Onward and Upward!

As we wrap up 2011 and look forward to 2012, I have to say this has been a great year for our family.  We've had some amazing adventures and we have tried a lot of new activities as a family.  We are really looking forward to watching the kids continue to learn and expand their worlds.  I see a lot of biking, swimming, and hiking in our future for 2012 on beyond.

I think I'll just install a bench in my front garden so I can sit and read my book while the kids ride their new bikes this next year.

Ben has already mastered the petals on his new bike and he's ready to cruise.

McKenzie is so happy her new bike has brakes unlike her old one that she crashed on.  Now we can really ride to the park and back!  Can't wait to see her excel at riding and get her training wheels off.  That's a good goal for 2012.

Matt and I are keeping our New Years resolutions simple this year - keep up with these kiddos and as always focus on the family fun!

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree wasn't the only thing we were rockin' around this year, with all of our Christmas activities it seemed like we were rockin' around the clock too.  We are very blessed to have so many good friends and family who we are able to share the holiday season with.  We hosted our annual friends holiday party and celebrated more times than I can count with our families.

We took the kids to brunch at Emory's near our house for yet another visit with Santa.  Santa sang Christmas songs, we had a great meal and then the kids got to sit on his lap.  

At our friends holiday party we have Halle 3, McKenzie 4, Kayla 6 and Mikelle 5.  So much fun to have so many girls so close in age to play with each other. 

Celebrating on Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa C at Aunt Kacey and Uncle Eric's house.  Here is Kayla with a very special gift that we gave her.  A fairy that really flies!  When I saw this at a local toy store I just knew Kayla had to have it.

Ben and McKenzie trying to leave cookies and milk out for Santa... too bad they kept eating the cookies.  Poor Santa!  They are wearing their new Christmas pajamas that they found from Santa by the tree before bed.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there... .  Looks like Santa did show up!

The first view of the family room with the presents!

Kenzie's present pile from Santa!

Ben's present pile from Santa!

Ben shoving presents to get to his new bike!  He was so excited that Santa brought him just what he asked for.  

Kenzie testing out her new hopscotch rug.  She loves to jump!

Ben practicing his sniper moves on us with his new blaster gun.  He pulled up a chair in the kitchen and just kept firing on us enjoying our Christmas morning. 

Ben practicing to receive his Olympic medal for present jumping at Grandma and Grandpa Z's house.  Cousin Claire is a little more humble while waiting for her metal.

This was the year of costumes for Ben - finally some boy dress up clothes for this poor guy who's options have been Scooby Doo or a clown when Kenzie wants to play dress up.  Now he can be a knight or a pirate to save the princess.

Grandma C and the grandkids ready for more Christmas fun.  Looks like even Ben is too big to sit on Grandma's lap now.

A fantastic holiday meal of homemade pizza eaten on fine china with a side of tomato soup.  And don't forget the Christmas crackers.  Always a fun tradition for Christmas.

The Red Truck Club - finally we had all the trucks in one place.  We've been wanting to take this picture for a while.  Uncle Eric with his Chevy, Grandpa C with his Ford, and Matt with his Dodge.

All in all it was a fantastic holiday season and we were all truly blessed to be able to share the holidays with so many special people.  Now I just have to find places to store all the new toys the kids got!

Dear Santa...

This year was another great year for visiting Santa.  The kids were so excited to see him to share what they wanted for Christmas.  Getting natural smiles out of them is another story but I'll take the fake smiles I got over screaming kids on Santa's lap.  Ben did give Santa quite a surprise though, I was trying to get them to smile and was standing to the side and said 'stinky feet' which usually gets the smiles going.  In response Ben yelled out "how 'bout poo-poo."  Then he realized that was Santa he just said potty talk in front of and was quite embarrassed and was forced snuggle in closer to Santa to hide his face for a moment or two.  We got back on track after that and got a nice picture to add to our collection.

2011 - McKenzie 4 1/2, Ben almost 3

Pictures from Christmas past.

2010 - McKenzie 3 1/2, Ben 22 months

2009 - McKenzie 2 1/2, Ben's First Christmas 10 months old

2008 - McKenzie 1 1/2 years old, not talking to this guy.

2007 - McKenzie's First Christmas, six months old.  Santa and Kenzie both have rosy cheeks!

  

All I Want For Christmas Is Clean Teeth

Ha ha... as if that's all he wants.  Ben did get that wish during his first visit to the dentist.  He did a bit better than I expected during his visit - he actually opened his mouth and let them look at his teeth.  Unlike McKenzie who's beautiful smile is lit up with teeth Ben rarely shows his teeth when smiling, talking, eating, or brushing.  He was very interested in sitting in the chair and he liked trying out all the different tools before they went into his mouth but the funniest part is when the hygienist showed him the rubber glove she was going to put on he took it and insisted on wearing it during the entire appointment.

McKenzie went second and she did okay but because she saw Ben go through all the initial experience with the tools she wanted to have the full show too.  All in all we had a good visit and clean teeth for our visit with Santa!

Countdown To Christmas

In our usual fashion, when we do something, we do it big.  We had not one, not two but three Lego advent calendars going this year.  That's in addition to our regular one that the kids get dollar coins in each day to put into our Disneyland jar.

The kids loved opening and assembling the Lego of the day each night with Daddy.  This has been the kids first real experience with grown up Legos instead of their little kid ones.  The Star Wars set was the most popular because it had spaceships and cool guys like Chewbacca.

