Too Much? Ummm....Yes.

Every year I seem to do too much at Christmas.  Well, at least I buy too much.  It's hard.  You want your kids to just have a wonderful, magical memory.  But, I know this year was a little crazy because there are two presents in the toy room that have not even been taken out of their box yet.  Sigh.  I heard one woman on TV say that her kids only get three presents from her every year.  Grandparents are free to spoil, but she says that if three presents were good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for her kids.  I am going to have to think about that this year.  

Molly loves Snow White.  And she loves to play princesses.  So it was really great of Santa to get her this little spread.

All Macey wanted from Santa was a Brave doll.  But I think Santa felt bad that the other kids were getting more.  But she still has not touched the Cinderella stuff.  She just wanted the doll, and she meant it!

Oh, the stupidity that is the Barbie Dream House.  Actually, Molly plays with it, so it was not that stupid.  But Emma is learning to hand knit, and so Santa put two things of yarn on top of the Dream House.  Want to guess what Emma went crazy over and grabbed first?  Yes, that would be the $2.40 yarn.

Christmas with the Cunningham Kiddos!  We are getting to a very limited time when we can still wear matching pajamas!  That Christmas commercial with the background song of "Just Stay Little" made me weep everytime it came one.  Just stay little.

It's The Most Wonderful Time. . .

I love Christmas Eve.  I just love, love, love it.  I love the anticipation and excitement, I love the beginning of the 24 Hours of the Christmas Story on TBS, and I love going to my sister's for a a feast.

We eat snow crab and more snow crab and more snow crab.  And we might have some sides as well: dips, cheesy rolls, salads.  But pretty much it is all about the crab.  And then we read the Christmas Story, let the kids dress up, and open one present.

Seriously, it's just the best night ever!

Meet Maximus

On December 21st Santa left a big, HEAVY red box on our front porch.  Santa rang the bell and then disappeared faster than a wink.  We ran to the door, carried in the box and found MAXIMUS!

A Miniature Australian Shepherd, Max is the perfect dog.  He has the coloring of a Bermese Mountain Dog, but does not grow to be 200 pounds!  He's little, full grown I think he will reach my knee, and he is a working dog, eager to please, so it means that potty training, while still miserable, was not that bad.

He loves Emma.  He cries when she goes to school.  He also likes Macey but seems to know that she needs her space sometimes.  Unfortunately he thinks that Molly is another puppy, and sometimes he is overly playful with her.  But I would rather have a dog that was overly playful with kids than one that was scared of kids or aggressive toward them.  And he tries to steer clear of Braden, which is smart.

We love Max!

Polar Express!

This year my parents came to ride the Polar Express with us!  We also had a lot of fun going with my little niece, Chloe, as well.  I checked the girls out early from school, picked up Garry, and we were off to see Santa at the North Pole!

Every year is a little different.  The first year that we went, it was pretty quiet in the train as we rambled along.  Last year it was crazy festive because each car was assigned an Elf to arrange for sign a longs.  This year there were more Elves in each train car, and they spent the time going up and down and talking to everyone.

Of course Mrs. Claus came on board and gave us a recipe for Santa's favorite cookies.  And we picked up Santa at the North Pole, and he gave everyone a bell.  And a conductor stamped our tickets.

Great time had by all!

Emma the Gymnast

While Emma is taking a little break from soccer (she is only doing indoor until March) I signed her up for gymnastics.  She really enjoys it, much to my sometimes sadness because it can get expensive -- FAST!  But she is doing really well and is continually progressing up the different levels.  She was able to participate in a gymnastics showcase.  She did great!  She did floor, a little vault, bars and the beam and was awarded a medal!

The Dance Show!

This year I enrolled Macey & Molly at C&C Ballet.  We left Elite because I thought that the dance uniforms were too tight and skimpy and there was way too much butt shaking going on.  I mean, really, they are 4 and 6, not some drill team out during half time.

C&C Ballet seems to be more my speed.  Don't they look adorable?  This was the first time I had to get two girls ready for a dance show, and I felt like a rock star once everyone was dressed and in the car.  On time.

Macey danced first and Molly was supposed to go four dances later but they brought Molly's class out early!  Garry was just taking her backstage when her class walked out on stage!  Lots of parents were really stressed.  One dad ran his little girl up to the stage and just hoisted her up there -- no time for a graceful entrance from backstage!  Luckily they never started dancing because they had the wrong music (because they were four songs early) and so Molly and two of her little friends did not miss their dancing debut.

Of course they were the best ones out there.  And the cutest.  Molly's teacher teared up when she saw how cute Molly looked.  Seriously, how beautiful are these girls??

And It Was This Big!

Our community recently got a new Superstore called Scheel's.  It's a massive sporting goods store that has everything that you would ever want (including fudge) as well as a full sized ferris wheel inside the store.  I told you it was big!

Upstairs in the fishing department, they have a machine that let's you show off your latest catch.

