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.