We enjoyed the holiday here in AZ this year. We missed our families tons, but enjoyed some of our own traditions.
The kids were all extremely spoiled this year; I guess they were really good. Rachel had more fun checking out everyone else's stockings and presents than her own. She wasn't really interested until the wrappers came off. We even had to hide all of the candy; everytime we turned around she had stolen something else from one of her brother's stockings.
We enjoyed a nice dinner with my Aunt Cathy, Craig, and Kristen. Thanks for making the long trip across town.
The hightlight........... I got a new camera!!!! Enjoy the slide show below of our Christmas with all of the lovely non-blurry pictures!!!
Tonight we made our annual trip to the Mesa Temple to see the lights. We usually go on Christmas Eve, and it is SO busy. This year we decided to try it tonight, it was so much nicer. The only draw back-my camera! I sure hope that Santa has one for me on his sleigh!!!
This was the best shot we got all night on the grounds. Rachel loved the lights and watching all the people. (as you can tell, she wouldn't look at us)
We were even able to go into the visitor center and experience some of the amazing things they have inside. Usually it is so crowded we don't even attempt it.
This is the kids in front of the Christ statue they have.
It is a yearly tradition at our house to make a gingerbread house. This year was no exception. The kids all helped out and put on some of the decorations. Rachel ate more than she actually put on, but overall it turned out great.
Trying to get 4 kids to hold still and look at the camera at the same time is next to impossible, but enjoy a few of our attempts this morning.
Dressing a girl for the holidays I have to admit is so much more fun than boys!!!! But she wouldn't sit still and pose. This is the best shot we had. She was all decked out today! And spent the whole time in the hall at church since she was SO loud today. It's a good thing she is so cute!
Last Saturday, we went to Hale Theater and saw "A Christmas Carol" with the boys. Yesterday Ethan came downstairs with bits of a few different costumes on and said," guess who I am?" He was Scrooge!!! This was taken today before church, he was still wearing it.
Today we ran up to the mall to see Santa. I wasn't sure if Rachel would like him, but she did great. We were the only people in line, so while the lady taking the pictures was helping out the group that just finished Santa walked over to Rachel and talked to her and shook her hand. He even said "Ho, Ho, Ho" for her.(She is can't say Santa, or much else, but can say, Ho,Ho, Ho" pretty good) Then when it was our turn she got to slowly approach him and he picked her up and she sat there, and kind of smiled. Again, Sorry boys, but the lines are so long when you are home!! Maybe we can try again next week when school is out and actually get all 4 of you in one picture.
Today in school Ethan made a Gingerbread house with his buddy at school. They are kids from 4th grade (?) that come in once a week and read with them or help them with projects.
Tonight at Pack Meeting Zachary received his Arrow of Light award. This is the highest award that a cub scout can earn. Our ward has a really nice ceremony that the boys get to participate in. Unfortunately our camera is on its last leg and I didn't get any really good shots of the ceremony or the bridge crossing to welcome them to boy scouts.
It was a really nice evening. Zachary was so cute when we got home. He said,"Man it feels really good to get your Arrow of Light". I hope he gets that excitement about scouts forever!
Tonight was the Kindergarten Christmas Program. All 4 classes got together with the help of Mr. Murphy (the music teacher) and gave a great concert. They all sang - "We wish you a Merry Christmas", "The Hanukkah Song", and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Ethan's class sang "Up on the House Top". It was really cute. Ethan did such a good job; he sang great. Below is a video for your enjoyment.
Today while Grandma and Grandpa R. are here visiting we went to the Wildlife World Zoo. We had been there before and the kids LOVED it but $$$. They recently opened an aquarium so we decided to hit it again. Of course it was probably the coldest day we have had all year. Take a look at the slide show below for the highlights. ** The picture at the sting-rays I snapped seconds too soon! A sting-ray surfaced and Rachel actually reached out and touched it as it went by.**
Recently we have had the opportunity to help out a few cousins with their "Flat Stanley" projects. Last week we got a little different version of this. My cousin's son sent us an e-mail with a scanned copy of his flat self. It asked us to take a picture somewhere and e-mail it back to him with a letter. I liked this idea since it always takes me so long to get to the post office to mail it to the next person. Technology has its perks.
Yesterday during a church meeting here, I got out the baby swing for one of the sweet little boys who was here. Well after everyone left, Rachel decided she wanted a try. We can hardly keep her out of it now. If we don't open the tray, she just climbs up and sits on the tray. She doesn't even need it turned on; she can basically grab the side and push herself. I tried to find a picture of her as a baby in the swing, but I couldn't find one to compare. Either she didn't spend too much time there or when she was there I was just too busy to take a picture.
