December Extras

We had a great month celebrating Christmas, and enjoying all of the fun activities that go along with the season. Here are a few of our other favorite moments from December.

Way back at the beginning of the month (before it became unseasonably warm) we did have one good snow storm. Makenna played outside with some of our neighbors,

and made a Nebraska-worthy snowman with John.
Makenna also loved decorating for Christmas this year. After bringing our Christmas boxes up from the basement, Makenna asked several times a day if we could decorate more. She even got to put the star on top of the Christmas tree (while randomly wearing her 4th of July dress).
The kids were able to see Santa at our Ward Christmas party,
and John and I were able to wear our Ugly Christmas Sweaters again. John even wore his to work.

Our final fun December activity came after Christmas, when John's parents stayed a night with us on their way home from spending Christmas in Wisconsin. It was their first visit to Omaha since we moved back, and we loved being able to show them our house, and loved it even more that we have enough room to have them stay with us! The kids were excited to see them again, and were also excited to have one last round of Christmas presents to open.

Christmas

Christmas Eve

We were in Omaha for Christmas this year, and spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house with my two older brothers and their families. We arrived late afternoon for some appetizers and games, followed by way too much food for dinner. I think that my favorite part of dinner was the traditional 'slush' that my mom made. My grandma Durrant use to make slush for Christmas dinners, and it is definitely a Holiday tradition.

After dinner, it was time for the kids to dress up for the Christmas Nativity program. Makenna was beyond excited, because she was able to dress up as Mary, or "Mary Fair" as she liked to say. She has been talking about dressing up as Mary for weeks. Hudson dressed up as one of the Wise Men.
My dad read the story of the Savior's birth from Luke 2, and the kids 'acted out' their parts. Hudson was very excited to give a present to baby Jesus.
Makenna had her 'baby Jesus' with her all night long. She made a very sweet Mary.
After the story and nativity program, it was time for presents. Of course this portion of the night was a little chaotic, but that is what makes it fun! My mom made matching nightgowns for the girls, which they were happy to model.

For dessert we had a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, and the kids got to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. They really enjoyed this, and it was another great reminder for them about why we celebrate Christmas. By the time we loaded up the car to head home, we were all full, happy, and feeling very blessed to have been able to celebrate Christmas with family.

Christmas Morning
Makenna was so excited on Christmas morning to go downstairs and see if Santa had come. She immediately noticed the fireplace screen which Santa had forgotten to put back on. She also checked to see if there were any cookies or milk left. She was happy to find that Santa had helped himself. After that, she made her way over to her stocking, and discovered the Dorthy doll and Wizard of Oz movie that Santa had left for her. She is very into the Wizard of Oz right now, and had asked Santa to bring her some Wizard of Oz stuff. She has also decided that she is going to be Dorthy for Halloween next year.


Hudson was very excited to see his new car ramp, and has been playing with it almost non-stop since Christmas.

After looking thru our stockings, and having Makenna help each one of us pull everything out, we moved on to a few presents under the tree. Makenna was more than willing to help anyone and everyone to open their presents, and luckily none of us minded :)

It is such a joy to celebrate and share the joys and wonders of Christmas with Makenna and Hudson. They bring so much fun and excitement into our home, and it is a pleasure to celebrate Christmas with them!

ConAgra Foods Ice Rink

Earlier this month, the kids and I headed downtown to meet John on the ConAgra campus after lunch to do a little ice skating. ConAgra sets up an outdoor rink every year, and all proceeds from the $5 admission are donated to Food Bank of the Heartland as part of a "Shine the Light on Hunger" campaign.

The kids have never been ice skating before, and I haven't been since I was a freshman in college. Being a Friday afternoon, the rink was mostly empty, which worked out great for us.

Makenna LOVED ice skating, and often would let go of our hands so that she could skate by herself.

I think Hudson thought we were crazy at first (putting him in unsteady ice skates, and taking him onto the slippery ice), but after a few laps, he started to really enjoy it too!
When Hudson needed a break, Makenna and John stayed out and skated some more,

meanwhile, Hudson found a pile of snow/ice to play in.
We also spent a lot of our time skating in a group. We had SO much fun, and are definitely planning on making it a yearly tradition!

Christmas Programs

Last Thursday Makenna had two Christmas programs, one at her preschool, and one at her dance class. These were both firsts for Makenna, and I was so excited to watch, and see how she would perform. Would she be her normal loud, outgoing self, or would she clam up and be shy and nervous?

