet. David was not a fan. He looked so darn cute, but hated every minute of it.

My cute lion and tiger.

It was impossible get get a good picture of these wiggly cousins. Ben, David, John, and Ellie Joy.

Ellie was such a beautiful Snow White. This is the souvenir she picked in Disneyland.

David did not love his costume. He looked so cute, but wanted it off the whole night.

The boys loved their pumpkin buckets.

Trick-or-treating. The boys were happy as long as they had a sucker in their mouth. They were SO sticky.

This is Ellie's witch costume. We bought it before we got Snow White in Disneyland. She wore it to the ward Halloween carnival.

Carving Pumpkins

Our finished pumpkin and wiggly children.

Each year on the Sunday before Halloween we carve pumpkins with the Cooks. It's always a good time, and this year was no exception. Eric and Ellie did a great job on our pumpkin. The boys were just happy to be outside, even though it was a little chilly. Our pumpkin was awesome and we had a great time with family.

Missy, Eric, Ellie, McKay, JD, Cathrine, and Matt.

Hmmm...what's in here? John checking out our pumpkin.

David and John though our pumpkin was awesome. They'd lift the lid and say "cool!"

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Ellie turned five on Oct. 24th. I can't believe it! Seems like not so long ago she was just a baby. We love her so much and are so grateful to have her in our family.

This year for her birthday we knew we had to do something special to make it as memorable as last year's bounce house party. Ellie's solution was a quick trip to the mall to get her ears pierced. She was so darn excited. We warned her that it would hurt...and it did, but she was strong and didn't cry. She loves having earrings. It makes her feel so pretty. I love it! So far she has taken really good care of them. I hope she keeps it up.

Ellie's new earrings. What a babe!

We took Ellie and a couple of her friends to Chuck E. Cheese for a little party. She really enjoyed playing games and eating pizza. She even liked meeting Chuck E. Cheese. He was definitely no Mickey Mouse! Later that evening we had the Allred family over for cake. Ellie picked out the cutest Tinkerbell birthday cake. We loved it. On Sunday we celebrated with the Cooks. Ellie was really excited about her new scooter from Grandma Teresa and Grandpa Dave. She got so many thoughtful gifts. Thanks to everyone for helping make Ellie's birthday special!

Camryn, Gabbie, Ellie, and Xan

Ellie, Owen, and the Tinkerbell cake.

Ellie's new scooter.

Pumpkin Patch

Ellie's school class visited Black Island Farms for a field trip last week. Ellie had so much fun. Her favorite part was going on a hayride and picking out a pumpkin. She also loved going down the giant slide. She was fearless!