Christmas Day

Christmas time is full of family traditions that occur every year. One of those traditions is to receive a new pair of pajama's to wear to bed on Christmas Eve. Here is a picture of our cute little family each wearing our Christmas pajama's. The reason Alissa looks upset in this picture is because when mommy was setting up the camera to take our picture, she accidently touched the Christmas elf, which can make him lose his magic. I told Alissa that tonight is the very best night for the elf to lose his magic because the elf will ride back home with Santa and will be able to have his magic restored. But, Alissa was quite distraught. I felt horrible.

Our little family in our Christmas P.J.'s

Mommy's favorite gift from Alissa - a decorative plate she made

Christmas morning, Alissa received a note from the elf that told her not to worry about him. Santa took good care of him and his magic has returned. He looks forward to seeing Alissa next year. Alissa received some really nice gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad. She received a Frozen Ice Castle, three dolls to include Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa, some books, clothes, and a few other things as well. Her Anna and Elsa dolls have a magic wand that when you add water to it and run the wand across their dresses, a fancy pattern is revealed. Alissa enjoyed playing with them. Here are some pictures:

Alissa's Stash

Steve's new tablet from me (the wife) and his parents. 

After opening gifts and getting ready for the day, we went to Steve's parents house for breakfast and presents. Steve was super excited to get some Star Wars car mats for his car. Jason and Satoko always know the perfect gifts for him. 

 Alissa's smallest cousin, V. received this great bike and the 

Mickey Mouse table and chairs behind him.

 I received a pair of Ski's that was from Steve and his parents. Clark had them professionally bubble wrapped and it took me about 15-20 minutes to get the package opened. Luckily, Satoko helped me to save some time. Clark even bubble wrapped the boots he purchased for my birthday in March. 

Alissa's large gift from Grandma and Grandpa was this Doc McStuffins Doc Mobile, that Alissa has wanted for over one year now. Everytime anybody asked her what she wanted for Christmas, the first thing she would say is, "I want a Doc Mobile".

After presents and gifts at Steve's parents house, we traveled to my parents house for more gifts and lunch. We never starve on holidays as everyone wants to serve us a big meal to celebrate. Luckily, we have Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided for us on Christmas. My parents provided money for the older attendees and gifts for the three youngest grandchildren. Everyone brought gifts for the three little kids and my parents as well. Then, we participated in a fun gift exchange with all my siblings and their children. Alissa ended up with a Taylor Swift Poster that she stole from uncle Zachary and he nearly cried, but was a good sport. I have never seen my 23 year old nephew so distraught. It was kind of funny. He even tried talking Alissa into trading him for the poster, but Alissa is too stubborn to give in. Alissa now has that poster hanging in her room above her bed.   Here is a picture:

Here is Alissa with a Flashpad Air and Anna coin purse from Grandma and Grandpa, a book and CD from Aunt Jill and Uncle Brad, and a Pez dispenser from Aunt Liz and Uncle Dick. 

 The most meaningful gift I gave was this photo album I made for both my parents and Steve's parents. My mom informed me that she looks forward to my photo albums every year since none of her other children have ever made one for her. So, I work hard at making a book each year.

After food and presents, Rose and Alissa went outside to enjoy the newly fallen snow. This winter has been strange since snow has been rare. We have enjoyed warmer weather than normal at this time of year. So, the "white Christmas" was a special treat that occurred today. 

 Christmas Day ended with dinner and presents at the Tyndall's. Steve's dad, Clark, has one sister that we spend time with every Christmas. Here are some pics of the highlights.

 Grandma and Alissa holding up Alissa's gifts from the Tyndall's

Alissa with her cousin Zoe

 The two youngest members of the family

Alissa's School Party

Alissa had her winter party at school today so I decided to dress her in a Christmas outfit for the occassion. My good friend Denice made this cute Santa necklace for her. Here are a few pictures of her in front of our Christmas decorations at home.

 

I volunteered in Alissa's classroom today and helped out with the party. I took all the pictures for the party and also prepared an activity. Here is a picture of Alissa playing one of the games. She was trying to guess which child was hiding the candy. 

Here is Alissa playing another party game. Each child had a turn at removing a layer of wrapping paper from this gift. At the end, there were treats inside for ALL the kids. 

I made these snowman kits as the final activity at the party. 

Here are some pictures of Alissa making her snowman.

