Decorations

Most of you know what my neighbor's house looks like at Christmas. This is my plan for next year.

Christmas Morning

Santa somehow found the Johnson kids on his annual pilgrimage. Here is their loot:Kids with their loot:Roscoe's present:

Cyan picked out presents for James and me from her and Olivia. Here is James with his flashlight and me with my body spray.We saved the big presents for last. We have been faking out Cyan for months about this Nintendo DS. She really wanted one but knew they cost a lot of money and didn't even ask for one because of that. She has been saving up her tooth fairy month and counting her change. I told her maybe her Dad and I could add to her savings for Christmas. She was not expecting it at all. So here is a pic of her opening the DS.

Here is her reaction:

The first thing this sweet girl did is tell us she would give us her savings and then pay us back. Not a dry eye in the house on the behalf of the parents.

Olivias big gift was an Ipod shuffle.

Here are our sweet girls

Here is later in the morning. James with the Itouch and Cyan with the DS. Olivia is listening to her Ipod.

For Christmas dinner we went to Woodland Park to be with my family. I forgot to take my camera inside but it was a nice time and a good dinner. The kids were very lucky to recieve some nice gifts there too.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we first headed to Church, gotta love the C & E Catholics that make us have to get there a full hour early. After Mass we went to the Annual Johnson Christmas Eve Celebration. The grandkids exchanged names and the adults share in a white elephant exchange. The girls came home with a frendship bracelet kit and some Hello Kitty makeup. James scored a Thermos and I got a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card. It was a great time.

Here are some pics:

The Johnson Grandkids (Dont ask what is wrong with Olivia)

The Original Johnson 10

All the Johnson's

Kids gift exchange

Adult White Elephant

Cookies

Maia and Delia joined us to decorate some cookies to give to Santa. We decorated with what I had in the house which would be crushed candy canes, chocolate bits, sprinkles and marshmallows. Pretty cute if you ask me.

High Tea

Today we joined the Mills' Ladies at the Miramont Castle for High Tea. Even the little girls went along. They had been practicing for a month on their manners to be ready for it. It was very nice to see everyone and chat for hours. Here are the pics:

Gingerbread House

This morning we made the annual Gingerbread House. Here is our creation:

In Grandma Kitty fashion we are going to smash it come January.

Bowling

We went bowling on Friday. Cyan is a rock star bowler. Here are our scores mind you the grown ups were trying their best. The pic of the scoreboard does not show our names. Olivia was first but pooped out after about the 3rd frame. Next was Cyan, Mom, and Dad.

Sickies

So we are a bunch of sickies. Cyan had a sore throat which she gave to me. Then we were both suffering. This was a doozie of a sore throat too and it got me to thinking that it was probably H1N1 once you combined our others symptoms.

Then to top it all off Cyan got pink eye on Monday. It is a terrible event to get her to do the eyedrop so we hope this passes quick.

Cookie Exchange

On Saturday the girls and I hosted our 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange. The girls were in charge of a bead craft for the kids. Then we exchanged a massive amount of cookies. I did not take any pictures but wish I had one of my table before we did the exchanging.

2 years of transplant success

On Friday James and I celebrated 2 years of kidney transplant success with Skip and Shelly who took us out for a lovely dinner. It was great to catch up with them and hang out. They are lovely people.

I also am thankful to be married to someone who thinks the gift he gave was no big deal. I bet to Skip, Shelly, and Chase it was a very big deal.

The Little Bell That Saved Christmas

Tonight was Cyan's Christmas Program. It was titled the Little Bell that Saved Christmas. Guess who the little bell was? That's right Cyan.

So the story line was the little bell sounded off key and the other bells did not want her around. She practiced and practiced and got very good. Then on Christmas Eve Santa was lost but the sound of the little bell made him find his way. There is one part when the other bells are teasing the little bell for sounding so awful that the little bell cries and cries. Cyan had been practicing her fake crying so I knew it was coming. She was so good I started to get nervous that she was really crying. But she was not.

I have a new video camera and I would like to be able to load the video but I think it might be too large for Blogger. I will get it up somehow. I do have some pics though.

Best Friends.

Update go here for one of the videos. I will upload the other tomorrow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Za3fmCL58

Sleeper #2

Cyan fell asleep on James' lap. I said do you want me to take her to bed. He said she is fine here. I think it reminded him of when they were babies and would sleep with him in his chair. Too much growing.

By the way he is fake sleeping in the pic which is a family tradition.

Sleeper #1

Olivia fell asleep with her Santa hat on and I liked the way it was perfectly placed for a sleeping elf.

