Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas. The girls were so happy with their gifts. Since we stay up late on Christmas Eve (we didn't get home until about 1:30 this year), we let the girls sleep. I was up about 7:30 and showered before they woke up. Then Ella woke up and wanted to take a bath and get dressed. Minutes after she finished, Michelle woke up and the gift unwrapping began. At our house, Santa doesn't wrap his gifts, and so they are usually the easiest to spot. This year was a little different. We told the girls which gift to open first, one from us, and it was a huge surprise. They got a Wii!! They were so excited. Then they saw Santa's gift which was a Wii game for Michelle (Alvin and the Chipmunks) and a game for Ella (Toy Story) with a dress for Gabrielle. Santa also left them a note saying that he enjoyed the chocolate milk and carrots they left for him. (They decided Santa could use some healthy food mixed in with all the cookies he was eating!)
They also got a hula hoop from us. Then they had gifts from their grandparents, their babysitter, and a couple of other friends and family members. They loved opening gifts.

Michelle was cute because she has the funniest facial expressions. She kept saying "Thank you for the Wii" over and over again. She was thrilled...but a tiny bit disappointed to not get a new bike or a High School Musical House from Santa.

Love her excitement!

Ella was cute because as she opened gifts because she would stop after each gift and say thank you to the person who gave it to her...even though most of them weren't there. "Oh, thank you Grandma and Grandpa." "Thank you Alicia, I love it!" and so on. It was too cute. She loved all the pretty clothes and was also excited about the Wii and the Barbie and the Littlest Pet Shop toy.



Gabrielle was cute because she is just figuring out the concept of opening gifts. She didn't have many (she doesn't need anything...so many clothes and toys handed down from her sisters...she is set!) which was probably good because she would open one and then want to hold it and play with it while opening another. But it was fun to see her figuring out how to open the gifts and she loves the toys she got.


Alfredo was thrilled because he got a flat screen tv for our room. He still really wants to get one for downstairs, but that will be a bigger one and will have to wait awhile.

I got a nice jacket, which I needed, and a nice, comfortable pair of shoes.
After opening gifts, we had breakfast at home and got ready. Then about noon we headed to my aunt and uncle's house for lunch and more gifts.

My Aunt Elaine and Uncle Phil are so generous and gave me a Cricut cartridge and furry slipper socks. They gave Alfredo a gift certificate to Old Navy. Michelle and Ella got coordinated outfits and Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus dolls and Gabrielle got a darling toy. We also ate a delicious lunch.

After a few hours, we headed home to try out our Wii. Christmas was as beautiful, magical and wonderful as ever. We are so blessed and grateful for our friends and family as well as our health, our home, our testimony of the gospel, our stable jobs, and so many other things at this time of year.

Want to read more about other people's Christmas celebrations? Head over to Evette's this week to read about other's and to link your description of Christmas 2009.

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Totally unrelated, but I'm going to print my blog and want this included in the 2009 blog, so I"m including it here. My reads for October - December 2009:
A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen
Alma by H.B. Moore
Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian
Dead Wrong by Clair Poulson
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Everwild by Neal Shusterman (loved it!)
How to Be a Good Parent (only read 1/2...good book)
Night Kill
Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger's Apprentice #1) by John Flanagan (good series!)
Shudder by Jennie Hansen
Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman
The Burning Bridge (Ranger's Apprentice #2) by John Flanagan
The Icebound Land (Ranger's Apprentice #3) by John Flanagan
The Lover's Knot
Time Traveler's Wife... I did NOT like this, skip it
Where Angels Go by Debbie Macomber
The Girl Who Could Fly (this was wonderful! I would totally recommend it!)

Christmas Eve

We have several fun traditions on Christmas Eve. First, we do luminaries. This is a tradition from my family growing up. You put lighted candles in bags and line your sidewalk/driveway with them. It looks beautiful, it lights the way for Santa. Most importantly, luminaries remind us of the Light of the World, our Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth we are celebrating.

(I must admit that luminaries are easier to do and warmer in Arizona! But I still love doing them...)

After luminaries, we read Luke 2. Then we each open one gift, usually pajamas. (Although I didn't get Alfredo and I pajamas this year.)


Then we head to Alfredo's aunt's house. We open gifts from his aunt and cousin and they open the gifts from us. Around midnight, the extended family gathers and we eat a midnight dinner. Santa comes and delivers gifts downstairs for their family while everyone is upstairs eating, and they stay up most of the night opening gifts. We don't stay for that part of the celebration though. My kids usually don't even make it until midnight before they either fall to pieces or fall asleep. So right after dinner, we head home. Still the girls enjoy playing with their cousins, Daya and Nayeli (Laly). We enjoy visiting and eat yummy food.




Christmas Eve is special and magical and I look forward to it each year.

Tis the Season...

to party! :)

Been meaning to document all the great parties we attended during the month of December.

December 3: Our street Christmas party (adults only). Salad at the Whites. Dinner at the Hardings. Dessert and White Elephant gift exchange at the Petersons. Laughed until my side hurt. We received the best white elephant gift...a huge package of toilet paper. Thanks Sara! :) Our friends Dan and Heather wanted a coconut monkey holding a baseball bat. Alfredo asked his grandma to bring one from El Salvador, but the one she brought was holding a machete. So that was our white elephant gift...a fertility monkey for our neighbors. They are hoping it doesn't work. So much fun!

December 5: Ward Christmas Dinner at the church. Yummy food. Beautiful music. Chance to visit with friends and neighbors.

December 10: Book club Christmas Party: Favorite things: We had Cafe Rio style salads. Yum! Each brought our favorite holiday treat to share. Each told about a favorite holiday tradition or memory. Each brought a favorite book to exchange. Love my book club!

December 14: Alfredo's work Christmas Dinner: At the Roof Restaurant. Delicious food. So. MANY. YUMMY. Desserts. Great company. Lots of laughter. After, we went with Alfredo's boss Jeremy and his wife on a carriage ride around Temple Square. That was a lot of fun. It was Jeremy's idea and he treated us to the ride. What a great memory--and a great friend!

December 18: My last day of school... Potluck lunch at my school. Most teachers had been a Secret Santa to someone else all week, so this was our final exchange and we guess who our Secret Santa was. Mine was Gwenda, and she was wonderful. I got four containers of Stephen's Hot Chocolate. Homemade candy corn. Almonds. Candles. Bath and body soaps and stuff. Very fun.

December 31: Every year we go to a party at Alfredo's aunt and uncle's house. Have dinner around eleven PM. Stay up until midnight...if the girls can make it that long. Then I take them home to bed. Alfredo usually stays until 2 or 3. The girls play with cousins. We eat, we dance, we laugh.

I love the opportunity to spend time with friends and family, surrounded by yummy food and have so much fun laughing and talking and enjoying the company of those I love.

Visit from Santa

As the song says, "You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to" our house. Not just to town, but to our home this year. Santa came for a short visit on Christmas Eve (after all he was pretty busy delivering gifts all over the world, so he couldn't stay too long!)


The girls didn't know he was coming so it was a very fun surprise. Santa brought them each a candy cane and asked what they wanted for Christmas and told them that he was sure they would be happy with what they were getting.


Alfredo's cousin also came over and brought her two daughters. So they got to see Santa also. It was really fun. Santa knew their names and ages and knew they had all been good.

Michelle knew that it was not the real Santa (she knew it was actually Alfredo's boss) but everyone else was thrilled for such a special visit. And Michelle loved it and had a great time too.

The girls had no idea he was coming and were quite surprised.

Echoes of Christmas

On Tuesday evening, we went to Liberty Park for Echoes of Christmas, a live nativity presented by an interfaith organization. The live nativity retold the story of Christ's birth through song. It was a cold, snowy night, but I'm so glad we went. We were able to be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas and able to feel the spirit.

The girls liked seeing the live animals...sheep and a camel. Gabrielle happily said "Woof woof" when she saw the first sheep.

