Preschool Christmas Program

Every year our preschool has the cutest Christmas program. The pre-K classes act out the Christmas story while the 3-year old classes sing in the supporting choir. After three years of watching his sisters either on stage or in the choir, it was finally his year to be in the program!

Kyle did a great job singing the songs and doing the motions. 

I think he my have yawned more than he sang. Poor boy was tired and couldn't stop yawning!

Karis' Birthday Party

Karis couldn't wait to celebrate with her friends! It took awhile for her to decide what she actually wanted to do for her party, but once she decided, she was super excited. She invited five girlfriends from school to the house on Friday evening for pizza, ice cream sundaes and a movie. Since she was now a big girl, I told her she could have soda at her party. She couldn't wait!

She asked her friends to come in their pajamas and she gave each one a tiara. It was like a princess slumber party but everyone goes home at 8!

Unfortunately two of the girls were sick that day and left school early. Karis still had a great time with her three friends. It was hard to get them to sit down and eat because they just wanted to play. 

After dinner, Karis opened her presents. She received a Shopkins board game so the girls played that for awhile. 

Then they made ice cream sundaes and we sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl. 

We popped popcorn and the girls watched Cinderella III. 

It was a fun, stress-free party with very little work on my part. I hope all her future parties are this easy!

Happy 7th Birthday Karis!

A few months back, Karis told Daddy that she wanted him to shave his head for his birthday. Karis forgot she said that but Daddy didn't. She was quite surprised that morning when she saw Daddy's head! 

We celebrated Karis before school with donuts and presents. 

 

 Kyle gave Karis a Barbie Lego set

Makena gave her a Beanie Boo

 

Mom and Dad gave her Cinderella's Castle

And then it was off to school. She asked for a Sonic hot dog and a special drink for lunch. 

Later in the day, she got to share a birthday snack with her class. Daddy, Kyle and I brought candy coated pretzels. 

The girls table

 

Polar Express

The Kindergarten class got to dress in pajamas and ride the Polar Express!

We sang Christmas songs and had a visit from Santa.

A candy cane treat for everyone

 

Afterwards, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and games. 

A fun day to celebrate the holiday season!

Back to Arizona and Then Back Home

We drove back to Arizona to spend a couple more days with family before we flew back home. We had spent a lot of time in the car during this trip. The kids did great but at this point, we were all ready to be home. The kids missed the dog, the van, their beds, school, etc. 

 On Friday, the kids spent the morning on a special project for Nana's birthday. Then Derek and I got to hang out together while the kids spent the afternoon at Nana's house. 

On Saturday morning, we threw a surprise party for Nana!

Nana opened her presents -- a stepping stone from each child for her yard.

Happy Birthday Nana!

After the party, we spent some time at the park before we had to get ready for the airport.

Travel was much lighter when we left, but we still didn't get home until past midnight.

The kids were so excited the next morning when I picked up Ryder and brought him home.

California Cousins

With all the people we saw and things we did in California, the kids' favorite thing to do was to hang out with their cousins. 

They helped feed the rabbit they were watching. 

Kyle loved spending time with big boys. 

We went on a hike with Uncle Marzano, Jacob and Jessi. 

Kyle loved hanging out with Jacob. 

The girls played with Jessi all day. 

We were planning to leave on Wednesday morning so we took a picture with the kids before school. Kyle still wasn't completely over his stomach bug so we decided to stay another day. We loved having an extra day!