Here Comes Santa Claus 2018

Yesterday Brian went with the youth in our ward to temple square in SLC to see the lights so I was left with four girls that needed an outing. We found out Santa was going to be in Nibley and there was going to be crafts, a cookie walk, an elf obstacle course, decorated trees and I got the girls super duper excited to go. Even excited enough to put on their matching Christmas dresses. We arrived 25 minutes early and once the girls saw the event  was at a preschool they didn't even want to go inside. Once we got in there though it was magic! And the only people there were all the volunteers just waiting around. We fast passed through everything. The girls did the cookie walk and the girl only pulled out the numbers they landed on. They got to play each and every game as much as they wanted. They made their ornament craft and then Santa arrived!! The girls got so much time to talk with Santa and this was the first year Rosie was excited to see him! As soon as he came in the building I thought Rosie was going to knock him over. Santa asked each girl what they wanted and then started talking about our cat. We were all surprised Santa knew we had a cat. Maybe there was cat hair on one of the girls?? (ew) It was a really fun activity for all of us and we got out of there right as things started to get crazy.  

TEAM STEWART SLEDDING RACE

OUR YEAR AT A GLANCE 2016

Sadie (8) “Once when I played basketball, I got a home run!”  

 Sadie is in 3^rd grade and dances on a competition team at Infinity Dance Studio. She plays piano and has a really cute Christmas duet with her sister Emmy, playing Oh Holy Night. I was in charge of filling musical numbers for a community Christmas event this year and these girls got to play their one religious Christmas song on repeat for about twenty minutes. Sadie has been caught many a night up late reading Harry Potter in bed. Those books should have a warning label. They seem to be quite addictive. She loves math and science and making potions in the kitchen. 

Emmy (6) “The Wizard of Oz is a baby show. It’s like Dorothy has brain damage!”

Emmy is in 1^st grade and has become quite the artist. She is constantly drawing pictures and turning them into books. Her specialty is drawing cupcakes and “black and white extreme closeups”. She is also a wonderful piano player and is on her sister’s heels catching up to where she is in her piano books. Emmy is about to start her second year of basketball (her true love) and Brian gets to help coach her team.

Bree (4) “Bells on pop tarts ring, making spirits cry.” (Singing Jingle Bells)

Bree is attending preschool where she is a peer model for children that have special needs. I hear the cutest stories about how the “little guys” give Bree hugs and how she helps the kids get their backpacks on. Bree has been learning sign language and a little Spanish. She is trying out her first year of dance and just had her first recital last night where she was bouncing off the walls excited. 

Rosie (18 months) is the family's little shadow. She loves to mimic everything we do. She insists on having her own little backpack lined up by her sisters so when they leave in the morning she can have hers on too. She has learning a few dance moves and when she hears Bree’s dance song come on she really rocks out. Her best move a grand plie.  She takes a very solid afternoon nap everyday and is growing as fast as she can….everything but hair that is! She is the baby with many nicknames some of them being Rozzie, Belle and Squishy.  

Brian is a saint for putting up with all the girliness going on in this household. He takes it upon himself to introduce them to some of his loves such as youtube outdoor survival videos and pain inflicting hobbies  Brian’s new love is mountain biking and I know he is going to have four mini-me’s that will love his hobby as well. Brian works for Intel Security and he is the executive secretary at church.

Kelly is so grateful that I have four little girls that have so many unique different talents that I can take advantage of. I have learned to delegate as much as I can to them because the really enjoy the organizing and artistic things I have on my to do list. They also have become pretty proficient in folding laundry and dishes. I have been continuing with my photography business because I just love having an excuse to binge watch Netflix series while I edit at night. I teach the 4-5 year olds in primary and can’t think of a better calling for me. I love being in there. 

This blog isn’t the most updated, but it is a nice dropping zone for when I get ambitious and want to document our lives. I hope everyone is finding ways to spread joy and cheer this Christmas season and that we can all carry it on throughout the year!

Merry Christmas from our crazy crew! 

Christmas Day

The night before Christmas the girls were instructed that they had to stay downstairs until 7am. It was so sweet to wake up to the whispering of little excited girls in the basement. Brian snuck the girls up to our room without them seeing anything, and then went and got Bree out of her room so they could all come out together. The excitement of these three was just so dang fun! Here are their Santa presents...

Sister Presents! Brian took each girl on a date to pick out presents for eachother. It is always fun to see what they pick. They did really well this year!

We like to see how long we can make Christmas morning last so after opening each toy we let the girls play with it. That way all the magic doens't seem to end as fast. The kinetic sand that Emmy got from Nanny and Gong kept them entertained for a looong time and still does when we break it out.

Yay for new clothes! Bree wore six different outfits within the first two hours of Christmas morning. She just HAD to try everything on. She was in heaven!

Modeling new outfits. 

 

 Nanny and Gong got Bree a snowcone maker! We are going to have so much fun with that in the summer. Since there was a nice fresh snowstorm, I scooped up one of the cones with snow and didn't even have to break out the machine. I can just envision the fun photoshoots with this girl and this machine.

 Brian and I had a toy like this growing up so we were both excited to play with the marble runner. 

Frozen sisters. They decided to do a dance in the middle of all the toys. Maybe not the best idea! 

Next we were off to Papa and Grandma's house. You can see in the background of this picture that Grandma had made a delicious Christmas dinner for us! 

Yay! I made it into a picture. Proof I really was there for the festivities!

Christmas Eve

1.  Let's see a closeup of getting "snow" thrown in Bree's face!!

 Brian and the girls did some major decorating and staging the basement for the best Christmas Eve bash ever! Brian taped lights to the stage, and the girls cut out the snowflakes. I helped with the sparkly tree's and suggested we get the pillow fluff. The girls had a great snowball fight since there was no snow outside. This was way warmer too! 

Our tradition is for everyone to pick out their favorite food and have appetizers. I'm trying to remember what everyone wanted...Emmy usually asks for mashed potatoes. I got sushi and cocoa bean cupcakes. The girls always want pop and Brian like the meatier appetizers.  

 

Then the performance began. The girls picked out their costumes and we had a little program. I wish I had a snapshot of it! They sing, they do their dances, I tell Christmas jokes, and Brian reads Luke 2, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 

 Emmy had brought home some reindeer food and the girls raced out into the cold to spread it around.

Sadie was shining as Mary and was looking very pregnant! 

 Emmy recited her Angel lines perfectly...

 and Bree was one big baby Jesus!

 Our traditional pajama picture in front of the tree. It was a perfect Christmas Eve!