Christmas In Branson - Part 3

The best part about Christmas in Branson was spending time with John's family. The kids LOVE hanging out with their aunts and uncles, and were also so excited to meet their first Pawlowski cousin, Olivia, who was born in August.

 

Attacking Uncle Dan with 'Butterfly Kisses'

Decorating Gingerbread cookies with Aunt Annalee and Aunt Natalie

 

Reading Books

Some of the other things we did in Branson included, attending church, going out to eat, taking 'Old Time Photos', seeing an amazing production of Joseph, and driving through the Trail of Lights.

 

At Church

The view from our house rental was pretty beautiful (even in the dead of winter).

 

Hudson with Mike and Natalie

 

Uncle Joey, and baby Olivia

 

 

Clara also learned some new tricks while we were in Branson:

 

the plank

 

hands and knees

Christmas in Branson - Part 2

Christmas

 

Travelling at Christmas with little kids can sometimes be a little tricky. Does Santa 'travel' too, or does he come early? Does he come while you are gone? This year since we were driving to Branson, it was easy for Santa to 'travel' to Branson also. The gifts that John and I bought for the kids were too big to bring, so we decided to wait and have our own family Christmas after our trip.

 

 

In John's family, their tradition is to open presents on Christmas Eve. This worked out great, because we opened all of the exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, and then Santa came while the kids were sleeping.

 

Uncle Dan was Santa's Elf, and handed out the gifts

 

Since our kids wake up early, we were able to have some time in the morning with just our family, to see what Santa had brought.

 

 Makenna and Grandma CeCe coloring her new purse

 

 Clara got a few gifts from Santa too

Christmas in Branson - Part 1

This year we spent Christmas with John's family in Branson Missouri. John's parents rented a big house so that we could all stay together. We had a great time seeing and spending Christmas with them.

Silver Dollar City

We spent our first full day at the amusement park Silver Dollar City. We arrived when it opened, and stayed until after dinner. I was a little worried about going to an amusement park in the middle of winter, but the weather was beautiful that day. All of the rides were open and running, and we didn't even need our coats during the first half of the day.

 

Clara in front of Clara's Cappuccino shop

We spent the first half of the day going on rides. The kids loved all of the kiddie rides, and although we spent most of our time on them, John and I were each able to sneak in a couple of 'big' rides too.

Believe it or not, this is the ONLY picture I have of any of us on any of the rides! It was a boat ride where you shot targets on the walls as you floated by.

 

Clara was the best baby all day!! She was so happy to just sit and hang out in her stroller, and was very entertained watching everything going on around her. She also took a couple of naps in her stroller, which enabled us to spend all day at the park.



 

Decorating sugar cookies in one of the toy shops

After spending the morning on the rides, we spent the afternoon seeing some of the shows. The kids loved the Frosty the Snowman show. We also saw a live Nativity show that was really neat. 

We stayed at the park for dinner, and then watched the parade of lights.

The Christmas lights at Silver Dollar City were AMAZING! All of the shops, restaurants, and buildings were completely lit up with lights. The parade was also quite spectacular. The kids loved it. We had a great time there, and would definitely love to go back sometime.

Makenna's Preschool Program

Makenna was so excited for her preschool program again this year. Since her preschool is based out of a church, their Christmas program was very much focused on telling the story of the birth of the Savior, which we all loved. Makenna did great, and knew all the words and actions to the songs they sang. She is not shy when it comes to being on stage!

 

She was the STAR of the show...literally. :)

 

Getting ready for her big moment!

 

Leading the wise men to baby Jesus

 



 

 

Family Photos 2012

While my sister was in town for Thanksgiving we had family photos taken. It had been about 5 years since our last family photos, and we had added 8 grandchildren since then! The day we had pictures taken, it was FREEZING!! We tried to brave the cold as best we could, and although we took them as quickly as possible, our photographer (a friend of mine... Melanie Miller Photography) was still able to get some great pictures.

The whole group

Grandma and Grandpa with their 14 grandchildren

Our family

The kiddos

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving break this year. My sister Amanda and her family came up from Arizona for the week, so it was fun to have the whole family together. The day after Amanda and her family arrived, we loaded up the cars, and drove down to Kansas City to spend a night at the Great Wolf Lodge. We had fun playing at the water park, shopping, eating out, and spending time with our cousins.

My parents celebrated their wedding anniversary while we were there.

My mom ordered all of the girl cousins these princess nightgowns.

They loved having matching nightgowns, and wore them to story time in the lobby that night.

I had one of these exact same nightgowns growing up. I loved it!! Now it is so fun that my girls have the same nightgowns to enjoy!

Thanksgiving day was spent at my parent's house. We had a fabulous meal, and then took all the kids on a hay rack ride.

Clara with her uncle Morgan

The 'big' kids table

After dinner we loaded up for the hayride. It was pretty chilly out, but fun.

We found some large hay bales that the kids had a blast running on.

A picture of the 11 oldest cousins (the 3 babies were at home with Grandma).

Makenna's 5th Birthday Party

A week after having Hudson's birthday party, we had a birthday party for Makenna's 5th birthday. We decided on a Wizard of Oz themed party for her; an obvious choice, since she has been obsessed with it for over a year now. It also gave her a good excuse to wear her Dorothy dress again. Makenna was SO excited to have her party, and was involved in every process of the preparations, including finding the invitations and supplies online, (she loved looking at Wizard of Oz items on amazon, and would beg me to do so almost everyday for the few weeks leading up to her party), making the decorations, making the cupcakes, and getting the activities ready. It was fun to have her so involved.

The cupcakes we made, with 'Rubby Red' sprinkles on top

We also painted a yellow brick road on our sidewalk leading up to the front door, hung balloons in a rainbow pattern in our entry way, and made signs for Munchkin Land, and Emerald City. We were ready to party!

One of our signs that Makenna colored

 A group shot of all her party guests

Our first activity was making lollipops in "Munchkin Land"

Our second activity was making beaded necklaces in "Emerald City"

We also played a few games, and let the girls get their finger nails painted 'Rubby Red'.

Opening presents

Blowing out the candles on her cupcake  

It ended up being a really fun birthday party, and Makenna loved it!!

We had her party on a Saturday, the day before her actual birthday. On her birthday, she took some treats to church for her primary class, and then my parents came over to have cake and ice cream with us. (We didn't invite any of the aunts, uncles, or cousins over, because all of her girl cousins had come over to the party the day before.)

A few facts about our 5 year old: Makenna LOVES to color, draw, and do crafts. I have a pile of cards and pictures that she has colored for me. She likes making pictures for other people, and often wants to send cards in the mail to extended family members who live out of state. She also loves going to preschool. She goes 3 days a week, but would happily go all day, everyday if she could. Makenna tries really hard to be good, and doesn't like when she gets in trouble. She is great with playing with Hudson, and loves helping to take care of Clara. She also loves going to dance. She is a very social, active, happy little girl, and we are so blessed to have her in our family!!