The Week of Christmas

It was nice having a whole week off before Christmas this year. We got to do some fun stuff.

Monday night we had our annual gathering at my parents' with a visit from Santa. Here are the kids' shots with Santa:

Nate did really well. He mostly just sucked his thumb to get through the ordeal....
Natalie requested her "pony box"--the big box of my little ponies she saw at Target.
Elizabeth asked for rollerblades and a winter dress....

(My brother or sister-in-law--not sure which--took that last picture and you can see the difference. I am either a terrible photographer or they have a way better camera.)

I had to include this one because of the scowling kids:

A little bit better:

My baby Nate

Tuesday night we got to go to a Kings/Warriors game with the Keys. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't been to one in forever (I went all the time in high school). It was a little disappointing to see how far the Kings have fallen but at least it was a good game. Unfortunately they blew a double digit 4th quarter lead and fell apart during OT. One upside: I caught a little basketball they threw into the audience! The biggest upside: hanging out with Justin and Whitney. They have now left us and moved to Utah. We are sure going to miss the late night talks over bowls of ice cream!

Wednesday we drove up to the mountains to stay with my brother and his family. We just stayed one night but it was a lot of fun. The kids had fun playing with their cousins Andrew and Ivy. They also loved seeing snow again and played for quite awhile. They built a snowman with Daddy and enjoyed sledding down a little track behind the cabin.

Of course they loved eating snow most of all:

This guy had fun, too:

We stayed the night there. The adults had fun playing hand and foot that night. That is an Allen family game that I had not played in far too long. It was a lot of fun.

We played a little bit the next morning and then headed home. Thanks for letting us come visit with you, Matt & Melissa!

Now, on to Christmas Day...

The tree:

(Notice the half-decorated tree common in homes with curious toddlers.)

What Santa brought:

We actually had to wake the kids up at 7 since we had a busy day ahead. We read the Christmas story and then they got to check out their stockings and open presents...

Lizzie was thrilled with her winter dress:

Natalie loved her pony box:

Nate couldn't care less about the huge stuffed dog Santa got him. I thought for sure that would be a hit since he loves dogs. I could just picture him tackling and snuggling it but he barely looked at it.

He did love the golf clubs that his sisters got him
(and Daddy loved teaching him):

After we opened presents, we hurried to get ready so we could go down to my parents'. Matt and Melissa made some yummy pancakes for us and we had fun spending some time there. Then, they watched the kids for us while Joe and I headed to the wedding of some friends of ours. Yes, a Christmas Day wedding. It wasn't necessarily my first choice in how to spend the day but it ended up being a good day. Busy but good. Anyway, so we went to the ceremony and then drove back down to get the kids for the reception. I even got a quick plate of some of my dad's yummy prime rib when we picked them up.

The kids actually loved the reception. We were serenaded by a mariachi band, stuffed full of food, and they loved the dancing.

Well, mostly just Natalie...

She was fearless. Elizabeth and I talked each other into going out to dance for a little bit, too. Nate also got some good dancing in....

We stuck around so Joe could give the toast. He gave it in Spanish, which was very gutsy since his Spanish is limited and it was an almost 100% Spanish-speaking audience. He did a great job (from what we could tell :). It was a fun night.

I even got to still have my turkey dinner on Sunday night when we had some friends over. That was another fun night.

It was a great week. :)

'Tis the Season

We've had a pretty busy December. I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Where did the month go?

First off, the girls got to be in a Nativity play. They were both "wise women" and did a great job. They were mostly excited about the costumes they got to wear.

Here they are after the dress rehearsal:

With friends who were Mary and the other wise woman

The set was pretty awesome

Waving to Mom

Here's a video clip (they don't come in until the end):


Elizabeth also had her kindergarten Christmas program. Unfortunately Joe had a final that night so he didn't get to go. I did my best to get video of everything but it was not easy with a baby in one arm and so many parents/grandparents packed into the auditorium. I had to stand up only halfway so I could get video of her without blocking the people behind me. And of course she was on the opposite side as me.

Here's a picture before the performance...And here she is singing "Must Be Santa"... (try to find her!)


