Christmas and a bit of New Years!

December started off on a high note with Alice's Pre-school concert.  I love watching little kids perform.  You just have to smile.

Katie patiently awaiting the show to begin while eating her graham cracker

Alice and her classmates

I love Luke's face in this picture.  He and Alice are in the same class and is so sweet.  He is the youngest son of our good friends from church.  He calls Alice, "My Alice."

Rockin it!

Awesome Ho, Ho, Ho by Alice and Maliyah

Our sweet Alice.  She wanted to wear that dress over all the pretty Christmas dresses in her closet.  That one was ripped and worn, but it was her favorite at that moment.  I figured if I put a little ribbon around the middle it could hide the tear and add a bit of color.  It turned out really cute.

Love it!  She also insisted on a lot of hair bows!

 

The beginning of the month we also get to celebrate Kate's birthday.  She is the big 2 now!

Hanging out at Alice's ballet class with her new birthday toys

Friday evening we headed to the West Melbourne tree lighting ceremony.  My mom got to conduct the band she plays in every Tuesday.  It was a fun little evening.

Kevin didn't come with us because he was busy having a going away party for one of his young men.  We showed up half way through the party and had fun watching the boys sing Karoake and enjoy all their white elephant spoils.

 

The next morning was the Harris Christmas party.  It was a good time as usual.

Jane was big enough this year to take on the rock wall

Sadly she chose one of the harder routes

She did a great job though

Almost there, but she got a little trapped and scared, so she came down just shy of ringing the bell

Seeing Dora and Diego made it all better

Alice was so good at riding the pony and horses this year.  Not scared at all.

Jane on the horse

Such a cutie

Always in a dress

2 of my favorites

fun face painting

I am amazed how well even the youngest ones will sit still if they think they are getting pretty

I squatted down to take the picture, so of course Kate had to squat and Jane was a good sport for bending down too.

She didn't like the mechanical bull too much

"Hi Daddy!"

"BYE DADDY!!!!"

A little hayride

Alice and her candy cane face paint

That evening we headed to Gramma's to celebrate Kate's birthday with cake and ice cream

Getting ready to blow out the candle

Sunday evening we had our Christmas program for church.  I thought it was funny when Kevin and Dad showed up dressed pretty much the same.  I had to take a picture of the twins.

 

The following week in school we got to go to Jane's 1st grade Christmas program

It was a Bug's Christmas

The day she got her part, Jane practiced and practiced.  She did a great job.  I had fun gluing all the black dots on her shirt.

I need to enroll her in theater

All the ladybugs

Jane and her friend Latrell

Jane's little friend Yalanti who sadly missed the whole show due to her mom thinking it started later and the show starting early.  Even Kevin and Mom missed the beginning of it.

Alice barely agreeing to participate in her last ballet class

I love all the tutus.  Pink is a great color.

Kevin had fun capturing Alice, along with Kate and I in the mirror.

Eve and Kate at another temple babysitting session

Our family photo.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity when the girls decided on their own to wear their Easter dresses.  Such cute girls they are!

Kate wearing Jane's shoes and desperately wishing to be just like her during Jane's ballet class

Fun ribbon sticks

We actually got to get together with Lisa and her family to check out some Christmas lights down the street from my Mom's.  And here is a picture of all the girls.  Kate, Sophia, Jane, Alice, and Leilani.  Ages 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1.  Fun times.

Then we got to open the new Christmas dress from Gramma

So pretty

Jane is sadly out of the little girls sizes so it is getting tricky to find all 3 matching dresses.  So we had to go with red and green this year.  Fun picture.

Christmas Eve and the new pj's and books from Auntie Beth!  Thanks Beth, you did a great job just like always!

All smiles, Christmas is tomorrow!!!!

I love Christmas morning.  Kevin got me some pie crust covers to help my pie crusts to not burn.  Very excited to use them.

Kate loves babies, even they are Jane's new present!

Jane's new watch

Elegant ladies in scarves

Big thank you hugs

Putting together the fun present made by Grandpa Terry.  Thank you Grandpa Terry.  We love it!

