Christmas 2012

 

Christmas 2012

This year we spent Christmas at home.  It was a great holiday!  It was nice to have so much family time without having to travel.  Since Christmas wasn't until Tuesday we spent the weekend before Christmas doing lots of little holiday projects.  We had a gingerbread house competition, a cookie decorating day, a game day, and homemade pizza/movie night.

Chatting with Santa at Larkin's preschool.

 

 Here are the gingerbread houses that Daddy and Larkin

and Mommy and Brayden created.

Hard at work making Christmas cookies! 

What good helpers we had this year.

 Our little Santa putting his hat on his own way!

 

 Getting ready to open some presents.

 

Sleeping Beauty to add to Larkin's princess collection.

 

This was the start of game day.  They were about to open Hungry Hungry Hippos and Cootie. 

This lead to an afternoon of board game fun. 

Who knew a two year old would love Hungry Hungry Hippos so much!

 

 The start of our My Little Pony collection.

 

 Ohhh an airplane!

 

 Christmas morning checking out their new "indoor" camping supplies!

 

 Guess who liked the tent!

 

 Thanks, Aunt Tara, for the Lalaloopsy house.

 

"Think I will get a little closer!"

 

 After a little scavenger hunt this was the last gift they found!

 

 Santa Jordan (the cat).  Uncle Mark and Aunt Mary make the holidays so much fun.

 

 Ready to start opening more packages.

 

Helping Aunt Mary open a present.

Jingle Bell Rock Time!

 

Holiday Dance Recital

This year for Christmas Larkin's dance school put on a holiday recital.  It was super cute, lasted less than an hour, and the girls had a blast!  Larkin's class tap danced to Jingle Bell Rock and her teacher, Ms. Pam, did a great job!

 

Getting ready to go on stage.

 

Larkin and her dance friends!

 

 

*VIDEO MAYBE TO COME*

 

Performing Jingle Bell Rock!

 

 

The Polar Express

The Polar Express!

This year during the Christmas season we decided to take the family on a ride on the Polar Express in Williams, AZ.  We had such a fun time!  Besides getting to spend the night in Flagstaff and playing some mean games of hide-n-seek in the hotel, we also had a wonderful time wearing our pajamas on the train.  Once we boarded the train the fun really began.  We had hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies while listening to the story of the Polar Express as the train chugged on towards the North Pole!  Once we arrived at the North Pole we saw lots of holiday lights and of course, Santa Claus!  Santa even boarded the train with us and rode all the way back to the train station stopping to talk with each child and give them a little bell.  Of course we had to be in the Christmas spirit so we sang our favorite Christmas carols the whole trip back.  What a fun time we had!!!!

 Getting ready to leave for Flagstaff.

 

 Uncle Mark, Daddy, Larkin, and Brayden in Williams.

 

 Family picture time!

 

 Mommy and Larkin in our pjs

 

 Our little conductor!

 

 Getting ready to board the train with Uncle Mark and Aunt Mary.

 

 Time to board!

 

 Getting ready for the hot cocoa and cookies.

 

 Cuddling with Aunt Mary!

 

 Santa stopped to give us a bell!

 

 Showing the bell to Daddy.

 

Uncle Mark and Aunt Mary in their matching pjs.

They are such good sports!

 

The Polar Express

Happy Halloween

Halloween Time!

This year we headed to Tolmachoff Farms once again for a fun morning visiting the pumpkin patch and weaving our way through the corn maze.  We had perfect weather and everyone had fun seeing the animals and playing around.  The best part had to be the pony rides!  Larkin and Brayden each had their first pony ride this year and LOVED it.

 

 

Daddy and Uncle Mark taking the kids through the petting zoo.

 

Aunt Mary helping the kids explore the Three Little Pigs' homes.

 

Larkin taking a turn driving the tractor.

 

And.... Uncle Mark wanted a turn too!

 

Weaving our way through the corn maze.  We made it in less than an hour!!!

 

 

Having fun burying his sister in corn.

 

The Botanical Gardens

This year we also went to the pumpkin patch at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  It was so much fun going for a hay ride and picking out that "special" pumpkin to have Daddy lug back to the car.  Don't worry, they picked the biggest ones they could find (Poor Daddy)!

 Taking a little break in the pumpkin patch.

 

 Don't worry, this isn't the one he ended up with.

 

 Cuddle time!!!!

 

Costume Time

This year for Halloween the kids decided to go as characters from the Wizard of Oz.  Brayden was the Scarecrow and Larkin decided to be the Cowardly Lion, but had to wear Dorothy's red slippers as well.  She definitely has her own take on things!

 Our Lion and Scarecrow.

 

Check out those ruby red slippers!

 

 

 

Ready for trick-or-treating!

 

 Of course we had to go trick-or-treat at Uncle Mark and Aunt Mary's house. 

They give the best treats!

 

 

 

St. Kitts

Vacation in St. Kitts

In September we boarded a plane, then took a tram, then boarded another plane, then a took shuttle, then rode on a train, then took another shuttle, then spent a night at an airport hotel, then boarded yet another plane, and finally took a taxi to arrive in St. Kitts in the West Indies a day and a half after we left Phoenix.  The kids did a great job traveling, Shaun did a fantastic job lugging all of our luggage, and besides the fact that St. Kitts is not the most convenient location, it was beautiful!  We spent a week, just the four of us, eating, drinking, playing, and relaxing by the beach.  Yes, when the week was over we pretty much boarded all of the same transportation as before to return home plus an unplanned plane change (since the plane we originally boarded could not get its landing gear to function properly) and made it home safely a day and a half later.  You have to love family vacations and I honestly can't wait for the next one!

 

 Larkin got past her fear of getting dirty in the sand and LOVED playing at the beach.

 

Our little man having fun at the beach.

Our resort had a great kids pool, nice and shallow! 

Brayden had fun lounging in his swim ring.

 

The kids having fun in the fountains at the pool.

A view of part of our resort taken from the top story of the hotel.



 How to tell the weather conditions in St. Kitts.

 

 Our view from one of the resort restaurants.

 

 Daddy and Bray checking out the waves.

 

 A few photos before our delicious dinner.

Sometimes they can be so sweet!

 

 Larkin taking care of her little brother.

 

 Watching the waves!

 

 Trying to catch a few more smiles.

 

 It is Daddy's turn for a picture.

 

At least some of us looked at the camera. 

Brayden seemed to care more about my necklace.

 

Picture time must have worn Brayden out. 

He crashed as soon as he got to his seat at the restaurant.

 

 Check out that handwriting!

 

 Brayden built himself a birdhouse, or so he said. 

He was pretty proud!

 

 A view of the island from our train tour.

Besides the fact that the train swayed like crazy and made Larkin sick, it was very pretty.

 

 Another view of the water.