Christmas '09 -Part 2

We had about a full week of celebrating this year! We love this time of year to spend with our families and we could not be more blessed with a better set of them! This last month at our MOPS meetings they have been talking a lot about getting along with family at the holidays and I had taken it so for granted how easy our families are. Now I'm not saying they are perfect, but for the most part there is not a lot of drama, but excitement to see one another!

Our first get together was my dad's side of the family and we all (minus a couple cousins) made it the weekend before Christmas. My parents hosted it in the gym and had a great time of amazing food, gifts, watching our kids play with one another and reminiscing about the days when us cousins made so many special memories at the holidays!

Kate got the old school Little People schoolhouse! I love all the old toys that we used to play with coming back now and getting them for my kids!

Mackenzie and my cousin's little girl Jessica played the whole entire day together and we didn't hear a word. They are so good for each other.....holding their own! They got matching Fancy Nancy phones from my grandparents!

Then we celebrated Mackenzie's birthday on that next Monday, followed by heading to IL for Aaron's side of the family on Wednesday evening. It seemed like all or our time together this year seemed to be more rushed. All the family was together minus one of Aaron's brothers.

Besides me almost burning the house down by throwing a towel over a candle we had a great time with my in-laws and the cousins had a great time. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Musselman for Mackenzie's Barbie house set and Kate's Dora tent with a tunnel!

Less than 24 hours later we were heading to my family Christmas. This year it was a little different as my sister and brother in law had to fly out on Christmas Day for his sisters wedding in California.

So this year we did our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve!

Thanks Dad and Mom for all your work....the dinner was delicous!

And our Christmas morning earlier than normal......our traditional annual Christmas picture on the steps, minus Kate who we couldn't decide if we should wake up or not!

I love it that we still do it the way that I did growing up. It probably helps that I still have a little brother that is in junior high and as of right now we are the only one with kids!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Massner for all the fun presents.....Legos will always be a kid favorite. Mackenzie got her first set of the little legos.....and pink! Kate got the Farm Jumbo lego set!

Mackenzie doing one of her many craft kits and Mommy showing off her new robe......first ever robe! I love it!
Daddy sporting Mommy's new robe.....the color is perfect for you hunny!

Mackenzie playing her new Dora leapster game and notice the earrings she has on. Do you remember those stick on earrings you had as a little girl.....Aunt Amy of course!

We had a fun relaxing Christmas day at my parents and then we headed home so we could have our own family Christmas the next morning.

Forgive the picture quality....I guess I should have asked for a new camera for Christmas!!! This is also the best one I could get of the girls in front of the tree.

Squint and look closely and you'll see Kate's new sunglasses! My girls love them and really we haven't gone through that many ....but Mackenzie had accidentally stepped on Kate's so we needed a new pair!

Mackenzie excited about her Preschool Teacher Barbie set! One thing we wanted to get her this year was Barbie stuff. She has several Barbie's and a swimming pool, but not a whole lot to really play with furniture wise. She is just getting into them and since we have to plan for the whole next year of what she'll be into....well! Another thing Mackenzie got was a Lite bright and Kate a sit n spin....like I said earlier we enjoy getting them the things we used to play with as kids.

We wrapped up the celebrations on Saturday with my paternal grandfather's side of the family....yes I said Grandpa....his family, 13 siblings in all, still get as many together as possible every year! Then on Sunday we headed back to IL for my mom's side of the family....sorry no pics yet! I let my mom be my photographer if she's there..... hence the above photos!!

It's an enjoyable time getting together with everyone for the holidays....then on Monday you kind of have the let down of adrenaline and by Tuesday you are thankful for some normalcy!

Here is one of our Christmas card pics! Better late than never, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you readers from our family to yours!

May you all reflect on the real reason we celebrate Christmas not just now but throughout the year!

Christmas '09 -Part 1

With all the goings on and prepping for Christmas I'm a little behind in posting, but I still want to go back to the beginning and remember what fun special things we did. So we are going to have to do this in a couple parts.
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....everywhere you go...."

Our traditional picture of daddy helping each of the kids putting the star on the tree!

I enjoy trying to do special things with the girls like I did growing up and then some that we want to start as a family of our own. Something new we did this year was advent. At our MOPS group the craft one meeting was an advent jar. I had really never heard of it until a couple years ago and until recently thought it was some other religion's tradition. As I learned about it, I realized how I could use it to teach the girls the importance of the real meaning of Christmas. We had a lot of fun doing things from making treats for neighbors, family movie night, reading scripture, giving to others, taking time to go look at Christmas lights as a family...etc.

This was the first year doing a gingerbread house. It was fun for Mackenzie and I to do it together and learning to get over my slight perfectionism.

