First trip to the dentist!

Firsts are both exciting and terrifying at the same time. The girls first trip to the dentist was today. Josh and I had visions of Kayleigh with a clenched jaw refusing to open her mouth and Grace kicking and screaming..... while it definitely started down that path the first couple minutes, they ended up doing great! When we first got there they were fulfilling my nightmare as Kay buried her head in my chest clenching her jaw and Grace hung on the bottom of Josh's pant leg. However, when Grandma promised toys if they opened their mouth and showed the hygenist their teeth, suddenly they were all game. The dental hygenist was really good with the girls. She counted their teeth, let them hold the mirror, demonstrated everything ahead of time, and let them pick out their own toothbrush. She was really patient and they did so well! I was so proud of them. They both got a bouncy ball and sticker from the dentist's drawer as they left. They were quite happy with themselves. :) 

Grace was a brave girl and went first

Open wide!

Grace was counting all her teeth

Kay is ready with the sucker!

Scrub those pearly whites!

Washing out the toothpaste. 

They both did great and we made it out with smiles and no cavities. The crazy part is that I saw the same dentist when I was a child! :) 

Christmas Part 2

We celebrated Christmas with Josh's mom and Mike on Christmas Eve and morning. We were heading to my family on Sunday afternoon during the kids nap time so we decided to do Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with his family. We also played my version of Christmas charades/ pictionary/ trivia. It was a mishmash of games, but ended up being really fun. We played girls vs. boys. The girls started out great, which had me worried we were going to have some crabby boys, but they ended up pulling it together and it was a competitive game. I love the charades part. It is so funny seeing Tyler (who is 6'5) trying to act out his word 'elf' or Josh doing "Santa Claus is coming to town". I ended up with "The 12 days of Christmas". TOUGH! It was quite fun, but I was sad that my camera died half way through the night. No pictures for me of Christmas morning. :( I am hoping to steal some from family. 

Game on! Boys on one side; girls on the other!

Trivia: What was the name of Rudolph's dad? 

Can you guess what Trev is drawing?

Is that an ear or a steak?

Hohoho... Santa Claus Josh is coming to town..

Emmy is captivated... even more impressive- the fireplace in the background.

What is Mike drawing anyways?

What could it be?!

Well that's one way to have all those trivia question go to your head!

Have a wonderful week with your family and enjoy the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012!  (trivia answer: Donner)

Christmas extravaganza part 1

This year we celebrated with Josh's family early on Friday. We went to his dad and Cheryl's house. The kids were so excited to see their cousins, Blake and Carson.  Every year we do a cook-off with his family for dinner. Josh's family is really good at cooking so they get all competitive. This years theme was Caribbean. They all bring their best recipes and we vote. This year it was a close contest with Coconut Chicken, Mango Chutney Chicken, Jerk Chicken Pasta, Caribbean Pizza, Jerk Chicken Wings, Jerk Shrimp Shish kabobs, fresh fruit, Beef Patties, Jamaican Smiles. I can not even begin to explain how GOOD this all tasted. It was so hard to pick a first, second, and third place.

Full after a huge meal! 

Wendy and Ashley enjoying the food and jamaican smile. 

Nate and Jason eating all the food.

Grandpa John, Cheryl and Blake.

Buck clearing off his plate.

Cheryl, Linda, and Blake

We opened presents after dinner. They kids all get so excited when they see all the presents under the Christmas tree. I love seeing the joy of children at Christmas. They loved the outfits, tricycle, and all the goodies in the stockings! Josh and I got a storage ottoman for our living room. It will be great for storing all these new toys. :)

Caleb is ready to take the pics as the girls play the celebration music.

Marian and Grace

Family pic! - Mom, Caleb, Grace, Josh, and Kay.

Ashley and cousins, Carson and Caleb

Carson and Caleb helping open BLAKE's present- yep, not even there's

Cheryl and John opening their present with apt onlookers.

After we put the kids down for bed, we played Christmas minute to win it. Each couple had to bring a game to play. We were lucky no one picked the same game. The first two games were blowing games. Whew, we were all out of breathe half way through the first game so they second one killed us. They were really fun and it was so nice to have everyone playing together.

