Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at home with my family.  It has been very convenient for us to live at my mom's, since this house is the hub for family gatherings.  We had a really yummy dinner (and the kids ate it too!), watched a little bit of family videos from when we were kids (really, from before I was born), made cookies for Santa, got new jammies from Mana, and hung stockings.  All in all a good time was had.

This picture was taken by Mara!!  She's getting better :)

Makin' Cookies - Max, Karri, Xander, & Mana 

 

Sawyer, Mara, Mana, & Conli

(I don't know what Sawyer was doing!)

Xander decided to put his face into the left over sugar just for fun.

And this is what happened.

The finished product = For Santa

   

The traditional stockings at Mana's

Oldest to youngest: 

Max, Xander, Conli, Mara & Sawyer 

I'm tired, so pics from Christmas day will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sledding

Last Wednesday (the 23rd) we were able to go sledding with Morri & his boys at Rock Canyon Park in Provo.  I, of course, only came along to document the event. 

It was Mara's first time sledding and she LOVED it!

Daddy & Mara

Carter & Xander

Pat even went down the hill a few times with Xander & Mara together.

Xander & Alex

Pat told Xander that we couldn't leave until he had gone down all by himself. He went down alone three times and loved it!!

A quick family pic before we left.

(I did take some video, but I don't like the fact that I have to put it on YouTube to put in on my blog, so no more videos for the blog.) 

In order to get to the car Pat took the kids down on a sled and I was stuck at the top of the hill! Morri was there to help me get down, but my boots were not meant for snow, so I fell on my butt a few times. By the time I was half was down the hill I had Pat give me a sled to put me out of my misery.  So I did a little sledding too, but not on purpose :)  The kids loved it and didn't complain about the cold until we got to the car and were taking their gloves and coats off, which was pretty good considering that we were out there for about an hour.

Thanks again Morri for inviting us to go with you, it was great!

Family Christmas Pics

We were able to get some quick pictures before church on Sunday.  I just can't believe how big my kids are getting and I know they will seem even bigger this June when the baby comes.  It's just crazy to think that after this long we won't be a family of 4 anymore. I'm excited for all the new experiences of 2010 :)

We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!!

Hillam Family Christmas Party

Saturday night we had our annual Hillam Family Christmas Party. We (The Ramey's) were in charge this year. JD did a GREAT job getting it all planned and put together! I was running around talking to all my cousins getting stuff taken care of for the 'man in red', so I didn't get many pictures early in the evening. But here's what I do have :)

Mara enjoying the frosting from a cookie.

I don't know how much my kids ate, but they seemed to be happy.

We always have a nativity and the kids dress up for it. Mara & Conli were some of the Angels. This was right at the beginning (when Mara was happy). She later decided that she didn't want her picture taken anymore, so she took off the costume and let Sawyer wear it :)

We have THE BEST SANTA that comes to our party. He sings great songs, tells the best jokes and the kids love him!!

Mara was a little nervous when he came out. I think she was just getting tired. So Pat talked to her, telling her that she needed to be happy if she wanted to get a present. She immediatly perked up, saying that she was going to get her "Ariel and Castle and Big Flounder". We had to explain to her that that is for Christmas day and not for the party, and that Santa had a surprise for her.  Well, she likes surprises so she was happy from then on!

Xander got 3 new Bakugan!!!!

And Mara, a Tinker Bell Color Wonder set!!!

After Santa was all done we had Pinatas for the kids to hit!!!  This was something that we did as kids at the family Christmas party and we really wanted to bring back for our kids to enjoy. We were smart and had baggies of candy for everyone that got to hit it, so all the kids got the same amount of candy, and the Pinatas were filled with some gum :)

It started with the smallest kids that wanted to hit (which were about 2 years old, I think) We were smart and got 2 Pinatas because the first one broke before the 6 year olds got to hit it!!!

Mara was so excited about the gum from the Pinata that she ate some right off the bat!!  I just had to laugh, because it was Double Bubble and it was huge in her mouth. We're not gum eaters in our house, so I was surprised at how well she did with it.  She loved it and even spit it out when she was done.  Xander on the other hand didn't care about it at all.

We stayed late and got all cleaned up. Mara was such a big helper :)

When we got home we let the kids open their gift and play for a few minutes before bed time.

It was a great party and everything went great!

I look forward to next year when someone else is in charge :)

The Utah Flash

Yesterday Xander came home from school with 2 tickets to the Utah Flash game for last night.  I talked with my friend Andrea and she gave us their 2 tickets so our whole family could go! The game was at UVU so it was easy to attend.

Xander was so excited he told Mara that "We're going to a real live basketball game, and not watching it on TV!"

Mara was so obsessed with the FlashFox! It was all she could talk about, and that was before the kids got a picture with him!  It really made the night one to remember.

We left after the 3rd quarter (Mara had had enough), but apparently The Flash won!!

Decorating Grandma's Tree

Every year we get together as a family and go to Grandma Joan's house and put up her tree. We were able to do it last week.  It's amazing how much faster it goes when there are more hands involved :)

Mara, Conli & Sawyer were BIG helpers! But by the end it was just Sawyer doing most of the work :)

Instructions For Ornament Wreath

The instructions can be found here.

I used plastic ornaments so there wouldn't be any worry of shattering (especially since I have it hanging on the outside of our front door)

Christmas Wreath

My good friend Kristen is always finding the cutest things to make, and it's sad to say, but I've copied her on more than one occasion.  Here's the latest one!  (Here's a link to hers)

I'm so happy with the way it turned out! My floor was covered in glitter for a bit and there were a few mishaps, but it's done :)

Thanks for the idea Kristen!!!

2 Cameras

Since we live with my mom, she has her own camera and will take pictures also.  There are so many times when I think about pictures that were taken and realize that they aren't on my camera. So here are a few pics from before Thanksgiving that I just remembered were missing.

Mara helped me make rolls for Thanksgiving. They turned out great :) Too bad Mara made more of a mess for me to clean up.

If you zoom in, you can see Mara's handprints in the plie of flour on the counter :)

This is a pic of the rolls before the baking process. I should have taken one after. Oh well, maybe next year!

Seeing Santa

We took the kids to see Santa last week at the mall! I was so happy that Mara did well, she has been a cryer since she was a baby, but finally decided that she was going to be happy when she saw Santa.  They both did great at tellins Santa what they wanted (Xander decided to ask for something different then he had decided earlier, so we had to do some more shopping), but Mara stayed with the one thing that she has wanted for months :) 

I know that we aren't supposed to center Christmas around Santa, but seeing him sure got me in the spirit and got me exicted for the season.  And it feels more like December now that there's snow on the ground :)