Frosty the Snowman and a Dancing Daddy

Kayla's dance class had Visitors Day a few weeks ago and the class danced to, Frosty the Snowman. The dance was really cute and Kayla looked like she was having a lot of fun! Ms. Lisa then invited the guests to come and warm-up with the class. Well, since I "volunteered" last year to warm-up, it was only fair that it was Daddy's turn this year. And, like a trooper, he warmed-up with Kayla and the rest of the class.

Curls are for Girls (according to Eric)

Eric had been harassing me for weeks about getting Kyler's hair cut. Each week, I kept saying, "no" but then finally compromised and said we could take him to get his hair cut the weekend before Christmas. I have to say that I was very sad to see his little curls get cut off but have to admit he looks like such a cute little boy with his new 'do! I absolutely loved his facial expressions throughout the whole process. I don't think he had any idea what was going on but sat there like a trooper!

All smiles




Notice how the smiles are gone and a new expression has taken over


Smiles have returned. He must have known how handsome he looked!

The Nutcracker

My mom got tickets for the three of us to go the Southwest Youth Ballet's presentation of, The Nutcracker. Kayla has never been to the ballet before and we were not sure if the Nutcracker would be something she would be interested in yet. My mom got Kayla the book ahead of time so that she would have a little background before we went to the show. Needless to say, Kayla loved the ballet and said that she wanted to go again next year.



Love the pose!

Making (and mostly eating) Gingerbread Houses

We had the Blawat's over to make gingerbread houses and had a blast as usual. Rob and Eric always have fun coming up with new ways to construct a sound gingerbread house for the kids. They take their "work" very seriously. There was tons of candy for the kids to decorate the houses with which was obviously more of a temptation than they could handle. Kayla started saying, "one for the house, one for me". Then as soon as Kayla would put a candy on, Kyler would take it off and eat it. The process took a while but it was fun to watch!

Hard to smile with a mouth full of candy!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Just a few pictures of some of the fun things we did over the past month with friends and family.

Decorating Uncle Darren like a Christmas tree. What a good sport!


While Daddy and Kyler were at Great Play, I took Kayla to see the Little People perform a Christmas show at the Phoenix Zoo.



Holiday Mountain with Brenda and her kiddos.



Don't let the cuteness fool you. This is a picture of Kyler throwing a fit on the lawn at Val Vista Lakes.




Waiting to see Santa.

Christmas Cookies

My mom and I decided that this year instead of making one dessert for Christmas Eve that we would make a variety of Christmas cookies. We spent the day at Grandma Jean's house baking and attempting to make some "new" cookies. I saw this really cute recipe online for cookies shaped like candy canes and the recipe seemed easy enough. Well after traveling to 3 different stores to find peppermint extract, we mixed and shaped the dough and they were all set to bake. After minutes of being in the oven, the cookies started expanding at a freakishly fast rate. I was bummed and confused while my mom apparently thought it was the funniest thing that she ever saw and decided to take pictures. Lol! We salvaged the cookies by cutting the giant cookies in to candy cane shapes and thankfully they tasted really good. Live and learn...

We had a Very Merry Christmas

CHRISTMAS EVE AT OUR HOUSE

Kayla and Kyler posing with Grandma Nette and the pine cone Christmas tree that they made (thanks to Kyler's sitter, Christi, for the idea).




Two of the best Christmas presents ever!







Looking on the map to see where Santa is



Grandma reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to the kids before they go to bed.



Setting out cookies smothered in sprinkles for Santa.



CHRISTMAS DAY
My favorite part of Christmas Day is hearing the excitement in Kayla's voice and seeing the anticipation in her eyes when she wakes up and realizes that Santa was here. Love it!

The kids opening up a few of their favorite toys...

Kyler's fire truck and fire station



Kayla's Bee Pillow Pet



The bathtub baby that Kayla asked Santa for



Kyler's Spider man scooter



CHRISTMAS DAY AT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA'S HOUSE



The kids are sitting on the bounce house that grandma and grandpa gave them.

Kayla giving Grandma and Grandpa the pine cone Christmas tree that Daddy, Kyler and Kayla made.



DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS AT GRANDPA DOUG'S HOUSE