Christmas Day 2011

What a great Christmas! Even though we missed having new snow, we were blessed in being able to travel safely to see all of our family. The girls were very excited to share the Zhu Zhu land that Santa brought them and they each got what they wished for: Emma, a crayon maker and Brielle, a Polly Pocket Rock Star Stage.  Nick got a bunch of gift cards because he is hard to shop for! Emma got a remote control helicopter from her uncle which took a few too many crashes so we need to get the wings fixed and Brielle got lots of clothes (which she secretly loves!) We were able to talk to my brother in Mexico and he rattled off his amazing Spanish. We also ate a lot of yummy treats! It was a fabulous day and we spent the next week playing toys and....

New Christmas Traditions?

We tried a few new fun things this year over the holidays. First we went up to Hardware Ranch. Luckily, it had snowed in a few days so the roads were mostly clear, but I was glad Nick was driving because the last 20 minutes was on a windy road with some ice.  When we arrived, we looked around the visitor center where we ate lunch. Then, we went down to wait in line for the horse-pulled wagons. My girls were in heaven to watch the Clydesdale horses and we even had a moment to pet one. I cannot believe how huge they are! The wagon ride was about 20 minutes and our tour guide "Cheeseburger" told us all about the elk that come to Hardware Ranch. Despite the cold, my girls thought the trip was a lot of fun and want to go back next year. A new tradition maybe?
On Christmas Eve morning we got up and went out to Kneader's for breakfast. I heard that they had an all-you-can-eat French Toast breakfast that was only $4.99, so I had to try that! My girls split a giant cinnamon rolls and shared a bowl of fruit, Nick had an omelet, and I had the French Toast that was totally delicious! It was thick cinnamon burst bread with a caramel syrup and whip cream to top it off with. I'm sure the calories were shocking, but who cares...it was Christmas!
After breakfast, we went bowling. We had some free kids games which was nice because it always surprises me how much it costs for one game. Brielle had to be coaxed into playing, but once we got the ramp for her to push the ball down, she was happy. I played horribly and I think both girls beat me, but we did have fun doing something with just our family on Christmas Eve. The rest of the night we were at home relaxing, checking the Santa-tracker, and preparing for the busy day ahead.

Christmas Traditions

I love the Christmas season for all the traditions that it brings.  My goal every year is to get my Christmas shopping done by December 1st, so that the month of December I can spend as much time with my family as possible celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. This year we went down to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. We don't make it to Temple Square every year anymore but is so fun when we do get there. It was packed and cold but worth the trip! On the way home, we stopped at Texas Roadhouse for dinner and it was delicious! The girls couldn't stop talking about the steak bites they had, but it could have been that we were starving!
I learned at Brielle's preschool program that decorating the Christmas tree is her favorite tradition. She is loves it when we find "her" ornaments to put on the tree and she is very careful when she places the ornaments. Then, throughout the month, she takes some ornaments off and plays different imaginary games with them. She has to hunt for the "pickle" when she goes to my mom's house which is a tradition that they started a few years ago, too. It's funny what they look forward too! She also got to go to Christmas Village with her preschool class which was cold and quick, but fun to do with Nick.
We also have fun family parties to attend. At the Wilson party, my girls love to sit on Santa's lap and talk to him about what they want. With our immediate family, the girls love to exchange presents with their cousins especially when the cousin they get is their age. This year the cousins did a talent show where Emma played "The First Noel" on the piano and Brielle "read" the book "Firehouse" to us.  It always makes me happy to see the girls take pride in something that they do well.
It was a great month that went by too fast as usual.

Nick's Birthday

Nick had two themes for this year's birthday presents: Soda Stream (where you can make your own soda. The machine he actually got from the DI for $4 and my mom and I bought him everything else to go with it) and BBQ grill accessories (Weber's grilling cookbook, utensils kit, and some meat seasoning. I know his birthday is in December and grilling is for the summer, but I had no other ideas!) He did get a few movies and few gift cards, too.  Anyway, we celebrated by going to Famous Dave's for dinner and then having our family over for pudding cake and ice cream. Happy Birthday to our favorite husband and father!

Preschool fun

Thank goodness Nick remembered the camera when he went with Brielle to her Treehouse museum fieldtrip and her Thanksgiving feast; otherwise, I would have forgotten all about it! All I know is that everything at the Treehouse Museum is so fun the girls never want to leave. (And how awesome is Brielle's full name!)  I also know that during the Thanksgiving feast, they perform a lot of cute Thankgiving songs, make fun crafts and probably don't eat much!

Happy Haunting

Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  Luckily, there are always fun things going on that we can participate in to make it fun for the girls.  This year, Emma and her friend planned a Halloween party for a group of their friends. They played the spider web game (pictured above); Halloween charades, Halloween "capture the flag", and decorated sugar cookies.  It was a perfect day to be outside, plus Emma's friends' yard provided plenty of room to fun around and get silly.  She also had a Halloween costume parade at school with a grade party later that I got to help with.  In between the parade and the party, we went to Brielle's preschool carnival where they sang songs, decorated cookies, and played some carnival games.  My mom made Brielle's Indian costume and I thought she looked so adorable! Emma had a hard time choosing her costume (partly because I thought a lot of the costumes were immodest for her age), so she finally chose a leopard girl.  On Halloween night the girls went around our neighborhood trick-or-treating with their friends and cousins. By the end of the night, their buckets were so heavy they could hardly carry them back to our house! A giant bucket of candy...what more could a kid ask for?