Christmas with Omi and Opa

We all met at my mom's at 1:00 for some lunch and to exchange gifts. Lots of yummy finger food and fun people to visit with. There are so many people, but somehow we always fit and enjoy our time together.

They had the boys open their gifts all together first. Here is Opa passing out all of the boy presents.

They each got a pack of 3 big Bakugan's. They were all so excited! It was so cute to watch them all together.



Then my mom passed out all of the girls presents. They all got Hannah Montana or a Miley Cyrus doll. Oh, were they excited too! Adorable!

They also had a bag full of little goodies and toys for the kids. They always go above and beyond! Thanks mom and Dave for everything. We love you!

After everyone left Quentin fell asleep downstairs so Ryan and Erin stayed. It was really fun to hang out with them more. We hung out in the kitchen and talked and took pictures. They are too cute huh?!

Candice and Josh came over too and played Beetles Guitar Hero with Burke and the kids down stairs. That was fun they got to come and play some more.

This one was Ryan's idea. good one eh? He should definitely become a photographer. Hahaha! :) He always makes us laugh.
Seriously, what a great day! We also spent time with the Simmons, but Kaleb was having breathing issues because of the cat at their house, so I was a bit concerned about him and didn't take pictures! Then for Christmas morning I realized my camera was left at their house, LONG STORY! I will share it all soon. Luckily Candice took pictures, so I will load them up with that update later!

Christmas with the Ottley's

We headed on over to my dad's Christmas morning around 10:00 for breakfast. They always make a yummy egg/sausage casserole for all of us Christmas morning and then we open gifts and enjoy each other's company.

We gave them their annual family calendar for 2010.

Our little Sally got lots of love from everyone everywhere we went.
All of us siblings purchased a family gift to exchange in the game where you can open a gift from the pile or steal one from someone else that you like. It's the first year we have done this together. Usually we have a family to buy for, but this was actually nice, fun and less stressful to be honest. Everyone got some sort of game for their family. We have been loving playing them here at home. Kaleb is really into the game stage and has so much fun with us. It's great!
Tiff and Randy showing Riley the Wii car game they just got. So cute.
Kaiya having a happy day.

We loved being able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Ottley, but wish we could have stayed longer. Our day was pretty packed. The kids got cute gifts from them that they love. Kaleb got his first Bionicle toy to put together, Kaiya got a Tinker Bell paper doll dress up kit, and Katelin got a little princess book with a little music player that came with it. They love their gifts and we love ours too! We started reading the book they gave us "The Peacegiver" and it is really good. Thanks for the gifts and all of the goodies! We love you! :)

Beckstead Christmas Party 2009

We just love going to the Beckstead Christmas Party each year. It's my step-mom's side of the family and they are just really wonderful people. Each year Santa comes and each child gets to sit on his lap and receive a present from him (each parent wraps a gift per child and puts it in a bag out the back door where Santa comes in). The kids love it and so do we.

This year Kaleb got to be Rudolph while we sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Each of my kids got movies this year. They thought that was pretty fun. So when anyone asks them what they got from Santa they say, a movie and add nothing else. Because that's what he really physically gave them, makes sense. :)

Katelin did not want to sit on Santa's lap at the last minute, but she loved her Barbie movie she got. So she went around showing everyone. This is Great Grandma Beckstead. Katelin just climbed up into her chair and showed her her new movie. Grandma was so cute and interested.
Kaiya was a bit nervous, but got through it. She was pleased with her Barbie Movie also.

There is always lots of yummy food to eat and fun people to visit with. My sister's and sis-in-law Erin had been asked to sing some Christmas songs afterward. It is always fun singing with them. They have such beautiful voices. They are wonderful! Then one of the cousins, Chase plays his bag-pipes. He left on his mission today, so we'll miss his playing for the next two years. What a fun night.

My little rock star

Katelin loves playing Guitar Hero with Burke. It is so funny. She holds that huge guitar and plays the best she can. She also loves to play the drums. It's nice because the game has a beginner mode and so she can just hit anything she wants and it works. If she hears that Burke is turning it on she runs into the room yelling "yay, guitar hero!!!" The other day in the van we were listening to Christmas music and Katelin didn't want it on, so Burke said "oh, Katelin listen it's Guitar Hero." She totally believed him and got upset when I changed the station. She loves music. She will break out into song wherever we are. Even in the bathroom at a store, it's hilarious. All of the sudden her mouth opens wide and she's singing "A WHOLE NEW WORLD!!!" So loud. She gets songs stuck in her head and just has to let them out. I love it!

