More Christmas in Arizona

The Nativity Scene


Tessa being a little shy, opening presents

Kaden and his favorite Christmas toy from Grandma and Grandpa Ricedorff

Tessa and her cousin Kate

An awesome nerf gun

The day after Christmas, we left for a week in Arizona. This was the first night we were there, opening presents. I can't believe I didn't get a single picture with the kids and Grandma and Grandpa. Urgghhh! The nativity scene was adorable. The funny part was watching Tessa, trying to put baby Jesus in the manger, gently, and ended up throwing it down. Ooops!

Christmas 2009

Dress-up Clothes

A dress from Grandmother

Kaden and his remote control car

The night before, we left Christmas cookies, and Strawberry milk (Kaden's favorite), out for Santa Claus. We read some Christmas stories and the story in the scriptures of the birth of Jesus, had lots of hot chocolate, and delicious food. It was so nice to sit by the fire, and have Christmas music going. Christmas morning the kids were so nice to us, and patiently waited for us to wake up all the way. I loved hearing the stories of hearing the reindeer and that they thought they heard Santa coming down the chimney. We took the traditional picture on the stairs, and then went to town on all the pictures. It was fun for Kaden to be able to read who the presents were for, and pass them out. I made a really yummy breakfast casserole that we ate after presents. We played all day with Mario Kart, Kaden's favorite present. Tessa got a dress-up box, filled with dresses, play jewelry, and shoes. She kept busy with that all day, changing and then changing again, giving us a fashion show. We had a big dinner feast, with all the fixings, and then went and saw Princess and the Frog, Christmas night. It was the perfect Christmas day. The only thing that would've made it better, was to see the Chelius side of the family that day, as we were going to see the Ricedorff side the next day. Next year.

Sunday Christmas Pictures

What a handsome little boy

Pretty girl

Kaden took this picture!

Silly Faces

Our "Mean faces"

Love this picture!

The kids looked so cute that day. I love when they are in their Sunday best. So we have all kinds of little family sayings, or funny little things we do together. Some of the silly faces were things our kids always want to do. They always want to make silly faces, mean faces, surprise faces, and sad faces. The last picture is my favorite. Those little cuties were having so much fun.

Santa Pictures, Lights, and Christmas Cookies

This was the coolest house. They offered cotton candy and popcorn for free to everyone, as you checked out their awesome Christmas lights.

Making the cookies

Going to see Santa with our friend, Lindsey

We all love Christmas time so much! It is the best time of the year. We love to drive around and see Christmas lights. Every night Kaden and Tessa wanted to go see more Christmas lights. We drove a little ways, out to this amazing housing development, where everyone decked out their homes and yards. We made Christmas cookies for tons of people. I should have gotten some pictures of the finished product, and the kids decorating. We always made tons and tons of loaves of chocolate chip banana bread. We took our neighbor friend, Lindsey with us, to drop off plates of cookies to friends, and went to see another neighborhood Santa that was free.

Kaden's School Christmas Party

Singing cute Christmas songs. My favorite was, All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth


Kaden and his teacher

He was so excited for his party all week. They had a bunch of stations, and played different games, and were able to decorate cookies. I was able to volunteer that day. I was in charge of one of the games.We also had a cookie exchange. Everyone had to bring enough cookies for each person in the class, and then we split them all up, so everyone got one of each. We came home with lots of goodies that day. I wasn't able to get very many pictures of Kaden at his party because of being a volunteer. I was kept very busy. It was so much fun.

Tessa's Preschool Christmas Party

Making a necklace

The finished product

Tessa, and her preschool teacher

This was soooo cute! They started by singing a bunch of songs for the parents. Then they were able to make ornaments, a necklace, and a little edible snowman face. It was fun to be at her school, and share this fun day with her.

Ballet and Tap Class

They had a little mini Christmas performance. Such a cute and fun age to watch them all dance. Tessa is all girl, and loves every minute of this class.

Boat Parade

Picture did not turn out well. The boats were really great.

Silly Faces

Every year, in Newport Beach they have a boat parade. I have never been. It was a lot of fun. We took blankets, and chairs, a Costco pizza, and ate in the sand. Some people really go all out. And some of the sizes of those boats were unreal! To top off our fun night, we locked our keys in the car. $110 later, we have wised up, and gotten roadside assistance. It was a great night.

Another Kind of Santa Claus

We did this with our good friends, the Waldrons. I'm not even sure how to spell it. This Santa is called Seenter Claus. He comes on a horse, and we put carrots in one of each of the kids shoes outside. Then he brings a present outside where your shoe was left. The kids had a blast doing this with their friends. I love this age. Everything is so exciting for them! On top of that, we made some really yummy soup, and had some dessert.

We also found a little time to get to Disneyland. We have annual passes, and haven't been for a while. We love that place! Especially this time of year, when it is way less crowded. Tessa is tall enough to go on a couple of semi=bigger rides. It was fun to go on Thunder Mountain all together. I also took Kaden on Indiana Jones. That was pretty cool. He wasn't so sure of it. He thought it was a little bit scary.

