My sisters, my mom and my friend Liz threw a great baby shower for me.  I am so grateful for all the friends and family who came.  We had a great time.

 Isabelle and Liz

 Fun game time

 Erin and her little baby Bruce, only two months old

 Cute decorations and party favors (bath balls)

 Olivia, Alicia, Lisa, me, and Charlotte

Thank you everyone for coming and making it a special night and helping me get ready for my baby boy!

Another side of Christmas, Anya Noelle

We can't talk about Christmas without a spotlight on our best Christmas present, Anya Noelle.  Anya turned 2 on Christmas day.  We are still looking for a way to make sure she feels special on her birthday.  This year for her birthday we celebrated on Christmas Eve.  We had a little party for her at Chuck E Cheese, just like she wanted.  Carol and her girls were in town, so it made it extra special.  Anya was so excited and thrilled to be 2!

 Baby Bruce even made it to the party, he was quite the hit!

 Addison playin' a little air hockey

 Tickets galore!

The boys even had a little fun!

Our little Anya is such a joy in our life.  She is full of energy.  The little lady thinks that she is in charge of the house and she will proudly tell you so.  There is rarely a moment of silence when Anya is in the room, she just keeps talking and talking and talking.  We always joke and say that you know when she has fallen asleep because she finally stops talking.  She always has something funny to say.  She loves playing with her big sister and doing everything she does, although she is a lot more cautious than Isabelle when it comes to trying new adventures.  She is our best eater.  Broccoli is one of her favorite foods.  She is one of those rare kids who will eat her veggies before everything else.  Anya just potty trained right before her birthday.  She took a little longer than Isabelle, probably cause she is so stubborn, but she did it and now we are diapers free for a few more months!  She loves to dance and sing and play dress ups.  She follows in the footsteps of her sister and loves everything princess, from dressing up, to watching movies to make believe.  Her favorite princess is Snow White, with Pocahontas coming in a close second.  We just adore our little Anya and are so grateful for her in our lives.

Christmas Festivities

Like many, we had an action packed Christmas Holiday. Typically we kick off the Christmas Holiday the day after Thanksgiving by going and getting our Christmas tree, but this year we were too excited to wait. The tent for the Christmas trees went up two weeks before Thanksgiving. Isabelle saw it as we drove by and remembered right away, that that was where we get our Christmas trees. On Isabelle's birthday they started selling the trees. We held out 2 more days and then broke down. We couldn't wait any longer! Oh how we love getting our tree and decorating for Christmas!

Isabelle had her first school Christmas program.  We were so proud of her singing up on the stage.  She is so animated and full of life, I think she was born to perform.  

O Christmas Tree

Looking for the perfect Christmas tree.

Gotta love the sticky mess of candy canes!

The girls had a fun time at the ward Christmas party, especially playing up on the stage. I'm not sure what it is about kids and a stage, but they all love it.

Cookie Time

Of course on Christmas eve we kept to tradition and decorated Christmas cookies.  I think Anya did more eating than decorating.

Traditional Christmas Eve party at Brad's mom's house

Christmas Morning

The girls didn't ask for a lot for Christmas, but what they did ask for was very specific.  They both wanted a Care Bear stuffed animal, Share Bear and Cheer Bear.  Simple enough, right?  Wrong!  Little did I know they don't sell Care Bears in stores anymore, just online.  In early December I ordered both the girls' bears on eBay.  After 2 weeks I checked to see the status on the order and saw that there was a note that the seller was out of town and the bears would arrive in January.  What???  That wouldn't work!  So I put in a request to cancel the order and in the meantime I ordered new bears on Amazon for about triple the price, but time was running out.  After placing the new order I got an email back from the eBay seller saying he was in China and had sent the bears and they should be here in time.  I got them soon after.  The bears were a lot smaller than I had envisioned, but they were the right bears and they were cute.  Then the order came in from Amazon.  The bear for Anya was perfect!  It was big and just like I had envisioned, but Isabelle's bear was completely the wrong one.  I called Amazon and they put in a new order to get me the right bear.  I got it on the 23rd and again, they sent the wrong bear!  I was so frustrated and upset since I knew there wasn't enough time to order again.  I couldn't very well give Anya the nice big bear and Isabelle get the smaller bear from the China order.  So I decided I would just return all the Amazon bears and keep the smaller ones.  It all worked out and the girls loved their bears.  

Another one of Anya's favorite presents was her Snow White doll  She loves Snow White and didn't even want to open up any more presents after she saw the doll.

Isabelle had seen a ballet outfit at Costco that she liked so Anya got it for her.

The day after Christmas we went to Ma's house for her annual Christmas party.  It's always wonderful to be there with family.

We love the Christmas season and the joy that comes with it.  We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior and his love for each of us.  We can't wait for the next Christmas season!