mele kalikimaka

We had a great Christmas this year.  The girls were so excited, and I love watching them plan little surprises for each other.  This year, the girls drew names for each other and instead of buying gifts, they made something for one another.  They did a great job and it was so fun to see the effort they put into their gifts.  Ryenne made a cute sign for Claire with her name that she can hang in her room.  Kate asked her Daddy to help her make two little wooden pistols for Sam.  She worked so hard to sand them and paint them so they would be nice, and was soooo excited to give them to her little brother.  Emmy made a bracelet for Ryenne.  As for Sam and Claire's gifts, that might have been my responsibility to help them, and I might have failed miserably.  Enough said.

 



 

 

Christmas morning was exciting as usual.  Sam wasn't too interested in his presents, but he thought all of the chocolate in the stockings was great!  I had to laugh when I saw this picture of him sitting in Grandma's lap with a chocolate Santa in his hand.  Two of his favorites! . . .Heaven!

 

 

 

Claire had asked for an American Girl doll "with hair" and has taken such good care of her new doll.  She had also asked for a Woody and Jessie doll, and we had to chuckle when later than night she mentioned to Courtney that Santa hadn't come through on that part.  Of course, he explained that Santa had given her doll with hair and wasn't that exciting?  She gave him a serious look and then said, "So, Santa's a nice guy but he doesn't bring you what he wants?"  We had a good chuckle about that.

 

After the kids had opened their presents from Santa, Courtney and I had a fun surprise for them.  We played a game show where they had to guess a letter.  Each time they guessed a correct letter, they earned a gift.  After all the letters were guessed, they still weren't quite sure what it meant.  "Mele Kalikimaka"!  As clues, they had a few gifts to open.  A sundress, rash guards, and snorkeling gear.  Oh, and we can't forget the homemade snow globes.  (One of those "great ideas" of mine that may or may not have been a disaster of sorts). 

 

Courtney and I have been saving flight miles for over five years and finally saved up enough to get flights for our family to go to Hawaii.  We are so excited to show the kids where I went to school and let them play in the ocean.  We found a house right on the beach and close to BYU-H where we are going to stay.  After making it through a few rough years as a family, we can't wait for our fun adventure.