Christmas Eve: My Birthday and Family Traditions!

Birthdays for me have become much less about turning a year older, (in fact, I'd rather my age not even be said out loud!!) and more about having a day that is mine to be a little spoiled and pampered! Us moms can use a day like that, right? Well, this birthday was just that! Everyone made it the best one yet! It started December 23rd, the night before my birthday, when Mike took me to a nice Indian restaurant for dinner and to a fun play at the Off Broadway Theatre downtown. And thanks to my parents for taking the kids overnight for a slumber party, we came home to a quiet house without any kids to put to bed, and got to enjoy a nice, relaxing morning just Mike and I! We finally decided we'd better get the kiddos, so we picked them up and went to see the movie "We Bought a Zoo" (really cute!) and then later met my parents at Cafe Rio for dinner. After Cafe Rio, we met back at our house for cake, my favorite, German chocolate, that Mike made for me from scratch! Oh, you might notice a piece missing - that would be due to my picky son.....we had to cut a piece out to put a different frosting on for him!

I had already bought a new expensive camera for my birthday and Christmas present (and Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, anniversary, etc.....ha ha!), so I wasn't expecting any gifts, but Mike and the kids surprised me with a new necklace earlier in the day, and while having cake, Brayden gave a me a present she got for me herself! In her class at school they are given "bucks" for being good, and then they get to buy things with them and have an auction they can use them at. Anyway, she had saved up a bunch of her "bucks" and bought me this cute Christmas tree candle decoration - I thought it was the sweetest thing!!

I love how sweet and thoughtful she is!

Because my birthday is Christmas Eve, it's always been a joke in my family that after my cake and presents, it's not my birthday anymore, and we switch the gears to Christmas Eve traditions! It's always been tradition to first do the nativity story with my parents' old nativity set, and then open a few presents before going to bed. This year, we started off the night watching the cute Disney cartoon, "Small One", and then did the Nativity story. The kids love helping out by moving the pieces around and holding a flashlight for the star.....

After the nativity, the kids got to open their traditional gift from us, pajamas, and presents from Grandma and Grandpa! This year the kids got PJ's, slippers, and Pillow Pets to match their rooms! Here the kids are modeling everything from us.....

Brayden got an electronic speaking dictionary, some nail polish and lipgloss, and a Barnes and Noble gift card from Grandma and Grandpa, and Ashton got Stinky the Garbage Truck (which he wanted last year and didn't get so he was STOKED to say the least!), and he got a counting money jar from them.

Here's Asthon when he opened "Stinky".....

Brayden surprised Mike and I with something else she bought for us at school, another cute Christmas decoration! And she was sweet enough to let Ashton be a part of giving it to us too!

I have never seen the kids so excited to go to bed before! They decided to have a slumber party in Brayden's room! We told them they couldn't get out of bed until they heard Mike and I ring a bell.....I'll tell you how that went in my Christmas post! :)

Our Own Winter Wonderland!

We were supposed to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house Monday night to decorate a gingerbread house, but Ashton was really sick so we couldn't go. The kids were both so upset (even though we'll still do that later this week) that we wanted to think of something else fun we could do at home to make up for it. Mike came up with making snowflakes! We had never done that with the kids before, so it was fun teaching them and seeing what they would come up with! I thought we would maybe each just do a few, but the kids turned into snowflake-making monsters, and we ended up with 30 snowflakes that night, then since Ashton couldn't go to school the next day, he decided to whip out 20 more while he was home! We had fun decorating with them and putting them on and hanging from our railing. This is what our house looks like now, and the kids still don't think we have enough...

Here's Ashton doing his favorite new hobby.....

Ready to be opened.....

The big reveal.....

Craftiness and My Christmas Princess!

