Christmas

This Christmas we spent with my parents & my sister. We drove up late Tuesday night & got there about midnight (we didn't leave until 7 so....). It was such a great Christmas & Zhara nailed it when she looked out the window & said "This is the best Christmas EVER". The girls were so much fun this year. Zhara was so excited she could barely stand it. We were all sitting around looking at the lights & the girls were playing like they were Mary & Joseph so we took the opportunity to act out the birth of Christ. It probably was the best part of all. Zhara was Mary, David was Joseph, Grandpa was the donkey Mary rode on, Alyssa & I were Shepard's & Aunt Aimee was the narrator. It was so special to see the girls be so excited & to be able to teach them what Christmas is really about.
Aunt Aimee & the girls tracked Santa with Norad all day & then when he was headed toward the USA the girls & David made a plate of cookies & they headed off to bed. After they were sleep the adults got to watch "It's A Wonderful Life", my very favorite Christmas movie.
Christmas morning we woke up to.........brace yourself........snow!! Can you believe it? In Page AZ? It was such a nice touch & we had enough for the girls to play in & David & Zhara made a snowman, after we opened presents of course. Thanks to so many people who love our girls they had lots of presents to open. It was so fun this year to watch them. It has been an amazing Christmas & the funny thing is we were really low key this year due to being on a very strict budget, but I can honestly say that I am thankful that the Lord showed us this year that really, truly Christmas is not about the presents.

Alyssa's Morning of Service

My sister has had a student for the past few months & Wed she called & asked me if I could bring Alyssa so her student could perform a test on her. So Thursday morning David took Zhara to school & I drove Alyssa to Glendale. She was so excited to do something all herself. She followed Miss Courtney & did all that she was asked to do. I'm not really sure what the test was about but she had to kick a ball & catch it (we need to work on that one) walk up stairs, draw lines & circles, stack blocks etc. The best part was at the end when she got to jump in the big ball pit & swing on one of the swings they have. She had a great time & it was fun to see where Aimee works & what she does and Alyssa enjoyed having something just about her!

Following directions

Balancing

Watching Miss Courtney score her

The ball pit

Swinging

Aunt Aimee gave me suckers!

Zhara's Christmas Party

Thursday was Zhara's Christmas party at preschool. When they came inside from their playground time Santa paid a visit & brought each child a stuffed toy. They had a star ornament with their picture on it & decorated it with snowflake stickers, they made marshmallow snowman (which got eaten almost right away) & a sock snowman. Then they sang us some Christmas songs. They had a table of snacks, which you really had to watch what you ate because the kids would take a bite & put it right back...............

Zhara was so kind in letting Alyssa help her with the crafts & Alyssa was just so excited that she got to be at school with sissy. She even sat with Zhara on the mat & sang songs with Zhara's class.

Making ornaments

Marshmallow Snowman

Sock Snowman

Waiting to sing

Christmas Lights & Party

Friday night we went to the Mesa temple with Grandpa & Grandma Burney & with some friends from our apartments. The lights were amazing & the nativity was beautiful. We listened to a Jr. High choir sing & then walked around looking at all the lights.

Saturday night Aunt Aimee came with us to our ward Christmas party. It was breakfast with Santa & so we were eating breakfast & we were supposed to show up in our PJ's, although most of the ward did not wear their PJ's, we did & had a great time. The girls got to sing Karaoke "I am a child of God" and then got to sit on Santa's lap. I have to say that it was great not having like 110 young kids in our ward because they let all the little ones go first & we were done in like 5 min.

Zhara, Alyssa & their friend Julia

Lights at the temple

The Nativity

Breakfast with Santa

The girls with Santa...no crying this year from Alyssa (although last year was classic)

Out of the mouths of babes

Tonight we were drinking hot chocolate (because it was under 50 degrees can you believe it?) and we were all sitting around the girl's princess table in the kitchen & Zhara said "Mom's not smart" David says what? (as he's laughing) and she says "She can't figure things out" I thought I was going to blow hot chocolate out my nose, which would not have been pleasant. That started a conversation about how smart I am, but Zhara was pretty sure she was smarter than me. The mind of a 4 year old.....................

Christmas Activities

Like everyone, the few weeks before Christmas is filled with activity. Saturday night we went to the Parade of Lights. It was fun this year because the girls were both old enough to LOVE the lights & enjoyed the whole hour of parade & it was beautiful...in the mid 60's, which I can't complain about.

Playing Santa's workshop with Daddy (they were elves building the toys for little children)

Sunday Zhara had her Christmas pageant for school & she was an angel. It was a little chaotic with over 60 preschoolers, but it was cute. They sang songs, which included Away In a Manger & Silent Night (Zhara's favorite). She had taken off most of her outfit before the program was over because it was "scratchy" but she had a good time. Grandma Burney & Aunt Aimee got to be there with us, which is always fun. Here are a few pictures of our weekend activities for Christmas.

Zhara & her friend Layla

Zhara's class lined up & ready to go

Putting Up The Tree

First I would like to say it is December 3rd and this is the garden center (outside) at Lowes!

Monday night we went to Lowes & bought our Christmas tree. I have to say it was a little strange to be wearing flip flops & a T-shirt buying our Christmas tree. The girls are wearing long sleeves & pants, only because they were new clothes from Grandma & they insisted on wearing them. We had a lot of fun putting the tree up & here are a few pictures of our Family Home Evening...preparing for Christmas:

The "tree"...much smaller than we usually get but it's one of those years right?

The girls nativity set that plays away in a manger at least 10 times a day :)

Getting the decorations ready

Aunt Aimee

Our family

Our girls

Holidays Make The Time Fly

This time of year seems to get so busy & fly by so fast, which in a way makes me sad because it is the time of year that I want to savor the most.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at my parents house this year & it was the most relaxing Thanksgiving I think I've ever had. We did nothing but eat, watch football & relax. I think I gained at least 5 pounds. It was a great time. It was 15 degrees cooler in Page & so it actually felt like fall! Here are some pictures that captured our moments.

Eating the blueberries while helping make blue berry pie

Zhara & Alyssa made "spider webs" out of Grandma's yarn all over the house, which we all tripped over many times

Doing their "lessons" on Grandpa's chalkboard. After they were done they would give us the lesson.

Helping Daddy put together his 750 piece puzzle (which he finished in like a day)

And the best part....playing in the leaves!