Seeing Santa

We spent Christmas Eve with Sean's family this year. We had such a great time. My mother-in-law makes the best soups, all the kids put on a nativity scene (which is always hilarious), and we had a special visitor (Santa).

I truly think Paxton was thinking, "What in the world is going on here and who in the heck are you?"

Brynlee definitely had a much better experience with Santa Claus this year. All night she kept telling me "I didn't cry, Mommy." I was so proud of her!!

Taylee is always my little princess. She has always LOVED Santa Claus and has gone bouncing up to his lap every year. And when I look at this picture all I can think is "Holy smokes, when did she get so tall and where did she get those long legs from???"

And for an ending, here is me loving my sweet little baby :-) And seriously, how could you not kiss those cheeks? He is so stink'n cute!!

Christmas Pajamas

Christmas would not be Christmas without everyone recieving a pair of pjs for Christmas Eve. It is a tradition that I had as a child that I LOVE! Before heading off to Grandpa and Grandma Kress's house we put our Christmas stockings out, placed a plate of cookies for Santa by the fireplace and opened our Christmas PJs. My kids are so cute and were so excited for Christmas Eve.



Taylee is such a sweetheart and her excitement is contagious!




Brynlee copies everything that Taylee does and was so happy that she got pajamas that matched Taylee's. She kept saying "We the same!"



If Paxton could talk, I think this is what he would say...

"Yes, I got a present!"

"This present tastes awful!"

"Seriously daddy? This is what the whole fuss was about?"

And I have lots more pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that I will post later. We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent tons of time with family. We rocked out to Guitar Hero. And Taylee gave me the best Christmas gift on Christmas Eve that I will have to share on a later post :-)

Christmas Eve Story

This Christmas I worried about my children being "spoiled". I wanted them to understand the true meaning of Christmas. This does not always seem easy when at every turn the world is focused on presents and Santa Claus and what children are going to 'get' for Christmas. Now, please don't misunderstand me. There is something so sweet and innocent in the way my children glow as they feel that Christmas "magic" of Santa and the excitement of Christmas Eve. I love seeing this. But I want them to also have a foundation filled with the peace and joy that comes from celebrating the birth of our Savior.
This year we tried to help them focus on what they could 'give' for Christmas. Both of the girls had to earn "stars" from doing extra chores. With these stars they were able to go out and buy presents for each other and for Mommy and Daddy. Taylee loved this and she very willingly helped me with vacuuming, doing dishes, watching Paxton while I was showering, etc. We also tried to put more thought into the gifts that we gave to other people. For one very special set of grandparents, we reproduced a fairy-tale that I remember my grandmother reading to me as a child whenever I slept over at their house. My kids acted out the parts as I took pictures and using Shutterfly we made a book for them. We also blew up a picture from our Oregon trip of Sean and Taylee walking on the beach, framed and matted it and put the 'footprints' poem on it for Sean's parents and my parents. The girls loved giving these gifts.
I still worried. And then came Christmas Eve. And Taylee gave me the best Chrsitmas gift she could give me...
Ealier in the week I had been talking to another mother and she was feeling so badly that she couldn't give her daughter what she wanted for Christmas. When this mother asked her daughter the question of "What if Santa can't bring that?" the child broke down crying and responded that she must have been on the naughty list then. This broke this mother's heart (and mine as well when I heard it).
Please don't think that I thought this child was spoiled because of her answer because I don't. But it made me wonder how my children would respond to the same question.
Taylee had only asked for 2 things for Christmas. A 3 Musketeer Barbie Doll and the Prince. On Christmas Eve, in the midst of the fun and activities of Grandma and Grandpa Kress's house Taylee was sitting on my lap and I asked her "What if Santa doesn't bring you those presents?"
My sweet little girl thought about it for a moment and then smiled as she said, "That's ok. I like surprises!"
My heart melted and my eyes filled with tears as I hugged her to me. She had made my Christmas.

