Holly Jolly Christmas 2011

We had such a blissful holiday season. A sweet new baby and lots of family graced our home for the festivities and we loved every minute! 

This year I totally skimped on the annual gingerbread house decorating. The kids didn't each get to do their own and we didn't invite anyone to join us. I had just had a baby - what can I say? The still had a great time decorating this one. 

We loved making our Christmas donuts and watching Luke 2 and The Nativity Story. 

The day before everyone arrived at our house our little tree looked like this:

It's not quite CT  but it still brought joy to my heart every time I saw it. Cam and Afton and their cute kiddos rolled in on the Wednesday before Christmas and it was so fun to have them to ourselves for a couple days! Afton and I kept busy getting stuff ready for the big Christmas feast and we even braved the cold wind and took  all the kids to the park! The rest of the family (minus the Gordons *sob*) got in on Friday. I was really pathetic at taking pictures but here are some of the highlights of the visit (with pictures if I took them):

*Playing Quelf on Friday night. We laughed and laughed!

*The guys playing Monopoly Deal over and over.

*Going to "The Stampede" in the rain. 

*Seeing The Muppet Movie

*The Christmas eve feast (We can't forget Brenan's massive meltdown just in time for that!)

*Decorating cookies for Santa.

Beanie looks a little crazy in this one! Haha! 

*Watching the kids act out the nativity. 

*Christmas pj's - the girls were so excited to get footie pjs!

*Stockings

*Christmas morning craziness because we had to get ready for church.
*Present opening
A few favorites were:
Anika - mini sewing machine, a bike, games, books
Keslie - Camera, roller blades, Littlest Pet Shops
Brenan - The Bat Cave, Mater remote control, lots of cars

* Watching Back to the Beach

* Eating lots and lots of snacks! 

* Visiting Dr. Weiner and Hollace for a delicious lunch. 

*Breaking in Nathan's new fire pit.

*More games

*Lots of hanging out and just enjoying each others company! 

An added bonus to having everyone here was that they were all able to be there for Anika's baptism and Sawyer's baby blessing (next post). It was such a wonderful Christmas and we are so happy that we were able to have everyone come stay with us and meet our new baby and see our new digs! I feel very lucky to be a part of the West family. 

My Mom and Dad came for the baptism and blessing too and it was so fun to have them come see us!

My Dad snuggled on SAW-yer. =) 

So did my Mom

Bodess was feeling like she needed a turn!

Grandma and Grandpa with our FOUR (weird!) cuties:

We went on walks to the park almost every day - the weather was BEAUTIFUL! We had such a fun filled week - lots of delicious food (The Keg, Chipotle, Freebirds, Braums), movies - (we loved Mission Impossible 4!), and good conversation.  =) 

Thank you to all of our family that made this past Christmas season so wonderful! We love you!

Newborn Photo Shoot

If you can really call it that. Hahaha! We tried THREE different times to do pictures with little miss Sawyer. We cranked up the heat and got down to business. The first time I had Nathan as my helper and we quickly realized we had BAD backdrops. She was the most cooperative on that day but the backgrounds weren't good. Then, I made Carol help me two more times. Better backgrounds but a wiggly little baby! I would try to prop her head with her hands and she'd completely switch up her position. I'd put her on her belly and she'd flop to her side. We laughed and laughed! I'm a newbie with taking pictures and I really needed her to work with me! Here is what we got - nothing super impressive (again, they aren't edited) but I'm happy I got some pictures at least! They are better than nothing. =)

Day 1

Day 2

(See what I mean about uncooperative?!)

Day 3

Isn't she beautiful?!!

Older Kids Photo Shoot

Well, I got a new camera. I ended up going with the Canon EOS T3i. I love it but I don't have the slightest clue how to use it! AND I don't know how to edit pictures either. Hello! I just figured out how to get rid of red eye. SO, this was my first try at taking pictures. They are NOT edited (still need to figure that out) but I still think they look a whole heck of a lot better than the pictures my old camera took!

My Bookcases!!!

I've been dreaming of having beautiful bookcases for YEARS! I found some styles that I really liked but all of them were about $2000. YIKES! As much as I love books I wasn't ready to drop that kind of money on the bookcases. Anyway, after building Brenan's bed and the girl's bunk beds (holy cow! I never posted pictures of those! I will.) we figured we were pros at building and decided to build our own! Haha! We also thought that bookcases would be super easy. It ended up being a more time consuming project than we had originally planned but I LOVE the way they turned out and am SO happy with them. Nathan designed our plans using the pictures of some of the ones we liked as a jumping off point. I love ours even more than the $2000 ones. Thank you Nathan!!! Aren't they pretty?!

Keslie's Ballet/Tap Recital

Keslie had her first ballet/tap recital here in Fort Worth. I think she's a natural at this stuff! It was so fun to watch her! She is usually shy when she's in front of people but she loved the spotlight and was grinning throughout both of her performances. Here she is before her performance:

A couple group shots that we got during the rehearsal. Keslie is in the front 3rd from the left (or 2nd? I can't tell if the girl at the far left is in the front or back).

And a couple close ups of our little dancing queen:

Here she is with her fabulous teacher:

Proud daddy! He let her choose a place to go get dinner and she chose Taco Bell and then requested Braums ice cream for dessert. =)

Anika's 8th Birthday

8 years ago I became a mom and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I couldn't ask for a better oldest child. Last year on her birthday I promised she'd get a party for her 8th birthday not knowing that I'd have a one week old. I talked her out of having a huge shindig this year and promised once again that next year she could have a big party. I think that was a safe promise since 2 babies in 1 year is unlikely for me! Haha! We started off the day with her favorite breakfast - Dunkin Donuts! And present opening of course! She was pretty thrilled with all of her gifts but her favorite was the Doctor Dreadful Zombie Lab. After seeing this commercial it was all she could talk about. I guess zombie vomit and brain fizz and snot shots are all the rage! Gross!

We headed over to Vangrow Art Studio and painted some pottery. Anika is quite the little artist so she was in heaven! I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of their pottery! Anika painted a Santa cookie plate and a Mickey Mouse for Granana and Papa. Keslie painted a plate and a little reindeer. I painted a snowman mug for Nathan. It was really fun!

She chose chinese food for dinner and then we came home and had cake and ice cream with some friends. I think she was happy with her day even without the big party. =)

20 questions* : answered by Anika age 8

1. What is your favorite color? Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? My scooter, my wilbur stuffed animal, stuffed animals, Littlest Pet Shops
3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas
4. What is your favorite tv show? Phineas and Ferb
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Ham sandwich with all the fix ins
6. What is your favorite outfit? How do I explain my favorite outfit because it's my pajamas?!!
7. What is your favorite game? Basketball at home
8. What is your favorite snack? Crackers
9. What is your favorite animal? dogs and cats
10. What is your favorite song? Tonight, Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae
11. What is your favorite book? Magic Treehouse books
12. Who is your best friend? Keslie
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cookie Crisp
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Run all around crazy.
15. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk and Eggnog
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Blankies
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Donuts
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Stromboli

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy