Christmas Programs

I love kindergarten Christmas programs. They are always short, all the kids are so excited to show off their skills and the words they hear in their heads and repeat in their songs are priceless. The class sang about 4 songs and Rudolph loves to play games like ponopoly.

Clara with two of her friends Avery and Camille

She was very serious before they started singing.

Have you ever seen a cuter Rudolph?

After the program, each child got to have one parent stay and help them create these amazing masterpieces. We had fun together deciding what to put on her house and laughing about how Eliza was going to sneak all the candy off when we got home. (which she did)

Then, the Monday before Christmas we get together with all the Fillmore cousins and Grandma and Grandpas house for a great "picnic" dinner, a nativity program, and other surprises from Grandma and Grandpa. How will we survive the next two years without them? We have a lot of fun but it definitely is a little bit of motley crew. I didn't get great pictures this year.

The little angels. We lost a few crowns this year.

Susanna loves being the star every year and there are lots of kings, even Burger King ones.

Then, Grandma read a Christmas story about the missing baby Jesus and gave each family the book and their own little baby Jesus. Eliza thought it was great. I don't know what her part was but she was happy to have that little scrap of material tied around her shoulders.

Grandma and Grandpa have given the grandkids an ornament each year for many years. I know it is a stressful endeavor espescially when there are no cute ones to be found. This year she gave everyone little birds in honor of their Great Grandma who loves birds.

Dad leading us in Silent night. He worked hard and getting us all singing.

We have had a lot of fun with some of our fun Christmas activities.

Christmas pictures

The Sunday before Christmas we got all dressed up in our fancy Christmas outfits for church. It was very anticlimactic because of the whole provident living thing. I decided since they only wore their outfits once last year, we would wear them again this year. It will be fun to line the pictures up together and see how they have changed but since this is new for me, this will be the first time they will be on this computer.

Nathan--age 11--needs a haircut badly

Justin--age 13--always needs a haircut, is trying to figure out the "cool" way to smile.

Susanna Belle-age 8 sweet as ever (most of the time)

Clara Jane-age 5 still trying to grow out that darn hair. Her 2 year old sister passed her up long ago. Looks darling when curled and is still a firecracker.

AND then there is Eliza and her evolution of the smile. As a baby I could never get a very good picture of her, not so photogenic. Now that she is getting older, we are trying to teach her to smile for the camera and she is having a hard time figuring it out. These are all taken with various forms of prompting.

AND finally this.
But this is the one that we seem to get a lot of. The posessed smile look. It is very intense to smile on command.

We still think they are cute no matter what they do (except cry)

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas tree decorating and Christmas dances

We have a family tree. I like to call it the throw up tree. The kids have all collected so many ornaments over the years and they all must go on the tree in no particular order. And the amount of giant paper ornaments with their darling faces in the middle is growing each year also. They all know which ones are theirs and love hanging their own ornaments up. And the STAR at the top! We can never remember who did it the year before so it is always an argument over who gets to do it each year. Clint did a great job of getting everyone's picture this year.

Eliza also likes to pull a few off each day. We tried to put no glass ones within her reach.

And...it was time for Christmas shows at dance again. Eliza got in on the fun this year. She just started 6 weeks ago and I think between the three dances they did, she managed to do a little of each. She also picked the sticker off the floor, pouted, turned in circles, but was darn cute doing it all. She loves to dance non stop now and loves seeing all of her friends at dance.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas.

Clara's class did a dance to Santa caught a cold on Christmas Eve so they all wore their Christmas jammies. She did a great job and is really starting to love dance more and more. She loves being with all of her friends and trying to do the tricks Susanna does.

She is definitely my biggest ham.

AND...I couldn't resist this picture. She actually asked me to take this picture of her "picking her nose" and really, could she be happier? HHHMMMMM...