Gotta Love It...

When you walk out to the freezer in the garage and when you come back in your children come running while yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" and then stop and say, "Oh, its just you." OUCH!!
I then chased them through the living room and tickled them until they told me they loved me :-)

Christmas Lights

Last night we took the girls out to Iona to see the amazing light show at the Hendricks House (I think that was the name...). They have set up all their lights to music. It is AWESOME!!! I would highly recommend it to anyone in the Idaho Falls area or anyone who will be up here during the evenings.
Its a bit busy so be prepared to wait. We had to park on the side of the house for a couple minutes before there were spots open in the front of the house. Taylee sat on my lap the whole time and kept whispering (in that sweet five-year-old awe) "Mommy, this is so cool!"
For anyone interested in going it is out by the Iona Rd/45th East intersection (it is a subdivision off of Iona Rd, two roads east of 45th). There are so many lights and it is hard to miss :-). Enjoy!

Lost Camera Found

I finally found the adaptor for my camera so here are some add-on posts from the past few months.

Guitar Hero

Sean bought himself an early Christmas present...Guitar Hero. Our family has loved it! Even (or maybe I should say especially) Taylee and Brynlee. Taylee is actually really good at the beginner level and can outscore both Sean and me when we are on the medium level. Here are some pics of my two guitar babes.

Let It Snow!

Taylee and Brynlee have been so excited about the snow. I have not let them go out and play since it has turned so cold but we are all hoping it warms up a bit next week so we can try out our new sleds! But here are some pics from a few weeks ago of my little snow angels!

Taylee is starting her snowman. She was determined to make one. It turned out pretty cute until the girls decided to demolish it :-(

Here is my Bryns...I'm not sure if she can really see or not through the hat that is around her nose

Thanksgiving Preschool Presentation

Taylee has loved her preschool. I struggled with sending her anywhere, but I searched and searched until I found a preschool that I really liked. Her teacher is amazing and loves the kids that she teaches. Taylee has learned sign language and tons of songs. She brings crafts home every day that she has done, and she has made alot of friends who will be going to school with her next year. But most importantly, she loves her teacher and is so excited to go to kindergarten next year!!!

Cruise Pictures

Dominica was a beautiul island. We got to go "River Rafting" through the rainforest. Not only was the water and scenery beautiful, but the guides were full of fun, constantly getting into splashing wars with each other and all of the guests. Sean loved this part, and I loved watching the guides gang up on him :-)

Pictures and Teeth

Paxton's first tooth finally came in! He has been a drooling mess for about a month and I am so happy to see that little white bugger sticking out of his gums! Just one more to go...for now at least :-)

Here's my happy drooling baby wearing his first beany (sorry about the fuzzy picture. My phone is always a lot closer than my camera)

I had to add in this cute pic of Paxton falling asleep in his high chair. I was trying to keep him awake til 7 so he could just go to bed and this is what happened. Oh well, he still slept through the night.

6 Month Check-Up

Paxton had his 6 month appt last week and he is a MONSTER baby! But I love it! He smiles all the time, sleeps for at least 16 hours of the day, and is one of the happiest babies I've ever been around! In fact, a couple weeks ago in relief society I was sitting in the front row and he jsut grinned and cooed at the teacher and the chorister. They both came up to me afterwards asking to hold him. He's already quite the ladies man!

At the appt he was 22 lbs 5 oz! That put him in the 97th percentile (but at least he was still on the chart, right?). He was also 28 inches long, in the 90th percentile. And I didn't even ask about the head measurement (it runs in Sean's family for these babies to have HUGE heads).

He's already quite the mover too. I have to be careful where I put him down at because he can manuever himself to get to places that are close by. His favorite place is the tile floor in our kitchen and entryway. It takes him about 5 seconds to get to it and then he just laughs and pats it (until he rolls again and hits his head on it and then he's just mad).