I tried to get Kaden to take a picture with one of the characters, but he refuses. He's just not into them.

The Polar Express

So I don't love these pictures, but I have to include them! My kids love this every year. It is our third time we have done this, since we moved here. The best part about it is that it is absolutely free! They take you on a train ride, you can meet Santa and take picture, decorate cookies, and do other little crafts.

A Visit From The Tooth Fairy

Kaden came to me a while ago, and told me his tooth was loose. I looked in his mouth, and realized he was getting his two permanent teeth already, behind his baby teeth. I didn't realize they could do that. They day he lost his first tooth, it was so loose. He kept asking me every two seconds when he was going to lose it. It's the cool thing, to have that spacey smile. That night while we were geting ready for bed, I asked Kaden to come see me so I could see how his tooth was doing. He had already lost it, and had no idea. Apparently he swallowed it! How? There must have been a serious crunch in one of his bites. He was worried that he didn't have his tooth for the tooth fairy. I told Kaden not to worry, that the Tooth Fairy was magic, and he knows how to find his little tooth. We wrote a little letter to the Tooth Fairy:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I can't find my tooth. I think I might have swallowed it. I know you can find it. Please leave me a Tooth Fairy surprise.

Love,

Kaden

The Tooth Fairy wrote back in response:

Dear Kaden,

I found your tooth. Don't worry. You are a good boy. I want you to take care of your teeth, and brush them every day.

Love,

Tooth Fairy

He was so excited to wake up and find a note and $2 under his pillow.

He also lost his other tooth last week. Kaden and Tessa are sharing a room right now. They were having a hard time settling down for sleep. I come upstairs to find out what was going on, and Kaden had lost his other tooth. He told me Tessa pulled out his tooth! What?! Maybe she'll be a dentist one day. I asked him why she pulled out his tooth, and he said, "I didn't care." They were on the ground looking under the bed for the tooth that Dentist Tessa had pulled out.

Going Skating

Getting ready for their first time skating

Holding hands, skating. Seriously, so cute!

For family night, a couple of weeks back, we decided to go skating. Our kids were so excited. I didn't realize how hard it would be to keep them from falling. I thought as long as we were holding their hands, it would be pretty easy. It took us forever to go around the rink. Someone told us we could ask for some more kid friendly skates, the kind they wear their shoes inside. IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER! Kaden decided he was able to do the regular kind of skates, and full on took me down to the ground with him. I had a bruise and a sore knee for a week. Needless to say, I fell hard. Kind of funny. They loved it. Can't wait to do it again.

Let It Snow!

Lets just state the obvious, Southern California doesn't get snow. Atleast not where we live. We went to Flagstaff, AZ, for literally 24 hours. There and back. A little crazy. We went there to spend time with Jason's family, and support his brother's football team. We didn't think it would be this cold, and we weren't expecting it to snow. We were not prepared with warm clothes at all. Our kids and had a blast, and had snowball fights outside the hotel, until after midnight.



I had to strip them down, and put them in hot baths to warm them up. They have definetly become little California babies.

Bedtime

When my family came out for Thanksgiving, we put Kaden in Tessa's room with her. They thought it was so cool to share a room. Bedtime at our house is most nights a bit of a challenge. Once they are asleep, they are seriously past out. It's the getting to sleep that seems to take FOREVER. Once my family left, we decided to try it and see if they could share a room and actually go to sleep. The first couple of nights took forever. I would come in there, and they were playing doctor or house together. I went in to their room like I do every night, check on them and put covers on them. I had talked to them that night a couple of times about staying in their own beds, and to go to sleep. How could this be any cuter? They wanted to sleep together.

Thanksgiving

Grandma with Tessa and Kaden

Such a sweet smile

Cute little hat she made at preschool

Eating out, and the yummiest hamburgers

Me, Tessa, and Em

Quite the bike. The four of us all had pedals. Jason and I took turns driving. I will say that I wasn't the one that hit someone's fence!

My Mom and I

Thanksgiving was so great! I hadn't seen my Mom since last Thanksgiving, so I was so excited to have her here. Also, my sister, Emily, I don't see much more than that, so I was so happy to have them both with us for Thanksgiving. We played lots of games, watched movies, and did lots of talking. The Thanksgiving meal was delicious. I made my Grandmother's Sweet Potato Casserole, which tastes more like dessert. I also made a raspberry jello pretzel salad, and a pumpkin cheescake. My Mom made her homemade rolls, homemade stuffing, ambrosia, and Jason cooked the turkey, played in a turkey bowl, and took care of the kids while we cooked. As I get older I definetly appreciate all the my parents did at the holidays. Living away from everyone, cooking everything is a ton of work. My sister and I also hit the Black Friday sales bright and early. Got lots of good deals, and spent some quality time with her. I miss you guys so much! I am so thankful for my own little family, and what a joy they all are to me!