The present that sat under the tree the longest.  It killed Kevin's curiosity.

He needed a foot rest for his chair and a little storage space to hopefully put his school books.  We'll see if it'll hold them.

And thanks Aunt Trista for the fun game.

Pom Poms or wig, either works

Alice's new Cinderella outfit.  So the tags lie when they say 4t to 6x.  I don't know who they are having wear that outfit, but any bigger than Alice and it won't be decent.  She loves it though.

 

Helping Kate open a present from our friend Jenn

She loved it

Love the blankets from Gramma

Somehow Kate wound up naked at Gramma's, but she loved the new clothes she got.  Just didn't happen to put any on.

Alice playing with Kevin

Jumping over his legs

He got some good shots

The last present opened were the Strawberry Shortcake dolls.  They still smell just as good.  I tested them out!

Jane was a very happy camper

 

The girls all got matching pj's with their dolls.  So fun.

Our beautiful girls.  All bathed and ready to head to bed after a very fun Christmas day.

Funny faces

Kevin had fun brushing teeth with Kate.  He said she was so cute.  I just love the cheeks.

The best part of Christmas was spending so much time with Daddy.  We have missed him lately and he didn't have class or work.  It was fantastic!!!!

Good times!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season.  There's nothing like Christmas music playing all day and driving around at night looking at Christmas lights.  We got to go caroling and spread a little Christmas cheer.  The true beauty of Christmas though, is knowing that our Savior was born and fulfilled His mission here on Earth.  That He loves us and all the peace, joy, and happiness we feel at Christmas time is ours to feel all year long because of Him.  That is my true joy, knowing the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and that He loves me.  And that I can be with my crazy, fun, beautiful girls and amazing husband forever.  The best Christmas present ever!!!!

 

We spent the days after Christmas at home getting some cleaning and building done.  Then it was on to Kim's house for New Year's.

The worst part of the break was the unexplained fevers that kept coming and going.  Luckily it wasn't too bad and nothing a little ibuprofen couldn't handle.  The morning we were supposed to get up and go to Alabama, Jane's cough sounded worse and she still had her fever.  By the time we got to the doctor's her fever was gone and they said it was virus, but we were glad we made sure.  It was a bit of a long trip leaving at 10am, but the girls did great and we finally made it to Alabama late that evening.

Kate taking a little nap and the other 2 entertaining themselves

Kevin drove most of the way because it makes him sick to attend to the girls with all the turning around.

At our last rest stop I looked at the temperature and it was a very cool 34 degrees (well, for us it's cold).

Despite the cold, we were excited to be there.  Jane even lost her other front tooth!  The tooth fairies in Alabama give different gifts.  Luckily Gramma explained that to her!

Alice happy as a lark to play with Mikayla's fun toys

Kevin playing with 2 very annoying toys, but loads and hours of fun for him.  Luckily Gramma slept through it all.

Jacob enjoying his Christmas present

I made crayon rolls for all the younger cousins this year.  It was fun and pretty simple.

Thanks Kim for the fun Snowmen mugs.

Joshua showing one of his favorite pictures from the calendar

Even though it was a bit chilly the girls still had fun on the trampoline

One of my favorite pictures.  Kate's face is classic and Alice is adorable in the background.

All the girls!  That is some good static!

The girls got to try ice skating for the first time.  I got to remind my body how to ice skate.

Jane, Mikayla, and Mike

Mikayla helping Jane get around the ice with Kevin in the background

They had fun

We had fun too!

Alice even got up the courage to try it a few times.

 

New Year's Eve we put the little ones to bed early.  They crashed.  Then Joshua, Nathan and the adults played Apples to Apples.  I haven't had that much fun playing that game in a long time.  We had some great laughs.  It was a wonderful way to send out the old year and ring in the new!  We even celebrated in 2 different time zones (Florida and Alabama).

New Year's morning.  Getting to pet Shadow.  The kids had fun chasing him around.  Luckily he was pretty cool with it.

Alice looking good!

Jane and Mikayla got a hold of the camera.

Happy New Year!