What has Trevor been up to lately?

Playing Wii.  He loves it.  He loooooves to play Super Mario Brothers.

Alyssa's new hobby

Alyssa has started taking piano lessons!  She's been playing for about 1 1/2-2 months.  She really likes going to her lesson, taught by Sister Kimball, but practicing can sometimes be a challenge.  Alyssa has been a busy busy girl.  She goes to school all day, then gets home and has a snack and relaxes a little bit.  To "relax" she either plays on the computer, plays with her dolls/babies, plays a game with me, plays wii, or every once in a while she'll watch a show on tv.   Then at 4:00 she does homework and practices her piano.  By the time that's all done with, Mark's usually home and it's dinner time!  Then, she takes a bath, gets ready for bed and we start our bedtime routine.  She's usually in bed around 7:30 but "in bed" for her really means in her room reading or playing for a while.  Anyway I'm excited for her to have this new hobby and I hope she wants to keep it up!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was soo fun this year!

On Christmas Eve our tradition is that each of the kids gets to open one present.  This year they all got new blankets.  Trevor got a blue Buzz Lightyear one, Alyssa got a purple Tinkerbell one, and Kylie got a pink Cinderella one.

Christmas morning was as fun as always!  They ran downstairs and found their presents from Santa and their stockings.  Santa got Alyssa a white board this year.  She LOVES it.  She plays school on it and loves to draw pictures on it. 

Santa got Trevor a new scooter, and a whistle!  He reeeeeally wanted a whistle so he could play "coach" out in the backyard. :-)

  From us, Trevor got some new nerf guns, a sleeping bag, a bug vacuum, and a few other things.

We got Alyssa a new American Girl doll - Rebecca, and a few other things.

Kylie was so fun this year.  Last year she was just really overwhelmed, but this year she was really in to it!  She loved opening up all her presents.  Santa got her some dress up shoes and a new baby.  From us she got a doctor kit, some puzzles, a new little highchair...and a few other things.

Alyssa opened up this family gift...MarioKart for Wii.  It's so fun!

Alyssa and Rebecca

Soo there are a lot of Alyssa and not so many of Trevor and Kylie and that is because most of their pictures turned out sooo blury.  They move too much and too fast!  (we bought a new camera though, yay). 

So later, after we opened presents at our house we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house for a yummy breakfast, and more presents!  Alyssa got 4 new games:  Connect Four, Twister, Sorry, and Operation.  Trevor got a fun new Cars geotracks set, and Kylie got a cute little crib for her babies, and a little vacuum.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! 

After that, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Telford's.  Thanks to my little sister Lisa, we have some pictures.  Alyssa got a Leapster & some games for it.  I love these Leapsters for the car...Trevor has one too, and they keep them busy!  :-)

 

Trevor got a Tag Reading System (from LeapFrog), and some books for it...this thing is AMAZING.  He really likes it and it is also really great for the car!

Kylie got this Little People amusement park, which she absolutely LOVES.  She plays with it almost everyday.  She has about 8 little people and she has them wait their turn to ride the rollercoaster, get on the ferris wheel, ride the rockets and the teacups...it's sooo cute and funny.  She also got a Tag Jr. which gives her something to do in the car too!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

After that, we went home for a few hours and played with some of the new toys the kids got.  Then we headed over to Grammy and Grandpa Garcia's house for a yummy Christmas dinner and the kids each got a cute new outfit...my Grammy always picks out the cutest clothes for them!  As always, it was a busy day, but we love it.  We love all the family we get to see and hang out with on Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!!

Alyssa's 7th Birthday!

On Friday, Jan. 15th Alyssa turned 7!  She was sooo excited for her birthday and had a really hard time falling asleep the night before.  But when Mark woke her up, even a little earlier than normal, she had NO problem waking up (she usually does).  She popped right out of bed and ran downstairs, ready to open her presents!!! 

From us us she got a PINK scooter, a wheelchair for her American girl dolls, and a little "feel better" kit that contained a leg cast, arm cast, bandaids, ace bandage, crutches, and an ice-pack for all the bumps and bruises her American girl dolls get.  :-) 

We have a good laugh about her American Girl doll "Jillia" that she got last year for Christmas.  We tease that it really does look like she's been in a terrible accident...check out the hair! 

After she opened her presents, she had her favorite breakfast: bacon and eggs.  Then it was time for school.  Sad she has to go to school on her birthday but I was always really jealous of people who got to go to school on their birthday because they got to be so special that day!  (I had a summer birthday).  We brought cupcakes to school and then I brought her Wendy's for lunch and ate in the cafeteria with her.  I felt bad, all the kids were drooling over her chicken nuggets and french fries.  After school, we went and picked up her balloons and ice-cream cake for the family party! 

Grandma & Grandpa Campbell, Grandma & Grandpa Telford, Uncle Travis, Aunt Tarah, Bryson, Lucas, Uncle Jason and Kami came to our house for a little birthday celebration where we ate cake and opened presents and played a little.  There were too many pics to post them all, but she got money from Grandma and Grandpa Telford & Grammy, which she had spent a few hours later.  She ordered some more stuff from American Girl.  Grandma Michelle made her lots of adorable little outfits for her American girl dolls, and even made her matching jammies.  Today Alyssa told me, "Mom, I like the clothes that Grandma Michelle makes for my dolls MORE than the ones American Girl makes."  She really does an amazing job!

Then the next day Alyssa had a party with her friends.  She chose to go to Color Me Mine...a place where you get to pick something out to paint, and then they put it in the kiln and make it all shiny and nice.  We missed her friend Eliza, but the girls and I had a great time!

Ciara, Alyssa and Sydney

Ok so blogger frustrates me to no end, that is why I never post anymore.  And I could not get this picture to go anywhere but at the end, so it is out of order.  But the night of her birthday, before the family party we went to Chili's for dinner.  Well we tried to go to Chevy's which was her pick, but there was a major gas leak there so they weren't letting anybody in, so we had to go to Chili's which Alyssa was NOT happy about.  But anyways, when they came to sing her happy birthday, she crawled under the table and hid.  Oh Alyssa.  Then, as soon as they set this yummy looking thing down, she licked it!  So nobody else could eat it...little stinker.  :-)

Oh Alyssa we love you!!!  Now...7 things about Alyssa:

1)  She is a great drawer!  She loves to write stories and I'm always impressed at the drawings that go along with them.

2)  She is doing excellent in school and loves her teacher Mrs. Stroud! 

3)  She recently started taking piano lessons and is liking that a lot. 

4)  She is a night owl!  She stays up late reading books or playing in her room.

5)  She is generally pretty responsible.  She bathes herself completely on her own, from start to finish (so nice!)  She doesn't complain about picking up her messes and cleaning her room, which we really really appreciate. :-)

6)  She is a HUGE help with Kylie.  She can even give her baths and take her potty.  Her and Kylie have really started playing together these last few months and it's so cute. 

7)  Her favorite color is pink, favorite food is rice, favorite t.v. show right now is Phineas & Ferb, favorite ice-cream is cookies & cream.

Happy Birthday Alyssa, we love you!

Family Picture