Parade of lights

We made it to the Parade of Lights. I forgot my camera but it does not matter since it was too cold for it to work. And due to the frigid temps we did not make it very long before we headed to the car.

Hopefully there will be better temps next year.

Nutcracker

First came our special lunch at Pizza Hut which I should have known they would not eat. Then we headed to the Nutcracker. It was all that we thought it would be. They had very talented young dancers and tiny little ones that were very cute. Here are the pics of lunch and the show:

Before we left and the Olivia was pretending to sleep.

Pizzas: The Moms had a bake sale outside and the girls bought a cookie. (obviously):

Bad pic of the action:

Now up the parade of lights.

Tree

Yesterday the Christmas tree went up. My favorite part is looking at the old ornaments. The kids buy one each year they like to see which ones are thiers. I know I have some that Grandma Kitty and GG have made too. Love it!

James made it home just in time to put the star on with the girls.
I should have taken a picture of later. We babysat our neighbor Elizabeth. She is very funny and sweet. We all had fun watching and playing with her. Reminds us that our babies are not little anymore. I can only imagine what we say when they get bigger.

Next is the Nutcracker on Saturday. Yay!!

Gigglefest

Olivia was so giggly today that I could not help to video it. Of course I did not get the really good giggles on video but here is a snippet.

Another tooth

Cyan has lost another tooth. We knew this one was coming. The sucker was so loose she could bend it and you could see inside the thing. She bit down on an apple at school. When you go to the school nurse they give you a little treasure box.

Speech Therapy

I forgot to mention last month...

Cyan has officially graduated from speech therapy. She did the testing and it was deemed all her speech sounds and verb conjugations fall within normal ranges.

So after 4 1/2 years we are done with it.

Yeah Cyan. Way to go with all your hard work. We are so proud of you our sweet sweet girl!!!

Olivia and progress

Olivia started this preschool year screaming at the daily drop off. After 5 weeks that subsided. Then we have worked on puppa staying in the backpack unless it is nap time. She mastered that one. Then she left him in her backpack all day even during nap time. Another skill mastered. Today, she left him at home. No tears or anything at drop off regarding his absence.

Next up - thumb sucking. I may just amputate because that might be the only way I win that one.

DMNS and Casa Bonita

On Saturday we headed to Denver to visit the museum. After touring there we went to Casa Bonita. I have to think it has been 20+ years since I have been there. I dont think much has changed. The kids loved it and went crazy while James and I thought the food was a gut bomb.

Here we are:

Black Friday!

Morgan and I braved the Black Friday madness. She very graciously got in line for me for a special item very early and I even got one. I am sure I will post what it is after Christmas. We went to Wal-Mart and Target. The crowds over the $3 p.j.'s were crazy at Wal-Mart but the lines at the checkout at Target were way worse.

Here is the line for at Wal-mart:

Here are the lines at Target:

That night we went to the Simply Christmas craft making bonanza at First Pres church. It is the girls favorite night. They had a blast. Sorry forgot the camera again.

Thanksgiving

I had to post something about Thanksgiving even though I forgot to take any pictures. It was a great day with great food and great company. We have lots to be thankful around here but this is what Cyan said. She is thankful for the military because they are away from their families on this holiday. Smart girl.

Skunks

We were driving and smelled a skunk. Olivia told us how skunks spray. She said "If you grab a skunk by the tail and squeeze the tail it will stink out it's tooter"

Charlottes Web

This week was Cyans production of Charlottes Web. She was Wilber #2 in scenes 1 and 3. Funny. She was not sure until the day of the performance if she wanted to go through with it. A little pep talk about how everyone would be scared just like her did the trick. She did the play and had fun. Here are some pictures and video.

Weekend

Just so you know we didn't fall off the face of the planet. I had to work on my day off then got stuck in a snowstorm in Northglenn. It took me 2 hours to get from there to Castle Rock. YUCK.

Then there was Maia 's Birthday Party on Saturday where they bowled their little hearts out. The weather was yucky and we came home and watched Tinkerbelle and the Lost Treasure.

Sunday the weather was even yuckier and besides for a trip to Redbox to exchange movies we didn't even leave the house.

Looking forward to my 4 day weekend next week and then another one after that.

Hike and wreaths

We took a hike yesterday at Palmer Park. The girls did good and hiked for 1.5 hours. On our way we collected nature items and made wreaths at home.

Here are the wreaths:

All I want for Christmas

Cyan's other front tooth has been really loose. I started to be so wiggley that is was crooked in all the ways a tooth could be. We came home from an event at school and she said she wanted to tie a string and slam the door to get it out. Here is the play by play