Their First ATV Ride

We have been putting off letting Brighton and Chelsea take their new ATV outside because of the weather, but today Brighton had had enough. He said he didn't care if it was snowing outside, he was going to ride it today! So after their naps we let them ride up and down our sidewalks and around our driveway. Indeed it was bitterly cold and snowing, but they loved it. In fact, our little daredevil Chelsea stayed out and rode on her own long after Brighton had gone back inside to get warm!

A Visit with Grandma T

Yesterday we went and visited Grandma T for lunch. As always we had a very nice visit, and the kids discovered that her basement was a very fun place to play when it's too cold to go outdoors. I had the kids wear their new BYU t-shirts which were a Christmas gift from her.

Brighton's New Best Friend

We don't want to trivialize any other gifts that Brighton received because they were truly all wonderful and thoughtful and he loves them all, but to be honest, if he got no other gifts he would have been happy, as long has he has his R2-D2. Grandpa and Grandma Allen got our whole family this interactive R2-D2 toy which responds to and plays with us. It is such a riot. Brighton talks to and plays with him all day long and poor R2 gets no rest! We're really going to have to stock up on batteries!

Chelsea's Little Pony

Chelsea had gotten a baby pony for her birthday, and she and her pony were inseparable. Well, on one occasion when we were out running errands she had lost her precious pony at one of the stores. Ever since then she has been asking for her pony and has really missed her, so you can imagine the squeals of delight that came out of her when she discovered Santa had brought her another one! Since she got it, Chelsea has not let her pony out of her sight. This time the pony came with her own backpack carrier so she will hopefully never got lost again!

Siena's First Christmas

This was Siena's first Christmas. Because Brighton and Chelsea were both born in the fall, they weren't really old enough to appreciate their first Christmases, but with Siena it was fun for us to have a baby who was old enough to play with toys and get excited. One of her favorites is this "Little Superstar" toy. It is so cute to watch her try to sing and dance along to the music... seeing her own smiley face in the big mirror makes her so happy!

Christmas Dinner

Later that day Lillian and Blake came bearing more gifts-- an igloo for Brighton, a puppet theater for Chelsea, and a sea-creatures mobile for Siena. And Mom and Dad got the best gift of all from them, gift certificates for dinner and a movie, plus free babysitting when we decide to go!(we really hate having to get babysitters). Such fun and thoughtful gifts. After that we all went and had a delicious Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's, and had fun playing games afterwards. There is really no better way of spending Christmas Day than together with the people we love... we really are blessed to have at least some of our family close by.

Enjoying The Gifts

Brighton plays his new Star Wars video game

The little queen sits on her throne while watching a new DVD

And alternates that with sitting on her ATV

Siena looks so adorable in her new jacket from Obaachan

And Chelsea got a coordinating one too

Dad enjoys a cold one in his new baseball jacket (BTW, it's Apple Beer)

We spent the rest of the day admiring and enjoying our many gifts before crashing for much-needed naps.

The Pile of Loot

Yes, these are actually the piles of opened gifts, not a bunch of garbage. It's really pretty unbelievable.

It's Finally Here!--Christmas Morning

Chelsea and Izzy wait and watch for Grandma and Grandpa to come

Patiently waiting to see if Santa had come

Now the grandparents are here! Getting ready to go down to the family room

Run down the stairs as fast as you can!

Brighton's pile from Santa

Chelsea's pile from Santa

Siena's pile from Santa

Chelsea asks Grandma to open her pony right away

Siena checks out her toys

Brighton looks to see what was in his stocking

Chelsea's pony never leaves her side

A new ATV from Grandpa T and Grandma Annie

Chelsea finds a princess bracelet in her stocking

Brighton looks through his new Star Wars book

Siena loved all of the excitement

Brighton got Chelsea a new Cinderella tiara

Dad really spoiled Mom this year with way too many gifts, one of them being a beautiful new handbag!

Siena even figured out how to unwrap presents

One of our highlights: Grandma was so touched by her gift from us

Well, it is finally here. Christmas morning! This is such a fun day with little children around, their excitement is just so contagious. Learning from past Christmases I was determined to be restrained when it came to presents from Santa this year, but with all of the gifts from grandparents and aunts and uncles, the kids really scored yet again. They literally had sensory overload! After playing with their presents from Santa and opening a few presents we took a little break and ate breakfast before going back to open the rest. What lucky children!

White Christmas

The view outside our windows at about 4:00pm

Grandpa read us a wonderful Christmas story


The girls playing together

Dad read us the story of Christ's birth from the New Testament

We each opened one present: new pajamas!

Cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer

It looks like we will be having a white Christmas this year. Although it was quite mild this morning, by the afternoon it was a blizzard outside. It's a good thing we had no plans to go anywhere. We had dinner at our house (we ate tonkatsu-- not your traditional Christmas Eve feast, but it is one of our favorites!) and we invited Grandma and Grandpa Allen to join us. Then we read some Christmas books and read about Jesus' birth, and sang some Christmas carols. We made chocolate chip cookies for Santa and ate some ourselves while sipping hot chocolate and watching "The Muppet Christmas Carol". We ended the evening by putting the kids in their new pajamas and sending them to bed. We have really enjoyed having such a low-key and relaxing Christmas Eve!

Laundry Helper

Justin and I were folding laundry this afternoon and we stuck Siena in one of the empty baskets to keep her from messing up our piles. I guess it was close to her naptime, because we found her all snuggled up in her clean blankets, fast asleep.

Manicure

Chelsea is a funny girl. As soon as she gets any kind of chip or scratch on her polished nails she insists on re-painting them. As soon as we got home from breakfast she asked to have her nails painted red and green again, so we tried polka-dots this time. She wanted me to paint my nails the same way too, so that we can be matching. We love our little girly girl.