Christmas Day

The stockings were hung by the stairway with care....

The kids woke us up around 7:00. I was surprised and thought they would sleep in a little longer. They never wake up that early. We waited a little bit and begged Cirdan to get up (even I partook of the begging). Jett also had to be awoken.

Kids excitingly coming down the stairs!

The first things that the kids saw were their bikes. They were instantly elated and overwhelmed. Santa figured since we now have a cul-de-sac for the kids to play in this would be a perfect time to get each of them their own bikes.

Jett diving in the presents

They first opened stockings (as tradition goes)

Then came the presents.

Ella absolutely loves cereal so of course she had to get a box.

Kaiya was not thrilled about the Justin Bieber Cd. It's all an act though...she really wanted it but had to act like she didn't.

Buzz Lightyear!

Cirdan was pretty thrilled to open up his gift. I think he was looking at the girls in this picture...acting excited.

Ralph Lauren fancy boxes. They were wrapped up all nice and neat.

Cirdan got me a beautiful mirror. He bought it to go in our room but it is much to pretty in our room so it will go in the dining room. He also got me a really nice, big jewelry armoire, which will fit all my jewelry.

The kids all got everything they wanted (and more).

After everyone got cleaned up and ate breakfast the kids were itching to go outside to ride their bikes. It was raining (of course), so Cirdan took them out will I took a few pictures then ran back into the house.

Where is this poor little boys hat or coat?!

Christmas evening we went over to Nathan and Amy's house for Christmas dinner. Kaiya went to her dad's house. I asked Junior what they were doing that night and if they had nothing to do they could come eat dinner with us. He agreed (which surprised me) and said they would love to come over. I love being in a place in our lives were we can all be friends and it's not weird. We all have one thing in common. Kaiya.

Full and tired - my sleepy boys

Kaiya showing off her ipod touch she got for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

Kaylee and Rusty came into town that night. This is the only okay picture that I took of them. Proof that they were there!

Christmas Eve

We rushed and got unpacked enough to be able to enjoy Christmas. On Christmas Eve we decided to have everyone over for panini sandwiches and some fun. We ate lots of good food and then gathered around for some music. Amy brought over her guitar and some little instruments that the kids could play. Everyone had a blast! Singing Christmas songs always seems to put people in the spirit.

Kaiya read the birth of Jesus out of the Bible.

Everyone then gathered into the front room for a reading of, A Night Before Christmas. As soon as it was over there was a special visitor that appeared into the window. Santa!! The kids were super excited.

Emma wasn't too sure about the guy in red at first. She soon warmed up. Casey and Ella were pumped!

Jett took his gift and ran....with tears.

We then opened some gifts that we gave each other. Kaiya's dad took her shopping this year and was nice enough to let her pick out (his money) a present for each person in the family. She had a dollar limit but she picked some really neat gifts! She put a lot of thought into each one and wanted to make sure it was the perfect gift. Some of the gifts were...

Me - shirt

Cirdan - Seahawks mug

Ella - Cinderella nightgown

Papa - A bacon tie (which I have not seen him wear yet) :)

Stacey - A hippie nutcracker. There is a story behind this one...at Thanksgiving Stacey was whistling between her teeth (which is quite common for her). Kaiya told her that she sounded like a hippie. We all laughed about it, so that is why the hippie.

I can't remember the other gifts that she got but all were really special.

After everyone left we cleaned up and the kids went to bed very excited and anxious. There was a lot of building/wrapping going on that night in our house so Cirdan and I didn't go to bed until very late. Why do I always wait until the last minute? It was all worth it in the end.

