Ward Party - Girls Singing Christmas Songs

This clip is of the girls singing Santa Claus is Comin' to town at our ward party. Technically it should just be Mckenna but Mia decided she wanted to go up there to. She doesn't really know the words to the songs but you would never know it - she is so animated. Mia loves to perform and be the center of attention. She has no inhibition. Her and Mckenna are so different. We had a "special visitor" at the end of the party - Santa Claus. Mckenna and her friends followed Mr. Claus outside to see if he was the real Santa.....she came running back in the church excited to share her findings. "He's not the real Santa Claus. He got in a car." Oh the magic of Christmas. I cherish these days.



Another Visit With Santa

The kids enjoyed the "special visitor" (aka Santa) and telling him what they wanted for Christmas...again. Mckenna asked for ice skates and Mia asked for a computer. Mia was so funny. She came down from sitting on his lap and told us that Santa said girls could have two candy canes. So she quickly got back in line. I'm not sure if that was true or if it was just a tactic Mia used to get another candy cane. We didn't see any other girls getting back in line. Kaden was mesmerized with Santa. He just kept looking up at him. He is such an easy going baby. We love having him around.

Visit with Santa

We visited Santa a few weeks ago.....I wish I would have had a video camera. Santa visits this photographer's house for picture taking. When we walked up to the house Santa was walking by the front door (taking a little break from his photo shoot). Mia started bawling and wouldn't even go in the house. Santa was so sweet. He stopped and tried to tell her how nice he was. She didn't buy it. I finally convinced her to go inside. Santa came up and told her how much he loved her and she was all smiles after that. He picked her up and rubbed his nose against hers. It was a moment I wish I could recapture. I take my kids to get their pictures with this particular Santa on their first Christmas. This is a tradition Brittney started for me. On Mckenna's first Christmas she surprised me with a picture of her with Santa. I loved it... and so I have continued it with each of the kids. Mckenna convinced me this year that she already had enough pictures with Santa and didn't need anymore so I didn't force her to have another one. Looking back now I wish I would have. I know the magic of Christmas will soon be gone for her.

Kaden's First Christmas 2008


Mia's Third Christmas 2008


Mia's First Christmas 2005


Mckenna and Mia Christmas 2005


Mckenna's Third Christmas 2005


Mckenna's First Christmas 2002

Let it Snow!

It's finally "beginning to look a lot like Christmas" around here. We have had such warm weather lately that we were starting to wonder if it would ever snow.....obviously it did. We got a great snow storm on Monday. The girls enjoyed playing in it. Mckenna built this snowman all by herself (Thanks Grandma J. for the kit). As you can see the pictures get darker and darker as the sun was setting. It was cold but they were determined to complete the snowman. Mia keeps asking if he will come to life (maybe we've watched Frosty a few too many times). It is fun to have snow on the ground. It feels like the holidays now!

Happy Thanksgiving - One Little Indian Girl

One Little Indian Girl! Mckenna came home from school yesterday and said she wanted to dress up like an Indian for their Thanksgiving feast. The Feast was today....Short Notice.....but we pulled it off. I started working on it and the rescue party (a.k.a. my mom) came to help. Good thing. We found all the supplies in her basement - material, beads, headband ribbon. Mckenna was so excited about it.

Exciting Moment

We had an exciting moment in the Willey Home this week. Mckenna read the scriptures (the scripture reader) for us during family scriptures. She is getting to be such a good little reader. It is so fun. Everywhere we go she is reading the signs, t-shirts, Christmas lists....dang!! It is always fun to see your children progress.

A Whole New World

Good Excuse

Alright...so I haven't blogged for a long time but I have a good excuse. We took our family trip the first part of October. Me and the girls were exploring tide pools. Mia started to slip and I tried to grab her...then I started to slip and BAM. Mia and I both ended up falling and my camera went flying in the air and landed in a tide pool. I quickly grabbed it. It wasn't in the water long...but long enough that my camera no longer works. There is a funny part to this story though. There was a little piece of the camera that broke off and a sea anemone quickly grabbed it. Mckenna and I worked for a while trying to get the anemone to let go of it. Finally, we successfully retrieved it. At least we have a fun memory. Luckily my card still worked and I didn't loose any of the pictures I had taken. We had bought Mckenna an underwater camera that morning to use while she was snorkeling....so at least we had some type of camera. You forget all the nice conveniences of a digital camera....mainly knowing what you captured instead of waiting for the prints to realize you missed the moment.