He's so much fun and I feel very blessed that I have had such good babies.

Looking in the Mirror

Taylee is so much fun! I can't believe how much my little girl has grown in the past year. She is my little helper, always searching for ways to help me. In fact, her enthusiasm yesterday in putting up our Christmas tree and making sugar cookies cured me of my "Scroogitis" that I was feeling. I always love Christmas and I am grateful for a cute little girl who takes after me and reminds me of why I love it so much. She even told me the story of the birth of Christ as we put out my nativity. She is amazing!

Enough of my mommy-moment. Here's the mirror story:

Today at Church I went with Taylee into the restroom. She wants to do everything by herself but has come to the conclusion that I have to go with her into the church restroom because she cannot reach the soap on her own. I love this bathroom in our new building because there are full length mirrors on the wall. Today as we walked by it I said, "Taylee, do you see how cute you are?" She stopped and walked back to the mirror to look at herself. After a moment, her response was "Wow!" Needless to say, both I and the other woman in the restroom started laughing.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everytime we looked at ourselves in the mirror we thought "Wow!"?

Raking Leaves

Yesterday I took the kids to Blackfoot to see Grandpa and Grandma. They have been in Arkansas over the past week and all my kids have missed them! While my parents watched the babies, my sister and I took our kids out to rake leaves. They were all such good troopers and we had so much fun. Taylee is a hard worker and didnt' stop until it was done. Bryns and Asher...well, they entertained us :-)

Brynlee's 1st Real Haircut

To start, I have to say that I can't cut straight. I try to cut Taylee's bangs and it always look awful. Last week I straightened Brynlee's hair out and realized that it was REALLY long (past her shoulder blades) . Her hair has never been really cut so she still had those baby layers with the front being shorter than the back, etc.
Taylee needed a haircut also, so I took both girls in to get there hair cut. The stylist recommeded for Bryns to simply get her hair evened out. It turned out pretty short. But she looks so adorable and she did a great job at the salon. The stylist kept making comments that she couldn't believe that a 2 year old could sit still for that long...yeah, I couldn't believe it either.


Brynlee wasn't so sure about the whole expreience...


Taylee's first time getting her hair washed like this




The girls both did a great job and their hair turned out really cute, but the entire way home I kept thinking "I really miss Nicole." Yep, just one more thing to add the list of Why We Miss The Heningers :-)

Paxton's Firsts

First time eating rice cereal...

Going in......and coming back out:-)

First time sitting up by himself (at least for long enough for me to take a picture)

And The Big Finale of Paxton's Firsts... (drumroll please)

Halloween 2009

Here are my cute little monsters! Black cat, green monster, and a witch.

Taylee looked way too grown up with her make-up on! I am worried :-) Bryns :-)

Ward Party

We took the kids to our ward Halloween Party. They got to try cotton candy, got their faces painted, received LOTS of candy, and played tons of games. Too say the least, they had a blast!
This was Brynlee's first time doing a cake walk. I told her that she needed to walk on the pictures and then stop when the music stopped. I have NEVER seen her concentrate so hard as she did trying to stay on those pictures.

Taylee also did the cake walk, but she was a pro and looked up to get her picture taken :-)

Paxton enjoyed the party too :-). He's such a party animal!

Taylee found the golfing game and didn't want to leave.

Brynlee played the wack-a-scout game (which is exactly what it sounds like), but she was too busy laughing to really hit any of the young men.

Pumpkin Patch

I think the Red Barn is becoming a family tradition for our family. A couple weeks ago we took the kids there for Family Home Evening. They each got to pick out a couple pumpkins (of course Bryns kept picking ones that were bigger than she was), wander through the little corn/straw bale maze, and then they were able to ride around the field on a little train.

Taylee loved the maze. She made it through as fast as she could and then she came back and helped Brynlee. She is such a good big sister!
Brynlee was so cute and kept getting lost, but she just continued to smile until Taylee found her and helped her to the end.