 

 

 After all the games and activities, the kids participated in a gift exchange where every child brought a wrapped $1 item and passed them around a circle until the music stopped. Once the music stopped, the kids were able to open the gift they ended up with. The teacher was so good to make sure than none of the kids ended up with the gift they brought. Alissa received this recorder. She was excited. 

Santa Clause

We took Alissa to the mall to get her picture taken with Santa. Unfortunately, their printers broke down and so we ended up waiting in line for two hours. I felt bad for Santa because some people were so mad that one man pushed Santa when he walked out to take his break. Can you believe that? Who pushes Santa? According to Alissa, "that man must be on the naughty list". Anyway, I felt our two hour wait was worth it because this turned out to be the best Santa we have ever seen.

 When Santa found out that Alissa had brought a list for him, he read it out loud to her. Isn't this a cute picture? I was very impressed by how sweet this man was. I cannot believe anyone would want to hurt this poor man. It certainly wasn't his fault the printer broke down. I'm sure he was just as frustrated as everyone else, in fact, probably more frustrated since I guarantee his day was much longer than our two hour wait.

Family Picture at Christmas Party

There is a very talented man that lives in our neighborhood who painted the picture you see behind us. At our ward Christmas party, he made these fun sayings for everyone and then took pictures of people in front of his painting. Isn't this a cute idea?

Thanksgiving

Earlier in the week, Alissa came home with a flyer that stated she would be having a Thanksgiving Feast at school the next day and she was invited to wear something fancy for the day. So, without much time to prepare, mommy "googled" how to make a pilgrim costume and then made one out of paper the morning before school. Alissa was so excited about her costume, that mommy decided to make another one for her cousin, Rose. Here is a picture of Alissa and Rose in their pilgrim costumes:

 Here are some pictures of mommy's side of the family enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

 Here are some pictures of daddy's side of the family who gathered for pie in the evening 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Loose Tooth

A few months ago, Alissa told mommy and daddy that she had a loose tooth. When we checked to make sure, we discovered she was correct. As a result, mommy started immediately preparing to plan for the big day when Alissa would lose her tooth. First of all, I had to purchase a tooth necklace for Alissa to store her tooth in. If you don't know what a tooth necklace is, then I suggest you read one of Alissa's favorite books called, "Fancy Nancy and the Too Loose Tooth", see below picture.

Within this wonderful book, Nancy's friend, Lionel, loses a tooth at school and receives a tooth necklace to store his tooth in. Soon after that happens, Nancy discovers that she has a loose tooth and she does everything to ensure that she will lost the tooth "at school" so she can obtain a tooth necklace too. So, of course, Alissa informed me that she would need a tooth necklace to store her tooth in. So, I began the quest to search for a tooth necklace. What I discovered was that you cannot purchase just one necklace. Instead, they come in sets of 100 or more for around $20. Therefore, I purchased a set of them and immediate donated more than half of them to Alissa's Kindergarten class and the school. Of course I kept some for Alissa, her close friends, and her cousins. Here is a picture of them. 

Next, I had to make sure that Alissa's first Tooth Fairy experience was a wonderful one so I purchased the Worlds Smallest Letter, at http://www.leafcutterdesigns.com/order/orders/letter, for the Tooth Fairy to give to Alissa along with the shiny coins, when she takes the lost tooth. 

Once I had everything in place, we waited and waited and waited and waited. Several months went by, and Alissa still had her loose tooth. As time went by, Alissa forgot about the tooth fairy and her tooth necklaces and all the excitement of having a loose tooth. UNTIL, the magic day came and she lost her tooth after school, but while at daycare. Alissa lost her tooth on November 24, 2014. Since she was NOT at school when she lost the tooth, she did not receive one of the necklaces we had donated to the school. Unfortunately, she had forgotton to wear one of her own tooth necklaces so one of the daycare providers put the tooth in a baggie for her and helped her store it safely in her back pack.

When we picked up Alissa from daycare, she was ecstatic. She told us of her lost tooth and immediately ran in the house to grab a tooth necklace to store it in. After dinner and homework, Alissa prepared for bed and promptly placed the tooth under her pillow and went to sleep. Falling asleep was a difficult task, though, since Alissa had to check under the pillow many times to make sure the tooth and necklace were still there, but she eventually fell asleep. 

The next morning, Alissa woke up and the tooth necklace holding her tooth was gone. In it's place, Alissa immediately found $2 worth of $1 brass coins and the Worlds Smallest Letter. Here are some pictures of Alissa with her new treasure. 

The letter came with a magnifying glass so that we could read the letter. 