John and Cheryl balancing bolts.

Josh and Ashley transferring Christmas bulbs.

Trev and Marian trying to do the same- being pregnant doesn't help with air capacity!

Kory and Linda say bring it on!

Nate and Kaiti meeting in the middle.

Even Josh and I got in on the action.

Cheryl and John trying hard. ;)

Kory and Linda trying to put candy by a straw in bowls

Josh and Ashley's turn- separating colors is harder than you think when you're color blind!

Kaiti and Nate on a roll!

I did fine until they all make me start laughing!

Marian and Trev sucking straws.

On a roll!

Josh and Nate- getting a candy cane from your forehead into your mouth in a minute- harder than it looks!

While Trev got it first try in the practice round, in the real round none of them got it.

It ended with a bang as we announced the winners. The winner of the cook-off was .....Josh! Yes, my hubby's jerk chicken pasta got first place. It was kind of crazy because his sister, Kaiti, who did a caribbean shrimp pizza and Josh had a direct tie so we had to all vote again between just the two of them. Josh's dad won third with his shrimp and mango skewers. It was so hard to vote between them all. The couple who won the minute to win it games was ...... Josh and I!!!!!!  YAY!  We only won by 1 point! It was so much fun! :) We all went to bed tired after 1am,  but it was so much fun that it was well worth it. :)

Pre-Christmas snapshots

Christmas is fast approaching and we have been quite busy with one activity after another, which is why I have barely posted in the last few weeks. Here is a glimpse into at least the last weekend.


Because we celebrate Christmas morning with our families (and go out and spend the night there), we do our own little family Christmas the weekend before. Geez- it is a lot of work getting ready for Christmas. We were up half the night wrapping gifts, getting last minute things, and cleaning. Exhausting! I do love the excitement of waiting to see their reactions. I am usually up earlier than they are! It really throws the girls for a loop because they are totally surprised and shocked, which is quite fun! They loved seeing all the presents under the tree and figuring out what belonged to everyone by reading the names. Their favorite gift was a hand me down from our cousins- a Barbie princess castle. They LOVED it. They have totally rearranged their room again to make room for it.

The Christmas tree is ready!

Grace was so excited to see all the gifts.

Yep, Caleb got a potty chair (note it isn't pink & no princesses).

Kay opening her gifts.

Caleb & daddy with his new cars.

Golf clubs!

We didn't have much time to play with them though because we had to rush to church for the children's Christmas pageant. The girls were sheep this year. They actually did surprisingly well (compared to last year where they just stood in awed shock).  They were a bit shell shocked the first part. Grace kept patting Kay on the back and hugging her saying that it would be okay. Once Grace saw me in the audience mouthing the words to the song, she started singing the whole thing. Kay was pretty silent but did do some of the hand movements and once Jesus Loves Me started, she sang right along.

Listening to the angel's good news of great joy!

They spotted us!

Definitely not too sure of this whole thing!

Grace drawing during the sermon.

We also went to the movie theater that same weekend to see the new chipmunks movie. This is only their third movie ever and overall they did amazingly well. Well, I should say the girls did great, Caleb lost interest half way through and decided it was more fun to climb the seats and run up and down the aisle than pay attention. The first part was hilarious seeing him in his little booster chair with his popcorn setup. He was loving it.

Grandma, Grace, Kay and Grandpa.  Clearing the girls couldn't take their eyes off the previews. :)

Scott, Caleb & Josh eating popcorn.

Popcorn, puppy, movie... what more could I ask for?

Chilling with mommy in his booster chair.

We also went Sunday to see Santa at the Nursery. I love that we can go their every year with my parents, that I know the people well, and that we get to see lots of family. The kids actually did REALLY well. They didn't cry, and in fact there were even a few smiles! :)

Love this one!

Grandpa & Grandma with their kiddos.

YUM! I like donuts! :)

I clearly couldn't get a picture with both smiling.

And on this one Kay is blinking.

It was a great pre- Christmas weekend. I love celebrating Christ's birth in so many different ways, being with family, and seeing the joy on my children's faces.