Vacation Cousin Sleepovers

Both Cyan and Olivia have had a sleepover with a cousin.  First was Amelia with Olivia - we started the night with swimming at the Y, got pizzas from Pizza Hut, and then watched a movie.  Next was Hannah with Cyan.  We started with swimming, then frosties from Wendy's and video games.  I forgot to take any pictures with Amelia but here is Hannah with the girls.

Gingerbread Smash

We have a tradition to take our pretty little gingerbread houses to the field and smash them to bits with a baseball bat.

Grandma Kitty's

Christmas day was spent at Grandma Kitty's.  Here is Olivia with her apron made by GG.

 Cyan with her apron.

 The gang.

Christmas Morning

Santa was very good to the girls this year.  Both girls has requested a bow and arrow and there were two under our tree.  Also plenty of other goodies in the stockings plus a ton of other gifts.

 Nerf guns from Roscoe

 

 James with a new vest.

 Hilary with a workout roller thingy.

Christmas Eve

The annual Johnson family Christmas Eve was hosted at Grandma's.  Here are some pics of the celebration and kids.

Cyan, Olivia and Hannah

 Cyan opening a gift.

 Cyan the dog whisperer.

 Olivia self portrait.

The Johnsons

The Johnson 4 on Christmas Eve.  

Santa's cookies

Cyan and Olivia created these special Santa cookies.  The baked them and then painted on the decorations.  I am sure Santa enjoyed.

Electric Safari

The Johnson 4 ventured to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's Electric Safari.  It was a pretty cold night and James had a cold coming on but we made it through.  The best part was seeing the new elephant enclosure.

Gingerbread party

My friend Athena and her girls host a gingerbread house making party each year.  The girls think it is a blast to decorate a couple of houses with the mother lode of candy.

Christmas Program

Cyan's class had a Christmas program.  It was very funny complete with a teacher playing Martha Stewart.  Cyan had a solo in a song.  I didn't seem to get a picture of that because I was too busy filming it.

Karate Belt Testing.

Cyan and Olivia were invited to test for the next level of belts in their karate class.  The both did exceptionally well during the test and were awarded the new level of belt.  Cyan is an orange and Olivia is a yellow/orange.

Grappling

New belts:

Scrooge

The four of us went and watched a production of Scrooge at a church.  It was an interesting production.  :)

Athena's party

My friend, Athena, hosts a Christmas Party every year.  This year our oldest daughters provided the entertainment.  Samantha was playing the violin and Cyan singing.  They even put up the case to collect tip or candy.

Sunrise

I saw this amazing sunrise on my way to work.  I took this pic with my cell phone from my office.  I bet people with fancy camera in fancy locations were taking amazing pictures.

Parade of Lights

The girls and I met Athena and her family downtown to watch the parade of lights.  Athena went early and saved very good seats for us.  We also brought some hot chocolate and a treat.  Cyan dropped something on her toe earlier in the day and had a big bruise.  She even hobbled along to the parade and back from it (that is why she is sitting without a shoe).

The Messiah

We were fortunate to be able to see a full performance of Handel's Messiah and even more fortunate to be able to watch my sister-in-law Julie be the lead soloist.  It was amazing and Julie has amazing talent.

 

Tree

 We put up our Christmas tree.  Here is James lifting both girls to put on the star and the finished product.

Spoiled

We all remember the pictures of our dog getting wrapped up in many blankets.  Well it seems that everyone in this house is that spoiled.  This happened on two different days btw.

Shooting

James bought a .22 handgun for the kids to be able to shoot.  Cyan especially was very excited to go and try it out.  I think Olivia was only looking forward to the soda we said we would stop and buy for the trip (she doesn't like loud noises).  

Here is Cyan with the handgun.  She really looks like a pro.

 Here is Cyan with the .22 rifle shooting at a balloon. She hit two balloons on the first try.

Olivia tried the handgun and freaked out a little.  After some drama and parental force she tried the rifle and really liked it.  

James looking like a pro.

Veterans Day Program

Olivia's class had a Veterans Day Program.  Preparing for this event had been the highlight of her little life.  She practiced the songs and counted down the days until she could wear her new red shirt.  She did very good too!

 Olivia is on the top row just right of the center of the backboard.

Snow

It snowed this tiny amount and the kids were happy to see it.  Usually James races our neighbor to see who can shovel the others walk first.  The kids were eager to not let James down they went out and shoveled for Dave and practically the whole block.

Babysitting Duty

The girls and I took out turn babysitting.  We had Amelia, Nina and Dominic for the evening.  Nina didn't spend the night but Amelia and Dominic did.  The actually went to bed without too many problems.  And because I am not crazy enough we took the 4 kids to Costco for a snack, the sat them through church, then Olivia went to her Faith Formation class.  We were ready to be back to two kids after that.