Her preschool program was first, and it was SO cute. She attends a preschool that is part of a large church, and therefore the program was very Christ-centered, which was great. Makenna's class was the first to perform, and she was right in the center of her group, next to her cousin Ellie. They performed 6 songs, and Makenna was so funny. She sang/yelled all of the songs, and was the loudest in her class! I was video-taping the performance, and kept shaking the camera because I was giggling almost the whole time. When she practiced the songs at home, she would sing loudly, but I wasn't expecting her to sing so loud during the performance. Afterwards my sister-in-law commented that we should get Makenna into the performing arts.

Since I was video-taping, I didn't get any pictures of the performance, but Makenna was happy to pose with 'baby Jesus' afterwards to snap a few.

Makenna and her cousin Ellie
Hudson joined in as well

John took the morning off of work so that he could be there to watch her program.

Later that same afternoon, Makenna's dance class put on a small Christmas performance for the moms and dads to watch. This is Makenna's first year taking dance, and she LOVES it. She is in the same class as her cousins Ellie and Olivia, and looks forward to going to class every week. Lucky for us moms, the teacher lined the 3 girls up right next to each other. (I am hoping they will do this come recital time as well!)

Makenna, Ellie, and Olivia

Makenna's class

It was so fun for me as a mom to watch Makenna in both of her Christmas programs. She did so well in both, and I can't wait to see many more programs in the years to come.

The Nutcracker

Last weekend my mom treated all of the girls in our family to tickets to see The Nutcracker. Makenna and I read the book beforehand so that she would be familiar with the story, and she was SO excited to go.



In front of the Orpheum Theater with my two sister-in-laws, and their 3 girls. The only girls in our family that were missing were my sister and her 2 girls who live in Phoenix. Hopefully they'll be able to come next time!

The 4 girls. Makenna has really enjoyed living close to her cousins.

And the woman who made it all possible!

The little girls seemed to really enjoy watching the performance. They are all taking dance classes, so they enjoyed watching all of the dancing. Although I think it was more about the beautiful costumes than the choreography...at least for this 4 year old.

Thanksgiving Recap

Wow! Is it already mid-December?? This really is a busy time of year! Well back when it was still November, we had the opportunity of travelling to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with all of John's family. We were so excited that all 3 of his younger brothers and their wives were able to come too. John's parents were kind enough to rent a house for us all to stay in rather than splitting up between their house and hotels. The kids LOVED all of the attention they received from their aunts and uncles. Since Makenna and Hudson are the only grand kids on John's side of the family, they get to claim all of the attention for themselves. We had so much fun cooking, eating, playing games, swimming, watching movies, going bowling, shopping, jumping on the trampoline, etc. etc. We are already looking forward to our next Holiday with the Pawlowski family, and only wish we could see everyone more often.

Playing games on Uncle Dan's computer
Jumping on the trampoline

Aunt Natalie and Makenna being bounced by Daddy

The day before we left, we took a trip up to Estes Park. Apparently this was my second trip (I went with my mom and dad when I was a baby...I don't think that counts).
Watching a glass-blowing demonstration...a.k.a. the warmest store in town!

Family Birthday Party

Yesterday, my mom and dad hosted a family birthday party for the 3 grand kids who have November birthdays: Makenna, Hudson, and their cousin Lane. Makenna was SO excited to celebrate with all of her cousins. There were 14 adults and 9 kids total, so it was a full house. It was really fun to celebrate all 3 birthdays together. I think this will become a new tradition for us.

All of the presents

Eating dinner at a table set for 20! (Three of the older kids sat up on the bar stools on the island.)
Opening presents

After presents, we sang to each of the kids separately. My mom bought a cute little toy to put on the cake to represent each child.

First was Hudson with his 2 candles
Then Makenna with 4 candles
And finally Lane with 7 candles
Hudson didn't even eat any cake or ice cream, because he was too busy playing with his new trucks.

After running around for a few hours with her cousins, Makenna was ready for a little down time, which she found snuggling on the couch with her grandpa.

Makenna's 4th Birthday!

Nine days after Hudson turned 2, Makenna turned 4. She was SO excited for her birthday, and talked about it everyday for weeks.

We started the morning with some Lucky Charms, and silly faces.

Then we made and decorated cupcakes. Makenna very carefully put sprinkles on all of the cupcakes.

After Hudson's nap, we headed to the zoo, where John met us. It was the warmest day of the week, and as we went to the zoo during the last 2 hours that it is open, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was so fun to just let the kids run around and not have to worry about losing them in a crowd. It was also feeding time at the zoo, so we got to see a lot of very active animals. Our favorites were the bats that were flying everywhere.

After the zoo, Makenna picked McDonald's for dinner, and then it was time to head home for cupcakes and presents.

We bought Makenna a Leapster Explorer, which she absolutely loves. Hudson was pretty interested in it as well. I have a feeling that we may have to get him one also in a year or two. I love how the games are fun and educational. This is how Makenna spent the rest of her birthday night...playing her Leapster.