Easter

This easter was fun! It was the first year that Ayla really seemed to understand what was going on. She kept asking about the Easter Bunny for days before. We attended not one, not two, not three, but four egg hunts! The first one was at a local elementary school. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of the event.They have the kids all divided into age groups. Ayla was with the 2-4 year olds. They have an area roped off and they literally just throw a bunch of plastic eggs into the roped off area. They weren't really hidden at all. There were hundreds of eggs. But the search was over in literally one minute and Ayla had only found three eggs. There were so many kids there. I saw a couple little kids crying because they didn't get any eggs. I think it would really be better if the  age groups were divided with 2-3 in one group and move the 4's up with the older kids. But it was still fun. Then we went inside the gym of the school and they had little canrnival type games to play and the Easter Bunny was there. A picture of your kids with the Easter Bunny was included with the price of admission. Caiden sat on his lap and smiled big for the picture. Ayla was a little leery about it, so she stood next to the bunny...but not too close.

Later in the week my mommy's group friends had an easter egg hunt at one of my friends houses. Again, I forgot my camera! Ugh! But it was cute. Just a few kids and most of them were little. It was nice. It really helped Ayla to get the idea of how to look for eggs since the first "hunt" we attended was not a hunt but more of a gather.

Easter morning we were a little crazy trying to get ready for church so we didn't have time to search for our baskets. Luckily the Easter Bunny called and said he was running a little late and would bring the baskets by in the afternoon. While Caiden and Ayla were taking their naps the Easter Bunny hopped on over and dropped off some goodies for them.

The silly Easter Bunny hid Ayla's basket under the computer desk!

"Hmm what did I get?"

 "Look Mom!"

 The Easter Bunny brought Ayla a large chocolate bunny, some Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, (coincidentally those are mommy's favorite, it's almost like the Easter Bunny knows me), a jump rope, and a Rapunzel Barbie. Ayla was thrilled!

 The silly Easter Bunny hid Caiden's basket in the open cupboard of the kitchen set.

 Caiden also received a large chocolate bunny, some Reese's Peanut Butter eggs, and some matchbox cars inside of plastic easter eggs.

 The Easter Bunny was going to hide some eggs outside but since it was forecast to rain Mommy asked the Easter Bunny to hide them in the house. It never did rain, but Ayla still enjoyed looking for the eggs in the house.

 Caiden thought maybe an egg might be hidden in the teapot.

 We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and enjoyed some family time with them. After dinner Grandpa set up a little easter egg hunt outside for Ayla. It was getting pretty dark so we searched by flashlight. It was fun!

Christmas 2011

This year Christmas was such a blast! Ayla is old enough to really get into it and look forward to it. We read all kinds of books about it together, and read the kids version of the new Testament so that she understood that it was Jesus's Birthday. She also helped us in almost every aspect of the holiday from decorating, to making ornaments, and baking the cookies. She even wrapped presents for Grandma and Grandpa. I LOVED it. Christmas is so much more fun when you can enjoy it through the eyes of your kids. I remember how magical it all was when I was a little kid and I really tried to recreate that experience for my kids. I have to admit it was nice also being able to warn her periodically throughout the day that Santa was watching. That really helped a lot with her behavior. 

Here's the pictures of our magical day.

(On a side note I realize that I take a lot of pictures of my kids, probably more than many of my blog viewers wish to look at, please feel free to scroll quickly through and not look if that's what you wish. I want to document as many memories as I can and create a blog book with my posts to preserve these memories for my kids.) 

Here's a picture of our tree and presents shortly after Santa put them under the tree.

Caiden and Daddy on Christmas morning.

Ayla was being really silly on Christmas morning. She was very nervous about coming out into the living room. She actually went and hid in the bathroom and I had to convince her to come out. Here she is apprehensively making her way into the living room. Why was she nervous? Because she was convinced that Santa was hiding somewhere in the living room and at any moment he was going to jump out at her. When I went to see what was taking her so long in the bathroom she kept asking "Is he out there?" I was really confused for a few minutes until I realized that she was talking about Santa.  It took quite a few minutes for me to convince her that Santa was gone. Even after she came into the living room she was tense and looked behind things to make sure Santa wasn't there lying in wait. What's really funny about this is that last year she went into the living room and opened up a couple presents before Lucas and I knew she was up. So this year I built an "impenetrable fortress" between the hallway and the living room so that she wouldn't be able to get out to the gifts. Guess I didn't need it.

 Caiden says I love this gift thing. I get to play with this crinkly paper and rip it without getting into trouble! This is great!

 Here's the best present I got this year!

 Nana and Grandpa Ray got Ayla this doll and a stroller to push her around in. They were big hits!

 Probably Ayla's favorite present was her camera. It's a cute little kids digital camera that really takes pictures. It has a bunch of apps on it that allow the user to put funny hats on the people, or moustaches etc... It also has a couple games. She loves it, but to be honest I think Santa was a little over-reaching and she is still a little too young for it. She doesn't use it the right way at all. Oh well she enjoys it and runs around taking pictures of everything now.

 She also really loved her pillow pet. She was so excited to see it because she had been worried that she wouldn't get it because she forgot to tell Santa about it when she saw him.

 Caiden and Ayla both share the train set that Santa decided not to wrap but instead leave set up by the Christmas tree. Caiden gets a kick out of pressing the buttons on the track that make the noises.

 Here's Daddy opening his present.

 He was really excited when he saw what Santa got him. Santa was very generous and got him the box set of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. He has been wanting it for a long time, so Santa finally gave in. After all Lucas was a very good boy this year.

Another one of Ayla's favorite gifts she got was her boots. As soon as she opened them she had to put them on and wear them around the whole day. She even wore them to church.

 My kids are not early risers for the most part so Christmas morning they didn't get up until eight. (I'm not complaining about this at all!) So because of that and because it took us hours to open presents ( Ayla would have to stop and play with everything for 10 minutes before she would open anything else), we didn't make it to church on time. Our ward was having a combined Sacrament meeting with the other wards that meet in our building at 11. We didn't make it, but Lucas's parents ward was meeting at 1 and Grandma is the choir director and had been working really hard on a special Christmas program, so we decided to drive out and surprise Grandma and Grandpa at their church on Christmas day. It was really nice and they were really surprised and happy to see us. Grandma leaned over and whispered "Thank you" in my ear at one point. It was a really nice treat for them, and for us. After church we all headed home and later Grandma and Grandpa came over to have dinner with us. I cooked a roast, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and a nice salad. It was delicious.

I wanted to get a few pictures of my kids under the tree. Here's the best of what I took. It's really hard getting good pics of forever moving objects that don't want to cooperate.

 I love this picture! such a cute First Christmas picture! My cute little man!

I am so happy and lucky to have an awesome family. Both immediate and extended. We love our kids and really enjoy spending time with them especially at Christmas. We are so lucky to have been blessed and given the opportunity to raise them. Christmas is such a special time of year and I really want to remember how blessed I am and the true meaning of the season.