Here is a picture of Alissa reading the envelope. 

 Here is a picture of Alissa holding the envelope and the letter.

Alissa was very excited to hear what the tooth fairy had to say to her so Mommy read the letter out loud. The letter said,

"You lost a tooth, Alissa,

You have been such a good girl that I just had to leave something special for you last night.

I did have to cover you back up so you did not get cold. You must have kicked the covers off last night.

I was very careful and quiet so that I did not wake you while you were sleeping.

Keep up the good work brushing your teeth and I will be sure to visit the next time you loose a tooth.

Also, don't forget to eat all of your vegetables so your permanent teeth can last forever. Love you,

Tinkerbell"

Alissa thought it was funny that her tooth fairy shares the same name as Tinkerbell, the tinker fairy. It's not uncommon for many people to share the same name. For example, Alissa has a cousin with the same name as her, but she spells it with a "y" instead of an "i".

Alissa told me that today was one of the best days of her life. I'm happy that she was so excited about the gifts she received from the tooth fairy. Now my goal is to keep reminding her how important it is to eat vegetables. She HATES them and throws a fit every time we ask her to eat them. I suppose all we can do is keep trying and remind her what the tooth fairy said.

Halloween Day! Wow, I'm tired!

Today, was a very long, but fulfilling day. I volunteered in Alissa's Kindergarten classroom for her Halloween Party. I was able to watch the Halloween parade first, help with school work, and then end Alissa's school day with activities and Halloween fun. After school, I took Alissa to visit her daycare, my work, and grandma and grandpa D's house. Grandma and Grandpa D then took Alissa and I to lunch. After lunch, we picked up Ariana from school and brought her to our house for some fun, see below for more details. After that, we went to grandma and grandpa S.'s house for dinner, trick or treating, and more Halloween fun. Here are some pictures:

Abby, Katelyn, Ian, and Alissa

(Alissa met these two girls at daycare because
their mother use to work there)

 Alissa (Elsa) walking in the school parade

 Ian (Mobster) walking in the school parade (I took him to get this costume)

During Alissa's school party, there were four activities for the kids to participate in. The kids rotated to each station in groups of 5-6 kids at a time. It was so much fun. The activity that I brought included crafting pumpkins, stickers and/or felt pieces to decorate with. Below is a picture of one of the kids holding up the pumpkin that he made.  

Below is some additional pumpkins that Alissa and I made. She made the pumpkin on the far right during her school party. The stickers on that pumpkin glow in the dark. The rest of the pumpkins were left over from her party so we decided to decorate them. 

 One set of parents (mom and dad) brought in these rubber gloves that the kids filled with candy corn for the fingernails, popcorn for the skin, and spider rings. Isn't this a cute idea?

 Here is a close up of the hand Alissa made

The kids also played a few spider web games to include "pin the spider on the web" and crawling under a "spider web ropes course" (see the black ropes to the right)

Finally, kids were asked to partner up with each other so one could wrap the other in white streamers to make mummies. Here is Alissa as a mummy...

 Here is a picture of me (Anna) and Alissa (Elsa) in her classroom

 Here is a pic of Alissa's entire class 

 After school, Alissa and I showed off our costumers to her daycare, my work, and one set of grandparents, who took us to lunch. After lunch with grandma and grandpa D, Alissa and I picked up Ariana from daycare and brought her to our house. Alissa and I helped Ariana to make her own popcorn hand and then the two girls helped me decorate my trunk, for our ward trunk or treat party, with pumpkins and Halloween decorations. Below is a picture of my trunk. The girls had a wonderful time at the party as they each ended up with full buckets of candy, soda pop, and chips (yes, one car was distributing soda pop and chips based on how kids scored on some games). 

After the trunk or treat party, Ariana's mom picked her up and Alissa and I met daddy at home. The three of us then drove together to grandma and grandpa S.'s house where we finished off the evening.

Here is Jason and Satoko as Hobits 

 Meggan (Tinkerbell), Vash (Peter Pan), and Jeremy (a pirate)

 Grandpa S., Alissa, and Grandma S.

Our cute little family with Steve as Sven the reindeer, me as Anna, and Alissa as Elsa

If your wondering why Sven is wearing gold chains and holding a sugar daddy cane, it's because we posted some pics of this costume on facebook and received a few comments about the fact that Steve resembled a "pimp". So, to play along with the hype, he decided to add some accessories to his costume. Here is a full shot of Steve: