Christmas Eve

~~ Feliz Navidad!~~

This year Christmas Eve was spent at our house! I was very excited about it. All my family came over and we had a great time. We had a nice and calm night with family. We ate tamales of course, and we had roast as well. And we had other munchies and desserts to go with the evening. Around 9:30 we let the girls open up their presents-this took about 10 minutes at the most. But when they were done,the floor was covered in wrapping paper, tissues, and gift bags! This was Mia's 1st Christmas Eve, so we were all anticipating how she was going to handle it! Well, she was not as excited as the girls. As a matter of fact, she opened up one gift by herself, but was scared of the loudness of the girls. So she just cried. So my sister took her to put her pajamas on. I think after that, she was bit happier. Maybe she was just tired of looking pretty!!
Note: Since I still don't have my camera, I am using my sisters' brand new Sony Cybershot. I still don't know how to use it. Therefore some of these pictures are terrible due inappropriate use of flash!
After the girls opened up their presents, the grown ups did our Christmas exchange. It was fun to see who had whose name--we usually pick names at Thanksgiving. It's always funny because Omar and Elizabeth usually have each other or at least one has the other. And this year, Elizabeth had Omar's name!! It has been like this for at least 4 or 5 years!
Here are a few pictures from our Christmas Eve. Our usual Family Christmas Picture!
The pictures below were taken on Dec 21st--Mia at 11 months!!!! I cannot believe how very fast time went by!!! It makes me super sad. As of 11 months, she stands up on her own--but doesn't take any steps. She has 2 teeth completely out and 6 coming out. She wears 18 months clothes, and a size 3 shoe. She weighs about 19 pounds--maybe more now! She can wave, clap, climb up the stairs, eats regular food, drinks 8 ounces of Soy milk, and sleeps really well. I am ready for her to walk just so she can keep up with the girls, BUT she knows she keeps up pretty well by crawling. And Leanna carries her everywhere, so there is no rush for her to walk! In a few weeks we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday party- a bumblebee party! I am excited about it!

Our Gingerbread House

So this year I said that we were going to make a gingerbread house. Of course the girls were super excited about it. I made the decision to make it with the stuff we had at home instead of using the kit that you can get at Michael's for $14. And what an experience it was. We all actually enjoyed it. It was just a challenge for me to build the house. But once I figured it out, it came together fairly quickly. It was the "figuring it out" part that got me.
Anyway, we used graham crackers all the way around and on the roof. I even cut triangles for the part that hols the roof. Everything is sticking together with icing (which we were all eating). We used Cheese It crackers for the roof (we only have the letter ones), mini candy canes for the door frame, mini marshmallows for the windows, and M & Ms for the "lights" around the house, and Hershey's Kiss for the chimney! The girls enjoyed eating everything as we were decorating. I really just ate the icing. The door could have looked a little better, but the girls actually put everything on the house. Which explains why everything is a bit crooked. Oh and after the fact, I found the Hershey's mini bars that we could have used for the doors. Oh well. So here are a few pictures...Again, the quality is due the flash not working. BTW, my camera is now in the repair department at Sears...hopefully I will get it back soon!

On Christmas Eve, when everyone is here, we'll probably make another house. Hopefully I will have better pictures then!

School Christmas Programs!

On Tuesday, December 8th, Kayla participated in her first Christmas program! We were all excited about it, especially her. The pre-k 3 program was scheduled for that morning at 10 a.m. The kids were asked to wear blue jeans and a white top. Since this was a morning performance, we didn't invite many people. But she still had a good audience! Pat, mom, Siena, Tia My, Sylvia, Mia, Leanna, and I were all there to cheer her on! I was nervous because she hadn't performed in front of a big audience...but she is a natural. She loves being on stage! Her class sang, "Head, Shoulders..."by themselves, and all the pre-k 3 classes sang "The Lights on the Tree" and "Happy Birthday Jesus" I have to admit, this show was CUTE!! And it was better for them that it was a day show, because they had energy, and they were already in the school setting. It turned out great. I took some pictures, that were OK quality (since my flash isn't working), but I also took some video. And I was impressed with the video quality in this camera!

Leanna's performance was Thursday, December 10th at 6:30. This show was packed--full house. We had to get extra chairs to accommodate the audience! Since her program was a night show, she had a few more people come to watch her. Uncle Walter, Aunt Debbie, James, Sylvia, Tia Irma, mom, Kayla, Mia, and I were there! Leanna was an angel for her program. She was a cute little angel, if you ask me. But I am biased! She did great, considering the program was about 45 minutes long. All she did was sit on a stool for 40 minutes! Then when everything was over, all the kids sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" in sign language as well as vocal! It was great. I was very, very impressed with this age group because they had to memorize lines, not just lines, but Bible verses! Many, if not almost all of them knew their lines, as well as their friends' lines! They were using big words too; like Corinthians, frankincense, Immanuel, etc. It was just AMAZING! Good job pre-k4 kids and teachers!! Leanna's pictures were not as great as Kayla because her program was at night, so camera was really struggling to get good pictures. Therefore I only posted the better ones!

The girls were so happy about their performances. I got to see them practice during school a few times. That is another perk I have; since I'm at school, I can go watch them practice! Anyway, thanks to all who came to support the girls. It really means a lot to them. Thanks to mom, my sister, and Siena for driving to Pearland, for a few minutes of a performance. And Thanks to Sylvia for getting flowers and treats! They were very excited about that. Leanna still has her flowers in her room & she "cares" for them everyday! Kayla's flowers made it all the way to Saturday morning.

Here are the videos..."Happy Birthday Jesus"

...Outisde the snow is falling......

Oh my!!! It snowed here. And it continually snowed throughout the day! It was Friday, December 4--it started around 8 a.m. But it got heavier around 9ish--that is when we took most of our pictures. I was so excited about it, that I didn't even blow dry or comb my hair. So, excuse my terrible hair! But I wanted to get some good ones of the girls, so I got their little outfits together, while Pat got the wagon, and we took a few snow picture of the 3 girls. I thought it would stop snowing...but it kept on. And I was glad. After the wagon pictures, we went in to change the girls into some pants, and boots, so they could play with the snow. They loved it. Well, Leanna loved it. Kayla played for about 5 minutes and was done. Mia didn't know what to think of it. Penny on the other hand, enjoyed the cool breeze, and the snow falling on her!

We went to eat lunch that day, and drove around the neighborhood to see how much snow actually stuck. We were impressed to see that some houses had a lot on their yards! It helps when you have no trees! I can't believe that it has snowed 2 years in a row. It isn't up north kind of snow-but it is snow. And in Texas! Impressive. Maybe we'll get another day of snow!

Oh, I have to add this: Since I was so camera happy out in the falling snow, I didn't bother to take care of my camera. Now, my flash doesn't work at all. It flashes but it does the opposite of what it should do. So now the picture come out super dark(kinda red orange) or they come out blurry!!! Boo!! I am pretty upset about that. I have to send the camera out to be repaired, and who knows how long that will be. And it is unreal for me to be without a camera. So in the next few blogs, please forgive my quality of the pictures!