Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day we enjoyed some nice family time at home before meeting Grandma and Grandpa at church for the 5 pm service.  It put us all in the Christmas spirit to hear about the true meaning of Christmas and listen to the choir sing Christmas carols.  Our favorite part of  the service is always the end where everyone lights candles and sings "Silent Night".  After church, we ran home to grab the food and presents, and then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for the evening.

The highlight of having Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house is always the giant train set Granpa puts up every year.  This year it looked better than ever and all three girls really appreciated all his effort.

After a nice dinner of rotisserie chicken, baked sweet potatoes, steamed vegetables and a giant fruit salad, the girls put their new jammies on and we bagan opening presents.

 Every year Grandpa gives everyone stockings with all sorts of goodies in them.  This year the goodies included: new toothbrushes and toothpaste for everyone, lotto scratch off tickets, gummy lifesaver books, pencils, cute animal luggage tags, pocket calendars, etc.  Thanks, Grandpa!

Jessie loved her new Hello Kitty T-shirt and her "real" Hello Kitty camera that came with it. 

 Rian got a boom box for her ipod and was very excited to try it out right away!

 Hayden got her own phone personalized with her name (hey, did someone forget to ask mom if she was ready for her to have her own phone??????)

Smile!  I'm gonna take your picture!

                        Rian got matching American Girl pj's for her and Julie.

Kanani's recliner (ever hopeful Santa will bring Kanani tomorrow!)

Grandpa got a Tree Stand that lights up to add to his train village.

Grandma got a wolf picture to go with her collection.

After a quick dessert that entailed way too much sugar, it was very late and we headed home to prepare for Santa's arrival.  On the way home Jessie asked, "Um, can I sleep with SOMEBODY tonight?  I'm scared of Santa!"  So, all three girls bunked in one room and everyone fell fast asleep.

It's a Winter Wonderland!

The first day of Christmas break was full of excitement for the girls.  We had over a foot of freshly fallen snow on the ground and they were more than eager to play in it. 

Jessie trying to make a snow angel.

Dad helped the girls make a giant snow fort. 

It wasn't long before the Kensora girls came and joined the fun!

Catching snowflakes.

The younger girls started getting cold after about an hour but Sarah and Hayden would've stayed in the fort playing all day.  We eventually forced them to come inside and warm up their fingers and toes by the fireplace. 

Little Elf Party and Christmas Around the World

Wednesday was the girls' last day of school before Winter Break.  We started the afternoon with a Little Elf party in Mrs. Themm's Kindergarten class. The kids went around to different stations making different mini-size treats- the perfect size for little elves.  They made mini frosted donuts out of honeycomb cereal, frosting and sprinkes, mini Christmas wreaths out of bagels, cream cheese and green shredded coconut, tiny milkshakes made in baby food jars, etc. The kids had so much fun going from station to station and eating to their heart's content. 

The snack table for grown-ups.

Rian, Connor, Lilly and Seth making mini frosted donuts.

Making little elf hats using bugles and spray cheese out of a can (much to my dismay!) Rian had never heard of such a thing before and could hardly believe you could really eat such a thing.

Kendall and Helen

Rian's edible wreath.

Mini snack mix station.

Mike and I stopped by to see Hayden and her BFF Colley at the 5th grade party where the kids were eating a lot of not-so-healthy treats and watching "Home Alone" before singing karaoke, and although Hayden said she really wanted us there, it was clear after a few minutes that we were being ignored and our presence wasn't really required after all!  We then headed back down to the kindergarten room where we were a bit more appreciated!

After school, we had time to run home and change clothes before heading out to Jessie's preschool program at Ellis Ranch.  Ellis Ranch is only about 10 minutes outside of Loveland, headed up towards Estes Park, but with the blizzard we were hit with, it took us forever to get there and the roads were completely treacherous.  We couldn't see a thing and almost missed the Ranch entirely because the road you had to turn down to get there wasn't visible due to all the snow!   Once we finally made it, everyone had a grand time.  The theme was Christmas Around the World, so each preschooler dressed up to represent the country of their choice.  Little J. of course picked Vietnam!!

Everyone brought a dish from the country they were representing (we brought a chicken curry dish with jammine rice) and enjoyed a nice dinner with family and school friends before the program.

Jessie ditched us to sit by her good buddy Jordan.

Jessie and Jordan

Hayden sporting her new glasses.

The Boo Bear.

The program was very cute and entertaining.  The kids did songs and dances of Christmas songs from around the world.  Jessie took her job very seriously and you could tell all the kids had really practiced.

Jessie was paired up with her pal Tayteum and they danced and twirled each other around for an entire song.  All the kids had such a good time.

After the performance, there was a guest appearance by the Big Man himself, but Jessie wanted nothing to do with him and wouldn't even get close enough to Santa to get a picture of him in the same frame as her.  The girls grabbed some cookies and we headed out, and luckily the snow had stopped by that time and we were able to find our way home.