Emma caught a shark.  It was This Big!  But it got away. . .

Brunch With Paw Paw

Garry's grandfather is in a nearby retirement community in South Jordan.  This year they hosted a brunch where the kids were able to come, eat way too many treats, and meet Santa and Mrs. Claus.  It is always great for the kids to have this time with their Great Paw-Paw!

Molly's Birthday!

I picked out Molly's present months and months ago when it was kind of on sale at RC Willey.  I still paid way too much for a little girl's bed, but I justified it saying that Molly got hand-me downs upon hand me downs upon hand me downs and so she deserved something nice and new!

Garry has since painted the room blue, yellow and red, and so she has a true Snow White room (with a few Cinderella accents). Her grandparents also spoiled her with a Play doh castle, the Cinderella castle she has been begging for for month, and a dream lite.

She also requested dinner at Texas Roadhouse so she could ride on the saddle and get free ice cream.  Yum!

All of the kids also bought her an individual gift.  This was from Braden.  He grabbed it in Target and would not let go.  Molly did not really like it, and so she gave it back to him.  He sleeps with it in his crib -- the only toy he has not thrown to the bottom of the crib or over the railing.

I love Molly.  The other day I realized I would be sending her to Kindergarten in 17 months.  I had a little panic attack in the car.  She talks, constantly, and is my little companion.  She watches Top Chef with me.  She goes to the store and the gym with me.  She helps me with laundry.  She bosses the other kids around.  I just love this little girl.  She is so beautiful and fun.  So good in everything she tries to do.  I want to put her in every soccer, swimming, dance and gymnastics class out there just so she can develop talents she has in abundance, but my budget will not allow it.  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Picking Out The Tree!

Last year the kids were disappointed in the Christmas Tree.  It was smaller than the one we had the year before.  So this year I saved up for Christmas and vowed that we would get the biggest tree they could find on the lot!  It was a miniature Rockefeller, but the kids loved it!

Thanksgiving 2012!

Because Thanksgiving was really early this year, it felt like I went directly from recovering from the California trip to getting ready for Thanksgiving.  Really, it does not take much effort to eat the day away, but I did a 5K in the morning, and that took a few days to get ready for.  I ran the whole race and did not stop anywhere on the course.  I had great hopes that I did well, but I realized at the end of the race I did not feel like throwing up.  Obviously I went too slow, and my final time showed it.  I was really disappointed.

But, next year!

This was also the first Thanksgiving without my nephew Aaron.  It was a hard day for my sister, and I am really glad that her oldest son drove up to South Jordan to spend the afternoon with her.

My nieces are amazing musicians and agree to play for us when they are in town.  Braden thought that the violin was amazing!

Ready to eat!

Kids table!

Braden likes to do crazy bungee jumps with Uncle Brett.

Disney: Last Day

The last day at Disneyland is just the worst.  As we get closer to the weekend, the crowds start to grow.  Tuesday was nice and Wednesday was fine but Thursday I started to feel the crowd crunch.  I also hate the feeling of walking out of the gates, knowing that you will not be back for a long time.  Last year Emma cried.  This year we were fine as we left, just a little sad. It's a little stressful taking a lot of little kids there but we know that we have this small window where everyone is happy to go and no one thinks anything is "dumb" or "boring" or "stupid".  Although I did make Emma go to the Playhouse Disney Show, and she was a little embarrassed because she was one of the older kids there.  See what I mean by small window?

Braden fell asleep in line waiting to see Mickey.  When we finally got to see Mickey, Braden kicked him in the face.  Not quite the reception you see on a commercial!

Emma gets picked every year for the Jedi training.  She just has a cuteness that cannot be refused.

This year kind of stunk for Molly.  They changed the heigh restrictions and she was not able to go on rides she really liked last year.  Before the parade Garry took her on a couple rides that she liked while I took the big girls back to ride Cars one last time.  Hope she grows this year!

Disney: California Adventure & Meet the Princesses!

I made sure to get Braden in some pictures for this post!  Wednesday at Disneyland was a big day because we finally checked out all of the new Cars rides over in California Adventure, and we had lunch with the princesses.  The girls look forward to seeing the Princesses so much but none more than Molly who literally dances in her chair the minute Snow White enters the room.  I thought that she remembered it all from last year, but I guess she didn't.  When Snow White moved on after their picture, she threw down her napkin and demanded to know why Snow White was not staying at our table to eat lunch.  I guess she took "having lunch with the princesses" quite literally.

 Outside of Luigi's Tire Shop.

 Riding the rocket at California Adventure.

Emma loves the swings and she is big enough for an outside seat this year!

Ariel in her grotto.

Posing with Cinderella.

 Emma's favorite -- Sleeping Beauty!

Molly's big moment!

Braden has always had a crush on Belle.  For the last two years we have snapped pictures of him cooing and gushing at Belle.  Good for him for choosing the smart brunette that likes books!