These were our wonderful guides that took us through the nativity to see the shepherds, the priest that had read of Christ's birth and knew the signs, the wise men, the innkeepers, Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus, and the angel choir.


My friend Carin let us know about this event, and I'm so glad she did. I believe this was their second year and they are hoping to make it an annual event. It really was wonderful.

Christmas Letter 2009

December 2009

Dear friends and family,
Merry Christmas! We hope this holiday season finds you well.
Alfredo has been working at Utility Trailer for just over a year now. He is very happy there. He has made some great friends, enjoys his job, and the company treats him very well. He and Jenny teach the 9 year olds in Primary. And he is Gabrielle’s favorite.
Jenny continues to teach 3rd grade at Parkview. She loves teaching (both in Primary and at Parkview) and loves being the mother to 3 amazing girls. She continues to read and blog and do a little scrapbooking.
Michelle is six and in first grade. She has lost five teeth and recently got her ears pierced. She continues to be in the dual immersion program at Jackson Elementary where she is learning to read, write, speak and do math in English and Spanish. Her Spanish is improving rapidly, and she is an amazing writer. She is always writing stories and notes to friends and fills page after page with her writing. She loves to play school, and she has her teacher voice down. Jenny loves listening to her pretend to teach her sisters, imaginary classmates, or neighborhood friends--she seems to be a natural teacher. Michelle is a bit of a perfectionist and gets upset when she makes mistakes on her schoolwork. She also loves to watch HGTV and has definite opinions on how people should decorate and design their houses. She has a ready smile and is a kind, caring friend.
Mirielle (Ella) is four now and very healthy. She attends preschool 3 days a week and loves it. She begs to do homework like Michelle, and she can now write almost all of her letters. Ella tries hard to keep up with Michelle. She is our biggest cuddler; she loves to be held. She is also shy. She absolutely wouldn’t say her part in the primary program even though she knew it by heart--but she loves Primary and learned the songs and sang them loudly and with gusto. She likes to color, “read” books and she also has an infectious giggle. We are finally almost past the tantrum stage. (Thank goodness!) She can hardly wait for kindergarten next year, and she seems to totter back and forth between wanting to be “big” like Michelle and “little” and be held and helped to do things.
Gabrielle is now 16 months old. She adores her daddy and our dog Chester. Of her first 10 words, four of them were about the dog (Chesta, woof woof, perro and bow wow.) She loves to run and play hide-n-seek with her big sisters. She also loves to climb…up and down the stairs, onto chairs, tables and counters, and so on. She’s going to be a little monkey like Michelle. She is learning new words every day…in English, Spanish and a little bit of sign language. She has also developed a temper. She lets you know it when she doesn’t get what she wants. She likes to be down and playing and running…except when Ella climbs into Mommy’s lap…then she wants to be in Mommy’s lap too. (Just a little bit of sibling rivalry there! But they do adore each other.) Gabby has curly, curly hair in the back. She loves to point at everything and shake her finger “no, no, no”. She often sings herself to sleep.
We are grateful for our many blessings, especially the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wish you each a blessed and happy holiday season. May the peace and love of Jesus Christ enter your hearts and homes.

Favorite Kid's Books of Late...

Animalia by Graeme Base
Cajun Three Little Pigs
Jazzamatazz
Listen to the Wind
Pigs Rock! by Melanie Davis Jones
The Daddy Longlegs Blues by Mike Ornstein (This is a MUST read! Wish it came as a book on CD...Fun and informational!)
Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
Magic School Bus books

letters to and from Santa

The girls wrote letters to Santa:

Ella's letter says this:
"Ella Barbie house please. I love (heart) you because he is the best." I helped her spell words but she wrote the letter herself...except the word best. She was tired. Anyway, I was impressed at how well she wrote the letters. She has been practicing, but she's better than I realized.

Michelle's letter says:
"Dear Santa I want for christmas is the high School musicl(musical) house the same house as my friend amaya and I want for christmas a Bike Without training Wheels Bike I want just a medium Bike. I love you Santa Michelle Panameno"
(I helped her a little with spelling. She was tired and gets cranky when she's tired so she needed a little help.)

