Christmas

Christmas morning:

Santa came...

...for Mikelle

...and Jonah

...and Tyrel

(p.s. I got all of Tyrel's toys on craigslist and ebay for $20 TOTAL)

Jonah loves his Wonder Pets

Mikelle loves her make-up kit

Rachel patiently waiting to open her presents

playing the musical instruments

playing Connect 4

Mikelle got a black wig to go with her hair care kit

(her hair care kit is just a toy kit with a straightener, hair dryer, curling iron, ect.)

...naturally, everyone had to try on the wig...

Ken

Matt

Kylee

Cheryl

Mikelle with her wig and hair care stuff

Tyrel with his slippers

On Christmas, we got to talk to my brother Michael who is on a mission in Eugene, Oregon.

This is us setting up the video chat to talk to him

Aaron didn't have a computer available to do a video chat, so we had to put the two phones on speaker phone for awhile so Aaron and Kayla could also talk to Michael...so this is Aaron and Michael talking to each other.

and when we did get the video chat working, this is Michael. He is doing very well and loves it there. He said that he "used to be a punk who played xbox all day and wasted his time." Who is this kid? Aaron is talking on the phone by the side of the computer.

Making rolls for Christmas dinner

Christmas Dinner

The kids playing the Kinect at the Vincents house (they were playing the rafting game where you have to jump over stuff)

Lana, Mikelle, Lucas, and Jonah

Mikelle asked Grandpa to make her an elephant out of playdough...

...and I thought he did a really good job.

Me on Christmas

Chuls reading her new Christmas book

Christmas Eve

We made the trip to Utah to celebrate Christmas. Here are our pictures from Christmas Eve:

Jonah coloring with ALL his markers at the same time

Rachel, Mikelle, and Dad making chimes for our Christmas Eve program

Grandma and Mikelle making snowflakes

Keith with his hot chocolate

Me and Tyrel decorating gingerbread cookies

Tyrel loves his cookie

Mikelle and Rachel decorating a gingerbread house

Jonah and his gingerbread man, which is really just a pile of sugar

Matt watching the football game

Jack

Jack, Keith, and Heidi

Tyrel and Grandpa

Mikelle with her finished house

Tyrel, Jonah, and Jack with matching Mickey Mouse pjs

Reading the night before Christmas book

We had a fun Christmas Eve. We decorated gingerbread men cookies, my Dad spent hours making chimes (that didn't work), but we figured it out so we can play the on New Year's Eve; Mikelle sang a solo Christmas song, and we opened one present. Christmas Day pictures coming soon.

Mikelle's Preschool Christmas Party

Thursday was Mikelle's Christmas preschool party. The parents could come for the last hour and participate with the kids in different centers the teachers had set up. The centers included cookie decorating, decorating foam christmas trees, making candy canes out of beads and pipe cleaner, ect. The kids also sang a few songs they had been working on, which I REALLY wish I could have recorded, but pictures will have to do. Here are the pictures:

Mikelle in her Christmas outfit all ready to go, complete with Christmas bows and necklace made by Grandma Cheryl.

Decorated cookie

Decorated foam tree

Candy cane bead ornament

Mikelle with her class and teacher singing

Saying goodbye to Miss Sylvia, it was her last semester there

Mikelle and Kara (her "best friend")

Mikelle and Boston. It was Boston's last day of preschool since the Knowles are moving to Utah. Mikelle told me "everyone at preschool will really miss Boston."

Mikelle with Ms. Carol

Right before the Knowles left to move, saying goodbye.

Cute random picture, playing with a train track set. One day at the park a lady came up to me and said she had a bag of boy clothes Jonah could have. She just called me again and said she had more clothes and some toys. She gave me two trash bags of clothes, two boxes of legos, and this train set. The kids have been in heaven. (awesome lady btw, I love her)