Christmas Visit From the Milligans

During Christmas break the Milligan's sneaked away from Scott's house and stayed the night with us. We were so happy to see them. We had a great time with them for a little over 24 hours!

Taeya did face painting before the 3 kiddos did some real painting!

We loved sitting around and hanging out but figured we needed a little outing so we went to Kangaroo Zoo.  Of course the kids had a great time!

Here's the big girls.  They had fun too.

The whole gang - The Milligan's headed out after Kangaroo.  The visit was short and sweet but we'll take them any time we can. 

Christmas Day

The girls got way too many presents this year! Santa should probably cool it down a little next year. We woke up around 8:30 unwrapped presents. Ate a yummy breakfast including bacon - one of the girls favorite. My mom and dad came over shortly after to see what we all got for Christmas. We had a fun visit with them. Played with toys the rest of the morning. Got dressed and went to Lee and Laura's for a little lunch and some more presents. Christmas was a very magical day that went way to fast!

Anastyn with all her gifts.  She got a lot of lalaloopsy items.  A cash register,  some dishes, paint and paper and other great stuff.  We ordered her a kitchen but it came a day late, and clearly wasn't really needed!  We need to take better inventory next year. 

Taeya with all her opened gifts - she was clearly spoiled also.  Her favorite gift was probably her ipod that was a hand me down from me and her ihome.  She also got several lalaloopsy's. 

For some reason I didn't end up taking a picture of the things Gordon got for Christmas.  Gordon bought himself several presents this year,  a new TV for the family room, a DVD player, and several DVD's to name a few. 

My cute toothless Taeya.

Here is my loot - I think I did pretty well for myself.  A steamer to clean the floors, a new griddle, a new (bigger) crock pot, a few clothing items and the big surprise that didn't get included in the photo was a cello that Gordon rented for me for 6 months to see if I like it.  While I was at Kimberly's choir concert in December I decided I need to develop new talents.  Wish me luck!

Anastyn being silly at Grandpa Lee and Grandma Laura's.  

Christmas Eve

We started off Christmas Eve early in the evening with a gingerbread decorating party at my moms. Us aunts were paired with one of the neices or nephews and we all worked hard and made awesome houses. It was fun. We had a yummy dinner afterwards followed by a "nativty" reading. The kids were super cute. Taeya was Mary and Anastyn insisted on being an angel in the pink dress-up. Thankfully no one minded. After the nativity we opened presents.  Next we had dessert and headed home to have our own little Christmas Eve. We didn't do much. Just unwrapped our new pajamas and the girls gave each other a gift. The each went to build a bear and made a bear for each other. Anastyn made Taeya a Clarissa reindeer and Taeya made Anastyn a purple rainbow bear named "Alexa." It was super cute. A very magical night! 

Mariel and Anastyn were a pair.  Jayne and I made a house together. 

Pretty cute Joseph and Mary - they played the part very welll!

Our nativity - Daylen, Skyler, Asilia, Taeya, Zach, Anastyn, and Jayne

I made the girls snowmen PJ's.  Anastyn got the cinderella nightgown from my parents for Christmas and insisted on wearing it also! :) I didn't end up getting a picture of the girls with their new Build A Bears. 

New Christmas Skirts

I made the girls Christmas skirts for the Sunday before Christmas, they turned out pretty cute. I had just enough fabric left to make me a matching one too. I know cheesy, but it was fun. Never really got a great picture, but as always we tried. 

The girls and I, I made myself a short version of their skirt.

Thought the cute boys would add nicely to the outfit but they were weird - kept flopping in their faces, they didn't wear them long and then I took them back.  I tried.

Lights in Riverwoods

I had heard that the lights at Riverwoods were quite impressive this year and that you could go see Santa also. Since we hadn't been to see any lights this Christmas season we thought we would go. The Bailey's joined us. We had a great little night. We ate dinner at Malawai's then walked around looking at the lights. The line to visit Santa was really long so Gordon and Seth waited in line while we did a little craft activity and looked around at the toy store. It was a fun night, and this time Anastyn jumped right up onto Santas lap. I'm not sure if it was because Alayna jumped up with no tears or if she quickly got over her fear, but it was cute. We are so excited for Christmas! 

Anastyn and Alayna were happy to sit on Santas lap this year!

Xango Christmas Party

Xango had a Christmas party this year that was pretty comparable to Ultradent's. I have always loved Ultradent's Christmas party and the same Mr. and Mrs. Claus come every year and we get a nice picture of the girls. This was one of the "pros" to stay working for Ultradent went the Xango job offer came. Well, Xango lived up to my expectations. They had a few fun craft stations, one was a gingerbread house, the other was some cute deer antlers, they had hot chocolate and carriage rides (which the girls loved), and a visit with Santa. Pizza for dinner and a little gift bag with a polly pocket and other little treasures inside. The only negative thing about the party is that I never got a copy of the pictures with Santa or the carriage ride:(. Anastyn freaked out when we got close to Santa! I put her on his lap anyway and she screamed and reached for me. I thought she would like Santa this year. Guess I was wrong. 