We had a great time this weekend decorating for Christmas. It wasn't without its challenges. It has been a few years since there has been a little one at Christmas. But our house is now Rachel Christmas proof. Our tree is only decorated about 2/3 of the way down, some things are out this year, and other are up a lot higher.
This picture is my favorite of all the ones we took of the tree. I was trying to get just the tree, and she walked into the picture and looked up, exactly as I took it. I'm sure she was trying to figure out how to reach the ornaments.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Of which I took NO pictures. I had the camera in my bag, but never took it out. We were able to join with Bob's Uncle John and Aunt Linda's family. We had a yummy dinner despite a few set backs! About a half hour before everyone was set to arrive, there was a car accident near by and they lost all the power. They didn't know when it would be back up, so we relocated to Chandler-Gilbert Community College here in town. Uncle John runs the cafeteria there, so he opened it up and finished cooking and we ate there. It was fun to visit with them, even though we all live so close we haven't seen some of them in over a year. The rest of the weekend was spend enjoying the weather, shopping and decorating of Christmas.
This year as an early Christmas gift, we got Brandon(and us) tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Gammage Theater.We were able to go with some great friends the Dearden's. It was such a great show. Brandon loved it!! He has been playing the music on the piano ever since it is wonderful!! Thank You to Cathy for watching the other 3 kids while we went out. Note: That's a shadow behind Bob. His butt's not really that big.
Today we surprised the boys with a trip to Hale Theatre to see "Jack and the Beanstalk".
Bob and I have had season tickets going on 3 years and love it. We have taken Brandon every year with us to the summer musical and "A Christmas Carol", last year Zachary went at Christmas too. They both really enjoy being able to go.
Ethan has been asking more questions about the plays we go see, and asked why he didn't get to see "A Christmas Carol" with us. We were going to get him a ticket for this year, but decided to try it out with their children's show first.
When they left for the show they still didn't know where they were going. Brandon guessed an ASU game of some kind, or the Science Center. Ethan thought it was the zoo, and Zachary agreed with them. (Why they thought they would dress up for those events I don't know)
This weekend is also Gilbert Days, and the parade runs right down the street the theatre is on, so they were going to have to park a little ways away and walk over. This only added to the suspense.
But they all loved it!!! Now Ethan really wants to go with us to see "Christmas Carol", what have we started.
Today Rachel has been in rare form! Here are some of the highlights that I managed to capture on film of her adventures today.(this is only a few)
Sitting in the toy box, OK until the toys started flying, and she tipped over hitting her head
Unloading a brand new Kleenex box in Mom's room, while mommy cleaned up the mess in the loft.
Climbing into the shelves in the loft and getting stuck!
Help Mom!
What I didn't catch on film today. Trying to put lotion on, falling partway down the stairs, taking her socks off repeatedly,trying to call someone on the phone, and pulling out all of the paper stored in the desk, and printer.
Rachel had her 1 year check up today. Weight: 20lbs 9 oz. Length: 30.75 inches Head: 18.25 inches
She is doing great, and such a little charmer. But she HATES the scale at the DR. office. I don't know if it is the scale itself, or getting undressed, but she lets them know she is not happy. Then promptly stops when picked up.
Here are quite a few pictures from Rachel's big day. The boys had so much fun decorating. We might have went a little overboard on the pink.We had my aunt and the Spence family over for dinner and presents. It was a really nice evening. Rachel enjoyed opening her presents, and even shared pretty well, except for her baby.
We had fun decorating with pink!!!
Her cupcake birthday cake. We also had matching regular cupcakes.
We had a great Halloween. The day started great with Rachel sleeping in! We then went and got donuts for breakfast to surprise the boys when they got up.(Brandon slept really late and didn't get his picture taken) We had a nice day at home getting a few things done, Rachel had great naps, and ran a few errands. After dinner of a pumpkin shaped pizza, the kids got their costumes on. We had told Brandon that he was to old to go Trick or Treating this year. But when we decided to go with the Star Wars theme, and a friend had an awesome costume she had made for her husband, (Thanks Marie)we told him he could go and carry Rachel and her basket! So this year we had Darth Vader (Zachary), Clone Trooper (Ethan), Princess Leia (Rachel) and Obi-Won Kenobi (Brandon). They were quite a hit around the neighborhood. Rachel at first didn't want to keep her wig on, so to get pictures at home I gave her a sucker to play with. It still had the wrapper on it. And it worked to help get some pictures. Well, they took off in a hurry as soon as pictures were done, and I forgot to get the sucker back. Good news, bad news. She kept the wig on once out the door, but got the wrapper off the sucker. By the time she got home she was covered in sticky drool. Her costume sleeves were stuck to her body!!! We had to literally peel her costume off her. We now have more candy than we know what to do with, and some hyper kids. Glad it only comes once a year!!!