Updates on Us

We are snowed in!! Guess this gives me some time to update my blog. This past couple months have been insane. Lots of new things happening in our life! New house, new pregnancy, new car (details to come), new school (for one of us), new furniture and a new ward. Oh, and new sicknesses. Before Christmas Ella and Jett both got sick with one day fevers. They also developed a little cough/cold. After Christmas their cough got worse. One night Jett got so bad that he could hardly breathe. I waited 2 days and it was just not getting better so I took him to the doctor. Turns out he had croup. He sounded so bad it and it was really sad to hear him wheezing. He also needed and wanted a lot of my attention so I got almost nothing done. The doctor said that there was nothing to give him so we just had to wait it out. He is now finally better. Thank goodness! Ella's cough is also slowly going away.
Last weekend we went to Portland for a dance convention for Kaiya. Right as we got on the freeway we had to stop the car so she could throw up. That continued for the next 30+ hours. I will do a blog all about it...stay tuned!! That was sure...interesting.
We have been slowly but surely getting organized and emptying boxes. It is a big process, and it makes it more of a headache when you have kids that like to make messes while you clean. It seems like a vicious cycle of cleaning 24/7. Maybe one of these days I will be able to relax.
We are enjoying our house. Sometimes when the kids are upstairs and I yell for them but they can't hear me. It's pretty annoying until I stop and think about it...it's a blessing to be so far away from them that they can't hear me! At our last house I felt like we were constantly on top of each other. It's nice to have a separation. Laundry has been interesting with the laundry room downstairs but it has been giving me an extra little workout and made me burn some calories! Ha ha.
Dance competitions start soon!! Mock competition is Sunday and the real competition is in a few weeks! I am excited to see all the kids dances!! It's going to be fun! Which reminds me...I am due right in time for Nationals. This year instead of going to Disneyland or Vegas like usual they decided on Seaside, Oregon. I was looking forward to going and not being too far away, somewhere we can drive to. BUT we won't be going now. Not sure what Kaiya will do. I need to talk to her dad about taking her....which means I need to find someone to help her with hair and makeup! It will be interesting. Kaiya was bummed and asked why I couldn't just take my doctor with us. Would be nice...but I am not rich! :)
That's all I can think of right now. I will go back and work on the bloggy blog now!

WE Moved!!

Woo hoo! We moved! With all the extensions we had on the closing date we finally moved in on December 12th. Half of our house had already been packed on on the truck waiting for a week. I didn't realize that with a foreclosure it takes longer to close than a regular house sale. I put as much stuff away as possible so that I could decorate for Christmas. A few days after moving in, I had Cirdan get a tree. Moving in and trying to be ready for Christmas at once was quite a chore (especially with horrible morning, or more like all day sickness) but it was fun to have a new home to celebrate in! Stephanie (my cousin ) surprised me a couple days and came over to help organize and put things away. She also brought us dinner and lunch! It was a huge surprise and I am very thankful for her. My mom came and helped one day also.
We absolutely love our house. Our neighbors seem great and there are a ton of kids in the neighborhood. We have a couple boys that come over almost everyday to see if the kids can play which is fun. We live in a cul de sac which is perfect for the kids. I also love how close we are to the elementary school. We downsized a lot with the size of the yard, which is nice not having to worry about yard work. But with the elementary school so close the kids have all that space to play in and the toys to play with also. Kaiya has been walking to and from school and that is a huge thing to not have to load the kids into the car...or wake them up from their naps to go pick her up. I just watch out the window, and make sure she gets home safe. Wonderful!

So much packing paper! And this was only some of it.

We took this picture while Ava was here for Thanksgiving.

Nye Christmas Party

The Nye Christmas party was fun. We had our traditional Chinese sundaes, which sounds really really yummy right now!! I think I will make it for dinner tonight. Anyways, dinner was followed by singing Christmas songs and then our annual white elephant gift exchange. We had the party at the church across from my Grandma's house since last year we were pretty squished with everyone in one house. I am glad that we all still get together as a big family. We are all getting older and it's nice to see each other still and not lose contact.

Busy Bee's Christmas Performance

Ella's preschool had a little Christmas program. The kids learned a few songs and performed for us parents. They all walked out and onto the stand with little Rudolph noses that lit up....then sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It was so cute! The kids loved their little red noses.
They say a few more song and then a special visitor showed up....Santa!!

Ella and her friend Logan. These two are inseparable at preschool. They have to sit by each other for everything they do. Ella has somewhat of an infatuation with him. Logan is definitely her favorite part of school. She even knows how to spell his name. I am anxious for parent/teacher conferences in a couple weeks to see what the teacher says about these two. Yikes.

Ella and one of her teachers, Mrs Wharton...who she loves.

I'm Pregnant!!!!

Meet baby Imbler! Due July 2012!

Cirdan and I were in quite a shock to find out that we would have a baby joining us in 2012. When the shock wore off about 24 hours later we started to get excited.

Cirdan brought me home some beautiful flowers and a card the next day. He is a wonderful husband!