The last week of school before Christmas break was filled with fun Holiday activities. Parties, dress up days, recitals, etc; we were non stop busy!
Mom enjoyed dressing us up in some holiday attire for school events.
I decided that I was too old for Santas and opted for sequin instead!
Mid week I had my Christmas Choir performance at school. Mom had spent many hours crafting the decorations and it was nice to see all our efforts pay off.
I really enjoyed singing with my friends and Mom and Dad were really proud of me. Even tough Dad was unable to see the live performance he did send me flowers to let me know that he was thinking of me.
I really love choir and can't wait to start voice and piano lessons in January.
The last two days of school were the busiest and poor Mom was in the kitchen for hours baking, decorating, and packaging holiday gifts and party snacks. With three of us in school each one needed classroom party treats, gifts for gift exchanges, not to mention the numerous teachers, aides, and staff gifts that our family wanted to give out. It was a miracle that we managed to get everything done:
3 class size batches of mini birthday cakes for Jesus, 6 dozen hand dipped chocolate peanut butter balls, 2 batches of peppermint cookies, 2 batches of homemade caramel (which I helped to make), 40 treats bags, 10 tins, and 2 craft projects.
Yep, Mom was exhausted.
When Friday finally came around Presley and Nixon enjoyed relaxing in front of the window watching for the trash truck while Mom rushed to dress Macie and I.
After she dropped us off at school that morning she took Presley and Nixon and down to the Children's Museum to play for a while. Imagine her surprise and excitement when she discovered that Santa was at the museum taking FREE holiday pictures with kids!!!!
Too bad Mr.Nixon was purposely avoiding her or the camera...
That afternoon when school got out we were all THRILLED! No more school for over 2 weeks!!!
The following morning Macie had her performing arts showcase. She couldn't wait to do her dances in front of a crowd.
Mom dropped Macie off for rehearsal and made the rest of us take pictures at home while we were dressed up.
Mom was most excited that my friend Cari, who is a self declared tom boy, chose to dress up to go to Macie's event with us and even asked to wear one of my bows!!!
Macie did a phenomenal job at her showcase. She did a jazz number, a hip hop number, musical theater number and even did a duet from the movie Descendants!
She loved every minute of it and was only bummed that she didn't perform on an actual stage!
The rest of us loved watching Macie, but poor Mom had a tough time getting Presley and Nixon to sit still for the 2 hour showcase.
We spent the afternoon running and jumping at Flippin' Out Extreme alongside all my soccer team mates to celebrate a fantastic season for the Diamond Devils!
Before bed that night we opened our annual Christmas ornaments from Grandpa Jerry and have to admit that this year he hit it out of the park...
Macie got a party bus with Animal from the Muppets singing a VERY loud and OBNOXIOUS song over and over. Needless to say, Macie LOVED it...
Presley got a Santa on a sled,
I got a fancy glass snow globe with a lit tree inside,
and Nixon got a Fire Truck that he sleeps with every night.
Our first week of Christmas Break was lots of fun. We stayed close to home and it was nice enjoying some time off. We went ice skating a few times, played down at the creek, and on nights that weren't too cold watched the annual Holiday Parade at Down Town Summerlin.
Presley was in awe of the floats and loved seeing the fake snow!
We also had some fun playing dress up at the Children's Museum,
I showed Mom that my pirate face can still bring her to tears...
A few days later we were forced to get up early to get fancy for Santa. Before going Mom tried to get some pictures in front of our tree, but none of us were feeling very photogenic so the session didn't last long.
At the museum we had to wait a little bit before Santa got there.
Once he finally arrived Mom began to second guess her choice to skip the mall. At least the mall Santa's pretend they care. This Santa didn't speak or move and we were all a little hesitant to sit on his lap and fake a smile...
At the end of the day Mom decided that waiting in lines for a new Santa picture at the mall wasn't worth the headache. We these ones for our albums and they would suffice.
That week we also took a trip to the salon to get our hair cut. Macie decided to go big and cut her hair to her shoulders. We have all agreed that this hair cut suits Macie perfectly!
By the end of the week we spent our days at home trying to avoid the chaos of the Christmas crowds all over town. Thanks to Amazon and Costco Mom had finished her Christmas shopping weeks ago! To keep busy Macie and I played lots of imaginary games. One morning I came downstairs dressed in my Sunday best and informed Mom that I would be leaving on the noon flight to Paris. She got a kick out of my outfit and promised that one day she would make sure that my dream of going to Paris would come true.
Macie and I made a makeshift airplane and boarded our first class jet to France.
The following day was December 24th and our family spent the gorgeous sunny day running around at the creek taking advantage of the warm Nevada sunshine.Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year the local church we attend decided to do a Christmas day service instead of one on Christmas Eve so we adjusted our yearly tradition accordingly. That night we all gathered around the table, in casual attire, and had a small informal dinner with the family.
When dinner was over we sat in front of the fireplace and opened our annual Christmas Eve pajama present.
Mom had decided to veer away from the usual Christmas motif and all of us loved the pajamas that she picked.
Before loading into the car to drive around and see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood Mom tried to coerce us into taking a few family photos, but not everyone was in the mood...
After a hot lap through our neighborhood and the one across the street we came home to watch our Santa videos and eat desert. While Mom was whipping up the food the rest of us gathered on the couch to see whether or not we would make it on the good list this year.
A couple of us waited with baited breath.
As it turned out Macie, Nixon, and I all made it on the good list. The jury was still out on which list Presley would end up on. She was advised to be on her best behavior. Based on her recent behavior we all knew better than to hold our breaths.
