Christmas 2008

Christmas was so much fun. It went way too fast as well. On Christmas Eve we went snow sledding as a family. It was a lot of fun. Kaelen didn't like it very much though. He went down the hill twice and after having snow fly in his face both times he was done. He spent the rest of the time in the car with me. It was fun to watch Enoch, Rachel and Jacob go down the hill though.

In the evening Noal, Wendy, Morgan, Ainsley, Annelise and Boyd came over for a Mexican themed dinner. We had homemade black bean tortillas that were amazing with meat and other things to put into them. Then for dessert we had apple enchiladas which were to die for. So yummy. We of course kept up with traditions and had to act out the nativity. It was fun. Boyd was the Donkey and this year both Mary (Morgan) and Joseph (Jacob) rode on it. Rachel was out wonderful Angel who even say to us. We had two wise women and two shepherds with machine guns instead of shepherd hooks. We also had little lambs this year. One of them was a sleep but the other one crawled around. Didn't want to stay with the shepherds though. Noal was the Traditional narrator. We had a lot of fun.

We also opened presents up from each other and our Christmas Eve PJ's. Rachel got Hannah Montana pj's and Jacob and Kaelen got matching space 'boom boom' pj's.

Christmas morning we got up around 8:30 when the kids finally got us up. Kaelen didn't get up with us. We let him sleep till he wanted to get up. We got some really awesome presents this year. Enoch and Rachel both got new MP3 players. Santa had already downloaded stuff onto them when they opened them. That was a nice surprise. I got a treadmill for Christmas. I was so excited. Jacob got a leapster LMAX. He was excited about that. He plays with it still all the time. Kaelen got some fun bath toys and a car and train. He really loves to push them around the floor. He will either push them or throw them to make them move. Kaelen though enjoyed the bows more than his presents. He would grab every bow he could find off the presents.

Kaelen had a good first Christmas. He had no clue what was going on but sure seemed to enjoy all the toys on the floor, the boxes, bows and other things.

For breakfast we had the most amazing baked french toast. We loved it. It was so sweet and yummy. I think that we will make it a tradition now in our house. We had way too much though.

In the afternoon we went over to Grandpa and Grandma Heileson's to open presents and have dinner. We played games in the evening. It was a lot of fun.

We really loved Christmas this year. It always makes me sad how quickly it comes and go's. I was sad when it was over.



Santa came to visit at the family Christmas party "Grandpa!"

Kaelen getting all dressed up in the car

Kaelen with Dad and in the snow

Rachel and Jacob snow sledding. I love this picture of Kaelen

Our Mexican Fiesta

Our Donkey, Mary and Joseph. The shepherds with their guns.

Our Angel

Acting out the Nativity and all of us after

Our Narrator

Jacob and Ainsley opening her present from Jacob. The kids were a little more excited than her and pushed her out of the way to see it. Poor little girl.

Opening our present from Boyd and Annelise

Rachel was so excited to get Hannah Montana pj's.

Kids in their pj's before we read The Night Before Christmas

Waiting in the hall Christmas morning to go and look and see what Santa brought

Kaelen sleeping instead of opening presents

Jacob and Dad opening a present. Kaelen looking to see what Santa brought.

Opening more presents. Rachel has the best facial expressions when she gets something that she loves.

Kaelen with a bow on his head.

Kaelen and Enoch opening a present together.

Kaelen so happy with Grandpa Heileson Christmas day.

Music

We are enjoying listening to Christmas music lately. Our neighbors and good friends the Taylor's make us a Christmas CD every year. We are really enjoying our newest CD. Some of the songs that I am enjoying are by Kristin Chenoweth, Natalie Grant, Sara Groves and Sarah Brightman. I can't find though any of these songs to add to the blog for you to listen to but you can scroll down to the bottom of our blog and enjoy a few songs that we do like at Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy listening.

Here are a few of the songs that we are enjoying right now.

