Christmas Time 2013

Tree Trimming

So we started a new tradition this year. In my family we always used to get an ornament every year to symbolize something that was meaningful to that year. We have continued that tradition and always done that with our kids. But this year we decided to begin giving their special ornament to them the same day that we decorate the tree. The kids loved that they got to open a present early, it meant a little more to them, and we get to see it up for the entire Christmas season. Makenna got a Sofia the First ornament since that is the show that she loves to watch and since she dressed up as her for Halloween. Kyler got a Mickey Mouse ornament because he absolutely loves Mickey.

Christmas Pageant

We continued our Christmas festivities with a church Christmas Pageant on December 22nd. Makenna had a great time playing the part of one of the angels.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had the Venable family over to our house for an early dinner and gift opening. The kids always love getting together with their cousins. Kyler loved his new toy tool set. Afterwards we headed to our Christmas Eve service at church. After church the kids opened up their pajama presents and headed to bed.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning we started off at our house. My mom and Jim graciously brought over our traditional Christmas casserole and coffee cake. The kids opened stocking gifts, Santa gifts, and gifts from mommy and daddy. Makenna was so excited when she opened her jewelry box from Santa and her bicycle from mommy and daddy.

Kyler enjoyed his huge Tonka trucks and especially liked riding in the back of the dump truck. Atlhough from this picture I think daddy was the most excited for Kyler to get the Tonka trucks.

He also loves horses so he was fascinated by the little toy horse figurines that he received.

It was funny to watch Kyler open his gifts this year because he meticulously pulled off one small piece of wrapping paper at a time. It took a long time for him to unwrap everything, but he was having fun.

Makenna also on her own asked if she could give Christmas gifts to each of us. So we set up some chores for her to tackle and she earned enough money to buy gifts. It was so sweet to see her wanting to give to others.

Christmas Night

After the kids' nap time, we headed over to my mom and Jim's house for lots more fun. We enjoyed spending lots of time with family and opening up even more gifts. We had such a wonderful Christmas!!

2013 Christmas Card

Cold Blooded Family Member

No, this isn't an insult to any of our family members:-)

Meet Wyvern!

He is our little bearded dragon and the newest member of our family. He came home with us on December 16, 2013. We built a castle in his tank enclosure, because what else would a dragon want? He is so tiny and we have to be really careful holding him. I am still getting used to having a reptile and trying to get over my fears. But Toby grew up around reptiles and had really wanted a bearded dragon as a pet for a long while. Makenna doesn't seem to have any qualms about holding and touching him. We are letting Kyler observe from a distance still since the lizard is still so fragile right now. As Wyvern and Kyler get bigger though, I am sure they too will have a fun time together.

Ketchup Monster

Kyler LOVES his ketchup!! He sees it much less as the intended dipping sauce and more as a main course. He will eat it on just about anything: grapes, apples, broccoli, noodles, string cheese, and the list goes on. I am not entirely sure the reason why he likes it so much; is it that he likes the taste, or just the fact that he can get completely messy, or perhaps a little bit of both.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving!! Such a fun time. We first went to the Smiley's house for fun family time and the best deep fried turkey ever. The kids enjoyed bouncing in the bounce house and playing outside with their cousins.

After all that fun we headed over to my mom's house for some more wonderful family time, delicious food, and lots more fun. It is always so nice to be with our families!!

Makenna's 4th Birthday - A Princess Tea Party

Makenna LOVES princesses and tea parties so it was only fitting to make her 4th birthday party a princess tea party. And the added benefit was that Makenna got to wear her Halloween costume one more time. We held her party on November 23rd.

A lot of little princess and knights (we had to incorporate the boys somehow) came to the party.  Their first stop was to get outfitted at the "Princess Wardrobe" or "Knights Armory".

(The "Princess Wardrobe" had felt crowns, necklaces, rings, and bracelets)

(The "Knights Armory" had felt swords, felt helmets, and shields)

After the princesses and knights were properly dressed they went off on "The Quest For Lost Things".  Each of the princesses had lost items around our house that had to be found.  The kids had a great time looking all over the house for all of the princess' items.

Next we went on a scavenger hunt for Princess Makenna's lost shoe.  There were clues given from various princess movies and at the end we did indeed find her shoe and candy treasure.

The last game that we played was "Pin the Kiss on the Frog".

We had lots of Princess inspired snacks to eat.

• Rapunzel's Lovely Locks Pasta Salad
• Snow White's Apple Slices (It was brought to my attention that I should have put "non-poisonous")
• TinkerBell's Pixie Dust (Pixie Sticks)
• Cinderella's Pumpkin Muffins
• Jasmine's Magic Carpet Cheese and Crackers
• Belle's Chip and Dip Bowl
• Snow White and The Seven Layer Dip
• Merida's Teddy Grahams
• Ariel's Dinglehopper (Forks and other utensils)
• Mulan's Green Tea
• Aurora's Sleepytime Tea
• Princess Makenna's Pink Tea

And princess tea tea party inspired table decor.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party Table

Beauty and the Beast Tea Party Table

The kids were able to color their own tea cup and then it was time for cupcakes...

Cupcakes were made to look like teacups

and PRESENTS!!

Makenna cannot stop talking about how much fun she had at her fourth birthday and that makes it all worth it. She is getting so big so quick and it was nice to be able to celebrate our not-so-little, little girl with our friends and family.  Happy 4th Birthday to our little princess!!

Princess and Dragon's Halloween

On Halloween 2013 our kiddos dressed up as a princess and a dragon.  Makenna chose to be Sofia the First and since Kyler doesn't really have an opinion yet, he got to be a dragon.  We debated making him a prince but he is more of a seek and destroy type, so dragon fit him well:-)  We were super busy that day and felt like we were running around like crazy.  I think next year we will have to pick and choose which trick-or-treat opportunities we will participate in.

First we went over to Toby's work and the kids got to trick-or-treat around the offices in  his building.  It is a really fun event that is so creative.  You can completely tell how family oriented his company is by having an event like this.

Next we rushed over to downtown Redlands to meet up with friends and family.  I had misread the time that the downtown was holding their event, so unfortunately we didn't have much time to leisurely walk around.  We did however get to spend some time trick-or-treating at the businesses there with our favorite trick-or-treating buddies.  And we got an added bonus when our cutie pie cousins came too.  We had a great group with two dragons, two princess Sofias, an owl, and a sweet little newborn baby (not in the photograph).  And my mom also joined us!!

Then off we headed to eat dinner quickly at our house and make it to Wyatt's house for our last trick-or-treating experience of the evening.  We always have a great time trick-or-treating in Wyatt's community too.  The two older kids had to "take turns" knocking on the doors of the houses and they were in charge of saying "trick-or-treat" for the group since Kyler couldn't speak for himself yet.

Although we did the same amount last year, this year it seemed like we were always under a time crunch for some reason.  Although it was a whirlwind of events this year, it was also a lot of fun.

Pumpkin Carving Time

We finally got to do our pumpkin carving the night before Halloween.  It seems like every year we have good intentions of doing it early but never are able to get it done until last second.  We let Makenna pick, design, and cut her own pumpkin this year.  She didn't really enjoy the cleaning of the pumpkin but really liked getting to design and carve it. And as for Kyler, he had so much fun digging in the pumpkin and pulling out all the guts.  He loves his messes!!