For desert we had a cheesecake bar. We were able to choose between all sorts of fruit toppings for our cheesecake. Mom and Uncle Will were both super excited about this desert, but it turned out that none of us really enjoyed cheesecake or the toppings (good thing Mom took one for the team and ate our leftovers).
With our tummies full of food we lounged on the couch and watched the Grinch together. Before bed we set out our letters for Santa along side some snacks and wrapping paper.
While we were sleeping that night Mom set up barriers to keep us from venturing downstairs in the early hours of the morning. We all laughed at the arrows that directed us into Mom and Dad's room.
At 7:30am on Christmas morning Dad told us that we were FINALLY allowed to race down the stairs. Mom intercepted us with her camera but only managed to get a few shots before we gave her a quick juke and darted to the living room.
When we rounded the corner we found our stockings and gifts that Santa had left for us. This year he didn't make too much of a food mess (although he did spill his milk), but he made a sloppy mess out of the wrapping paper and tape that we had left out for him to use.
Mom and Dad loved seeing the excitement on our faces as we opened our gifts...
Not only did we get some fantastic things from Santa, but Mom let us eat some of the chocolate from our stocking while she was cooking breakfast. SCORE!!!!
In the late morning we had brunch together. Before eating we said grace and sang happy birthday to Jesus. We even let Nixon blow out the candle this year!
After eating we enjoyed some downtime and played with some items in our stockings.
Before getting dressed and ready for church we opened our gifts from the Umbarger Family.
All 4 of us received bouncy balls which we would spend many hours using in the future.
Dressed in our church clothes we made our way to the door but Nixon insisted on bringing some of his new trucks to church and Mom caved in.
Thanks to all the yummy Christmas treats we ate that morning we had lots of energy to burn. Mom let us do some hot laps around the cul de sac before getting in the car.
Mom knew on our walk into church that it was going to be tough getting some of us to sit still and behave...
Sunday service was nice and we all enjoyed singing Christmas songs.
Presley and Nixon proved to be just as difficult, if not more, than Mom anticipated but we survived the service without embarrassing our family too much. Back at home we took some more pictures before climbing back into our cozy sweats and lounging inside for nap time.
All Mom and Dad wanted was a family picture. I don't know what they expected, but getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time was next to impossible.
They gave up after 100 attempts and let me take a few pictures of them together.
I don't see how Mom has any place to complain about us. Do you know how difficult it is to get Mom to stand still and smile??? If you hadn't had the pleasure just know that it is HARD (and is NOT a pleasure)!
Macie and I took advantage of nap time and talked Mom into letting us watch our new FAVORITE movie, The Mighty Ducks 2. We are now obsessed with hockey, and Macie swears she is going to play. Mom has already shot the idea down 15 times.
Mom and Uncle Will spent their afternoon in the kitchen while the rest of us played with out new gifts. After the food prep was complete and the food was cooking we got to open some presents from our extended family. We are SO blessed to have so many generous and giving members of our family and hope they know how much their thoughtfulness matters to us!
Presley and Nixon really figured out the art of opening presents this year. They definitely were not shy or gentle...
Once all of us kids had opened our gifts the adults opened theirs. It is always fun to watch the look on the adults faces when they see what treasures we picked out for them at the school store.
We all enjoyed a nice dinner together before we drove around to see Christmas lights one last time.
Early the next morning we loaded the car and embarked upon one of the most ridiculously long drives to California we have ever experienced. Mom and Dad had plans with her high school friends that day and thought that if we left town first thing in the morning we would be able to enjoy a casual 5 hour drive to San Diego. That turned out to be anything BUT the case. Not only did it take us almost 9 hours to get to San Diego, but they missed their first engagement and just barely made it on time to dinner on time. It was a long and hectic day, but we were grateful to have arrived safe and somewhat sane.
First thing that next day we walked to the beach and spent most of our day playing in the sand.
That afternoon Dad drove Macie, Pa, and I up to Anaheim to see a real life Hockey game. We could not believe that we were going to watch the real Mighty Ducks in action. On the drive we watched MD2 again because, why not? We wanted to make sure we were prepared since the movie had been our only exposure to the sport.
While we were in Anaheim Mom and the little ones spent their evening playing in the sand at the beach. The weather was so fantastic and the sunset was so beautiful that they stayed long after sun down.
Mom, who is selfie challenged (she has NO ability or interest to know how to take a proper selfie) tried to take some pictures of all of them to send to Dad. Believe it or not, these were the two best shots she took...
Despite her inability to take pictures with herself included she did manage to take some of the little ones that showed off the sun setting over the ocean.
In Anaheim we were in line at the Honda Center getting burritos the size of our heads!!!
It was great hanging out with Dad and Pa while eating and watching the Ducks warm up.
When the game started Macie and I couldn't believe the excitement that filled the arena. It was amazing and we loved every minute of the game.
After one more day at the beach we spent the morning at the "Umbarger Ranch" playing and eating. We are so fortunate to be able to see Mom's family on a regular basis and really enjoy our time with
With full bellies and tired eyes we piled in the car and made the long trek home. Luckily our drive to Vegas was without incident and far more pleasant than the first leg of our trip.
As sad as we were to leave San Diego it sure was nice being back at home in our own space without a predetermined agenda. The temperatures (in the low 30's) kept us indoors most of the time, but we didn't seem to mind.
Mom even let us ride bikes and scooters in the house!
On New Years Day Dad took Macie, Presley, and I to see the movie Moana. Presley's eyes were glued to the screen the entire time.
Despite the New Year getting off to a cold start (notice the ice) our family started the year with smiles on our faces and in our hearts. We are excited to welcome all that 2017 has in store for us!