Winter Concerts

Burke's music classes had their Winter Concert last Monday, the 14th. It was great as usual and fun to see all of the kids participate. And even though they are not all the best singers (some are really good), it really is good for them to participate in these musical programs. I think it is a neat outlet for them and to even feel the spirit through some of the songs. Really neat. The background that's up is still there from the Aladdin play they did last month! :)

I thought it was cute how the guitar class sat up on the different levels and played. They played guitar for all of the songs the 7th grader's sang.
It's really fun to watch Burke play guitar with the kids and then lead the choir also. I uploaded a video at the end of this post of one of the choir numbers. I didn't do any with the guitar's though. I'm burned out on uploading for the moment. Maybe later. :)

Then the next night Kaleb and Kaiya's school did their Winter Concert. It was adorable. Kaiya was so excited to wear her reindeer hat she made in her class. She told me the week before "mom, just wait until you see our reindeer hats on us, we are going to be SO cute!"

This is Kaiya's nervous smile, but the girl next to her is doing the same thing, hmmmmmm. That's funny! My cute little reindeer .
Kaleb was so cute. He was cracking me up when they would sing with the whole school. He kept peeking at me through the kids in his class so that I could see him on the camera. Adorable!
Here's a couple of videos of the kids singing with their own classes. Some people might find these boring, but hey the grandparents love it ok?! :)

Updates

First of all, Burke had a Birthday SHOUT HURRAY!!! He took half a day off on Thursday and Friday and we went to Salt Lake. The kids stayed and played at Omi and Opa's with the other kids for Porter's b-day party. And Burke and I went to dinner with his parents and Grandpa at the Lion House (yum) and then to the Mormon Tab's Christmas concert with Natalie Cole. She wasn''t that great of a performer that night, but I heard she got better and better each night. We got jipped. Oh well. It was a fun date anyway and the choir was awesome as usual.

Burke enjoyed opening gifts that morning and reading cards. The gift in front with the interesting wrapping was from Kaleb. He once again ran to his room the night before and wrapped up something of his. So cute.

On Saturday, I got to take Kaleb with me to The Christmas Carol at the Hale Center Theater. It was so much fun to hear his comments even towards the end when they were "is it over yet?" because I was feeling the same way. :) Then afterward everyone in my step mom's family and all of us head on over to the Golden Phoenix for some YUMMY Chinese food. It is seriously THE best. You've got to go if you haven't before. Kaleb really liked it all too. That was a fun date with my little man. I forgot the camera, so no pictures here. :(

While we were out having our date, Burke and the girls were at the airport picking up this:

Yes, we did it. We now own a dog. Weird. It's been fun. My mom fell in love with this dog while helping my aunt Gitti in California over Thanksgiving. My cousin Diana went to help her the next week and so she brought the little one on the plane with her on Saturday. Thanks Gitti! The kids absolutely LOVE her. I think they've finally settled on calling her Sally. It's changed a few times, so we'll see, but that's what's been sticking the longest. It's like having a newborn all over again though. She wakes up whimpering in the night...BUT this time Burke gets up to help her and take her in the freezing cold to go to the bathroom. Awesome!

She hates the bows though and has figured out if she shakes her head long enough they will fly out.
I have no idea why I don't have a picture of Kaiya holding Sally. She is the one holding her 90% of the time. Sometimes we have to remind her that the dog can walk.

We got home from Salt Lake on Sunday. That night we made our graham cracker houses. Mine is on the left...I know the most creative. It is the manger. I wasn't able to finish it though. I was helping Katelin with hers and then there wasn't enough stuff for me by the time I was ready. That's ok. Burke's roof was so full of decorations it collapsed and is now a flat roof house. Katelin ate her door. Kaleb's is the tallest and Kaiya's has a smiley face roof, so she tells me.

Today Katelin was watching a movie with the dog. She is such a cuddly little dog. She will seriously sit and watch, well sleep on your lap through the whole thing. Such a sweetie.

Snow girls

We got our first big snow fall that actually stuck and was enough to play in. Kaleb was at a friends house, but the girls wanted to play. So we got bundled up and they had fun for about 5 minutes. Then their hands were too cold and they were done.


Snow angels.
Then onto the eating of the snow. Yummo!

