Christmas Eve part 1

On Thursday I only had to work half day. We had Liam and Elliott over to play (Christian had mouth surgery the day before and had to take it easy). I love Tiffany's kids like my own - it's always fun to have them over. Elliott is one of the most self sufficient kids I know. That kid can do anything! Later Kalani and Kahea came over with Pono and Ashton. Pono quickly made himself at home and watched a movie with Elliott and Evan. Kahea brought me treats and Kalani helped me with my computer. I am lucky to have them as friends.The next day was Christmas Eve. I spent the morning with Tiffany, Holly, Tayler and Phoebe at Anthro in Scottsdale. It was so much fun.

Later (after some last minute shopping and baking cookies for Santa) I took the boys to my mom and dads.

This was the first face I saw:
I'm sure you all know how much I love Ruby. I keep trying to steal her but Darrel and Trina won't let me!

Evan has to hold Ruby every time he sees her. She loves it.

There was plenty of food and treats at grandma and grandpa's. Notice the hat Max is wearing. He cut his forehead and was so worried someone would ask him about it so he's been wearing hats. The kid is so weird.

We hung out and watched cheesy Christmas movies.
Ian showed up around 5:30. The earliest EVER! He never gets home on Christmas Eve before 7. Then we let the kids open one gift at my mom's. It's always a blanket.
Rowan was hilarious. He got a Spiderman blanket. He LOVED it. Like LOVE, LOVE, LOVED! it. He kept giggling and looking at it.

Evan got a Toy Story blanket. Perfect. He never goes anywhere without his Woody doll. And now he takes his blanket everywhere too!
Ben and Max cuddling up in their blankets. I don't have any pictures of Xander because he yelled at me and I sent him home. He is so frustrating. Let me tell you having an (almost) teenager is 1,000 times harder than having an infant. Seriously, it's mentally draining.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Addy and her blanket. I'm a slacker. Ruby got a Tinkerbell blanket and she loved it.

More on Christmas Eve later...

Christmas FHE

On Christmas morning my dad usually reads the account of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. This year, my mom decided to do it a little different. She wanted to have all of the grand kids dress up while my dad read the story. We all congregated at my parents house on Monday for the reenactment.

Ruby didn't want to dress up so she helped Grandpa read the story.
Xander, James and Michael were the Wisemen. Max really wanted to be a Wiseman. Maybe next year.

Joshua, Evan and Rowan were the Shepherds. Evan refused to dress up. And he said he wasn't a shepherd. He was Woody from Toy Story.

Molly was a little angel. She looked adorable.

Ben was Joseph and Anna was Mary. When I was a kid we would go Christmas caroling every year and dress up. All the girls would fight over who got to be Mary. Stacy usually won.

Molly kept stealing baby Jesus.

Addy & Emmy were angels too.

Max was the Innkeeper. He was NOT happy about it.

Joe and Dallin were the accompaniment.

After it was over, Ruby decided she wanted to be an angel too.

Evan decided he needed to pick Ruby up. He is constantly trying to carry her.
And she doesn't even seem to mind.

I hope we do it again next year. It was really entertaining. :)

Buckle Up

My USB drive on my computer is broken. It really stinks because not only can I NOT download pictures, but I can't charge my I-Pod either. Go ahead and feel sorry for me. I deserve it. Anyone know anyone who fixes USB drives?

My mom brought her laptop down on Sunday so I was able to transfer my pictures to a disc and charge my I-Pod. Woohoo!

Now you have to endure an extra long post from me. Here's what's been happening in December at the Trezise House:

The first weekend in December we started decorating. The boys and I took a break and went and saw Tangled (AWESOME) while Ian put the tree up. We came home and decorated.



Later that evening we met my family at Serranos for our second annual December Serranos dinner. We are all about tradition. Chips and salsa....mmmmm....

Afterward we chit chatted in front of the restaurant while these three amigos hugged each other.

They love each other so much :)

The next day we did our gingerbread houses at mom and dads. Kim's is always the best. Except that one year when Ian did our house as our gingerbread house. That year we rocked it.

Max makes this face a lot.

He also played football with Ruby. He loves Ruby and Molly.

The other 3 amigos:

Molly was adorable as usual. I fed her m&ms the whole night. Don't tell.

Ruby helped decorate the tree:

So did Molly:

Then Molly tried to throw down with Ruby, but Emmy broke it up. Whew.

Our finished house (mostly thanks to Ian):

Kim's half finished log cabin. See? I told you it was awesome!

Nope, this post is not done yet.

The next week Jill and I ventured up to Scottsdale for the annual Ganem Jewelers Christmas party. We love it. Great food, beautiful sparkly things and awesome friends! We had so much fun. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the cookie table. Or of all the jewelry that I wish I had. Here's Tiffany showing Jill a humungous diamond ring. A girl can dream...right?

Also here is Holly in her super cute plaid dress that I covet. Seriously. How cute is that outfit? Super-duper cute!

That Saturday I strong armed Tiffany into having a small cookie exchange at her house. Tiffany has a gorgeous house - and it's perfect for parties. We let people bring whatever holiday dessert they wanted. Consequently we got yummy fruit turnovers, delicious bars and the best gingerbread cupcakes EVER. I'm not exaggerating! Plus an assortment of super good cookies.

Here's who came: (you'll notice my mom is missing - I'm still bitter she didn't come. Just kidding mom!)


The next week was Ben's birthday. Here he is on his brand-new bicycle:
He loves it.


Christian came over and spent the night. They had pizza from Florindinos, played rockband and football. And I even got a picture!


Liam came over for a little while, then Max ended up spending the night over there. He had so much fun (btw, Tiffany - Max wants a real pistol like Elliott has? I keep forgetting to ask about that :) )
On a side note...I love these two boys. They never cease to crack me up.

Later on Saturday I took pictures of the boys for a Christmas project.
Then we headed to Organ Stop Pizza for Michael's birthday party. He has it there every year. My boys look forward to it. This year even Ian got to go! I love it when Ian gets to come!
The organist is awesome. And knows every song ever written. The theme to Indiana Jones was my favorite of the night. Michael had doughnuts for his birthday. I swear our family is keeping Bosa in business.

After Michael's party everyone headed to my mom's to play White Elephant. Ian and I didn't go. Ian had to write a talk (he spoke in church on Sunday) and I was exhausted. Literally. I fell asleep at 8:30.

December has flown by and now it's 3 days before Christmas and I'm feeling a little (maybe a lot) overwhelmed.

I'm crossing my fingers that I get everything done by Friday!