Our finished project! Now are you supposed to eat these or just look at them?

I try to do some holiday baking, easy things that the kids can help with. This year we did almond bark pretzels & oreos, sugar cookies and then for our neighbors and teacher gifts we made carmel puffed popcorn and french vanilla hot chocolate mix!


The girls have enjoyed a little time in the snow, but we definitely need to do more. Mackenzie loves it and Kate well.....time will tell!

We got to enjoy our first ever school Christmas program this year! The whole school put on a program and the preschoolers dressed up as shepherds (dad's button down shirts with a tie around the waist. It was fun to watch, but Mackenzie kept making weird faces and went to her teacher a couple times.....we were wondering what her problem was and when she got done I took off the shirt and she still had her coat on underneath! Poor girl, I'm sure she was roasting, but she said her sleeves kept falling down and that's why she kept going to the teacher.

The last day of preschool before break was the class Christmas party and she also celebrated her birthday, as it was the day before, with treat bags for her class! I always remember looking forward to that special day at school taking treats for your birthday!

Nov. happen's update!

Well as I started out the November Happen's post with me getting my first deer......about 30 days later Aaron got his first deer with our other vehicle! Yes, we are now reaping the benefits of that car insurance that we have been paying how many years for. It's just those deductibles that make it not so exciting! Thankfully no one was hurt and neither vehicle was totaled. Now Aaron is thinking about getting into hunting to help with the problem!!!

Mackenzie turns 5!

I can't believe my little girl turned 5! I think back five years ago and I can barely remember, but what I do remember December 21st changed Aaron and my life forever! God blessed us with a beautiful baby girl and I can't even explain the joy that she has brought to our lives! She is so full of life, sweet (most of the time), smart, and her personality reminds me so much of myself'!
I have always felt a little guilty for her birthday being so close to Christmas, so we make a strong effort to make her birthday special, complete with a party and not just thrown together with Christmas. This year she chose to go to her favorite restaurant, Pizza Ranch, and we had my family along with one of her friends Tucker, whose parents happen to be our good friends as well!

It took Mackenzie up until the moment we had to order the cake to decide what "theme" she wanted for her party. It was between Dora and High School Musical and although I must confess I enjoy a little HSM, I am glad she chose Dora, a little more age appropriate for a 5 yr old. Kate was pretty happy with her choice as well.....Dora and Boots are a hot item at our house!

After dinner we came back to our house and did the traditional birthday party thing.....cake, ice cream and of course the presents!

These are the balloons that Aaron brought to Mackenzie when he came home from work! I was so impressed with his idea.......complete with both of her choices....a Dora AND HSM balloon!

Kate sporting one of Mackenzie's gifts....she also had the "glubs" on to match at one point!

She got so many special things.... HSM things, games, a lot of crafts to do (my favorite was the old pot holder loom and loop set), a jewelry box, calendar board...etc!

This is the part where the birthday ends and I start rambling about my child....again mostly for my memory preserving benefit, but if you would like you can either choose to read on or just exit!

I have been meaning to give an update on each of the girls for a while now, and this seems to be an appropriate time to do exactly that! Mackenzie is really enjoying preschool and I think she'll be very ready for Kindergarten next year, I just don't know if I'll be! She is such a good helper around the house and is learning to be a very good big sister. I would have to say her favorite activities are something involving art.....coloring, doing a kit, cutting and glueing, basically anything along that line. Like I mentioned earlier she likes Dora, High School Musical and a few other favorite shows are The Fresh Beat Band and Electric Company. She is still taking naps most days, and I am very thankful for that time during the day to just sit down and well.....do something like this! She loves being outside, playing school or playing "me being her sister and dad being her brother." I'm not really sure what she does when she instructs us of this, but it is about everyday that I hear that phrase. She is a fairly good eater....sometimes just sparadic. Her favorites are fruit, fruit and more fruit along with some Mac n cheese, pizza, hamburger rice casserole....the typical kid foods. Does like raw veggies with dip and if I really need her to eat....Mc D's hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle with a soft bun always does the trick! I just try to avoid that if I can!!! The one thing that she is not big on is dessert, maybe a couple bites of ice cream once in a while, but really not a big fan of the cookies, cake..etc. Does not like chocolate, but loves candy! ( just like her mom) She is now pretty much in"big" girls clothes, although I still try and do 5T sometimes, and coordinate the girls, but I think that time is soon coming to an end. She is just getting so tall, but then the next girls size is 6/7 and that is too big!!!
I think the 5's are going to be good for us, she has grown and matured so much in the last couple months and is starting to figure some things out. We feel so honored to be called her parents. I know God is working on her heart and as our prayer has always been we pray that He draws her to Him more and more everyday and that she will make that choice to call Him Lord of her life!