SANTA CAME TO TOWN!!

Well Santa was very good to the Moss kids this year! First of all there were no trips to the hospital (thank you Hunter) so Mom and Dad got to actually see the kids open up their presents, and it was so much fun!! Minus all the Christmas hype I would like to give a Birthday shout out to my big 1 year Hunter (sorry you have to share your birthday with the biggest holiday ever!) Moving on. This Christmas season has been really fun this year because Ellie is so into everything and excited about it all!! So when the kids got up this morning they found some great stuff from Santa! Ellie and Carson got new bikes with helmets of course (Ellie was sure to write in her letter to Santa that she needed a helmet to go with the bike she asked for or else she wouldn't be able to ride it!) Hunter got a Little Tikes Police Car which I think Carson loved just as much, especially since he couldn't ride his bike with his broken leg :( Their stocking were filled with fun stuff too, Ellie got a Barbie with wings in hers and was very excited cause that's just what she asked Santa for (boy Santa is good!) The boys got some cars, can't go wrong there!

Ellie got a Barbie tree house from Mom and Dad and some Barbies from her brothers.


Carson got a Buzz lightyear spaceship from Mom and Dad, and the action figures from his brother and sister.

Hunter got a bubble lawn mower from Mom and Dad, and a tool box from his brother and sister.

Christmas morning was great! Nothing can be the smiley faces and innocence of happy children. After breakfast and some playing around with the new toys we headed over to Oma and Papa's house to continue the Christmas fun!
All those presents= lots of trash, but I think Papa got carried away, because that piece of trash looks a little familiar and important :)

The kids got lots of great stuff from their Oma and Papa, Oma, Uncle Mark, and Allie. They even got some harmonicas from Papa (thanks for the noisy gift Dad, I guess they LOVE it). After presents came a great dinner and hangin out with family. It was hard this year because it was the first Christmas without my Opa. It just wasn't the same without him, and I missed him so much, and wished he could have seen the look on his great-grandkid's faces as they opened their presents! I guess in a way he was there, and this time of year is good for remembering the Savior and the great Plan of Salvation. To look at life in an eternal perspective and be grateful for the amazing family that I was born into, and the one that Matthew and I have created together. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many people that I love dearly!! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday my little Hunter!

The traditional Uncle Mark pose with all the kids, what is he going to do when another comes along?!

MERRY CHRISTMAS/ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

This Christmas was our little Hunter's first birthday! I can't believe our baby is already 1!! Time seriously goes by way too fast!! I feel like it goes by faster and faster with each child :( So in Lu of Christmas desserts we went for the birthday cake this year, and every year here on out! It was so much fun to watch him attack his cake :) He is the only one of our children who actually enjoyed eating his birthday cake! So we let him go at it for about a half hour and took it away. Boy was that a mistake!! You would have thought we were taking food away from a poor starving child. So needless to say he got his cake back, it was his birthday after all and I guess he could cry if he wanted to :)

GIVE ME MY CAKE BACK!!!!!

Ahh!!! That's better :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY WITH THE SWEET TOOTH!!

Christmas with All That Dance

Ellie had her Christmas Dance Recital today, and I couldn't have been prouder! It was held at the studio so seating was limited and we only got 2 tickets. So Mommy and Oma Montgomery got to watch Ellie do her thing while Oma and Papa watched the boys. They had to wear these holiday t-shirts for the recital which was simple enough, but the cool thing to do at the studio is to jazz up your t-shirt and make it your own. Well it was a first for me to jazz up a t-shirt, so when I made that 1st cut on her shirt I was so nervous :{ I ended up cutting both sides and sleeves and tieing them with ribbon. I added rhinestones to the letters and made hairbows to match. It wasn't perfect but pretty good for my first time! I already have new ideas for next year's shirt!

Little Miss Attitude all ready to perform her heart out :)

Ellie with her friend Katie, they were in Pom Jazz together

Ellie Ray and Miss Jessica (her tap teacher)

Ellie Ray and Miss Katie (her jazz teacher)

I was so nervous for her since she hadn't performed in front of people since her last recital in June, and although the smiles were in reserves she did a great job remembering her routines! Way to go my Ellie Ray Ray you did great!!!

