The Pratt Family: January 2010

Christmas Morning

The kids are anxiously waiting to see what Santa brought them.

The kids in front of the Christmas tree

Brayden and Spencer got lots of train tracks, bridges, mountains, a roudhouse and battery operated trains for Christmas.

Spencer wore his new Mickey Mouse helmet from Grandma Diane all morning.

The kids also got another scooter from Santa for Christmas. We had a great Christmas, but forgot to take many pictures. We had our neighbors, the Briggs, over for Christmas dinner. It was a great day.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we always read and act out the Christmas story.

Brayden is the shepherd.

I was Mary (with the baby really under my shirt).

Spencer is Joseph, and he insisted that he ride the donkey and hold baby Jesus.

Kayla is the Angel

Allen was the wise man and the narrator

Every year we all have a cup of egg nog, and in one of the cups, there is a ring. Whoever gets the ring is the king or queen of Christmas. That person gets to open their one Christmas Eve present first and gets to dress up and take a picture.

Brayden got the ring last year, and Kayla was clearly disappointed. (I deleted the picture on accident and don't know how to add it anywhere but at the top. Brayden was holding the ring and smiling and Kayla had a frown so big it looked like it was drawn on.) So Allen said, "Kayla, what's that" to divert her attention and then dropped the ring into her cup. We probably should have rigged it so that Kayla got the ring, but instead we had both a king and a queen this year.

Brayden

Kayla

King Brayden and Queen Kayla

Spencer actually didn't pay any attention to the whole king/queen thing and opened his present first - he got a battery operated train from Grandpa Jim and Mary. Thanks! Kayla and Brayden both opened their lego boxes from Grandma Diane. Thanks!

Gingerbread Style Graham Cracker Houses

We invited a few of the other dentists that Allen works with and their families over to make gingerbread houses with us, but it was snowing so much that day that only the Briggs, who live right next to us, were able to make it.

Ben and Brayden

Spencer ate way too much candy that night while Allen decorated a house for him.

Of course the best part of decorating a house is eating it the next day!

Yum!

SNOW

Spencer sledding

Spencer and Brayden with the first snowman of the year. (There have been 6 since.)

We have had a ton of snow this year. It has been a lot of fun for the kids. Ben and Delaney, who live in the house behind ours, came over and played with the kids one afternoon during Christmas break.

Spencer and Ben with a snowman we built.

Delaney and Kayla after sleding into the ditch behind our house.

Ready, set, go Kayla!

Brayden

Spencer hiding under the castle

Rudolf Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese sandwich with raisins for eyes, pretzel antlers and a cherry tomato nose.

Hockey

Allen has been playing hockey on Monday nights, and one Monday night after our quick family home evening, Brayden said, "Daddy please don't go." He had his stuff all ready, but he decided to listen to our cute 4-year-old. The kids wanted to see what is in dad's giant hockey bag, and he let them try on all of his gear.

Allen wanted me to try it on too.

Brayden and Kayla both fit in dad's hockey shorts at the same time.

It was a little hard for them to get out of the shorts.

Christmas Parties

Spencer wouldn't go anywhere near Santa's lap, but he was still happy to receive a gift from him.

Brayden and Santa

Kayla and Santa. She got a toy keyboard.

Brayden got a toy guitar from Santa (two strings broke in the first week).

Spencer got a toy drum.

Allen and I at the dental christmas party.

Stop! You must not hop on pop.

My boys absolutely love their dad, and they also think he's a great jungle gym. (Spencer is wearing the snowman teddy bear's hat that he claimed as his own for the month of December.)

Thanksgiving Break at Disneyland Paris

We had a really fun trip to Disneyland Paris. We met my brothers family there (he live in London), and the kids loved being with their cousins. Above is a picture on the shuttle bus of Sabrina, Marissa, and Kayla.

We decided to go to Disneyland Paris for 2 days so we could really see everything. We thought it wouldn't be too crowded at the end of November, and our first day there was great. We were able to get on all of the rides in 15 minutes or less, and we even had clear, but frigid, weather.

It was really fun that everything was decorated for Christmas. It was a great way to have fun and get excited for Christmas.

Steven and Brayden - they quickly became best friends even though neither of them could remember the others name.

Brayden and the pirate ship.

The Cheshire cat - I really liked that his eyes rotate. It is such a pretty park. It's different from the one in California. It's much smaller, and Space Muntain and Indiana Jones both go upside down, so none of the kids were tall enough to go on them.

Kayla, Sabrina, Steven and Jessenia dancing with Pinocchio.

The Merry-go-round.

Beautiful castle lights!

Kayla looks super cute and Brayden's face is hilarious. The second day in the park was crazy crowded - I won't ever go on a Saturday again. We had such a great day on Friday that we thought it wouldn't be that bad on Saturday, but it was miserable. It also rained all day so we had to deal with the cold and wet and umbrellas everywhere. We rode the train around the park, saw the shows (which were really great), waited an hour to ride on a Casey Jones train ride (which was one of the kids favorite rides), the storybook boat ride, and It's a Small World, and then we were really cold and ready to go home.