Simpson Family Christmas 2008

Our kids woke us up at 3:00, 4:30, 5:00, and finally we got up at 5:30.  Zoe was not a happy camper, she wondered why in the world she had to get up in the dark.  Hallie said she felt "funny", and we realized she had a high fever.  But it was Christmas morning and no one wanted to miss it.  

Our kids always wait on the stairs until we are ready with cameras and stuff.  You can see how great Hallie was feeling. 

Santa brought Stella her girl baby and boy baby!

Santa delivered a Webkinz black poodle to Hallie!

The biggest surprise of all!!!  Santa brought us a puppy!!!  Here the kids are greeting the newest addition to our family.  He is in Jed's arms, it is so hard to see him because he is tiny.  He's a chihuahua and his name is Nacho, in honor of his Mexican heritage and our family's love for Nacho Libre.

Our family has formed a band.  We got Rock Band for Christmas and everyone has been rocking out ever since.  It is super fun!!  Now I think I can play the guitar and sing, watch out!! 

The Love Letter Tradition

This Christmas we started a new tradition.  Starting at the beginning of December I printed up a bunch of stationary with the words, "I love you because...", and got a sparkly red mailbox.  I told my family that during the month they could write love letters to the other members of our family and stick them in the mailbox, and then we would read them on Christmas Eve.  They were pretty excited about it.  Stella wrote many love letters throughout the month, and others just wrote one to each member.  These are pictures of us receiving our letters on Christmas Eve and getting ready to read them aloud.  It was a wonderful night and I know everyone felt special and loved.  This is definitely a tradition we will carry on.  

 This is Jed writing his last minute love letters.  I had a couple last minute letters to write too 

(Christmas Eve sure does sneak up on you fast).

Happy 2nd Birthday ZOE!!

Zoe's birthday was on the 20th! Our baby turned 2, I can't believe it! She was so excited opening her presents she was shaking. We also had our annual Shaw family progressive dinner that day, so it was a day full of partying.

When she woke up she got to open her HUGE present! She unwrapped the whole thing all by herself. It was a roller coaster!

Hey guys look what I got! She would not let anyone else have a turn, she proudly declared that it was "MINE!"

Zoe LOVES cookies, so I decided to bake her a giant one for her birthday indstead of cake.

This was her first ride on her new roller coaster!

Santa Update.. Yes he made it down!

The fireman were able to save Santa (of course) from the roof and get him safely down and inside where he could let the children sit on his lap.  He also brought lots of presents for the good little boys and girls.

Santa is not Zoe's best friend yet..

This is Hannah asking for a beam, bars, vault, and springboard!!

Stella was SUPER excited to see Santa and couldn't wait to sit on his lap!  She asked for a boy baby and a girl baby.

Hallie really wants a Webkinz for Christmas, and was so disappointed that Santa didn't bring it to her at that moment.

Tucker is still not too big to sit on Santa's lap.  But the price of his wish list IS getting too big.

Santa is stuck on the roof!!

We were having our annual Christmas party at the fire department when they got a page that there was a man in red stuck up on the roof! Oh no!! We all ran downstairs to see what was going on and we saw this!

Santa Claus was stuck up on the rooftop! Could the fireman save him?

Watch this video to see the bold rescue.

Does Santa Claus make it down safely? To be continued...

The Snow Dance worked!

The snow dance!  Hey it worked!

We love to play in the snow!

Do I put my mittens on first or my snowsuit?

I want to go outside too!

Hannah was giving her sisters rides on her snowboard down the little hill in the common area.  How talented is that?  

Gingerbread Architects

We decided to get together with our good friends, the Bruneels, and construct some fancy gingerbread houses.  There was a ton of candy, frosting, and creativity.  I think some of the candy even ended up on the gingerbread houses!

This is our finished gingerbread village.  Don't they look cute?

This is our Stella, she decided to turn herself into a gingerbread house and spread frosting all over her shirt! Surprised?  Me neither.

    Zoe's diet consists of strictly candy, so she was in heaven! Her candy never even made it onto her gingerbread house.

The 3 Musketeers, in all their glory.  All the candy they could want at their level and no one telling them no!  I have a cute picture of Eli covered in frosting but it wouldn't upload. 

The artists, formerly known as kids, creating their edible masterpieces.  They worked so hard on them and the finished products turned out so cute!  My kids brought theirs home and had them eaten in about 2 days.  Whoops, I guess we won't have a gingerbread village at our house.

