Christmas 2016

Christmas time came and went again! Every year, it becomes more of a whirl for sure. We had a great season! Here are some of the things we did:

Naked tree decorating:

Apparently this is a thing each year. 

The Globe Light Parade:

Roberto's Mexican food, hot cocoa, good friends and fun lights! Its definitely a tradition!

This is our favorite event in the little town we live in

Mesa lights with the Jolley's:

Pretty sure our kids were the only irreverent ones rolling down the hills. Oops!

Travis's work Christmas party at the casino:

This party is always good for people watching and a little black jack. Its always a good time!

Gingerbread house decorating with friends:

Isla was pretty thrilled, I mean frosting, candy, graham crackers, who wouldn't be?

These big kids also were in Heaven

Santa Claus sitings:

My kids aren't huge fans of the big guy, but they sure do love getting presents from him

Isla gets as far away from him as possible, and barely tolerates him

And then of course, Christmas day. We had a white Christmas, which is very rare in Globe!

The girls were thrilled and had a great morning. They kept getting weird camping gear and stuff, and then we walked outside and there was a new camper outside! Their reaction was priceless!

We really tried to keep Christ in Christmas this year and every year. Hopefully our kids are getting it? Sometimes I wonder? 

Merry Christmas!

All aboard!

Since we have lived in Arizona, we have heard about the famous Polar Express train that exists in a small town called Williams. You go on their train, wearing Pj"s and they serve cookies and hot cocoa, sing carols, and cruise past the North Pole, and then Santa comes on the train and visits. Our kids loved it! I thought it was fun, but my skeptical self just kept thinking about how much dough they were raking in for just an hour train ride, what a scrooge! The town was so dang cute! We stayed in a house with the Jolley's. We spent the night, and the next day was Christmas Eve, and it totally started to snow. We had so much fun! We had an awesome breakfast and opened our PJ's and cousin gifts together. It was a really fun weekend!

Tiny Dancers

Brooklyn and Isla had their winter dance recital. I'm definitely not a dance mom, and I have no idea if they are even good at dance, but I will say, watching your kid do this stuff is pure entertainment!

Brooklyn, aka, Shakira was awesome! She was born with some crazy hip movements. You really just have to watch her video. She has improved so much this year and is really enjoying dance. 

The only reason I put Isla into dance was because it was the same time as Brooklyn's dance class and I figured it would be a lot easier to make someone else manhandle her for an hour than having to entertain her for that hour. She ended up loving it! So about 3 dances before Isla went on, I got a text from the backstage mom. She said that Isla was refusing to put her nightgown on. I hurried and ran behind the stage, and there she was fighting the mom about her nightgown. I did my best to bribe, threaten and sweet talk her into wearing the outfit. She refused. So we were on the side of the stage ready for her dance to start, and literally 30 seconds before they went on stage, she finally agreed to put the nightgown on. Phew. Talk about diva! She got on stage, sort of stared at the crowd for a minute, then started jumping around and dancing. It was pretty cute!

Magical keys

Avery had her winter piano recital. She played "Up on the Housetop."

She is getting pretty good at the piano, that is, when she doesn't get frustrated and chuck her books during her lesson. True story. Little stink!