Girls, Girls, Girls....

So I have a lot of catching up to do in the blogging world. Several things have happened this month so I am devoting however long it may take today to get everything posted.

This past weekend Abi invited 4 friends to go to the Nutcracker with her and Meili....of course Russel and I tagged along as well. We went to the matinee showing and beforehand they had a Sugar Plum Fairy Tea Party that was an absolute must. All the girls dressed up in fancy dresses and we had a great time. The tea party was decorated like a little girl's dream. Pink everywhere, sparkles covering everything, gooey pink sweet dessert, and many performers from the show mingling and taking pictures. Abi is truly blessed to have such good friends and this is only just a handful of them. The girls were so cute and had a great time. During intermission, we ran across the street to the famous Bluebird Restaurant to get them chocolates and candy (wonderful suggestion from Courtney). Oh...and it was also quite amusing to watch the girls and listen to their snickers when the men dancers were on stage. They just can't understand why they have to wear such TIGHT tights....nor can I. :) A really fun day with a bunch of darling girls.

Thanksgiving 2010...

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family. We started off with an awesome Jazz game the night before. J.D. went with us along with one of Russel's partners, Dr. Bell, (his sweet wife got sick), and the game was great! J.D. had so much fun and even got a big Taco Bell parachute. We then spent the night with my parents and had a wonderful day on Thursday. The kids loved the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, pumpkin cake, ice cream, and on and on....and I somewhat enjoyed my almond flour bread stuffing, mashed cauliflower, and mocked up version of apple crisp. This is the first Thanksgiving that I've been on this special diet (basically grain free, lactose free, sugar free, processed free....it would actually be easier to just list what I can eat), and everyone was so helpful. Tammie (my awesome sister-in-law) made a wonderful cranberry/apple relish dish and made me my very own without sugar. I've never even liked cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving...let me tell you, it's a new favorite of mine. And everyone was so nice about the Waldorf salad I made so I've come to the conclusion that either a) they pretended to like it for my sake; or b) i have found a recipe that tastes somewhat normal. So it was a great day. We played cards and just enjoyed being together as a family. We of course looked through all the ads for Black Friday and almost talked ourselves into going out.....but in the end we found all sorts of excuses as to why we didn't need to get up at 3 a.m.!!





Friday night my sister had her 2nd Annual Writing Letters to Santa party. She started this new tradition last year and it was such a hit, she kindly offered to do it again. Russel and I missed out on the festivities last year as we were unfortunately on the islands of Hawaii trying to shield that dang sun from our eyes. It was rough and there was definitely no reminiscing about it this year. ;) Anyway, the party was great. Gina invites her in-laws too and it's always fun to see them and catch up. The kids wrote and decorated their letters and then amazingly enough the doorbell rang and we had a special visitor. I bet you can't guess who it was???? OKAY, I'll tell you, it was Santa Claus himself!! He came and let all the children sit on his lap and gave them candy canes. He told them a story about Rudolph and even let us take pictures. Meili was pretty nervous.....even the bribe of the candy cane couldn't get her on his knee but in the end she was willing to let mom hold her and stand next to Santa in trade for a candy cane. She actually did really well. I thought she'd be crying and wondering who the heck this strange man was in a big red suit but she handled it all in stride.











We put up all the Christmas decorations for family night on Monday before Thanksgiving. It's a fun tradition that the kids love. It was extra fun this year with Meili. I think she thought it was great that there were actually ornaments on our tree and grandma's tree that had her picture on them. Oh yes sweet girl, we were dreaming of you at this time last year and praying and hoping that you would be with us this Christmas. All our wishes came true and it's better than we've ever dreamt it would be. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Our hearts are filled with the love we feel from our Savior and for the many blessings that we have. God has performed a miracle in our family and we will be forever thankful. To wrap up our Thanksgiving post, I thought I'd do a little list of some of the things we are grateful for.

T - Time that we spend with our families and loved ones
H - our Home where we feel loved and warm
A - Apples, one of our current family favorite snacks decked out with peanut butter
N - five Nifty children that are so sweet and keep us on our toes
K - two Kittens this year that we found loving homes for (thank goodness)
S - our Savior, Jesus Christ and for the gospel that blesses our hearts and home.
G - Gabbing children that we hear each night after they are supposed to be sound asleep. And of course Grandmas and Grandpas. (G is a good letter!)
I - In-N-Out now debuting in Centerville! Much closer than our standby in Arizona.
V - Vacations this year that brought us closer together and for the memories made
I - Instant hot cocoa to warm us after playing in the snow
N - Nail polish on little girls fingers and toes
G - chewing Gum to keep the gabbing children quiet in church

Nicholas Christian McKenna.......