Sleep well little children by Kristin Chenoweth
Medley by Michael W. Smith
I believe by Natalie Grant
What Child is This? by Kristin Chenoweth
It's True by Sara Groves
Arrival by Sarah Brightman
O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Enya

Our Gingerbread House

A week or more ago when we went somewhere for family home evening our Christmas elf Buddy left us a present on the kitchen table. He left us a gingerbread house making kit. Saturday we put it together. It was a lot of fun. The kids are very creative. Annelise and Boyd showed up just as we were decorating our snowmen that came with it. They decorated one as well.

Enoch and the kids putting frosting on the house.

Us all decorating our gingerbread house.

Carefully putting candy on our house.

More candy on our house.

Making our snowman cookies.

Our gingerbread house. Don't you love our alien looking snowmen.

Jacob looking cute decorating his snowman.

"Rubber Duckie Your The One"

Here are some cut pictures of Jacob and Kaelen in the tub. Kaelen loves the tub. He would sit in the tub forever if you let him. The minute he hears the bath water running he will start crawling to the bathroom with the biggest grin on his face. He also cries when he gets out. What a change from when he was a baby (ok he is still a baby but not a tiny baby). He used to cry when getting in. Now he cries when getting out.


Kaelen brushing his teeth before his bath

"Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer"

Last week both Rachel and Jacob had school Christmas concerts. It was so cute. Jacob's was absolutely adorable. Jacob was dressed so cute. I figured that since it was a Christmas concert that the kids would dress up. Well Jacob was the only one dressed up. All the other boys came in jeans. Jacob didn't mind one bit and frankly he looked the cutest out there.While we were at Jacob's concert Kaelen started clapping for the first time. It was so cute. I filmed not only the kids singing but Kaelen clapping as well.

Jacob singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Jacob singing "Jingle Bells"

"Must be Santa"

"Yay! Rachel and Jacob!"

It was so exciting when Kaelen started clapping while watching Jacob and Rachel's concerts. We've been trying to get Kaelen to clap for awhile and he finally did while everyone else was clapping at the concert.

Very Pretty Girl

It was so fun to watch Rachel at her Christmas concert. She looked so pretty in her dress and it was fun to watch her move and dance while singing. There was this girl though in the front row that had huge antlers on. She was right in front of Rachel. I had to really turn to the side to film her. The girl should not have been able to wear them or at least should have had to move to the back. We really enjoyed watching both our kids perform.

I love how Rachel moves back and forth while singing in this song.

Rachel's wiggly arms are awesome. She is so cute.

A momentous Occasion

We had a very momentous occasion today. Kaelen fell asleep in his high chair. He never falls asleep in places other than in your arms or his bed. Actually he rarely seems to do that lately. He is really teething right now because he will chew and bite on your shoulder when you hold him. He is not sleeping because of that we think. Kaelen has never wanted to sleep since he was about a day old. He seems to think that he will miss out on something. This last week for example he didn't take a nap in three days. He took maybe three catnaps a day and then wouldn't go to sleep till about 1 am and then he'd wake up a few hours later to eat. (Yah Enoch and I haven't slept much lately) He is usually happy when he is awake though. We are happy about that. Well today he was so tired that he actually fell asleep while I was feeding him in his high chair. He may never do this again so I was happy that I got pictures.

Actually maybe he was tired becasue of all the work he has been doing for Santa. He sure works hard for him.

Christmas Party

This last weekend we went to Grandpa and Grandma Heileson's ward Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. They had a really yummy turkey dinner. For entertainment they had the Idaho Falls Fire Department Bagpipe band and then a choir from Bonneville High School. The kids in the primary also performed some Christmas songs for us. I was so proud of my kids because they actually got up and sang with the other primary kids. They didn't know any of them but they got up. I was so proud of them because I knew that I would never had done that when I was their age. I was always too embarrassed. They also of course got to see Santa. Kaelen wasn't sure about this man in a red suit who was holding him but he didn't cry. That was surprising since he cries at times when people he doesn't know just look at him.