~Christmas Eve~

We have a tradition in my family to get new pajamas on Christmas Eve. It's one of my favorite memories and so I've carried it on in my own little family. Alexa was so mad at us the day we went to buy our Christmas Jammies because we wouldn't let her see them....they were a SURPRISE! So by the time Christmas Eve rolled around, she was pretty excited to finally see her jammies.

And then she helped Payton unwrap hers and Payton didn't really know what to think about this whole present thing!

MATCHING JAMMIES!!! I've been so excited to see them in these cutest jammies ever!

And here's Alexa showing off her new pj's!

Then we tried to get a family picture....this is one of several takes that didn't turn out but I thought this one was pretty funny!!

Here's the keeper!

Mortenson Family - Christmas Eve 2009!

Then we went to our friends, the West's, for a Christmas Eve Party. There was good food, great company and the wonderful Spirit of Christmas! They had all the children participate in the reading of the Nativity and Alexa got to be an angel.

Here's our little family by the West's beautiful Christmas tree.

Our photographer wanted to take an "artistic shot"!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Now it's time for Santa to come...

Randomness

Just some random pictures from this past week. Earlier last week, Alexa had a play date with her friend, Katherine P. Whenever they get together, these two LOVE to play dress up. It probably helps that Katherine has anything and everything you could ever want to play dress up with so Alexa is in HEAVEN!!!

Payton is really starting to interact with Alexa now. I love to see the two of them playing together!

Alexa was being really quiet one afternoon and this is what I found!! I love it. I hope she always loves to read as much as I do!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oh so PRETTY!

My sweet, dear, generous friend Nancy sent the girls these beautiful dresses and sweaters for Christmas! I got the package earlier this week and couldn't wait for today to dress them up! And Alexa was so excited too. The day it came, she had to try the dress on to "see if it fits mom" and then proceeded to twirl around the living room in her "new ballerina dress". And she was equally excited to show Payton her matching dress. I sure hope these girls are always the best of friends!

Thanks again Nance! We love you!

{Church Christmas Party}

Tonight was our church Christmas Party. The theme was 'The Grinch' and we had a great time. Here are a few pictures from the evening, unfortunately no picture of all of us together, and no pictures of the decorations and our great friends. I guess we were busy having fun!! Oh and Alexa purposely wouldn't look at the camera!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Not feeling good

My sweet little peanut came down with an ear infection this week. She's been fighting a cold for several days and then a fever hit and the poor thing woke up from her nap today with a temperature of 103.7 F. She's such a trooper though and is still a happy baby, despite not feeling well! Here's hoping she feels better soon!

~DaTe NiGhT~

Me and my Love!!!

It had been quite some time since Kevin and I had enjoyed a date night so we figured it was high time. And since his parents sent us some money for Christmas, we decided to use a little on a nice dinner out. Thanks Mom and Dad Mortenson, it was a great Christmas present!!! :-)

I know we've raved about this restaurant before, but really, everyone needs to try Varanese!!! The food is DEEEEEE-LICIOUS and very reasonably priced! We love it and are going to miss it when we leave Kentucky. We're already trying to think of another event/occasion prior to Graduation so we can go again!

Shake Your Bootie!!

Oh she's gonna hate us when she's older!!!! We're definitely showing these pictures at her wedding! :-) She was having so much fun playing dress up and dancing and she didn't even mind that I wanted to take pictures! What a crack up our little lady is. She makes us smile and laugh on a daily basis!

Only a few more months...

...until we call this home!!

It's OFFICIAL...we know where we're going once graduation takes place in May. Kevin has accepted a position for a one year AEGD (Advanced Education in General Dentistry) program in Tucson and we couldn't be more excited! The above picture is taken from "A" Mountain, not far from where we used to live before moving to Kentucky.

