Christmas Presents

So, we got up on Christmas morning and we all opened our stockings. Then, my plan was to eat breakfast and then finish opening our presents, but I was overruled.

Fuzzy coats from Papa Harry and Corrie.

Swimsuit and slippers from the Wyoming Oswald family.

Dress up clothes from Mommy. When Sydney put hers on she was waving her hand saying, "Come on everybody, come to church!" Kathryn wouldn't stop playing her harmonica long enough so I could take a picture!

Christmas Eve Jammies

The girls opened up their jammies from Nonnie on Christmas Eve.

Mike got me new jammies too! Don't I look excited?

So, most of you know that I have said that I didn't want Santa to be a part of our Christmas because I don't want to lie to my children about a big fat man that is going to judge us all year long and then sneak into our house in the middle of the night, plus the fact that he takes the focus away from the Savior. So.....I kind of gave in and let the girls leave milk and cookies for Santa. But I insisted that we leave them on the front porch, so he wouldn't come in our house. We also put out reindeer food that Kathryn made in preschool. I, being the great mom that I am, volunteered to go out into the freezing night and spread it in the grass and then had the fun experience of having it all blow back into my face & hair!

Christmas Eve Baking

Christmas Eve evening we baked some cheese empanadas and sugar cookies. On our trip to Chile, we had some great cheese empanadas, so we tried to reproduce them. They were pretty good, but we used pie crust for the dough, and next time might look for something not as sweet.

Here are the girls helping Mike make some sugar cookies.

Championship Speedskating

Last Saturday we got free tickets (from our dear friends) to the U.S. Speedskating Short-Track Championships. We missed the first hour, but the second hour was very exciting and entertaining. We got to see Apolo Ohno skate. They false started 3 or 4 times in their final race, and then had 2 big crashes. Apolo came in third. My friend stayed after to get Apolo's autograph and she said he is way short.

Christmas Past

Christmas 2007 (This was actually our Christmas picture taken in Louisiana right after Thanksgiving.)

Christmas 2006 - We were staying in the Embassy Suites in St. Charles, waiting to move into our house at 4 St. Libory.

Christmas 2005 - We were living in Alamogordo, NM and this was at our Branch Christmas party.

Christmas 2004 - Kathryn's First Christmas.

Kathryn's First Dance Recital

This past Thursday was Kathryn's first dance recital. She loves going to dance class and seemed excited about her upcoming dance recital, even though I figured that she really didn't know what to expect. She was happy up to the point that we got to her dance studio. Then she got nervous and tearful. This first picture is Kathryn with Kaylee,a young woman from our ward.

Here is Kathryn in the warm up room. I went in with her for a little bit, but she wouldn't stop crying with me around, so I just left her in there with her class. She did let me take this picture of her, but you can tell she is not her normal self.

Sydney LOVED watching the girls dance. There were all ages of girls dancing, from 3 to 18.

So, Kathryn's class was the 6th or 7th class to go, so they had a while to wait in the warm up room and I was worried that she wouldn't come out. But it came time and she came out and saw me and waved and smiled. They danced to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and she was the first reindeer to come onto the stage. She put her little paws up and pranced onto the stage with the other girls following her, but the she didn't stop when she got to the middle and kept going all the way to the other side! So her teacher had to run out and pull them back. Then when the rest of the girls started to dance/act out the song, she just stood there and sucked on her hand and half cried/half laughed. I have video of it, but A) I haven't taken the time to figure out how to post it (I know, I know, I'm sure it's easy, I just haven't taken the time or have I summoned up the brain power to do it!) and B) it's probably not the best quality (ie. bouncing, shaking) because I was focused on her and just wanting to watch it. So, maybe over Christmas, Mike will post it for me.

She just looked at these pics while I was posting them and said, "I was scared!"

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Kathryn's last day of preschool. She had to go with the younger group this semester because of our travel plans. But, she ended up meeting a sweet girl named Ellie, who turned out to be a member of our church (just in a different ward)!

Here is Kathryn with her teacher, Mrs. Rueschhoff. The high school girls actually 'teach' the class, but she oversees them. Kathryn was being weird about taking this picture, obviously. We will see both of these people again next semester when we go back to preschool. Kathryn will be in the 4-5 class, so I'm excited to see how she does with kids her own age and older.

Help a Sister Out!

Today the girls were outside with me while I added some more decorations to the exterior of our house. (It was in the 40s, so it felt warm!) I saw them doing this and couldn't resist taking a picture. Kathryn was just rolling her all around the driveway and Sydney was thanking her by saying, "No! Not that way! Turn me around!" But I'm sure deep down she was greatful for such a loving, helpful sister.

Ok, one more thing.. Kathryn is watching me typing this and she just said, "Wow, that's a hunch of letters!" And I said, "You mean, a bunch?" And she said, "No, a hunch!" And earlier today, she ran to go potty and when she got back she said, "Was I so fast? I was hurrying so I could come and check on-line." It sounded so cute coming out of her little mouth and seeing that she really didn't understand what she was saying.

Yes, that is a wreath on my car.

Here is our decorated house. We have wreaths for the upstairs windows, but Mike hasn't had time to get up there yet. Not sure if he will, but I think it looks nice how it is.

Crazy Cold Competitive Chaotic Candy Cane Hunt

On Saturday we went to Faust Park for a Candy Cane hunt. It is a fundraiser that they do ever year to make money for carousel upkeep. Anyway, it was very cold, but despite the way they look in this picture, the girls did have fun. We got there with just a couple of minutes to spare, so we missed the instructions, and just filed in with the crowd. We walked into this big area that has all these old historic houses and were told to stay on the walkways. Then we were told to wait for the buzzer and that would be the start. We could see little candy canes all over the ground and some of them had pieces of paper on them, so we figured those were the prizes. So, we never heard a buzzer, but all of a sudden everyone just started running, so we did too! Sydney and I reached a prize candy cane right before these other people, and luckily, Sydney had stepped right on it, so we got it! It ended up being a dinky marshmallow snowman, but at least we got something! Mike and Kathryn were a team and they were in a less busy area and they got a prize ticket good for a free ice-skating session. So, it was fun, but as the post title says, kinda crazy.

They were cheered and warmed by the hot chocolate that I had brought along.

As soon as we got home, Mike left with two of his friends to go to the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City. They had a good time but said it was very cold! He got home at 2:30 Sunday morning.

Parents-As-Teachers Christmas Party

While Kathryn was at a birthday party, Sydney and I went to a Christmas activity put on by Parents-As-Teachers. She pretended to bake cookies and shovel snow.

Then we waited in line to see Santa. They had a great system where they gave you a number when you signed in and then you just waited for your group to be called to see Santa, so you didn't have to wait in a really long line. So, Sydney was doing great right up to the point that she got on Santa's lap. Oh well, it made a cute picture. And she got over it quickly.

First Snow

We came home from Thanksgiving to our first snow! The girls couldn't wait to get out and walk in it.

Sydney had just scooped up a bunch of snow on her graham cracker. I guess she was planning on eating it, but when I asked her what she was doing, she flung the snow off. Guilty?

They loved to see their footprints in the snow on the deck.

Gingerbread Houses

On Saturday we put our houses together and decorated them.