And they got letters back from Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. How very sweet of him to take the time! They are thrilled. If you'd like Santa to write to your little one, help him out at this very cool website, dltk.

A big day!

Yesterday was a big day for Michelle! She got her ears pierced. In my family growing up this was a big rite of passage. We didn't get our ears pierced until we were 12. About a year and a half ago, Michelle asked to get her ears pierced. I debated back and forth and kind of decided that we'd see if she forgot about it or kept asking. She forgot about it. Until around August of this year. Then she began asking again. We told her that she could probably get them pierced for Christmas. I really thought she might forget about it, but she hasn't. She has asked about it and reminded us about weekly since August. So yesterday we decided she could get it done as an early Christmas gift.


I was a little nervous for her, and she was obviously just a bit nervous before they did the piercing. But two girls did it simultaneously and she didn't cry a bit. She was very brave. And she is so excited!!! She showed off her pretty earrings to everyone at church today. In fact she told me that with her new dress, her pretty hairstyle and her earrings, that everyone thought she was beautiful.

Photos (lots of them! )

A few photos of my gals in front of the tree.








And my hubby:




And some just plain silly shots:

primary program

So, I've been meaning to post this for months. About 2 months. I'm a little slow.

We had our Primary program on October 25. The theme for this year was "My Eternal Family." The girls were ready; they both knew the songs and their lines. In the practice before the actual program, Ella sang louder than nearly all the other kids. She knew the songs and loves them. She would sing them at home and was excited for the program.

But my girls are a little shy. While they did sing, they sang quietly. When it was Ella's turn, I walked down with her to the podium but she clung to me and shook her head and wouldn't get near the microphone, so I ended up saying her line for her. And Michelle needed her line whispered to her but she did say it. Oh well. The most important thing is that they have learned a lot in Primary this year. Even if they couldn't remember the lines in front of everyone, they have testimonies of the Savior and of the importance of families.

I also wanted to do this post because of something cute and funny. Each Primary child drew a picture to go on the sacrament meeting program. Michelle had finished her drawing and then suddenly said, "Wait, I forgot Chester (our dog)." So she took it back and added a roof over all of our heads and drew Chester on the roof. Ella also drew Chester on her picture. I had to laugh though that Michelle drew Chester on the roof. That's where he spends much of his time. He is famous in our neighborhood. We've had strangers stop and ring our bell to tell us, and I've seen friends and strangers take pictures of our crazy dog. My friend Jackie told me that last Thursday she had her carpets cleaned. The guy who was doing it said, "I don't want to worry you, but I just saw a dog on the roof of one of your neighbor's houses." Jackie laughed and said she knew. Crazy dog!


Ella's drawing on the program. Sorry, I know it's light... she drew very lightly and I only got a copy and it was light.

Michelle's drawing. See Chester on the roof! :)

Craft-ivity

Christmas time is a great time for craft making and creativity (not that I claim to have much creativity--or craft making skills!) My girls have had fun today and last Sunday making Christmas projects. Last Sunday we made gingerbread houses. Today they made little foam cards. Both the cards and the houses came from kits. The girls are having fun with these projects. Michelle is very careful and tries to make her projects very nice and Ella is more random and less conscientious. Some of that is age, but also some is personality. Michelle is a lot like her dad; Ella is more like me.

PTA Holiday Party

Last Friday, Michelle's school had a PTA Winter Party/Activity/Fundraiser. It was a lot of fun. First, they had Imagination Celebration come and do a fun art activity with all the kids. Everyone made family trees. (Some of which will be on display at the dowtown library...my girls wanted to take theirs home right away.) Anyway, they used paper, clay and pipe cleaners to make little trees with each family member's name on a leaf.




After the art activity, we moved to the auditorium. We bought tickets and you could get a picture with Santa and they had Polynesian dancers perform and a pinata. Then the kids could moved from table to table to make 5 different Christmas projects/ornaments and get cookies and juice. The girls really had a fun time. It was a good fundraiser for the PTA, fun for the kids, and they had A LOT of families come and participate.