christmas toys for girls and boys

last year, we started the tradition that we don't put any presents under the tree until christmas eve after the kidlets are in bed. this effectively cuts down on the poking and prodding of wrapped gifts and the constantly asking to open one (just one!). so, this is what the children have been looking at for three weeks:



and this is what they woke up to on christmas morning:



the bikes were the highlight of the show. in fact, we should've waited to bring them out until the other gifts were opened. once the kids saw the bikes, we had to cajole them into opening their other presents - they just wanted to sit on their bikes, try to ride them on the carpet, etc. we did eventually get them to open everything else and they seem pleased with what they received. they were also pleased with what kawelo received - koa and kalei had a few squabbles over who got to play with his toys. kawelo just enjoyed chewing on whatever he could reach.



it warmed up to 50 degrees, so the kids got to ride their new bikes in the driveway.





it has been a great day!

toots

to me, this has been a marathon holiday season - thoroughly enjoyable, but cram-packed! i feel like i have accomplished quite a bit, and so am going to toot my own horn. here's most of the things i made in the last few months:

blankets for the kids (as their "practical" christmas gift from us)...



hats for kawelo and myself...



ornaments for our home & visiting teachees as well as the kids' primary teachers...



these adorable angel girls....



and this advent calendar for our ornament tree (in each package are two hershey kisses for the kids - one for each day in december till christmas).



whew!! i am beat!! but it was so fun to make decorations and gifts! i think we ("we" meaning me) are going to try to do a hand-crafted christmas next year. after koa broke several ornaments that i was sure were safe for him to handle and still not knowing where a few ornament hooks are located, i am determined to remove that stress from our christmas experience (at least until kawelo is 5 or older). so, i am looking forward to finding patterns and designs for ornaments that i can make and having the children create ornaments of their own for next year. this time, though, we'll get started early! (one of my new year's resolutions is to lessen my procrastinating - after being up till 3:30 am christmas morning finishing those blankets!) :)

kentucky pride

well, one of us fits in a little better in kentucky. kalei lost her first tooth tonight while munching on apple slices. james put the tooth in a baggie and kalei excitedly placed it under her pillow. she told her grandma flora that the tooth fairy is going to bring her a kitten. if by kitten, she means a dollar, she's right. if by kitten, she means a living creature, she'll be one disappointed girl in the morning... unless we can get josie to lay on her head.

party time

our ward party was friday night - which means it is now over!!! :)! for those of you who don't know, i was called to be the activities committee chair about four weeks ago, so i had four weeks to plan and execute the christmas party. (i have one married couple on my committee.) originally, i was told to plan for 75-100 people, then 120, and we ended up having about 140 people attend. it was a great turnout!! a lot of people invited friends and neighbors and i'm told everyone had a good time and had plenty to eat. this picture was taken as i was passing by my little family - james got to watch the kids while i checked the buffet table, refilled dishes, cut ham, replenished the lemonade, prompted santa, readied the primary kids for the nativity song, etc. even though it was totally nervewracking all day on Friday, i really enjoyed planning this par-tay and am looking forward to the next one! (after taking a few months off.)

winner?

i entered this photo in a contest for disneyfamily.com in their "scared of santa" category. this was our first christmas in arkansas and sau had a christmas celebration. somehow i ended up taking kalei alone. the point of our going was to have her picture taken with santa and she was excited as we stood in line. she happily pointed to the "man in red." then we got to the front of the line and i handed her to santa and stepped away. i had told her how things were going to go down, but apparently she had not fully realized this would be part of the bargain. she immediately began crying and reaching for me, and santa tried to hand her back to me! no way, jose! i'm sure this santa was a volunteer, but i gave him a look that let him know to suck it up until i got my photo. i took my picture and they took theirs, THEN santa's elf handed kalei a candy cane. she immediately cheered and was all smiles to santa, his elf, the christmas tree, the people walking by, etc. looking at this picture now makes me laugh, but at the time it wasn't so funny. feel free to vote for our picture! it's titled "good times."

Funny Cat Video

Kalei loves watching this "funny cat video." Thought I would share it with the rest of you to enjoy!

the man in red

we went to the kentucky history museum yesterday for their annual "christmas in kentucky" program. the kids got to make ornaments and get their picture taken with the clauses, but all the fun and games came to a crashing halt when big red showed up. big red is the western kentucky university mascot, who likes to pretend to eat peoples' heads with his giant mouth. koa loves to point out images of big red around campus (on the watertower, the buses, etc.), but was totally freaked out by the real thing. we're so glad koa wasn't upset by santa this year, but it was a different man in red that gave him the heebie-jeebies.