Christmas Eve 2011

After a little convincing, Tim got me to agree to take a trip out to CA for Christmas.  I'm so glad we did.  We had a great time.  We started Christmas Eve off by going out to dinner at The Whole Enchilada (a family favorite.)  Stew, Kristine, and their kids and of course the Grandparents came too.  We'd never gone to dinner for Christmas Eve but I highly recommend it.  No cooking and no clean up.  Nice and relaxing after all the time we had to take to prepare for the trip - packing, wrapping, making gifts, practicing for the Christmas music program, etc.  I don't know if we'll ever go out to eat for Christmas Eve again but it was a nice change and fun idea.

Are these cousins cute or what?

 And the "Older" end of the table. 

 Bunny ears never get old.

After dinner was the traditional open one gift on Christmas Eve time.  Abuela got the girls some new jammies.  The Van Buskirk cousins got to open some too.

McKenna lovin' her some pink.

 Does this guy look happy to have a houseful of kids?

 Liv

 You can definitely tell who the ham is in this family.

 And the bigger ham!

 It's Pajama Time!

 One last special gift for the night.  Maya has been missing the snow now that we are in Tucson.  Seriously going through withdrawals.  We tried to help her feel less homesick by giving her a can of snow.  Look at the joy on her face.

Last Birthday of the Year - Maya turns 9.

Maya turned 9 in December.  I can hardly believe how quickly the years go by.  These girls are growing so fast and becoming beautiful young women.  For Maya's birthday she wanted to go to school.  They were having a movie night in the gym.  It turned out for a cheap birthday party.  We went to dinner at Casa Sanchez - a mexican restaurant that is pretty much across the street from the school.  We brought the presents and she opened them at the restaurant and then headed over to the school.  The girls had a good time.  Then we went straight home to have cake and ice cream.  Maya picked out her cake - she wanted choc. with white frosting and M&M's.

 Love this picture.  It sure catches her personality.

Christmas Concert

In December I was able to go to Colorado for my cousins wedding.  It was so much fun seeing family that I haven't seen for years.  I left the camera for Tim so that he could get pictures of the girls.  While I was gone they had their Christmas concert at school.  I was so disappointed that I was missing them.  Maya and Olivia both were involved.  They sang with their classes.  The school band (it's an after school club that meets once a week) performed also.  Olivia was invited to perform in a small group since she was one of a few kids that had really been practicing.  I am so proud of her.  She has real natural talent for music and I'm so glad she enjoys it.

 Maya is in the red.

Olivia turns ELEVEN!

Our sweet Olivia turned 11 in November.  It was a Sunday so after church, Olivia opened gifts and Tim made a great dinner.  She asked for Spaghetti and Meatballs - I was just planning on buying some frozen meatballs and a jar of sauce but you know Tim.  He wouldn't have any of that so it was homemade meatballs and sauce for the special day.  Liv also asked for a cream cheese pumpkin roll that she had for a previous birthday.  I completely forgot that we had made it before but luckily we found the recipe.

Here's the birthday girl opening presents.

Updating the Rental

Our rental didn't have enough cupboards. We had a blank wall between two windows and above a counter.  So my sweet husband made me some shelves and we went from this. . .

 . . . to this!

FABULOUS!

Ninja McKenna

One day this girl was going crazy.  I don't know if it's something she ate or what.  But she was Out of Control.  She also learned that the more she did it the more we laughed.  We can all thank Olivia for getting it on film.

YW in Excellence

At church each year, they have a special program for the girls ages 12 to 18.  This year the girls had to dress up in formals and they were brought in on the red carpet.  The young men were willing to escort the girls into the room.  I couldn't believe how old Alexa looked.  Reality hit that this girl is growing up.

Halloween!

Our ward didn't have a trunk or treat this year so Tim took the girls around the neighborhood and then we went to a neighborhood where a family that we knew the first time we lived in Tucson was having a dance party in their cul de sac.  It was pretty fun.  I think now that my kids know more people it will be more fun for them next year.

Here's McKenna.  If this costume looks familiar it's because it is.  She wore it last year and wanted to be Jessie again this year.  I couldn't complain - way easy for me.

 Olivia wanted to be Smurfette.  I kept putting her off trying to convince her to be something that we already had. No go.  So the day of the school fall festival I through together this little number.  Not bad for 1 1/2 of work.  She loved it and that's all that matters.

 Don't ask!  This girl wanted to be a gangster.  I got fed up with the saggy pants and made her pull them up so the gangster look didn't go very far.

 Maya, the Pirate.  Another hand me down costume.  The advantage of having all girls!



McKenna's Blog debut!

McKenna LOVES to sing.  I can't express how much she loves to sing.  The older she gets, the more songs she learns, the more she sings.  One day she was singing this song (back in October) and I was loving how she was saying "sun shine".  I need to record her singing more since she seems to enjoy it so much.

Al's Birthday - #14! Seriously!?

So, I didn't realize I have been so behind on this blog.  My parents and Tim's parents came down for Tim's new calling at church and it happened to be the day before Alexa's birthday.  Since everyone had to get back home we decided to celebrate Al's birthday a day early. 

Here's the crowd waiting to open presents.

Grandpa Gibb.  Does this look like the face of someone ready to party?

Abuela, Grumps, and Maya

Livie & Maya gave Alexa her favorite gift.

This girl LOVES her nutella.

My sweet sister sent me these incredible honey wheat pretzels that we used to buy at Aldi.  Alexa wanted some of my pretzels and I wanted some of her nutella and so of course we came up with a great plan. 

 YUMMY!

 The Birthday Girl!

 She got new basketball clothes.  Her shirt says These Guns are Loaded.  Her dad thought that would be perfect for her.

As you can tell from these photos Alexa is growing to be such a fun sweet young lady.  She makes us laugh and we are so proud of her.  She makes good choices and chooses good friends.  She is a great example to her little sisters.  Love her!