A Merry Christmas it was!

Chistmas morning came way too early for me, after a late night of last minute wrapping and waiting for Hailey to finally fall asleep! But bright and early, I heard footsteps RUNNING into my room, Parker could barely contain his excitement! He'd peeked down the stairs and saw that Santa had left him his very own, pint-sized drum set! Needless to say, within 30 seconds the rest of the house was awakened by his very first drum solo! I think it may have woken a few neighbors as well! :) Yes, Santa must have thought that Parker was ready to pursue his musical talents with drums....after all, Daddy was a drummer. I just wish they came with a volume knob!!! hahahahaAfter a whirlwind of bows and paper, the gifts were opened and the playing began. The big boys got a Wii, so they were pretty much MIA the rest of the day. And Hailey was perfectly content playing with her new baby and Disney nursery set.

Thank you Santa for another job well done! We hope everyone's Christmas' were equally as Merry and that through it all, the true meaning of the season was able to reside inside everyone!

My favorite gift was having my college girl home for Christmas morning! I love that girl! And I know she'll be back to school before I know it :(

Thank you all for your cards and Christmas wishes. I hope you all had a beautiful holiday!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Christmas came and went in a hurry! Doesn't it always seem to do that? Well, unfortunately for us, Hailey was feeling a little less Hailey than normal this Christmas Eve, she had a fever and a tummy ache and spent most of it curled up on the couch waiting for the Motrin to work. So needless to say, we missed Christmas Eve services at Canyon Ridge Christian church, which is sad because they always do such a great Christmas Eve program to help keep everyone in the right Christmas spirit:( But after a cool bath and some new Christmas jammies, everyone was feeling better, so we left cookies and milk for Santa on the fireplace and read Christmas stories in bed instead! It was a nice quiet evening at home with much anticipation for what Santa might leave us under the tree! Hailey is old enough now that she was sooooo excited, when I was trying to get her to sleep she kept getting frusterated with her lack of fatigue. She kept putting her hands over her eyes and saying "Stop it eyes! Go to sleep! Mom, they won't stay closed!" She cracks me right up! Thank goodness her eyes eventually cooperated and she finally fell asleep!

Snowballs

Here are some cute videos with Hailey playing in the snow with her daddy learning to make snowballs

Let it snow!!

I know Vegas and snow are not two words used together very often, but yesterday we had one heck of a snow storm blow through town - well more like, stay for 6 or 7 hours and then move on! We live in the far Northwest of the valley closer to the mountains, so whenever there's weather, we usually get more of it up here! And while most of the Las Vegas valley enjoyed a light dusting of the white stuff - we got dumped on!! By the time it was through with us we had upwards of 4 inches, on the ground! It was so much fun to play in! We put aside all chores yesterday and had a snow day! Parker and Hailey had a blast throwing snowballs, making snow angels and building their first snowman - sad as he was! It is so much fun to have snow - as long as it only comes around once every year or so!!! :) Oh, and I almost forgot the coolest part! Hailey and Rich were on the news! We were standing outside of a Starbucks showing her how to catch snowflakes on her tongue and local news crew was in the area interviewing people. They saw Hailey and came right over to say hi and see if they could put her on the news, well, she is adorable, but I'm just a little biased! She didn't really want anything to do with them at first, but once Daddy picked her up she was a total show off - catching snowflakes and saying they tasted like bubble gum! It was so cute to see her on TV - she was quite proud of herself! A star is born!

This is when we were in front of Starbucks when the news guys came over.

Going to Town at Garehime Heights

The other night, Parker's school (Garehime Elementary, a.k.a. Garehime Heights) hosted their fall festival, ushering in the holiday season. Parker and Hailey COULD NOT believe that Santa had time to come all the way to Parker's school! How great was that? Well, for Parker and Courtney it was great, Hailey decided she really didn't know why she was so excited about talking to him once we got her to his lap! This was the absolute best picture I could get of her with Santa without a completely disgusted look on her face! The only thing she would utter when Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas was "Derella" in a teeny, tiny whisper - Dad had to explain that that means Cinderella....her favorite princess of them all.

Parker, on the other hand, was so excited to tell Santa that all he wanted for Christmas was stacks and stacks of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards....hmmmm.

And of course Courtney doesn't want much - just a new cell phone, a lap top, a new bike and oh, some new shoes and clothes if it's not too much to ask! Dream on sister!:)

So, a great time was had by all once we put Santa in our rear view. It was onto the arts and crafts booths and then a game of Twister, played on the BIGGEST Twister mat I'd ever seen!!

Family Pics

Happy December everyone!! I just wanted to post some of the great family pictures we were able to get taken while Elissa was in town for the Thanksgiving holiday! I'm so grateful to all who helped get everyone together to take the shots...I was so worried it wasn't going to happen - it's so hard to get everyone together now that they're getting older :(
We had so much fun taking the pictures...thank you Elissa! We love and miss you and can't wait to see you at Christmas!!!