Halloween, Nathan's birthday, and Grandma Garner

We had our annual pumpkin carving and pizza party and Grandma and Grandpa Fillmores house. Susanna even got into carving her own pumpkin this year. Those dracula teeth were all the rage.

Our true pumpkin carver and hero who saves mom from doing all the work. I should say any of the work.

Grandpa rigs up this display and all the kids get around their pumpkin creations. Retro basketball player Nathan is on the far side. Look now because he was so busy with friends we didn't get another picture of Halloween of him.

Clara was Alice in Wonderland, darling. Here she is with Zoe and their dracula teeth.

Susanna was Pippi Longstocking this year. We had so much fun making these braids stick out straight.

Eliza was a little 50s girl and loved the whole trick or treat, be cute, and get candy thing. she didn't last long but was happy with her haul.

Nathan turned 11 and had a great birthday with a family party. Grandma Garner came to town and visited for almost 2 weeks. We loved it. She and Aunt Kim gave him a ripstick which is what he really wanted.

He had a huge ice cream cake and had lots of cousins come over to help him eat it. What a great day. He is already planning his party for next year.

Eliza and Grandma Garner were inseperable. She just wanted Grandma to read to her all the time and she did. They loved each other and we were so glad she could come play. We wish she could come more often.

Now you see them, Now you don't

Braces... Justin wore them for a little over a year and was very excited to be done with them. I just hope his teeth stay straight and he doesn't have to be another adult that has to "re-get" braces. Seriously shouldn't you get a discount if you paid when you were a teenager and they all moved back. Makes you wonder why we put them on our kids so young? Anyway, cute boy huh?

To nap or not to Nap, that is the question?

My sweet little Eliza. I have to say I love every second of her even though she is now making messes everywhere she goes. She loves to draw on herself and tell me how pretty she is. I need to chronicle one solid week and I'm sure I can come up with at least 5 masterpieces. When she finds the sharpies, it is the best. Anyway, I love her nap times and she sleeps for a good 2 and half hours when I get her down. But, when she naps she is up until at least 11 at night (way past my bedtime) so...there are times we decide to do the no nap thing. She does not get crabby at all but we do get this at dinner time every once in awhile. So sweet. The kids thought it was hilarious.

The beach with friends

Okay, first of all I know I am not the smartest cookie but why do my postings all go backwards. I have to try and add my last picture first or they are all out of order. Let me tell you thinking backwards is very difficult for me. End of rant...

We went to the beach in October and took our good friends the Hironakas with us. We love them and our kids match up well with ages. Our youngest dollys are in love with eachother and have so much fun. Eliza says that Hallie is "my Hallie" and wants to be with her all the time. It was so much fun.

Eliza swinging at the park

Her sweet Hallie
Chloe, Susanna, and Clara on the pier. They are protecting their ladybugs they caught. They were all over the pier and let me tell you the mating of ladybugs can be quite fascinating. My friend even took a picture, which i will not post for you. The girls had fun catching ladybugs all over the pier and seeing they fly away.

I never take pictures on vacation because it always gets in the way. I am not a photographer and always feel bad that I don't capture more memories. Susan took one of our family. We weren't looking too fancy but it was fun on the pier.

Eliza getting ready for a day of playing on the beach. She loved the sand and the water. But her favorite is still the birds. She would chase them all day if she could and she had a blast feeding them.

Clara had her first big attempt at boogie boarding and she loved it. She is light enough that she can get just about any wave. She got up on the surfboard once and that was enough for her. Way to go Clara.

Nathan and Tyler were buddies and had fun exploring the beach and playing in the water. T is super coordinated and can do just about anything so even though he is three years younger he can do anything the big kids can do and usually better.

Cool teenagers Eric and Justin. Wish they could hang out more.

Eliza took her turn getting buried in the sand this year. She thought it was pretty cool.

And of course Big brother Justin who she adores did all the work.

Clint loves to search for sea life during low tide. It seems like it is always in the middle of the night. Nathan was the only one still awake but he caught a big crab.