Christmas '10

This is what a 10 day trip to Chicago over the holidays did to the kids.

I took this picture at the airport a week ago as we arrived in San Antonio again.

(I was standing outside in a short sleeved shirt. It was nice.)

It was an evening flight. Both of them fell asleep on the plane and neither of them woke up or budged an inch from the plane all the way to their beds.

I wish I could've fallen asleep and the next thing I know I'm home waking up in my bed in the morning.

Must've been nice.

We had a great trip.

We were lucky that it snowed enough for them to play since this is the only snow we ever see. It even snowed on Christmas Eve so we had a beautiful white Christmas.

We went to the mall and rode the train and played on the tree house playground.

Brayden's on the left, sitting next to her cousin Brooke.

Kaleb is on the right sitting next to his cousin Blake.

We got a big family picture while we were there.

This is Brayden with Brooke.

They had a good time together.

I snapped one of the grandparents with the grand kids.

Brandon took Kaleb to a high school hockey game with our brother-in-law, Ryan and his little boy, Blake. Brandon said the kids enjoyed being there, but mostly they enjoyed eating the snacks...at least Kaleb did, of course.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Sonnenberg sent us this gingerbread house.

We had a lot of fun putting it together once I got Brayden to stop eating the candy :)

On Christmas Eve we got together with some family and had a great dinner.

The cousins enjoyed playing with each other.

Brayden loved the wigs they had and Kaleb loved the beaded necklaces. He wore every single one and threw a fit if anyone tried to take one.

Here the kids are in the nativity scene for the Christmas story.

Brooke is Mary, Tyler is Joseph, Brayden, Chelsea, Lauren, and Ally are all angels. I don't know where Kaleb was for this. Oh, and baby Jesus is just a doll.

Brayden brought her "angel" clothes specifically for this.

When I was a young girl I remember always dressing up as an angel with my sister and cousins, but I was always the one that would recite the angel part of the story.

I think I had to memorize it for a part in the primary program and so I would recite it for the family every year.

Last year when we were teaching Brayden about the story of baby Jesus I was still able to recite the part. She some how picked up on it and started saying little bits and pieces here and there.

So this year we had a special Family Home Evening early in the month. Kaleb dressed up as a sheperd and Brayden dressed up as the angel and I had her stand on a chair and I told her to repeat after me the angel part. After that she was able to repeat it all by herself. After a little while she started forgetting so I would try to help her to remind her, but she wouldn't let me. She said she could do it all by herself so we were never able to review, but she was determined to be the "angel" on Christmas eve.

She stood up on a chair and while the Christmas story was being read she did such a good job in front of everybody and recited most of the angel's part. I was so proud of her.

I have it on the video but you'll have to listen closely cause it's hard to hear.

While we were waiting for Santa to arrive, my mom read the kids the book,

"I Believe in Santa Claus."

It's a book about how Santa is a symbol of Christ.

After singing some Christmas songs horribly out of tune, Santa finally arrived and the kids were super excited.

Kaleb was a champ.

He's never had a problem with this scary looking bearded guy.

He asked for basketball.

We thought for sure Brayden would be able to tell that Santa was her favorite Uncle Scott, but she was too excited I think.

She asked for a Rapunzel dress and a Sleeping Beauty doll.

They each got a big chocolate bar from him. Kaleb ate his so fast that it barely melted enough to make a big mess on his face.

Once he knew this guy was handing out chocolate he was ready for a second round and went right back to sit on Santa's lap again.

Brayden of course joined him.

My kids are definitely not shy.

And here she is striking a pose for the camera.

Rapunzel has been quite the craze around here over this holiday season so she found some hair and was loving it.

When we got back to grandma's house we left Santa some milk and cookies, and sprinkled some reindeer food out in the front yard to guide them to our house(glitter and oatmeal).

We did our traditional opening of a new Christmas book to read to the kids before bed.

This year was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

(we're still reading it almost every day...ughhh)

We had a very Merry Christmas!

We are so grateful for our Savior whose birth we celebrated :)

We hope you had a Merry Christmas too!