CANDY HOUSES!

It's a tradition at the Wilkins home to make Graham Cracker houses at Christmas time. It is something my brother and I always enjoyed doing growing up, and now it is my kids turn to enjoy these candy houses. They had a great time making their houses, and to my surprise they did a fantastic job (not that I am bias or anything).

CARSON'S MASTERPIECE FROM START TO FINISH
It was so much fun to watch Carson focus so hard on something. He was very intent on where he wanted everything to go, and I don't think I have ever seen so much licorice in one place. I am still amazed that his house never caved in!!

ELLIE'S MASTERPIECE FROM START TO FINISH

I was so impressed with Ellie's house! It turned out so good and she took alot of time making patterns with the candy, and making sure everything was perfect (she might have a little of her mom in her, haha!)

HUNTER'S ALTERNATIVE TO MAKING A MASTERPIECE
Even though Hunter wasn't able to make a graham cracker house this year he was pretty happy just eating the housing material. I think you'll be able to graduate to the construction crew next year dude!

Well here are the final masterpieces in all their glory!! I love this tradition and the kids loved doing it as much as I enjoyed watching their creative minds at work!

LIGHTS AND FRIENDS

My kids have been so into Christmas this year, especially Ellie! So we often drive around town looking at Christmas lights before bed (in secret hopes that they all fall asleep before we make it home). So we decided to get together with some of our friends to check out the lights up close. There is a neighborhood in Chino that goes all out for with their Christmas lights so the Rodriguez, McMullin, and Moss families made a trip to see the festivities.

Samuel McMullin, Mckenna, and Karley Rodriguez with Ellie looking at lights
Carson loved the lights and had the ":O" face at almost every house!

Pam McMullin with her boys: Samuel Malachi, and sleeping Eli (Phil, and Isaiah were around somewhere, but I never got a picture of them)

Stephanie Rodriguez with her girls: Mckenna, Karley, and Olivia (Ryan was around somewhere, didn't get his picture either) The token "Hunter was here picture" he slept half the time.
Well the kids all had lots of fun and after we checked out all the cool lights we headed back to the McMullin's for some hot chocolate and rice crispy treats. It's fun to have friends that we can do family things with. Thanks guys for a great night :)

Christmas with the Moss'

We usually have Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Moss, but things are a little different this year since Grandma and Grandpa are going back to North Carolina this year for Christmas to see the Kahn family and Grandma and Grandpa Byers :) So our Christmas festivities started a little earlier this year! We had a wonderful dinner followed by the Christmas story and Grandma has all the kids dress up as part of the story (which i love) Then it was off to crack open the pinata (a byers tradition that the kids adore). After all that excitement it was even more fun when the kids got to open their gifts. Topped off with some dessert it was a great night and everyone had a good time!

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids: Logan 3, Carson 2, Sadie 5months, Ellie 4, Hunter 11months, and Blake 5.

Mary and Joseph, and a couple of Shepard's ready to tell the story of Jesus' birth.

The highlight of night every year, the pinata! We didn't have time this year to carry out the full Byers tradition. The kids picked out the pinata locally instead of our usual trip to Olivera St. Hopefully next year, cause Matthew was sad he didn't get any taquitos :(

We had to be a little creative when came time for Carson to take a whack at the pinata. So we used Grandma Rauch's walker as a seat. Worked pretty good too!

Grandma loaded the pinata with tons of cool stuff like bubbles, money, bouncy balls, play-doh, cars, silly straws, and of course tons of candy!!

Hunter had more fun with the ribbons and boxes than he did with the actual presents, go figure huh?!

Ellie has enjoyed Christmas so much this year it has been lots of fun!

If it has wheels than Carson is happy :)

Ellie's favorite present! She could hardly wait to use it. She loves to help out in the kitchen
and cooking with Mommy and Daddy. Thanks Aunt Julie, Uncle Rich, Blake, Logan, and Sadie!