12 Days of Fitness

I don't know if any of you are interested in this, but here is a link in case you are. http://www.12daysoffitness.com .  If you are at all into health and fitness it is worth checking out.  Everyday for the next 12 days you'll receive an email about anything from diet and nutrition, mindset and motivation, fat loss, to female fitness to mom's workouts to men's bodybuilding.  They will send info on rapid fat loss routines, six-pack abs programs, back pain rehab, and lots of other things.  These will be either PDF files, downloadable audios, and some videos.  This is all free without any catch.  These fitness professionals just wanted to give back during this holiday season and they are trying to reach a lot of people.  So check it out if you are at all interested.  Have a great day!!

"Mom, Buddy IS real!"

We had a special visitor come the day after Thanksgiving.  He let us know that he was here on an errand for Santa.  He is to watch over us every day and report back to Santa at night to let him know of our kind deeds, and misbehavior.  We got to give him a name, but we are not to touch him, so his Christmas magic won't go away.  Our family voted, and gave him the name Buddy.  Fred came in a close second.  Santa gave him strict orders not to talk to us, but he can watch over us and follow us around to school, and other places, so long as he does this secretly.  Every morning when we wake up he is in a different spot and my kids love seeing who can seek him out first.  Well, Hallie, who is 5 years old, proclaimed one day early on that Buddy is not real, mom, he is plastic!!  So she was a nonbeliever until, one morning when she woke up, Buddy was watching us from the ceiling fan 16 feet off the ground (Zoe actually found him first that day).  Hallie stated very excitedly, "Mom! Buddy IS real, because no one can reach up there.  He really can fly!".  So we are here to tell you that the Christmas magic is alive and well here at the Simpson home.  

I've Been Tagged!! 8's....

Brittany tagged me so here I go...

8 Shows I like (we only have 6 channels and I don't watch them)

1.  Ok, I occasionally turn on the Today show in the morning

2. What about movies?  How about Ocean's 11

3. Ocean's 12

4. Ocean's 13

5. Teen Witch (anyone seen that one from the 80's?) 

6. Elf

7. Dan in Real Life

8. Oh, I did used to love Alias when it was on

8 things that happened today ( it's only 10 am)

1. I exercised with Tucker

2. I wrote a blog post about 8 things

3. I bathed my 3 girls (still haven't done their hair)

4. I packaged up 4 things I sold on Ebay

5. We did our Christmas traits of Christ chain ( we are working on sharing with others today)

6. I made sack lunches for my kids

7. I have wiped Zoe's nose about 10 times

8. I played Wedgits with my girls

8 Places I like to eat

1. Brick 29

2. Fudruckers

3. Yogees!!!!!!!!!!

4. Taco Time

5. Mona Lisa

6. Lock Stock & Barrel

7. PF Changs

8. Mai Thai

8 things I am looking forward to

1. Increased peace in our home ( I read a fantastic promise from Marion G. Romney that if we will read from the Book of Mormon everyday personally and as a family "the spirit of reverence will increase, mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow, and the spirit of contention will depart.  Righteousness will increase and Faith, hope and charity will abound in our homes and lives".  So we have made a goal of reading from the Book of Mormon everyday!! 

2.  Teaching my children the TRUE  meaning of Christmas

3. Family skiing and togetherness this winter

4. SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!  I can't wait to wake surf again 

5. Completing a Triathlon  

6. Seeing my children marry an eternal companion that treats them wonderfully

7. Getting out of the diaper phase

8. Backcountry snowboarding with my husband

8 things on my wish list

1. a big bonus room for Hannah to do all her gymnastics in (we are tired of being kicked in the face)

2. I want to become a personal trainer in the near future

3. seeing my children marry in the temple

4. establishing a house of order

5. getting to the temple more often

6. going back to Hawaii (every winter would be nice) sorry Jed, had to throw that one in for you

7. that we and all of our friends and family will survive this rough economy

8. that Obama hadn't been elected president

8 people I tag

Whoever wants to participate in this is tagged.

Uh oh, is there a Wii-aholics Anonymous?

Hallie has discovered the Wii as of late.  She loves to play Mario Kart!  She is so good at it, she can come in first place most of the time!  When we  play it as a family she is pretty hard to beat.  So this morning I happened upon Hallie and now Zoe playing.  I just had to snap a picture of this cute racing duo.  Notice how Zoe is trying to sit exactly like her big sister?  How cute are they (um, minus the crazy hair, mismatched pj's and dirty faces).