This is a Sea Anemone

Any how...Besides an excuse with the camera...life is just so dang busy. I feel like there is always somewhere to be or something that has to be done from dinner to changing diapers. It's all good though! I have added a few posts below of the Kids. Hopefully we will post again before 3 months go by!

Halloween 2008

Fall Festivities

God Bless America

This is Mckenna's first grade class saying the Pledge of Allegiance on the radio this morning (KBull 93). They say the Pledge and sing the Star Spangled Banner each morning in her class. She has a great teacher that does a wonderful job of teaching the kids more than just what they need to know academically. I love it!!

A Rare Sunday Moment

It is a rare Sunday morning when I have the kids ready for church with time to spare....so we took those few extra moments we had and captured it on film. I really wanted to get a picture of Mckenna. She just looks so grown up to me and this cute little dress (Thanks Sierrah!). When we got to church even Matt commented - Mckenna looks older. (FYI - Matt doesn't see the kids on Sunday morning until we arrive at church...which means Sunday mornings are.....you can only imagine!!).

Slacker Mom - Kaden 6 Months

OK - Slacker Mom!! Kaden turned 6 months and I kept thinking I need to get him in for a photo...but the month came and went so this is Kaden's pretend 6 month picture...yes...taken after those 7 month pictures. At least he has a picture, right? We are getting our family pictures done this Saturday so I decided to try out the outfit on him. Handsome Boy!!

Mia's First Dance Class

Mia was ecstatic about going to her first dance class. The night before dance Mia was saying her prayers and said "...bless me to be pretty and to be a pretty dancer..." Oh how she loves to dance. The morning of her first dance class she woke up early and wanted to get her dance clothes on. It was all I could do to convince her that dance wasn't until later. She was all smiles at dance. When I picked her up she kept telling me how much fun she had and how she gets to dance in a Halloween Recital. She is so excited. Oh the other hand, we have singed Mckenna up for tumbling -NOT DANCE!! as Mckenna would put it herself. One of our neigbors was talking to Mckenna the other day and said I hear you are going to take dance. She said no I am not taking dance I am taking tumbling. She hates when I accidentally call it dance. Mckenna wanted nothing to do with performances either. She made me make sure that if she singed up that she didn't have to be in recitals. We went to her first class last night to check it out. She may wait and start after her soccer season. We'll see???

Kaden - 7 Months

Kaden is growing up so fast. Hard to believe 7 months have gone by. His personality is starting to really come out. I just love this little guy. His favorite things at 7 months are blowing raspberries, Mckenna coming home from school, the TV remote, phone, playing the piano and baby food. He is starting to get up on all fours now. Can't wait for him to start crawling!!!

Mckenna's First School Assignment

Mckenna's first school assignment was to draw a character from one of her favorite books. She chose Harry the Dirty Dog. She loves this book and loves to draw.

Back to School

Oh, my sweet little Mckenna started a new chapter in her life today. She is now officially a first grader and is in school a full day. She loved her first day. She excited about her teacher and her classmates. She was lucky to get most of the neighborhood kids in her class. I thought my anxiety/nervous first days of school were long behind me....I hate to admit it but I think I was just about as anxious as Mckenna. It is hard to send your little girl off to school. We will really miss her around the house. Last Friday Mckenna was getting her backpack ready and Mia started crying. She didn't want Mckenna to leave for school. We all feel the same way.

FAMILY REUNION SCRAPBOOK

Below you will find scrapbook pages of a family reunion at Disneyland. My sister-in-laws and I created the pages - we just used my site to post our pages so we knew what each one of us were working on.

Matt and Christa Family Page

Mia's Pages

Mckenna's Pages