Wow!!! I can't believe my little Nick is now 9!!!! I still remember so vividly when he was just a little guy and we lived in Arizona. Russel would be working insane hours at the hospital and I always looked forward to my time with Nick. I would put the two older babes to bed and then Nick and I would just hang out, reading books, cuddling on the couch, watching movies, etc. It was such a treasured time with my little baby and I can't believe that I have blinked and he is now all grown up. Nick is a wonderful child. First off he was born at Thanksgiving time which makes him very special and on those years when his birthday falls on Thanksgiving, it's an extra special day. NIck has many wonderful attributes....really too many to mention but these are the top 5 reasons why we adore Nick the way we do.

1. He has a very funny sense of humor. When he was just little, he would say things that were so funny that it was hard to believe such a little mind could come up with something so clever.
2. He is a very relaxed easy going kid.....not many things get him too worked up. Of course he has his moments but he is truly such a sweet boy.
3. He has a very tender heart. He is very compassionate and loving and a very good brother and friend.
4. He loves to serve others. Many times I will find him doing something for someone else with no thought of reward or praise. One day I was having a crazy day and Nick knew I needed some extra help so without even being asked he cleaned up the entire dinner mess, hand washed the dishes and all. The job was done so good and so thoroughly, I was totally taken back. It also helped me realize his full potential.... ;)
5. He has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen his faith and felt his love for our Savior. Abi, Nick, and J.D. took on an overwhelming challenge of reading the Book of Mormon this past summer. The problem was that we were gone for the first few weeks of the summer and didn't learn about the challenge until the latter part of June. This made the task quite daunting but the kids still wanted to do it. I told them there would be no way possible to do that much reading in our regular family scripture study and that they would have to do quite a bit of reading together during the day. They gladly accepted the task. So for the next two months, I watched these three beautiful children gather together and read as many as 20 pages on most days. It was tiring and not always a happy time and there were times when Nick felt like giving up, but he never did. He stuck with it and they all felt the wonderful blessings that came from it. It's an experience I don't think they will forget for the rest of their lives. I saw their testimonies and their unparalleled dedication. On November 23, as Nick turned from 8 to 9, I was a little sad to see the beautiful age of 8, the year we baptized him an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, come to an end. It's a special age and if I could, I would freeze time as all my children are growing too fast. I would love to bottle up this time and save it but it's also an exciting time and wonderful to see them learn and grown and become strong, independent children of God. Nick is strong, he is faithful, and he is an amazing little boy and I know he will do great things with his life.

Nick's birthday activities included a late night the weekend before with friends at our house complete with pizza, movies, games, and treats. (Silly mom forgot to take pictures.) We had a wonderful family birthday last Sunday with Russel's side and Nick chose all the desserts. We had chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and fall colored sprinkles on top and chocolate chip cookies made into ice cream sandwiches. They were a hit! And he even chose the paper plates with a sports theme, red forks, and a #9 sparkler candle (well we thought it was a candle....actually turned out to just be a sparkler and we had to take it outside so he could light it....but either way it was cool). And on his actual birthday, we had quite the blizzard. He invited a few friends up and had a blast sledding and then warming up with hot cocoa. Russel and I took him to Texas Roadhouse :) that night for dinner but, much to our total and utter dismay, 3/4 of the dang town was closed because of the snowstorm. Ah c'mon what's a foot of snow? So we ended up at one of the few places we could find still willing to serve us food....good ole Taco Time. All-in-all, we had a great time and I think he made some good memories.

Happy Birthday Sweet Nicholas! We are so proud of you and love you dearly! Continue to be strong and faithful and always serve others.

Family Pictures...

Here are our favorites from the family photo shoot. Even though we couldn't get Meili to crack even a little smile, we think she still looks adorable and are so happy to finally have her on our wall at home! We have a wall in our entry way that has had a frame with four openings. Underneath it says "All Because Two People Fell In Love...." It has driven me crazy since being home from China that Meili is not up there in her rightful spot. After our family photos were taken, I promptly purchased a 5-opening frame and now our wall is complete and I get to look all five of their sweet faces a hundred times a day.

Sisters...

Russel took the girls outside for a little photo shoot a few Sundays ago. Here are some of the favorites. It's so fun to have two girls! In the past I had worried about having another girl and the age span being too large....but these two girls...even though years apart....are best friends and love each other dearly. It's obvious to anyone around. :) And not to mention, Meili has about 20 "pseudosisters" who are Abi's friends and are the sweetest girls in the world to her. Meili is definitely not lacking in the love and attention department. :) Here are our sweethearts!