Christmas 2010

For Christmas this year we invited 4 families over to spend Christmas Eve with us.  We played games, ate yummy food, enjoyed being with each other, acted out the nativity and made lots of noise!  We are so glad these families came over and made some memories with us!  We want to make this a Knight family tradition!  I wish I would have taken more pictures but I didn't.  I may need to steal some from the Lilywhites.

After everyone left, the girls opened their one Christmas Eve gift...pajamas!  This year I made them myself and they all matched...even a little nightgown for Noelle.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Kylie got to go shopping at school with the points she gets in her GT class.  She used her points to buy things for me, Matt, and her friend at school.  What a sweet girl.  She was so excited to give Matt this Santa candle for his desk.

Matt (with the help of his dad) built this amazing barbie doll house for the big girls.  They LOVE it!  I got to decorate it and I am so happy with the way it turned out.  I think they will spend many hours playing with this house.   Molly got a smaller dollhouse too but we missed a picture of that, although the package was missing the people for her dollhouse!  Boo!

We spent Christmas day with Matt's family and had a wonderful time.  We talked about the true meaning of Christmas.  Matt's dad asked the girls, "What is Christmas all about?"  To which Molly promptly replied, "We get lots of presents!"  Oh, my Molly!  Good thing she is only 2.  :)  Kylie then set her straight that it was about Jesus and then tonight as Molly said her prayer before bed she said, "Thankful for Jesus' birthday." 

Merry Christmas!

Family

I love my family.  I love to have them visit and I love to visit them.  It is very unfortunate that we live so far away from each other.  My family lives in Montana and that is a 2-day (at least) drive from here.  My brother, Sam, just returned home from his mission in Canada at the beginning of November and I wasn't able to go see him so he flew down here...and my mom couldn't let him come alone so she came too!  We were thrilled!  Sam was so great with the girls.  Kylie and Megan were old enough when he left to still remember him and Molly thought she remembered him...Sam was her best friend within minutes of their arrival.  Sam played with the girls and took them to the park...I think I need a Sam with me all the time!  Molly was grumpy here because the big girls were riding their scooters and Molly didn't have one.

We took a trip to the fabulous San Antonio zoo one day.  The girls are always begging me to ride the train but I am always by myself  so we took advantage of the extra hands!  What a fun time.  It was a little chilly that day so there was hardly anyone at the zoo.  Bonus...until...

...the birds hadn't had much to eat that day.  So when we went in with the nectar we got attacked...and I mean attacked!  Kylie and Megan were both sobbing and I was pretty sure a bird was going to eat my hand.  Sam dumped his nectar on the ground but the birds still climbed on him.  And I was covered in birds...and the dumb zoo guy just stood there and watched...it was rather comical...after we escaped.

Okay, we totally cooked a lobster...it was sweet.  Sam served his mission by the ocean so he had fresh seafood a lot.  He kept raving about lobster and we had to try to cook one.  So we went to H.E.B and bought a live lobster...we named him Dinner.  For 20 bucks it was totally worth the experience, and it tasted good too!  Sam, of course, said he was a lobster cracking pro and we got to see him in action.

Waiting for Dinner to cook...

Look at all that meat.  It was super yummy and all the girls liked it.  Meg loved it!

Mom was so sad we cooked our lobster until she dipped him in butter!

Sam and I went to the temple while Grandma babysat.  Lovely time.

Oh Sam!  We miss you!

Sam wanted to see the Alamo since he hadn't been there for 8 years (when I got married).  It was a lovely cool evening and we were able to see the riverwalk all lit up as well.

We were so sad to see them go.  Hopefully they will come back soon!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly

What can I say?  We love Christmas at our house!  The month of December is busy and we love it all!

It has become a tradition for the girls to have their own advent calendar to count down the days to Christmas.  The girls love these inexpensive countdowns that are all their own.  Here we are just starting the countdown...and then the month went so quickly because we were...

...visiting Santa and Mrs. Claus at Chick-fil-a.  The girls were thrilled that Mrs. Claus was there and it was indeed pretty cool.  They even insisted on holding Noelle so we could snap a picture.  They were everything I would imagine Santa and his wife to be.  And the month kept flying by because...

...Kylie decorated gingerbread houses in her GT class.  Then we got to see them at a holiday party hosted by the PTA at the school.  Ky was rather proud of her house and I must say she did an awesome job...all by herself.  And we got even closer and closer to Christmas because...

...Megan had a little dance recital.  Her very amazing dance teacher, Elspeth, has taught my little Megan so many wonderful things.  Meg loved her dance class and is looking forward to doing it again next semester.  Right after the recital, the girls had their holiday parties at school and then it was Christmas break!  And then just a few days before Christmas...

...our very wonderful and anonymous friends from the ward delivered a very cool gift to us...a plaster (I think?) nativity that was white and needed to be painted.  I let the girls paint all the pieces themselves and didn't even suggest colors or ways to paint them.  They painted them all on their own and enjoyed every minute of it!  Even little Molly joined in the fun...and got more paint on herself than the actual figures.  :)  Good thing I thought to take off her shirt!  I am thrilled that we will have this nativity to look at and play with year after year!  Thanks again to our anonymous ward family, whoever you are...we soooo appreciate your kindness!

These are Molly's pieces (minus the angel in the back...that was Meg's).

Our buildup to Christmas has been rather exciting and enjoyable!  We also had a visit from my brother (just barely home from his mission) and my mom but I will include that in a separate post.  I was anticipating a Christmas break full of boredom and sisterly quarrels but I have been pleasantly surprised at the fun I have had with my girls!  I wish I had another week with them home.  I have truly enjoyed this holiday season and the joy that has filled my heart!

Random Stuff

November was full of fun things.  With Thanksgiving on its way, Megan's class had a feast in honor of the first Thanksgiving.  The kids got to choose if they wanted to be a pilgrim or an Indian and Meg chose to be a pilgrim.  I LOVE that she got to do this.  Thank you Mrs. Taylor!  Megan had so much fun and came home telling me all about what she learned.  Love it!

We had our first "late night" with a group of the girls' friends.  We had pizza for dinner, hours of playing, a couple movies and managed to make a huge mess...but they all had a wonderful, noisy time.  When we picked them up, I told them our only rule was that we couldn't have any fun.  That immediately got them laughing and I am pretty sure they never stopped!  They quickly claimed the upstairs as the girl area and said no boys were allowed...Matt had to beg them to get through when he got home from work.  Heehee hahaha!  I thought for sure someone would get tired and crash but they all made it to 10:00 (besides Molly...she wanted to stay up all night but mean mom wouldn't let her).  We will definitely do this again!

Noelle is growing...so fast.  We had a trip to the doctor the other day and she weighed 17 pounds at 5 months!  SOOOOOO BIG!  I love it...she is just right.  She fell asleep one day on the floor with her little stubby legs in the air.  I am pretty sure I couldn't do that!  :)

My niece, Camy, had a birthday party and what fun!  My girls love their cousins and this night was no exception.  I am so glad they are good friends.

Uncle JT was getting Molly and she was loving every minute of it.

I love this face...and her eyes are so huge!

Camy and Noelle love their Papa!