Christmas Eve Festivities

We had a wonderfully fun and busy Christmas Eve! It started off with getting the girls all dolled up and into their super cute Christmas sweaters then they tried to NOT hold still for mom and dad while taking pictures!

Then after breakfast we made sugar cookies for Santa.

YUM! While Kaylynn and I worked on Santa's cookies my mom was working on cookies for the family party. She decided to double a particularly yummy recipe so we would have some for home too. It quickly became too much dough for her mixer. So I hand mixed it. Now we know (and it has been written on the recipe as a reminder) do NOT double this recipe.

Yep, I am that strong. I totally snapped a wooden spoon in half!

That evening we went to our annual family Christmas Eve party where we ate a delicious meal (complete with a Heavenly Ham...so expensive...so worth it!), the kids unwrapped presents and the adults played a five dollar gift stealing type game. We had so much fun and Kaylynn was only persuaded to leave when she was told that Santa was on his way and she absolutely MUST be asleep when he arrives!

When we finally got home we unwrapped one present (Pajamas, it's always pajamas!) Madison was a hoot, she unwrapped them and then held them close to her chest, danced in circles and giggled. I think she liked them! Kaylynn on the other hand really, really, REALLY wanted to wear her Tinkerbell jammies instead...eventually she was persuaded.

This is my absolute favorite picture of these two...ever!

Gingerbread House

'nuf said.

Christmas Sunday

Kaylynn: "mooom (sigh)she won't let me hug her!" Madison: "Kaylynn touched meeeeeee"

Sigh. Sweet sisters again!

Kisses, Cuddles and Loves!

Kaylynn and Madison absolutely adore their daddy and he adores his little girls! This was just a cute moment where Kaylynn cuddled up with daddy and her blanket and soon Madison had to get some loves too!

Hey Santa!

The other day Kaylynn tells me this:
"I wish I could be Santa mom, because I like the cookies. But not the milk, pink is better."
So Santa, if you are reading our blog you can look forward to pink milk on Christmas Eve at our house!

Our Arizona Trip for Thanksgiving 2009!

Madison was tuckered out on the plane and took a nap on the way there.
Chad's parents lost track of time and were about 45 minutes late picking us up. So we hung out on the sidewalk for awhile.

Upon arriving at the Beck home Kaylynn was given princess attire to wear to her and her cousin Lacie's (they are a week apart in age!) combined birthday party! So fun, Kaylynn loved the princess theme! We ordered pizza, ate cake and opened some presents!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Lacie and Kaylynn, Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!

Look we match!

Tracy and Jeff''s gift was a Build A Bear trip! Chad and I took the girls and had a blast! (poor Tracy had to stay home, eventually the pregnancy nausea has to go away but for Tracy it will probably be when her daughter arrives in the Spring. So she had to stay home a lot!)

Naturally the girls went with a princess theme!

I love this picture! To cute! They really love to be together! This was on the playground at the mall, I especially love the summer clothes with the Christmas tree in the background!

Their stuffed animals were with them everywhere they went for the rest of the trip!

Sadie absolutely LOVED playing with Madison. And Madison loved getting all the attention!

Our brother in law Jeff just opened a carpet cleaning business and look who is all over the van! It's true, our kid is adorable!!!

It was really cute because Sadie had a lot of friends come over to meet Madison and they all were excited to meet the baby that's on the van! And while we were taking picture the neighbors came out and they said the same thing!

Last year when we went down for Thanksgiving we did a craft where I had everyone write peoples names on gourds for place settings. I didn't have time to get anything together before we went down and Thanksgiving (well Wednesday, we actually flew back on Thursday) morning Sadie asked if I had a fun craft to do like we did last year! Boy did I feel like a bad aunt! So I got online and within a few minutes Sadie and I had an idea and were getting all the supplies from around the house. We made turkeys out of paper cups and handprints. They turned out adorable and all the girls LOVED making them!

Here is our gaggle of geese centerpiece!

Yummy Thanksgiving dinner!

That evening we went to see the lights at the Mesa Temple, we heard they were setting them up and we might get a sneek peek...and we did. It was beautiful!

Then we flew home the next morning and celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. We always love visiting Chad's parents and siblings! We had a great time and Kaylynn is still asking if we can go on a "dacation" to her cousin's house again!