And this picture is taken in northwest Tucson, near the Catalina Mountains, where we hope to be living once we return to Tucson. This is where we want to settle and put down roots so we are extremely grateful for this opportunity, especially in light of the recent economic situation which is making it difficult for a lot of dentists to find work. And we feel so blessed that things are working out so well. We know it will be difficult to leave the wonderful, lifelong friends we've made here, but we really are looking forward to starting this new chapter in our lives!

WARM weather here we come!!!!

Deck The Halls with...

LOTS OF FROSTING!!!!

For Family Home Evening tonight, we started another new family tradition...making a gingerbread house together! Alexa LOVED it. We actually bought the kit a few weeks ago and she's been asking ever since if it's time to make the "cookie house" yet. Boy was she glad that it was FINALLY time!

I think she enjoyed the frosting and candy more than the actual decorating, she kept asking for "another taste" and if she could have "just one more treat".

But she was pretty proud of the finished product!

'Unbearably Cute'

{A Special Call}

Guess who called our house tonight????

SANTA CLAUS!

(I guess Alexa's been a good girl this year!!)

~Christmas Pretties~

Of all the pretty lights, ornaments, decorations, etc. we'll see during this holiday season...

these two beautiful little ladies are my favorite Christmas Pretties of all!!

Letter to Santa

OHHHHHH how I love Christmas!!! And it's sooooooo much more fun with kids! Especially now that Alexa is old enough to really enjoy all the little things leading up to Christmas. We've been spending a lot of time talking about Santa's naughty and nice lists these days and how Alexa really needs to try and stay on the "nice" list (which has been great help in avoiding some, not all, but SOME tantrums and whining!!!). And we've also been talking about writing a letter to Santa to let him know what Alexa, the nice little girl, would like for Christmas! When I told her about it, she said "I going to make him a card cuz he be so happy"!! So along with her letter saying she wanted a "robot" and a "little boat", she drew him a card and then she decorated the envelope as well. It's cute because she's asked for just about everything she sees a commercial for, but when it came time to actually do a list, this is all she could think of!! :-)

Anyways, today, we ventured to the mall where there was a SPECIAL mail box inside Macy's just for letters to Santa Claus. Alexa was so excited to put the letter in that I just about didn't get a picture of it!!

And then she had to make sure it was really gone!

After that, we wandered through the mall and Alexa loved seeing all the Christmas trees, especially this HUGE one! We also tried to visit Santa and it would have been THE perfect time as there was no line but Alexa didn't want to sit on his lap. Maybe another year! We've never done it yet though, so why start now??? Oh well!!

I'm really looking forward to more Christmas fun in the next few weeks!

Payton: 7 Months

Our little Payton has become quite the mover and shaker this past month!! We've graduated from just rolling, to scooting backwards everywhere, pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth and pushing herself around in circles with her arms. She's pretty mobile even though she's not yet moving in a forward direction. And she's also become quite the squealer! She never lets us forget that she's there (like we could!!). She's taken to putting on quite the show when she's either hungry and/or tired...a very LOUD show!! Payton has also discovered how useful her hands can be...she's grabbing onto anything and everything in sight! Gone are the days of holding her on my lap and getting various tasks done...she wants to be right in the thick of things, grabbing whatever it is I'm working on or with. Makes it a little trickier to accomplish my ever growing 'to-do' list...but I love watching her learn new things. On the bright side, now that she's a bit more mobile, she's much more content to roll around on the floor for extended periods of time.

A big milestone this month...Payton is almost exclusively eating solid foods!!! We're down to nursing just during the night. It's bittersweet...it's nice to know I'll have my body back in a few short weeks, yet I'm sad at the thought that I'm almost done with that special bonding time with her.

Payton is quite the mama's girl! She does really well with other people (which I'm so grateful for since I take her to the Y just about every day and I don't know what I'd do if she threw a fit each time I left her in the play area), but when her mama is around...she definitely shows a preference to me! Can't say as I blame her!! :-) But her sweet little face lights up whenever she sees her daddy or her sister too. There's no doubt for any of us, that she loves us! And boy do we love her!!

Happy 7 Months Payton!