Christmas Morning

Emma liked AJ's toys as much as she liked her own.






Eldon got a new pillow.

Emma showing her princess shoes that light up.


I made all the kids an ABC book about them.




We got a lot of new board games because that's what we like to do together.


All the kids were excited about AJ's recycled toys. I brought up a bucket of toys from the basement and washed them all and wrapped them up for AJ. He couldn't have been happier!
We had a great Christmas and were very blessed that even though we had some sickness, nobody was in the hospital!

Christmas Eve at the Allan's

Yummy dinner!

gingerbread houses!






Opening gifts!

Sickness

Emma started our bout with sickness when she woke up Dec. 20 with a fever. The next night she started puking.











This cracker is the first thing Emma ate in 2 days. When we took her to the doctor Tuesday he told us if she doesn't start drinking more soon she would need to be admitted to the hospital. We bought everything we could think of that Emma might like to drink; Pedialyte, Sprite, Gatorade, we even tried mixing them all together. After all that her drink of choice was still milk.













This picture was taken the day after Christmas. Emma still wasn't 100%. Even though all the kids got a head cold and AJ had an ear infection, we felt lucky that Emma was the only one who ended getting the stomach flu.

Daybell Family Christmas Party

The set up for this party was perfect because we got to eat in one small cultural hall and then down a short hall was a large gym where the kids could run and play. The large gym was a dead end so the kids weren't running throughout the church halls to get to the play area. The kids all loved running around in the gym and having Uncle Jon lift them up to shoot baskets.

The pinata was a big hit with the kids! No pun intended:)



Emma showing off her lute from the pinata.

Again Andrew had to be coerced to sit on Santa's lap, and mommy couldn't go too far away, but he did it!





Emma, Julia, and AJ weren't shy, although Julia didn't actually SIT on Santa's lap. Is she really getting to big to sit on Santa's lap already?

Snow Fun

Julia had a great time building her snow man and her snow pup after our first big snow storm. Emma just came out for the picture.

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward had a Christmas breakfast this year. The food was really yummy! Everything was really relaxed and fun! Santa was great! The kids would all agree!

Emma is not scared a bit of Santa.

Andrew, on the other hand, wouldn't get any closer than this. Close enough to take the candy cane from Santa's hand. He also told Santa he wanted a bike for Christmas, so he got his order in.

AJ did great! He even had a pleasant look on his face. I guess he's not old enough to be scared of strange men with long beards and a funny suit.

Sometimes in the bleak of December...

That was Julia's line from her third grade Christmas Program. She did such a good job! I wish we would have been able to get better pictures, but we were clear in the back. Our baby girl is growing up!

She's the one in the black shirt, plaid red and black skirt and red necklace.

Chopped

So I chopped my hair off. It was an inch or two past my shoulders and I decided it would be fun to try short hair for a while. My hair has never been this short. Please forgive the poor photography, I'm not too good at taking pictures of myself. The first two were taken the day I got it cut.


I wasn't loving the bangs and really don't know how to style them to make them look good so I started pulling them back. I really like how fast I can style my hair now, but I don't know if I'll keep it short.