The kids are flying their spaceships around ready for action.

McKenzie staging a battle, careful with that light saber!

Ben in the zone with his spaceship.

One great Saturday afternoon in among all the Lego action I had my new Cricut going with McKenzie making paper doll gingerbread men for all her friends at school.  This was a fantastic afternoon with the kids, one of those ones that makes you say it's all worth it.  Matt and I are truly loving engaging the kids in activities that we enjoy as they grow older and expressing their own personalities. 

D'Lightful Night

One of my favorite holiday traditions is looking at Christmas lights.  This year we made it out to the Garden D'Lights in Bellevue which was just as amazing as I had remembered from our last trip.  I really enjoy seeing the lights when walking through the garden because you can stop and enjoy them rather than being in a car and getting a glance out of the window.  It was a bit more packed than the first year we went but I think that was because it wasn't raining.  Ben did manage to get wet despite the dry weather by filling his boot up in a small fountain within two minutes of entering the gardens.  We got him as dry as possible and kept moving - there was too much to see to be bothered by a wet foot.

Here are some of the amazing flowers they had on display.  I can't even imagine all the work that goes into creating this scene.

Cousin Claire, Ben and McKenzie checking out a spider web.  New Years resolution #1 learn to use my camera settings so I can correctly capture pictures like this!

Our family enjoying the fun holiday evening together.

Aunt Jennifer and me with the kiddos.

It was an amazing site that I hope to see again next year!

Can't Catch Me, I'm The Gingerbread Man

Sometimes it feels like Ben has a bit of the Gingerbread Man in him - always on the move, always with a laughing smile on his face as he runs away.  We spent a fun evening decorating a gingerbread house and while McKenzie labored over the house, using all the candy and icing possible, it was like Ben was just there to swoop in and snatch some candy and icing and then he was off again.

Here's McKenzie making sure each piece of candy is in the proper place.

My beautiful girl so happy to be building a gingerbread house.

Ben up on the counter as usual, helping to rearrange the candy, most right into his mouth.

Love how happy they are in this one, having so much fun together!

Proud of their work, though I do have to say getting a kit that was broken before we even opened it made our house a little less attractive than I would have liked but the kids still loved it.

Elf On The Shelf Daily Adventures

Last Christmas season we were joined by a new little friend, our Elf on the Shelf.  He didn't cause much of a stir last year so he spent the entire off season stocking up funny and wild ways to show us he was there everyday.  Here is a recap of all the fun we had with our Elf - the kids have been missing him and asking when he can come back.  

Day 1: Our Christmas Elf arrived yesterday from the North Pole. His first adventure was a tea party with Purple Baby.

Day 2: The Elf brings a message from Santa

Day 3: Our Elf needed a little help getting back to the North Pole last night after being touched by Ben yesterday. Santa was able to restore his magic and we're back on track!

Day 4: Christmas came early for The Cougars this year, welcome to Coach Leach! Win or lose even Santa and our Elf root for The Cougs!

Day 5: Our Christmas Elf is really checking up on us this year!

Day 6: Our Elf made a new friend! Now the question is who is the scariest?

Day 7: Our Elf and Jesse, the stuffed dog visiting us from Ben's class, enjoying some fun before Jesse returns to school.

Day 8: Perhaps our Elf needs us to leave him some food out since this morning we found him eating up all of Grandpa's fruitcake! Yum Yum! 

Day 9: Give an Elf a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach an Elf to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Yesterday McKenzie said the Elf should eat goldfish not fruitcake and this is what we found him doing this morning!

Day 10: Rub-A-Dub-Dub our Elf's in a tub! I'm just glad it wasn't my toothbrush he picked to clean up with.

Day 11: Today our Elf is just hanging around watching us run from one holiday event to the next!

Day 12: Looks like our Elf is trying to remind us about all the fun we have year round with our family. He's not the first one who has been a little jealous of our giant photo button from the fair!

Day 13: Our Elf in his cap has settled in for a long winter's nap!

Day 14: Their underwear were hung by the chimney with care... Wait a minute! Our Elf sure does have a sense of humor!

Day 15: Looks like our Elf decided to help address all our Christmas cards last night. Ben's comment was "He do your work Mama".  Anyone who does my work can stay all year long!

Day 16: All work and no play makes our Elf a dull boy. Enjoying some fun with Daddy's Xbox today.

Day 17: Today our Elf has some advise for the kids if they want to stay on the nice list.

Day 18: Step right up! You're the next contestant on 'Naughty or Nice?'. Our Elf is really taking his job seriously this year.

Day 19: Our Elf taking his new friend Barbie for a ride in his mistletoe mobile!

Day 20: Our Elf must be dreaming of a white Christmas to have cooked up this idea!

Day 21: Our Elf likes to keep us laughing, today we were all ready to help Santa pull his sleigh after waking up with red noses!

Day 22: Our Elf had an early Christmas gift for us today, he brought a photo album of all his adventures at our house. Perfect timing since it is Kenzie's day for show and tell at school. She is so excited to show her class.

Day 23: Our Elf is missing his friends in the North Pole. He got some inspiration from the Grinch to make himself feel more at home. "If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead".

 

Day 24: A grand goodbye from our Elf today - a white Christmas after all . We pulled it off the tree and had a snowball fight! We will miss this little guy.