Christmas 2012

 Monrovia Ward party, waiting to see Santa!

I was asked to take the pictures this year of all the kids coming to see Santa and Mrs Clause. Since the party was early in the month, December 8th, the college student that usually takes the pictures wasn't home yet. So our little family was at our ward building early, set up my camera, took pictures of the families that came on time to see Santa, then rushed off to the Arcadia Ward party for the dinner and show there. 

Of course Audrey was having nothing to do with smiling at the camera, before or during Santa!

 Since Heidi didn't have her doll for the picture with all the girls, she had to have one after by herself.

And off to the Arcadia party. Nanna with Audrey 

 Pappy with Heidi

    

Naomi waiting in line to see Santa, again.

"Mom, this isn't the real Santa. I could see his Beard moving. And he kept pulling on it."

                                                    Mailing our Christmas Letters to Santa!
I saw on a commercial that if you sent your letter to Santa via a mailbox at the department store Macy's, for every letter sent Macy's would donate $1 to "make a wish" foundation. So after coming up with our final drafts of letters to Santa, Ryan and I took the girls to Macy's to send their letters. However, we obviously went a little late in the Christmas Season, 2 days before Christmas, and all the envelopes and stamps were gone. As you can tell by the look on Naomi's face, the girls were a little bothered that they didn't get to send their letters in this big ruby red mailbox.

Then after our misadventure at Macy's, we went to the girls favorite store, Justice. As you can see, the most fun was not had looking around at all the trinkets, it was this silly hat with huge eyes on it. And no, I did not give in and buy it for them. But it made for some fun pictures.

Christmas Eve and Nana and Pappy Rossiters house

Long before the Christmas festivities began, Naomi asked if we were going to go caroling this year. We had done it 2 years ago with Nana and Pappys neighbors. But the last 2 years, they were not able to go. So neither did we. But this year, even though the neighbors couldn't, we still went. The caroling Rossiter Clan. We stopped at 3 houses.

 The nights preparations!

Naomi's Corner:

 Heidi's Corner:

 A surf board for Naomi

 A bed for Heidi's Julie Doll

 Audrey's tiny little spot on the couch

 The tree filled with presents beneath

Christmas Morning! 

Always comes too soon for Mom and Dad

I had taped up the door to the girls hallway so they wouldn't sneak out to see what Santa brought before  mom and dad were up to take pictures and videos of them.

The morning aftermath!

Back to Nana and Pappy's for opening their presents. Heidi received so "stompies" which she promptly opened and stomped around in. The crocodile mouth opens every time you stomp the heal.

Naomi asked Santa for a wet suit to go with her surf board, and was a little disappointed when she didn't get one first thing in the morning. But she was overly excited to get one from Nana and Pappy.

And Pappy gets the prize for playing with the kids outside.

 And when we had all relaxed after opening gifts, ryan brought out one last box for me. It was a new "Kitchen Aid mixer" which I was in need of. I've had a "baby Bousch" since I was 18 and never knew any different. But my sisters who all have kitchen aid mixers wonder why I, who does so much baking, hasn't had a new mixer. So this year, Ryan stepped up and bought the exact one I had really wanted. A 6 quart, silver mixer, with an extra baking paddle. YES! Of course we opened it up and used it that night. Banana Bread never tasted so good.

The day after Christmas the girls and I went to the trail to let Naomi use her healies, Heidi to ride her bike and Audrey and I to walk with the Stroller. I brought Naomi's bike just in case because I wasn't sure if she'd keep up on her healies. Plus, on the way to the trail. we stopped to see if Allison Menlove could come with us. As we pulled up, she was outside trying out her roller blades. So she changed out of her blades and we headed off with bikes and stroller, with Zachery in tow too. As you can see by the pictures, it was tricky keeping Audrey in the stroller, "I get out and run." And she didn't run along side me. She stopped to look at rocks, pick up sticks, or stare at any passing dog. So it was tricky for us to keep up with the kids on bikes.

 We made it to the park at the end of Royal Oaks where the kids played for a bit, then we headed back.

 Of course we wanted to stop to see Daisy, the horse, to feed her apples and carrots. We love to stop and see her now that we know we are allowed. Makes me really wish I had a horse of my own. (Thats mostly because I love reading the Regency books where everyone had a horse of their own.)