Taeya and the elf helping us get in and out of the carriage ride.  The girls were really excited about this ride and thanks to the hot chocolate we could endure the wind!

Dance Recital

Anastyn loves her weekly dance class with Miss Bobi. For Christmas instead of having a big concert Miss Bobi just does and in class recital. Today was Anastyn's recital. Dad got to come watch too. She did a cute dance to a song about a boy and a girl in a little canoe, and did some other cute dance moves for us. She loves to perform and really loves dance. I think she definitely has some natural abilities. Such a beautiful dancer. 

Little poser!

1st position or "Pizza Feet"

Plie

Such cute little ballerinas - Anastyn is the one with the black ballet shoes and her friend Annie is on the far end.

Anastyn and Annie with their Christmas wand from Miss Bobi.

Miss Bobi and Anastyn - the look on Anastyn face does not show her true love for Ballet of Miss Bobi!  It was just the best I got!:)

1st Lost Tooth

After we got home from Arizona I was busy unpacking and the girls were eating some licorish, when all the sudden Taeya said "my tooth is missing!" She must've swallowed it while eating her licorish. This was her first lost tooth and she was so excited for the tooth fairy to come. Taeya wrote the tooth fairy a cute little letter asking if she would please leave some money even though she didn't have a tooth to exchange. The tooth fairy left her $2. Lucky girl. Love that toothless smile!

Arizona in December

Kimberly and Kenzly had a choir concert that my parents were going to go watch in Arizona and they invited the girls and I to join them. Who doesn't want to go to Arizona in the cold of December? We were excited to go. As always we had a great time and enjoyed the warm-er weather. We enjoyed a soccer game for Karsten, lunch at a Mexican restaurant an amazing concert, Karsten's birthday, a scout pack meeting, dinner at San Tan Flats, some shopping and the lots of playing outside with the cousins (Besides just time hanging out with the Whitmers).

Saturday afternoon we had some time to kill before Kimberly's concert (after Karsten's soccer game and lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant) so my mom and I went to Lowe's and Anastyn joined us, sleepy girls was tired enough to fall asleep in the cart!

After the concert - Kimberly and Kenzly did an awesome job and we loved it. 

Anastyn and the birthday boy Karsten - Every Arizona trip has to include a little stop at the San Tan village shops.  The kids always enjoying playing and since it was Karsten's b-day we thought it would be a little more to shop there, we loved the warm day!

Taeya and Kierra - For Karsten's birthday we had a hot dog roast in the backyard.

Anastyn enjoyed the hot d.og roast too

Anastyn and Karsten - such a fun birthday party.

The night before we left we went to dinner at the San Tan Flats restaurant which is a yummy outdoor restaurant.   Yummy food and the girls loved dancing around on the stage they have. 

Taeya enjoying the night.

Dressing up is always a must at the Whitmer house - Taeya as a cheetah or maybe a leopard??

Anastyn as a beautiful princess.

One afternoon the kids painted pictures, this was Taeya's picture of a sunset.  We were very impressed with her art.

Dress-up Love

These two princesses LOVE to dress up lately. It's usually the first thing the do when they get together. Alayna really likes this red cowboy hat for some reason.  Anastyn loves backpacks and purses.  These girls have so much fun together and they are so adorable! 

After Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

This year kindof felt like the Thanksgiving that never ended! The Sunday before Thanksgiving we had a dinner at Gordon's dad house. It was a yummy preview, my favorite was the pecan pie! The girls had fun playing after the meal, and the adults had fun eating dessert and visiting. On Thanksgiving day I went for a long run then prepared a veggie tray for the meal. Gordon went for a long bike ride then met us at my mom and dad's right after the prayer! The rest of the day was visiting, and helping my mom with some Christmas decorations. After my moms we came home and put up our Christmas Tree.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we had another yummy meal with Gordon's mom at our house this time. It's such a great time of year to think about all the things that I am thankful for.  The top of my list is definitely family.

Elaine, Sean, Frank, Cheryl, Lee, Wendy and Gordon

Sisterly Love

These two wanted to have a sleep over tonight. This is how they fell asleep - I love it when the love each other! 

Thanksgiving Tree

For Family Home Evening the Monday before Thanksgiving we made a Thankful Tree. It was fun to try to think of all the things that we were thankful for. We missed several, but we had a lot of leaves on our tree. I have so much to be thankful for. My list doesn't end. 

Anastyn's are the cute ones with scribbles, I tried to translate a few of them.  Taeya was awesome and wrote her own.  My girls are getting so big.

Breaking Dawn Part 2

Heather came into town a few days after her birthday. We had to celebrate with a girls night out. We went to dinner at Brick Oven and to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. I wasn't expecting much from this movie so I had a great time and enjoyed myself. It was so fun to be with great friends. Wish we could do it more often. 

Heather, Noelle, Me, Becca, Mary, and Alyson