Joe and I also took the girls to the Nutcracker last weekend. It was Natalie's first time (she has been patiently waiting for two years since Elizabeth got to go and she didn't). They loved it! They were asking tons of questions and we did our best to be patient about that. I think they knew the story and the songs too well because they kept asking when certain things were going to happen.

Here they are before the show....

I love Natalie all folded up in the seat.
And yes we were second row from the top!

The theater

I meant to get one of the four of us but it didn't happen. Elizabeth's favorite part was the Waltz of the Flowers and Natalie's was the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (those were their favorite songs before, too). They also liked when the nutcracker changed into a real person. Magic!

Christmas Recap

Wow, I have really not been motivated to blog. I guess because I feel so behind. So, this post may be mostly pictures. Or who knows, maybe I'll get in a groove and jabber on like usual. We'll see...

We definitely had a great Christmas and holiday break. The best part about it was seeing family.

I am going to start out in the middle of December. Here's a picture of the girls getting in the Christmas spirit watching some Christmas movies. We rented pretty much every movie out there from the library and had a lot of fun. One of the favorites: Mickey's Christmas Carol. I loved that one as a kid.

In the middle of December we had our annual family gathering at my parents' house with a visit from Santa. On the way there we saw this amazing rainbow so we had to take a picture.
Just for fun, here's a picture of our little family's first visit from Santa in 2004 when I was pregnant with Elizabeth (Mom & Dad--I must admit that seeing our old ornaments makes me nostalgic :).

And here's us today:

What a difference 5 years makes, eh?

Here's all the kids with Santa.

Here's the cousins there singing some Primary Christmas songs, if a bit reluctantly
(Natalie sure wasn't! Elizabeth was throwing a tantrum and refused so she is not pictured)

I should put in the letter Elizabeth wrote to Santa this year.

She actually changed her mind later and decided she wanted a cash register, too, so the dolly got bumped.

Natalie wanted a walkie-talkie too along with a yo-yo.

Right after school got out for Joe, we left for Idaho to visit his mom. We left at 4am and it worked out really well. Joe and I were fully awake and the kids slept a lot. We were really lucky with Nate on this trip. He was so easy. I don't think he screamed once in the car and he didn't even cry all that much with Elizabeth right next to him entertaining him and keeping his binky in.

We had a fun-filled busy few days there. It wasn't enough time but we sure loved the time we had. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures although we did get some video of Nathaniel's first time laughing. Hopefully I can post that soon.

We left a couple days before Christmas for Utah to visit Joe's dad. I think it had been 4 years since we had been there for Christmas and it was a lot of fun. Thank you for being such great hosts, Tom and Lorna!

The kids sure enjoyed having a White Christmas. Here's some pictures of them playing in the snow with their cousins. I was actually impressed with how long they stayed out in the cold. Joe was a good sport and helped the kids build a snow cave and a snow table and chairs (pictured below).

All the kids

Snow cave

All bundled up

Finally, the big day came. We all slept in the same room so we could hear Elizabeth wake up on Christmas morning and say to Natalie, "Guess who came last night?" Natalie was still half-asleep and said, "I dunno..." Then she suddenly perked up and said "Santa came!" It was funny to listen to.

Here's our few pictures of Christmas morning. Santa came through although I don't have any good pictures of them with the things they asked for. Here's what I have:

Natalie loving an outfit she got

What cute girls

A toothbrush!!
It lights up and she seriously brushed her teeth 6 times that day just so she could use it.

The girls also received ballet outfits and lessons (as soon as I can find a place) from grandparents this year. They had to change into them of course.

This next picture is precisely why I worry about putting them in dance. Joe's not going to like it either :). Seriously, where does Elizabeth get these poses??

After a pretty bad bout of the flu that went through our family (minus Nate, thankfully), we managed to make it home. It is good to be home although it was so much fun seeing everyone.

And, since this post is suffering from a serious shortage of Nathaniel pictures, here are some:

Taking a quick nap while the girls were getting ready for bed

A happy dream....
Look at that chubby face!
Grabbing on to the toys on his bouncer
So proud of himself

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!