Christmas 08

We had a Very Merry Christmas this year! We started our day at about 7:30 a.m. instead of the normal 5:00 a.m. so that was nice to get a little extra sleep time. I let each girls open two presents before Mike got home from work because the where dying having to wait, and once Mike got home at 9:00 a.m. we started our Christmas morning here are the "hit items" this year....

Ashley's favorite was the clothes, clothes, and more clothes, and then 3 gift certificates to her favorite place to get more clothes!!














Hannah's favorite toy was Buzz Light Year, which Mike was excited about, finally one of his girls wanted a "Boy Toy"!!














Emily's favorite was her Nintendo DS!!















Madisyn's favorite was her Nintendo DS too!!















The girls waiting for Christmas dinner














Shad, Jen, and their kids came up for the day.




















































































Mike's favorite gift would have to be the electric guitar he bought with all the money from the mom's and dad's, I think he's hoping to get as good as our friend Clint so they can jam together!!

I got some clothes and the Mama Mia sound track, which Mike is now wanting to return, but my favorite gift would have to be...... having my husband home till the New Year!!!
















Thank You everybody for all the cool gifts we sure did miss you this year!!

Twas the night before Christmas....

Well this Christmas Eve was a quiet one with Mike getting an early Christmas present "Qwest" style, he not only had to work is normal 10 hour shift Christmas Eve/Christmas morning he added another 4 hours to that because of lack of scheduling on Qwest's side, so with him out the door a little after 5:00 tonight it was just my girls and I!! We had a nice dinner of shrimp and pasta, made cookies for Santa, the girls did their gift exchange with each other, and then we watched Christmas Story, after all that it was time to get ready for bed, and for Santa. The girls put out the cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and celery for the reindeer and then Madisyn had a little extra stuff for Santa this year, a present she had made for him and a very nice letter that reads:

Dear Santa,
Thank you for the present, these cookies are for you (only you) if you can you can give a tiny to the reindeer and elves, and Ms. Claus, also the carrots and celery are for the reindeer, also the chocolate milk is for you, if you read this before you do the stockings then mine is the one that says Fa La La La, thank you and hope you come next year, I'll be extra good.
Sincerely, Madisyn H
4th grade Kolbs class

I enjoy Christmas more now, than when I was a kid, its so cool seeing your kids sooooo excited!!!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

12 days of Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas tradition as a child was the 12 days of Christmas. My Mom and Dad ( okay I'm sure it was probably really just my mom!!) would do the 12 days of Christmas for my brothers, sister and myself, which consisted of each morning getting a small cheap present, and all though they may have been a little bit of dorky presents I loved it as a child and even as a teenager. Once I got married and had my own children this is one tradition with some nudging from my mom that I have tried to keep. Just as it was one of my favorite traditions as a child it has turned into one of my children's favorites too. Now their "Presents" are definitely nothing to write home about it can be anything from Christmas pins that I got for 6 for a dollar, ring pops, plastic ornaments that were four for a dollar, or candy bars from the gas station that Mike had to make a mad dash to get at 10 p.m. because I forgot to get the next days presents!! As you can tell nothing but the utmost quality for these gifts.... This as been a fun way to count down Christmas and help take away a little of the anticipation for what await them under the tree.
Thanks for the great idea Grandma Swenson!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy birthday Mike!!

I thought I would share some "Fun Facts" about my Hubby and let everyone know why we love this man so!!

Mike is a little O.C.D.when it comes to anything electronic, example: He buys a laptop, but do you think we can use it on our laps... nope he says it's to much movement for it!

Mike is always cold you can expect to see Mike with his beanie and coat on from about the end of October thru the end of April, we do live in Minnesota, it was a little shorter time span when we lived in Utah, but not much!!

Mike loved me through all my CRAZY teenage years, and when I say CRAZY I mean CRAZY in the head!

Mike is a little bit of a hypochondriac, and so am I..... so it can be a scary combination at times.

Mike is a GREAT husband and father.

Mike was quite the hip hop dancer back in the day, and he likes to freshen up on his dance skills once a year in the basement when he thinks no one is watching.

Mike's dream job would to be a cartoon artist.

Mike is a little bit of a germ freak.

Mike is a great provider.

Mike is a high achiever, and though I wish he would just stay at the same position and same company forever (because I don't like change!!), his choices have gotten us to where we are now and for that I'm very thankful.

Mike likes pretty much all music from hip hop to heavy metal and all the music in between!

Mike has went to bed with his shoes on more times than I can name!!!

Mike has given me my four beautiful daughters and a wonderful eternal companion what more could a girl ask for???

I LOVE YOU MIKE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Baking, Baking, and more Baking.

Grandma Armour sent out the girls Christmas aprons and lets just say they have been used!! In the month of December we have a lot of baking that goes on in our house with two batches of sugar cookies and three pans of chocolate bars were only half way through with all of our baking. The aprons were a perfect little gift.






Emily and Maddy are at the age where it's still fun to cook!
























































Don't worry that is the left over cookie dough that's in Emily's hand.

Christmas Party

This year for our ward Christmas party our Primary children were our entertainment for the night. Linda Holt even made them each a choir robe to wear. It was a delight to listen to the "Primary Choir" sing and to feel the sweet spirit that they brought.















The Primary choir all posing for a picture.















Emily got to play Mary as they sang the Nativity Song, she was so excited when we got the call that she had been chosen. I must say she did a pretty good job at playing the part, although I may just be a little partial??










































All the Primary kids did a great job, and it was nice to step back from all the "hustle and bustle" of Christmas and to have the kids reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior.

The "JOYS" of winter.

When Winter comes it brings all of its " JOYS" with it!!















Slippery, icy roads and when your a person who's always late to everything, they don't help!

















Allowing an extra 10 minutes to put on all of the winter gear before leaving the house.

A collection of boots, hats, gloves, and snow pants that collect in my entryway every afternoon!

Not to mention the shovelling of heavy wet snow in negative degree weather, the covering of a salt packed car pretty much the whole winter, having to feed up our garage door because it doesn't like negative degree weather and gets stuck in the middle of opening???, and my favorite...... the negative 30 degree temperatures we get!!!

With all of the pains we get with winter we do have some real "JOYS"also, celebrating the birth of our Savior, family traditions, snowman, hot chocolate, Christmas cards, baking goodies, the gift of giving, Santa Claus, and ringing in a New Year!! Hopefully the real "JOYS" will help get me through this winter.

All I Want For Christmas

All Emily needs for Christmas is just a few of her front teeth! Emily has lost two teeth this week and is in jeopardy of losing some more. I am proud to say though that the tooth fairy has gotten to our house in a more timely manner this last time around so Kudos to her!! I actually had a few "Random Thoughts" of my own, Kristen while driving home today, I'll share just one, and then you'll all know why I don't share my random thoughts more often! Why is it that little kids look so cute when they lose their teeth, but adults look kinda scary when they lose theirs???