HE CAME..... HE CAME..... HE CAME.......

Christmas morning!!!

WOW!!!!!

This was by far our best year to date, each year gets more and more fun. Mikayla was really incredible this year. She slept with her Nana on Christmas Eve. I figured we'd have plenty of warning when they came down so I could get into position for her surprises.... well...it didn't exactly go that way. Michael was up and had just fed the dogs and came back to bed, and I suspect that Mikayla heard the pantry door close and she is 100% positive that sound she heard was Santa. So I guess she and Nana had quite a conversation about it and Mikayla HAD to check it out. So Nana said, ok then come back and tell me what you find....well....

she came downstairs...quiet as a mouse.....when all of a sudden the SCREAMING started!!! HE CAME....HE CAME.... MOMMY, DADDY, COME QUICK.....HE CAME......NANA!!!!!!

She scared the you know what out of me because I was soooo asleep when the screaming started :) WHAT FUN!!!!! I have been waiting for this kind of reaction...and I WAS SLEEPING right through it!!!!! I wish I had been able to capture it on video but maybe next year I'll be able to beat her in there!!!

Here is the little set up she came in and saw.



She asked Santa for a camera, dress up clothes and a guitar strap. I was able to capture her expression when she saw her camera!!



Ohhhh the clothes!!!!

and beaded hand bags of course ;)

YAY!!!!!

She's READY to open the other treasures!!!!

Some of her favorite things that she opened are below not all of them though :)

Blankie I made her :) it was quite a project and ended up being so big when I started, that I had to cut it back to make it manageable (and finishable).

Fun little hat and scarf I made her.

She had a GREAT TIME!!!! (we did too!!!)

Here she is taking Nana on a "hunt" for animals, she put her new back pack on Nana and was taking pictures of the animals as they ran past.

Nana and Jingle.

Cowgirl Mikayla

The first picture she took with her new camera.

So after some play time and clean up, we were waiting for my dad to come over so we could open our stockings! Now our Santa does have a tendency to over do the stockings so the goodies don't fit inside...so they have to be filled then secured to a gift bag so the goodies don't get all mixed up. My mom started that years ago...and well, I guess the tradition continues.

Mikayla is READY to open!! :)

We really had a fabulous day. We enjoyed a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings and hopefully made some more really great memories for her to remember. I know I'm really having a great time!!! It wasn't all about the gifts either, what made it even more special was that we celebrated Jesus birth.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

We met up with the family for lunch on Christmas Eve. The food was fantastic, the company was even better!!!

LOL, taking a picture of MIL taking a picture (yes....dork...I know... LOL)




The kiddos always have a great time!

Then we went over to church. This year we actually got seats inside and all together. This was our view to the other side of church. It was an amazing service, absolutely beautiful!

Then out to our traditional place for dinner :) the white sweater coat she's wearing, my grandma made about 40 years ago, both my sister and I wore it when we were little.

I love the goofy shots!!!

My dad painted some fantastic gifts for Mikayla....at this exact moment, she was just overcome!! She couldn't help herself and I'm pretty sure she put as much love into this hug that she could!



Merry Christmas!!!!

Last Day of School

What a season we've had!! I have so many pictures to share!!! I'll start at the beginning and mid January you'll be all caught up LOL!

Here is Mikayla's last day of school party. I went to the part of her party I was allowed to attend and then brought her back to work with me. She has been a busy little girl! Here she is sharing with the class the book she opened. The kids did a book exchange gift. They had a blast and it was really funny when the kids wanted to keep the book they brought but they weren't supposed to LOL.

So after her party, she came to work with me for the rest of the day, then she went to my dad's house for Wed/Thurs (had a sleepover on Wed too), then Friday came to work with me for 1/2 day.

She was a busy beaver for sure!!!

Christmas Recital

What a great night we had going to Mikayla's dance recital. I adore this picture, she is so happy and loves to dance.

Here come the girls :) The little girls (prek and kinder) in the front and the back two rows are the 1st and 2nd graders.

They all did their tap warm ups together, then broke out into their own groups

I LOVE this!!

Waving to the crowd.

Next was their ballet routine :)

I love her expression in this picture.

Darn picture came in sideways but here she was doing her solo bow and blowing kisses to the audience.

Seriously, this was so much fun, I was taping my feet right along with the girls.... it was all to Christmas music which is really fun and very mood inspiring.

Here is a little video I took.

Baby goes for a ride!

For Mikayla's birthday she received this totally incredibly amazingly awesome baby doll carrier for her bike!! OH MY GOSH, this child is beside herself with joy that she can now take her babies for a bike ride!

Here is my disheveled kiddo sporting her baby's new ride!



And they're off!!

Giving kisses to baby. (notice baby's sweater LOL that was Mikayla's sweater from when she was teeny).

Oh and an outfit disclaimer...the only thing I had to do with her outfit was the black leggings that she still had on from church....she picked out the rest ;). Oh and another disclaimer...we're working on the training wheel thing.... personally, I'm ok with her using them till she's 20.... ;) and yes we reallize that she's also outgrowing this bike (*sigh*) so we do know that her knees almost touch the handle bars (seat can't go higher and neither can the bars) but it's too late to add it to the Christmas list...she'll just have to wait awhile :)

Whew...what a fun (busy) weekend!

Our Saturday morning started bright and early and Mikayla got to go to a high school near our house to have a dance clinic with their drill team. She had a BLAST!! It started at 8:30 - 2:00 complete with a mini recital for the parents. Here she is with the other Kinder-1st graders.


Their first song was to a song from the Little Mermaid.

The second song was something about wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas - totally cute!

Gathering together for their bow.

This is the only video I took, I was enjoying the dances so much I just forgot to video...oops, but I did capture this :)

Then we had a few hours before we went down to the Christmas boat parade. It was so much fun. Mikayla was on serious joy overload. She was so tired but couldn't settle herself :)
There were some really neat boats!

The parade was going on and she was dancing to her own drummer! Quite literally - dancing/marching/rehearsing.... you name it, she was doing it. I LOVE it, I love watching her imagination in process.

Here are two of my favoritest gals in the world!

A little dinner.....and she CRASHED!!! Granted I did keep her out too late but we really had a great day!! She slept all the way home and then I got her all tucked in bed for the night :)

I love the Christmas season - so many fun things to do!!!