I love to try to be creative and artistic, (try is the key word!) but for the most part, I'm clueless when it comes to crafts. I think that I take after my mom who used to pay people to make her Homemaking Meeting crafts for her when I was growing up! But, I saw some Christmas countdown blocks at a Christmas gift show I went to, and thought they would be fun to make for neighbor gifts. I was so excited because I've never actually made our neighbor gifts before and these were really fun to make and put my own spin on. I thought, who doesn't love to countdown to Christmas? We have several countdown things in our house - a couple of advent calenders, some chains, and now these blocks, and it still never seems like enough for the kids! They love counting down the days in every way possible! :) I made 25 sets of these for our neighborhood friends, and wish I made lots more! I usually like to give them out to friends outside of the neighborhood as well, but couldn't this year when I realized how much our neighborhood has grown and I already came out short! Crazy! But our neighborhood is so great, I love it! We also had a neighborhood fundraiser for Primary Children's Hospital which was supposed to be in lieu of neighbor gifts, that we participated in as well. I love giving neighbor gifts, but the fundraiser was a great idea that brought everyone together.
Here are the blocks I made.....

Another little easy craft I made was a feather headband for Brayden's Christmas outfit. I had looked for a red feather headband forever, but when I finally found the style I wanted it was $20 - more than I wanted to pay for a little accessory! I thought I might be able to make one for way cheaper, and this is what I put together for $5.....

I wanted to get a pic of Brayden wearing it with her outfit after church, which ended up turning into a modeling session, and me having fun playing with my new camera! :)

I love this picture of Brayden spinning...it reminds me of when I was little. My sister and I would decide whether or not we wanted a certain dress by how much we could get it to twirl out when we spun around! It's so fun having a girly-girl who likes to do the same!

Emmalee's Book

My brother-in-law wrote a book about his daughter, Emmalee, who passed away from liver cancer 2 years ago, and it was just recently published and released today! It's called "Dragonfly Wings For Emmalee" and it's about everything they went through during the time she had cancer. I have read it, and it's a great book that really teaches you a lot and puts things into perspective. Here is a link to the book website for those interested: http://www.dragonflywings4emmalee.com/
For every book sold he will donate $5 to Make-a-Wish. I just thought I would help get the word out for him!

The Difference Between Boys & Girls.....

When Brayden first learned how to write, she was aways writing Mike and I cute little notes telling us she loves us. When Ashton first learned to write, he did the same for a little while.....until he realized what he was capable of.....

Having grown up with two little brothers, I should've known this was coming! Gotta love little boys!!!

The Christmas Fun Has Begun!

Last Thursday, Ashton got to perform with his b-boy class at the Festival of Trees! He was so excited to finally have his turn to dance on stage after watching his sister perform all these years!

Here he is in his b-boy outfit all ready to go...

Doing the "b-boy" pose!

Here they are performing! Ashton is in the back row far right with a hat on. They did a little group dance, then did freestyle solos. Ashton's solo is at the end...

Ashton with his buddy Trace after their performance...

On Friday my parents invited us to their ward Christmas party. They had an amazing high school choir come and perform, and then afterwards out came Santa Claus! Little did we know that Santa was a comedian who liked to pick on people in the audience.....I was one of the lucky ones, being picked on first! Santa made me help him sing and lead everyone in "Jingle Bells" and even made me do a little solo! My kids thought it was HILARIOUS that I got picked on by Santa! He was really the coolest Santa ever, though, and was great entertainment for the kids AND adults!

My dad got this pic of me while I was with Santa!

The kids couldn't wait for their turn with Santa!

After the party, we headed over to my parents' house to help them decorate their Christmas tree! I always love seeing all of their ornaments that they have kept since I was born! They are all mismatched, but they all have meaning! We always got to pick out our own ornaments each year, and my parents also kept all of our homemade ones too!

This doll ornament I got as a baby - it's also a little book! Brayden loved it!

Ashton loves his Grandma Netts!!

The month has just barely started, and we can't wait to have lots more Christmas fun!

Tree Decorating!

First thing the morning after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree - the kids couldn't wait one minute longer!!!

Then, later this week I let the kids pick out some mini trees to decorate for their rooms! Ashton did a red and gold tree to match his pirate room, and of course Brayden wanted lots of pink! They loved being able to decorate them all by themselves!