Riding on the train

They loved the train ride. I have to admit though that I was freaking out the entire time. There were no side rails and I truly thought that Brynlee was going to fall out the side. I was very grateful when they returned to the barn :-)

Just Cute

Brynlee is with her cousin Asher. They were born only a day apart and are the best of friends. They are so much a like it is like they are twins. And if you sit them next to each other and look at their eyes, they have the EXACT eye color as each other.

Caribbean Cruise

We are back! It has been such a long time since I blogged, but I have a very good reason why I was slacking... I was in the nice, hot, beautiful 90 degreee Caribbean :-) heehee
We had such a great time! We cruised out of Puerto Rico to Aruba, Curacaou, Dominica, and St Thomas. It was perfect with four days in ports and two days at sea doing nothing. In fact, I think I enjoyed the vacation a bit too much because I gained 6 pounds in a week! Oh well, those virgin pina-coladas and extra desserts were SOOOO worth it.
Here are some highlights from our trip....

Stupid Things We Did
-we almost missed our flight from Atlanta to San Juan because we FELL ASLEEP! Our flight out of Salt Lake was at midnight and we were so tired. We got to Atlanta and had a couple hours so we snuggled into our chairs. I woke to Sean poking me. I looked around at what had been a full terminal to see no one else around. We looked over at the boarding gate to see the sign flashing "Final Boarding" and the two Delta people watching us. Whoops!
-I fell asleep while laying out on the deck the first day. It wouldn't have been a bad thing except I had my big-honkin sunglasses on. Let's just say I had raccoon eyes for a couple days til I could even out the color.
-The tour in Curacou was horrible!! The tour guide barely spoke English and told us about Social Security for 20 minutes. Plus, we ended up at a liquor factory where everybody got completely drunk...
-Sean playing in the game "The Quest." I have been sworn to secrecy, but lets just say that on our last cruise he was hypnotized and did quite the Michael Jackson impersonation. Being hypnotized was NOTHING compared to "The Quest," but you'll have to ask him yourself because there are some images that as a wife you just want to forget...
-While snorkeling in Aruba, Sean used an SPF 50 spray. The spray did not mist like we thought. Instead it simply left crisscross lines acrossed his back. He has quite an interesting sunburn :-)

Fun Things We Did
-snorkeling in Aruba. The boat that we road to the snorkeling places was built in 1905. We got to snorkel over a sunken WWII German ship called the Antilla. And then we got to swing out over the ocean on ropes from the ship. It was so much fun but salt water is AWFUL! Bleh!
-Murder Mystery onboard the cruise ship. Some of the acting was pretty bad, but it was a lot of fun even though both of us got the murderer wrong. Oh well.
-Hato Caves in Curacao (this was the only good part of the HORRIBLE tour). Here are some pics.

Can you see the pirate face?

If I look a bit frenzied it is because there were a bunch of little bats (about the size of mice) flying around us. Yuck.

-River Rafting through the rainforest of Dominica. It was beautiful and SO much fun.

-Going through a little bit of Old San Juan. There was a fort that was built in the 1600s that I could have spent an entire day at. The old city had a European feeling to it with the cobbled roads and the colonial architecture. I will definitely be going back to San Juan!

-Laying out, listening to "The Hunger Games," drinking my virgin pina-colada :-)

Here are some random pics and when I find our other camera I will add in more pictures:-)

Sean and Paxton

Paxton is such a cutie! He is always laughing and smiling at everything and everybody. He spent the last week with my parents while Sean and I were on vacation. My mom said that she didn't even get a chance to hold him during church because all of the ladies wanted him. He just laughed and "talked" with everybody.
Here are some cute pics of Paxton and his daddy just playing. He is a little daddy's boy:-)

Happy Birthday Taylee (cont!)

I just found more pictures from Taylee's birthday and I had to add them in. She had so much fun.