Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

We celebrated Christmas Eve with our annual Richards' family traditions. First, each family had their picture taken in front of the Christmas tree surrounded by piles of presents. It is amazing how much presents pile up when you have 3 families together with little children.

Our little family!!

Our 2 beautiful festive girls!!!

Second, we all gather around and open up our Christmas Eve presents which are always pajamas. Then we all disperse to put on our new pajamas and get settled down for our Christmas Eve movie premiere. This year was the movie "Fred Claus" starring Vince Vaughn. Before we watched the movie and enjoyed the festivities, we gathered to celebrate the birth of our Savior (the true meaning of Christmas) and read from the scriptures the story of his birth. It was really cute, this year Colleen had bought the Little People Nativity Scene. As Arlyn read the story, the grandchildren re-enacted using the Little People figurines.

We all settled down for our movie, the kids got their pillows and blankets and nestled themselves together on the floor. It was a fun movie from what Ken and I were able to see of it. Katelyn was getting tired and Tressa, well, she does not have the long attention span to sit for 2 hours.

Waiting patiently for the movie and popcorn!!

Our new addition, her 1st Christmas, Katelyn!

Finally, the kids fell fast asleep after putting cookies and milk out for Santa Claus and leaving him a note. Can't wait to see what Santa left us. Tune in tomorrow for more holiday joy.

Tis the Season.....

We have had a great time this past weekend spending it as a family. Friday night, we had our Ward Christmas party. The cultural hall was nicely decorated courtesy of the activity committee. They served Rosemary Garlic potatoes, ham and Garlic green beans with rolls. The youth served up our meals wearing black pants, a white shirt and some wore Santa hats. Santa Claus made an appearance for the first part of the party. Tressa and Katelyn were able to sit with Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Well, Tressa was the one who told Santa what she wanted and this was how the conversation went:

Santa: what do you want for Christmas this year?

Tressa: A Plasma TV. Gee I wonder where she got that idea from. Ken.

Saturday night, we went to see the Festival of Lights. Every year for the past 24 years, different companies sponsor a float decorated with just lights. Every Thanksgiving weekend, they have the Parade of Lights where of course they parade their floats. Following the parade they have the floats on display in a park in East Peoria. It cost $10 per car or van to go in. It is about a 30 minutes drive through the park to see the lights. What an amazing view. We had a lot of fun looking at the creative and time consuming floats. Wow there are talented people out there. Here is a preview of what we saw, enjoy the slide show.

The Twilight Series

Who would have ever thought that I would be reading the Twilight series and following the in crowd. I went and saw the movie Thanksgiving weekend. I loved it so much that I just had to read the book to compare. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book after reading it within 24 hours of buying it. So this past week and a half I have finished books 1 through 3. Currently, I like the 3rd book the best. Hopefully, if I have some time today, I would like to start the last book. That has been probably the highlight of the last few days.

I would like you input on what you thought of the book and the movie. I have been hearing that people who watched the movie first before reading the book loved it. Those who had read the book previous to the movie didn't like the movie.

What is your opinion? Just curious.

I am a slacker!!

I apologize that I haven't blogged in a while. The past couple of weeks have been busy with our trip out to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving, Katelyn's 2 month appointment and me getting into the book series Twilight.

Last Wednesday, we were able to go to Cincinnati for the holidays. We arrived in late that evening with all the stops that come with kids. Those who have kids understand. Thanksgiving was a blast, of course, they ate a lot of turkey, desserts and played a lot of Wii. I, on the other hand, did not stuff myself with turkey. Yuck!!! Thanks to Colleen, she did make ham for those who did not want or like turkey. For dessert, Colleen and Tiona slaved over a hot stove making the following: pumpkin pie, chocolate peanut butter pie, pumpkin cake with whip topping, chocolate chip cookies, caramel brownies and to top it off cheesecake. Of course we had to have a little slice of everything. It was all delicious.

Friday, everyone (except for Colleen, the girls and me) got up at 4 in the morning to hit all the sales. People are crazy for going out on Black Friday. Kudos to those who fought the crowds. However, they were successful in getting the shopping done they needed. Throughout all of Friday, we continued our shopping for Christmas.

Saturday, I went and saw 'Twilight' without ever reading the books. I thoroughly enjoyed it. So I just had to start reading the series. On Monday, after arriving home late Sunday (at 1:00 am to be exact), I went to Kroger and bought the first book. I am totally hooked. So these past couple of days I have read the first book and I am now half way through the sequel.

For those who want to know how Katelyn is doing, she is now weighing in at 13 lbs. 7 oz. and 23 inches long. She got 3 shots in the leg and 1 orally. She did farely well with her shots. She is starting to coo at you and smile (which just melts your heart), follow sounds with her eyes and developing on track.

I hope that everyone had a WONDERFUL and HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Now on to the season of giving, CHRISTMAS!! My favorite time of year.

On a side note, I just wanted to wish my brother, Sean, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!!!