The 2nd day of Christmas break

On the second day of Christmas break we went crazy with the paper snowflakes.  Kelton was a machine and cut out enough snowflakes to hang on every window of our house, around the fireplace, covering the fridge and other kitchen appliances, and his room.  The girls cut out their own snowflakes and once they were all hung up, it looked like we live in a winter wonderland.

The 1st day of Christmas break

"On the first day of Christmas break so we all don't go crazy..." we went and found a new playground.  Cambrie deemed the playground "England worthy" which is high praise coming from her.  The kids had a blast and we played all morning even with the wind blowing like crazy.  

This slide was so fast that they needed a run out at the bottom.  It was quite the climb to get up there too, but it was worth it.  

There were a ton of places to climb.  

And we've never seen a play structure like this before.  It was Cambrie's goal to make it across tightrope style.  

These chairs are wild.  They are more fun if you weigh more, like me, and can really get them spinning.  

It was just a great place to hang out.  

Check it out, a tree the kids could walk through.  Feeling pretty festive!

Once home the kids kept playing.  Cambrie and McKenzie created these caroling snowmen out of socks and rice.  I have to say, that when they told me what they were up to I was a little skeptical, but they turned out pretty cute. 

Filling in the gaps

These don't get to be part of the days of Christmas break countdown, because they happened before Christmas break.  

McKenzie finished another season of YMCA basketball.  Her team lost every game but one, yet they had a great time.  I was so proud of the girls for trying their best and never getting discouraged when going up against those better teams.  

The boys and I had some Christmas shopping to take care of, and I made it a yes kind of afternoon.  We rode the little toys, bought a pretzel, and played on the dinosaur playground.  Yes days are fun and a bit of a relief from always saying, "No."

Jeremy and I had the annual Risas dinner.  We have made some great friends over the years and I really look forward to seeing them at least once a year.  Jeremy's office made an appearance once again looking fabulous!  Somewhere there's a picture of Jeremy and me to prove that we were both at that delicious dinner.  There was a hypnotist this year and I admit, I was impressed.  I laughed so hard when one of the participants thought he was me as a pro wrestler that I cried.  

The girls set up a school downstairs for all of their stuffed animals.  I love that Cambrie actually comes up with a curriculum for them.  This time they even had elections for class president.  

And finally, we've had such a mild winter that we've been able to go to the park any time we want.  I kind of wish there was some snow because a white Christmas would be nice.

Christmas concerts

Christmas season means that our kids have lots of Christmas concerts.  First was McKenzie's school choir, the Mini Mustangs.  Their performers was entitled "Flakes" and they sang some of the cutest songs about snowflakes and snirt (snow + dirt).  McKenzie's buddies Aubri and Brielle also sang in the concert and Brielle even had a cute little speaking part.

Next we had McKenzie's piano recital.  She was very nervous for her first recital but you couldn't even tell.  Her song was entitled Atacama Desert, and is supposed to be played nice and relaxed.  She was so excited that she started playing faster and faster and started bouncing up and down as she played.  Her piano teacher, Owen, literally started laughing watching her bounce.  She did a great job.

Lastly we had Cambrie's school orchestra/band/choir concert.  She's been playing the cello this year and has been having a lot of fun with it.  The boys and I arrived to the concert a bit late because we were trying to get all of the kids to all of their activities, and ended up sitting on the ground in the very back of the gym.  The boys didn't mind.  They had room to wiggle and had an easy escape route to the cookies in the hall.  

I didn't get a recording of Cambrie's performance since our sightline was so poor, but for a brand new orchestra they did very well.  The audience could tell which songs they were playing and that is success!  Pretty proud of these girls and how hard they've been practicing.

Christmas train

I love this new tradition my family has, the Georgetown Loop Railroad Christmas train.  I procrastinated getting tickets so our time options were very limited.  We ended up on one of the night trains in the middle car which ended up being perfect.  Daxton loved the train ride (can't you tell by his hot cocoa covered smile?)  

The lights were pretty, but the best part were the carols they had playing over the radio, Santa singing with us, and the snacks we munched on as we traveled.  With the dimmed lights almost none of my pictures really turned out, but that's ok.  

I had a blast, the kids had a blast, they were able to see Santa, drink cocoa, and ride a lighted Christmas train. 

Baby Bumblebee

My fingers are crossed but I think we have reached another milestone in this house, kid four is potty trained!  He is such a stubborn kid that the potty training thing had to be his idea.  For two days in a row he started taking off his pants to go to the bathroom in his little potty.  I decided to go with it.  He was awesome for about a week, then started to fall off the wagon.  I bought him a Transformer Bumblebee and we started his potty chart.  Well, it only kind of worked.  He kept carrying around the toy in it's boxed and tried to sneak it when I wasn't looking, even though he hadn't earned it yet.  We took all of his supplies to Utah over the Thanksgiving holidays but that didn't work at all.  There was simply too much going on.  After breakfast with Santa we decided to try again.  This time Daxton finally grasped the concept of potty=sticker=Bumblebee.  He was so proud when he put that last sticker on his chart.  Now he finally has his Baby Bumblebee.  I think it should stick this time...I really hope so!

Breakfast with Santa

We did something absolutely crazy and drove back to Utah five days after our last trip out for Thanksgiving.  We needed to retrieve our boys, but we also needed to make it out for Breakfast with Santa.  It was really funny to watch Daxton this year with Santa Claus.  When Santa came in, Daxton ran up to him and followed him around using his eye glass he had just received from his popper.  Santa wasn't quite sure of what to make of this little boy who followed him all the way from the front door to his chair just staring through his glass, and just laughed.  

When it was Daxton's turn to sit on Santa's lap he hopped right up and snuggled in for the best seat in the house.  He was even brave enough to ask for a Mac truck for Christmas.

  All my other kids also hopped right up without delay.  Kelton asked for a Wii. 

McKenzie asked for a bow and arrow. 

and Cambrie asked for a surprise.  

I was very impressed that the kids were still smiling when it came time for family pictures with Santa.  (Except for McKenzie who decided to pull a face, rotten kid.)  

Our family. 

 The Rogers clan.  

After pictures Santa read a bunch of stories to the kids before heading back to the North Pole to finish up some Christmas preparations.  

The cousins exchanged gifts, and everyone ended up with what they wanted.  

During all the craziness I glanced over to see the boys all piled on top of Liam, he is so great with the kids.  They adore him.  

The grand finale was a reading of the mismatched nativity by Jan.  

I'm glad the kids had smiles on their faces because we had to turn right around and drive back to Colorado the next morning!  At least they're dressed for the occasion!