Happy Nickolous Day

We always celebrated Nickolous Day growing up. On December 5th we would put our shoe out under the tree and then when we'd wake up there was an ornament and a treat or something for us in our shoe. We both grew up with this tradition in our homes since my mom was born in Germany and Burke's dad served a mission in the Netherlands, so it just stuck. And the kids love it! This year I wanted to make them something and just give them a couple pieces of candy instead of buying them a little something. So last night Burke and I stayed up and whipped up these little owls (out of scarfs and an old sweater arm and some levis) I found on, yes my new favorite blog I've been talking about in just about every post now! I'm sure it will wear off in a while, don't worry! hahaha. Hers look a lot more professional, but hey we had fun and the kids love them.

(instructions for these owls click here.)

While Burke and I where in the room making the owls, Kaleb kept running from the front room to his room. He was supposed to be in bed. I peeked out and asked what he was doing and he hid things he had and told me I couldn't look, it was for Nickolous day. He had filled each of our shoes with something of his and a few pennies and a note. Here's mine:
So then we added ours to his. What a sweet little Nickolous. He loves to be a part of the action.

Fun with Modge Podge

I found some fun projects on the Make it and Love it blog I mentioned a couple of posts down. I just had to do them, so much fun!!!

This first one she actually covered shoes with fabric using Modge Podge. I had gotten these shoes for a buck at the thrift store a while back and decided to try this project out on these babies. Here is the before picture of the shoes:


I had a little of this fabric left over from another project and I just really like it so I tried it out on these. I think it turned out so cute! I only have one shoe in the picture because I haven't had the time to finish the second one yet. So there you have it. Fun! The kids thought that this was so cool, and so did I.

(if you want to see exactly how this is done, click here.)

Magnet clips for fridge
This project I saw somewhere, I don't remember. But I have many clothes pins, so I thought I would do it with the kids for a fun project. Kaiya enjoyed doing it with me, Kaleb liked to watch.

First find some cute scrapbook paper you like and measure the width of the clothes pin and then use a straight cutter to cut thin strips out and then cut to the length of it also. Then you use a small paint brush or something to apply a thin coat of MP to the top of the clothes pin. Add the paper on top and then add another thin coat of MP on top of the paper, smooth it out and let them dry. Then add a magnet strip on the back of them and they're done. ( I forgot to purchase the magnet strips. Must do that when we're in SL to finish them!) Now you can use these to clip kids art work or anything important on your fridge, in style. :)

Christmas lights parade

We heard there was going to be a lights parade last night so of course we had to go! We got all bundled up and watched some trucks pass by with lit up Christmas tree's, the fire truck strung with lights and even our famous watermelon float for melon days was all lit up. It lasted about 5 minutes and then we headed over to the pavilion at the park for some hot chocolate and cookies.


This boy was refusing to bring his coat because"it wasn't that cold outside." He wore his jacket and we told him just to bring his coat in the van just in case. He lasted a few minutes outside and then we had to go and get it. Funny kid. If he would just listen to us!
Waiting to get our hot chocolate. Katelin was SO cold even though she was all bundled up. She's not a big fan of the cold.
We got our hot chocolate and cookies and headed home. Yay for heat! :)

Fun projects

I have found some AWESOME sites that I've loved looking at and seeing fun, crafty ideas to try out. One of them is Make it and Love it. You've got to check it out if you like to make fun stuff every once in a while. She has all sorts of different fun ideas. This one she had a women's sweater she had gotten from a thrift store and turned it into a sweater dress for her little girl. I had this short sleeve one that I was about to get rid of and decided to try it out for Kaiya.

Here's the shirt before:
And here it is after I cut it up and re-sewed it together, for a small person. :) Wala, a cute sweater dress. It was my first time with sewing sleeves, so I was pretty proud of myself.

Pretty much every picture turned out blurry of her! So here's one of her sitting. It goes to just barely above her knees when she's standing. So cute with some leggins. And she loves it. Even better!

(for instructions on the sweater dress click here)

Another blog is Little Nanny Goat. As you've seen from past birthday posts we always decorate a chair for the birthday person to sit in that day for dinner and cake and whatever. So on this site they had this My Special Day chair cover. So of course I got excited and decided to make one. I had just gotten a ton of different fabric from Burke's Grandpa that he was getting rid of so I decided to use that. So now we have one for many occasions that we can just whip out and use any time there's a special day!

(if you want to see directions on how to do this click here)