Two Birth Celebrations

This last week was a lot of fun. First we celebrated Isaac's Birthday, he turned five and seems to think this is a very big milestone. He has told everyone we meet that he is five and "just had a birthday this December!" His party was fun, it was his first "friend party". Usually we just do a family party, but this year we decided five was a bit of a milestone and we would invite a few friends. We ended up not doing anything structured and the kids ran around and played and had fun. Then we did the cake and ice cream thing along with the gift opening, which I suspect was Isaac's favorite part...

The second birth was of course the birth of our Savior! Christmas is always such a beautiful time of year. We had a beautiful Christmas Eve with the kids. We have had fun blending the traditions from both mine and Jesse's families, as well as coming up with a few of our own as well. Every Christmas Eve we do homemade hamburgers and fries (a tradition from Jesse's side), we read the story of Jesus's birth from the Bible (both families do this), as we read each part the kids put up the corresponding pieces for the nativity. Then we watched the LDS Video "Joy to the World". We opened one gift on Christmas Eve, which is always Christmas jammies! This year Mommy and Keltsy matched and Daddy and Isaac matched. We put on our jammies, then we heard Santa's Sleigh bells coming!!!! Hurry, hurry, put out the reindeer food, the cookies and milk, and get into bed (at this Keltsy burst into tears...a little too exciting I think).

Christmas morning was so much fun. Our kids are at such fun ages where they are so grateful for everything, the candy cane is as exciting as the Play-Doh. It was fun to see them with their faces full of surprise and excitement. Of course the toys weren't the only thing that kept them entertained that day...

We had a lot of fun, spending time with each other and remembering the birth of Christ. I hope we can take these memories throughout the next year and remember to slow down, remember the important things in this life, and strive to partake of the blessings of the Atonement.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is just a few days away! I am always excited this time of year, now that our kids are getting bigger it just makes the magic of Christmas even more exciting. We took our annual Christmas picture by the Christmas tree, and even I'm impressed with how well it turned out. I did a little tweeking with Picasa and love the way it turned out.

This year we'll be spending Christmas just us as home. We took two family vacations, once to visit my family in Washington State, and then we tagged along with Jesse on a business trip to Washington D.C. and the kids and I had a great time seeing the sights. So, no big plans for Christmas. Just us, at home, relaxing, doing a few projects around the house, etc.

We are also getting ready for Isaac's birthday on Tues. He is turning five years old (already?!) and will have his first party with friends. We usually do a family birthday with just us going to dinner and doing the cake and ice cream/present thing at home...but this year we felt like five was a big deal so he's having a few friends over. We're going to play "snowball fight", which he did in his preschool P.E. class. It's just a game using plastic grocery bags balled up (use tape to keep them together) and you throw them at each other. Sort of like dodge-ball. I picked up a few party favors, but for the most part - although it's a friend party - this will be a very low key party.

Keltsy is also getting big, she starts Sunbeams in January! I think that means we're ready (or way past ready) to have another baby. That's probably MY Christmas wish this year, ha ha!

Our family wish this year is that everyone is happy, healthy, filled with the Spirit, and able to provide for themselves, their families, and help those they know in need. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!