It Is Your Birthday -- Shout Hurray!

Well, it's happened! Cambree is now 5! What I want to know is...

How does this....

Turn into this......?

It was a fun filled birthday weekend. It started the day before at preschool. Cambree got to bring treats for her birthday, and they made her this hat. She never took it off! She couldn't be more proud of her age! We drove to Rexburg after dad got home, but one present had to be opened before the drive (it was too loud to be in the car without her knowing what it was.)

The most desired gift of the year!

I wonder if they know it isn't real?

Presents were opened at Aunt Laura's! (day 2 of the hat)

Aunt Laura's way cooler than Mom!

Look at that cake she made for Cambree!

Making a wish!

It's great fun sharing your birthday with cousins!

Off to Pocatello to stay in a hotel!

Swimming for your birthday, not bad!

Birthday presents well love!

A birthday Girl, most definitely loved!!!

New Year's Eve Traditions

Clean the house!

Add in cousins

Plus fun uncles and aunts

Play games

(not to mention eat a lot of food)

and Hunker down

All adds up to a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Came!

It was a great Christmas! We loved every minute of it. We were lucky enough to have JaNae and Dan come and stay with us for the Christmas celebrations, along with Christmas Eve with Jennie and Phil and their awesome boys!

We feasted!

We sang and danced!

We acted!

And we remembered that we forgot to write our letters to Santa.

So before bed we wrote!

The letters were left with the cookies and milk.

Santa must have read them, because we got exactly what we asked for.

A "ridey bike"

An American Girl Doll (Kit)

A Mind Flex game

Shayla even got her coveted light saber from her sister.

Who was pretty proud of herself for giving the perfect present.

This is one day that I love the mess!

(JaNae, I only put the picture of your feet in order to not embarrass you with your morning pictures. Aren't I nice?)

We loved our gifts from the Burninghams!

They were perfect! Thank You!

Off to church in our Christmas dresses!

Merry Christmas, my beautiful girls!

I hope it was as great for you as it was for me.

Christmas Preparations

I know why I'm tired! So much goes in to prepare for Christmas! Oh, but what fun it is!

Of course you have to decorate! I couldn't ask for greater gifts under my tree....

Put those jingle bells on the tree so we know when someone is touching it!

Shayla was in charge of the top part of the tree...well, the middle part.

Decorations are up and now it's time to make our gingerbread houses!

A steady hand and lots of concentration

is what it takes to make the perfect gingerbread house.

Not to mention plenty of tasting!

Shayla's a pro!

The finished projects!

Now, on to the cookies!

Decorate, then immediately eat is the rule in our house!

Of course we can't forget to see the beautiful Christmas lights!

Santa

Christmas doesn't feel right without sitting on Santa's lap. So we did just that!

I sure liked the first Santa better than the last one, too bad we didn't have all three children together to see him. Then we wouldn't have had to stay to see the "creepy" one.

School Programs

December wouldn't be December without a full calendar, so of course we had to have school programs to go to, to help add more things to our busy schedules. Cambree had her preschool program. We had no idea what to expect, seeing as she has never performed in her four short years of life. We were thrilled at what we saw! She shinned on that stage as was quite animated in her performance. Not to mention, she was a beautiful sight!

Wow! What happened to my little girl? She's turned into a beautiful princess!

I mentioned she was animated, right?

She loved singing with all her heart!

Of course Shayla had to have her share of keeping us busy as well. She was able to perform at the Draper Tree Lighting celebration, at a school performance, school assembly, and at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, all with her school choir. She even had a solo during her school performances and at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (that video is on another camera that I don't know how to load on the computer, sorry).

She sure has a gracefulness about her as she performs.