One Year Old!

I cannot believe this little sweetheart is one! It came so fast. She was so, so fun on her birthday. For being our quiet, mellow little girl, she sure came out of her shell for her big day. Somehow she knew she was special and she LOVED it. All day long she was squealing. As soon as we got her dressed for her party she started going nuts. Her mouth was wide open all day long (just check out the pictures). It was so funny and so cute. She got so excited for her cake, and especially her presents. She loved everything! It was so much fun. I think everybody got a pretty big kick out of her. Words can't express how much we love our little "bugs". She really has completed our family. Happy Birthday little one!

She only wanted to pick at the black spots on her cake.

This was seriously how she was with every present....so much fun!

Ho, Ho, Ho to you!

I didn't get many pictures of Christmas this year. It was perfect though. All of our kids were so excited! They actually let us sleep in until about 5:30 this time...hahaha. We started off with Christmas Eve jammies. I got creative and sewed them this year. The girls loved theirs, but I'm not so sure about the boys. It was fun to do though and I think I'll try it every year. I might skip on making mine and Eli's though.....not so great. Grannie and Grandma Bon came and stayed the night again along with Uncle McKay. The kids loved having him here with us. I think the kids had their presents opened in 10 minutes which was great because we really got to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. Nothing like presents, great food, fun movies and family! Merry Christmas!

Sugar Cookies!

What would Christmas be without sugar cookies. The kids love this little tradition so much and they are getting so good at it! They hardly need me at all anymore to help out. It was a lot of fun having my mom here this time, too. I have so many fun memories of making sugar cookies with her growing up and it was fun to carry on the tradition. I think she might be a little more patient than me though. I can only handle the flour mess for so long :).

Allie LOVES her sprinkles (and yes, she did lick the container after every shake).

Gracie's first sugar cookie. She loved it! I can't wait until she can help out....and neither can she!

Family Sing-A-Long

The family sing-a-long was super fun again this year. It wasn't the same without Grandma's homemade presents and hundreds of phone calls about what everyone was bringing for dinner, but everybody picked up the pieces and we still had a ton of fun. The highlight for sure was Santa (the best Santa of all)! I'm pretty sure Allie almost passed out when he came in the room. Gracie sat right on his lap without any problem at all. It was so much fun and a great way to start off the Christmas weekend!

(I love this picture. Look at everyone's faces! This is right when Santa walked into the room shaking his jingle bells...I honestly don't know who is the most excited)!

Tyler's birthday...number "9"

I can't believe we have a 9 year old. I look at him every day and realize that my crazy little boy is mostly a memory. He has grown so much. Even his jokes are grown up jokes. He is changing so much. He really enjoys playing basketball and loved his first year playing. He is really starting to enjoy reading and loves to put his headlamp on every night when he goes to bed so he can read until he gets tired. He loves to play the xbox and can even beat his dad sometimes! His newest obsession though is sharks. Whenever he gets the chance he will watch the seasons of shark week on netflix. The kid is a walking book of knowledge on sharks. He knows everything there is to know about every kind of shark and loves to talk about it. He is such a fun "big" boy and we are really enjoying watching him grow up. Happy Birthday Ty! We love you so much!
Behold! The new sled from Grandpa Kim!

Of course he had to have a shark cake. After the last one I made him I swore I would NEVER make another one, it was such a beast. But I discovered the trick of using rice crispie treats as a mold and covering with marshmallow fondant. It was so fun and easy. He loved it! And yes, that is a bloody swedish fish in his mouth...like I said, he isn't a little boy anymore!

Gracie's first candy cane!

Just look at that face. This little girl was in heaven. (And not happy when I finally took it away). She was one sticky baby!

Trimming the tree

Hanging the ornaments.

Dancing to some Christmas song....she takes after her mom :)

Dressing up in the tinsel

Gracie's first Christmas. What a good helper!