Merry Christmas 2010 (Part 1)

Christmas Eve day we went sledding for a short time. Lily went down this huge hill on her new sled:

Before, I took the older three girls to see "Tangled" in the theater. They loved it! So did I, it was a cute movie. Here they are with their 3D glasses:

Later that evening, we all went out to dinner at a restaurant called Buzzards. The food was really good, the company was great!

This is after at Nana and Grandpa's house. Here are all the kids in their new matching PJ's. This was taken with the camera on the iphone, and so everybody has the white flash eyes:

Here are some of the kids playing Just Dance Kids on the Wii. They loved it:

Before the PJ's we went the the Nativity Pageant. We were very early and so we got good, front row seats, we didn't have to wait in line at all, and we got to have a few photos taken in front of the sheep and scenery first. The weather was great too.

Earlier that day, we gave the girls a couple of early gifts. The first were these googly eyed stuffed animals they have wanted forever, and the second were these scarves I made for them, which they loved!

Group hug!

And here is Christmas morning at our house:

The girls love their Webkinz, thank you Eklunds!

Izzy with a little purple guitar:

Chloe got a little cleaning set, and it came with a vacuum that really works. She loves it. I am training her early :)

Olivia loves to push her dolls in her little car-cart:

All of the girls LOVE their American Girl dolls and Lalaloopsy dolls. Thank you Nana and Grandpa!

They all came with matching PJ's:

Lily loves her skateboard, especially just sitting on it and rolling around. She loves that it has her middle name on it too:

Olivia loves her own Bitty Baby that looks like her:

More Pre Christmas

I am having trouble uploading the videos of their Irish dance and piano, and so until I get them up all I have are the photos I took of the kids before we left. Here they are before Izzy and Lily's piano recital:



Before their Irish dance party:



And this one is just for fun. I had Izzy and Lily once wear these matching Christmas dresses many years ago, and now they fit Chloe and Olivia!

Pre Christmas Stuff

We have been so busy with Christmas concerts, piano recitals, and an Irish dance party.

Lily was asked to have a "speaking part" in her kindergarten school Christmas concert. She was one of six out of the whole class asked. She did a great job with her lines! We are very proud of her. Isabelle did a great job at her concert too. Her class did a cute Spanish dance. I couldn't believe how grown up and almost teenage-like she looked!

Last night was their piano recital. They both did a great job! Isabelle played "Silent Night" and "The Music Box Dancer." The last one was one she has been working on tirelessly since September. It is the hardest and longest song she has ever learned. She did great. Lily played "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "Mary's Rockin' Pets", which is a version of Mary had a Little Lamb. She too has been practising these songs non-stop, whenever she walks past the piano. I am so happy she loves the piano and wants to learn more.

The Irish dance party was a lot of fun too. It is fun to see what the girls have learned so far and to see them enjoy the dancing. At the end of all of them showing us what they have learned, they were allowed to have their parents and family join in on the fun. Chloe joined in with Lily, Ben was nice enough to join in with Isabelle. I was nice enough to get it on video! Izzy was happy to have a "real gentleman" as she said to dance with. Because they are all girls in the class, they always have to take turns being the gentleman. I have tried to upload the video of it below, but I think there are errors or problems occurring. Hopefully I will get it working soon, it is a cute one!

We Loved You Dearly Grandma Herget

My Grandma Herget passed away last night. She had led a full, long life. Her warm smile and kind voice will indeed be missed. I have so many wonderful memories of her. Here are some most recent photos I have of her:


Here she is with Olivia on her blessing day. She made the trip up to Calgary for it, even though travelling was so hard for her. Even in her very old age she was still strong enough to hold her and play with her.

This is the most recent photo I have of her. It was taken last Christmas at the lodge she lived in, in her room. She is again holding Olivia, and is so warm and bright as usual.

This was in the summer of 2009, at her 85th Birthday celebration. I love the pictures of her with the girls:

Here she is with all 5 of her children:

and with our family....

Here is an older one I found of her and Chloe in the summer of 2007:

You will be greatly missed Grandma! We will love you forever!

O Christmas Tree 2010

We got our tree and all of the other decorations up a few days early this year. The weather has been quite a bit warmer these past couple of days (above zero!) and so we figured we would get the outdoor lights up now. Since we had to dig them out, we just brought it all up. The girls kept asking if it was Christmas tomorrow. Olivia really loves all of the lights and decorations, the balls especially. She was only about 4 months old last Christmas, so this is all quite new to her!

Chloe Loves The Scriptures

Chloe found this old Book Of Mormon in our house a couple of weeks ago and she has been carrying it around with her ever since. Every night when she goes to bed she says, "Mom, I need my scriptures, where are my scriptures?" She loves to "read" them, but mostly look at the pictures in them. I asked her what picture was her favourite, and she said, "The one with Samuel on the wall with the bad guys trying to shoot him with their guns." It is pretty cute.

Oh Summer, how we miss you already....

A couple of weeks ago, we woke up to this:

It has been snowy and cold for many days now. Today the temperature was -30 degrees, and the news said it felt like -40 with the windchill! The girls are embracing it, though. Bundling up, and playing outside for as long as they can stand it!

Chloe has really started printing her name out a lot. She does such a good job, and does it all on her own. The older girls were a bit older before they learned to print their names. I also included some photos of some great pictures she has drawn lately:

It was the girls' primary presentation on Sunday. They did such a great job. They all looked so good before church, I tried to get some pictures of them. It is really hard to get one of all of them looking. Here is the best I could do:

This silly girl can not sit still for half a second! Here are some shots I got of her:

You can see her two big molars that have come through. They have been the cause of many sleepless nights, poor girl. (And poor parents!)

Finally I get one of her looking, and of course, the flash is too bright. Oh well....

Izzy and her "fancy" hair, she wanted me to take a picture of it:

And here are Chloe and Lily:

It's definitely beginning to feel more like Christmas!