Merry Christmas!

So, this post is a little late, but better late than never! Just thought I'd post a few (or A LOT!!) of pictures of our Christmas and some of the major snow storm. We had an awesome Christmas with my mom and dad here--it was a lot of fun. We had a lot of snow, good food, fun presents and lots of time to relax and visit. My parents left on Monday morning, and the snow is mostly gone now too. We took down our tree today because it was so DEAD. So, that's all kind of depressing. BUT, we have the rest of this week for vacation, so we're looking forward to that. We don't have any big plans, but it will be fun. I have a few projects in mind that I'd like to finish and Garrett has some books to read. We can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of 2008! Where did this year go? :) Warning: There are LOTS of pictures!!

After watching Elf, the girls wanted to try syrup on their spaghetti. After they finished their spaghetti, I let them try it for fun! They loved it--granted, they only had syrup on the noodles and not with the sauce, so it wasn't too bad. I thought it was funny! Garrett thought we were crazy! Oh well--we only live once, right?

This is Maggie in ALL OUR SNOW!! I think we got a foot and a half, maybe. It was a lot for us!!

About to go sledding!

I think this is a cool picture. That's Garrett pulling two sleds with girls in each. Aren't the trees beautiful?

Our cars were buried!!

Our house in the beautiful snow!!

The girls and I made a "handprint tree". It was quite fun and turned out rather cute!

Making sugar cookies and eating the dough!!

Cookies for Santa

Bella and grandpa Hansen


Now for the frosting and sprinkles!

Paige didn't want to decorate any, she just wanted to roll out the dough. what a little chef!

Opening their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve

Christmas Jammies from grandma and grandpa Hansen. Thank you!!

Acting out the Nativity. Grandma was the wise man, Lydia and Grandpa were shepherds, Paige was Mary, Garrett was Joseph, Maggie was the angel and I got to be the donkey.

Sweet Mary and her baby in the manger.

The whole cast (minus the donkey--someone had to take the picture!)

Grandpa reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Maggies loot from Santa Claus

Lydia and one of her new toys

Paige's gifts from Santa

Garrett got a couple of Nerf guns from Santa Claus and he and Lydia had a great time shooting each other all morning!

Paige helping Bella open her gifts

Grandma and Grandpa opening gifts

Bella and her new presents

She loved Christmas morning--she was so happy!

She is so close to crawling. She rocks back and forth and scoots forward a little.

The girls and their new build-a-bear animals. Paige and Clarise (a Christmas moose), Maggie and Zach (a bear) and Lydia and Marabelle (another Christmas moose)

Garrett and Grandpa reading books

After church pictures

Making a gingerbread house after church

Maggie putting on the frosting and Lydia adding the candy

The finished product!

Oh what a year!! Top 10 Reasons 2008 was GREAT!!

(Our Christmas Letter)

• Reason 10: A Little Snow - An entire extra week off from school just because of a little snow & ice = 3 weeks of Christmas vacation for the kids, instead of just 2!
• Reason 9: A New School - Maggie (3rd) and Lydia (K) both returned this fall to a new school, Free Orchards Elementary. Paige is attending Wonder-world pre-school. They are each doing wonderfully. Maggie is enjoying learning Geography, Lydia is focused on sight words and Paige’s teacher has asked if we could clone her because she is the perfect little pupil. We are so proud!!
• Reason 8: A New Job - After 4+ years in the same organization at Intel, Garrett was itching for something new and different. So, after a full year of exploring job opportunities and lots of talk about moving, in October, Garrett found a new role as a Product Marketing Engineer in the server motherboard division of Intel. He is really enjoying his new responsibilities and is happy to be learning and growing a lot even if it comes at the cost of being stretched outside of his comfort zone.
• Reason 7: Some Family Time - In October Mindy had the opportunity to get away and visit her sister Megan in North Carolina for a week. Megan had just had a new baby Girl, Cora and JoAnn was there visiting too, so it turned out to be a very fun, even if low key visit. Mindy really enjoyed the peace and quiet and bonding with her Mom and sister.
• Reason 6: 2 Funerals - OK, this is not one we’ve blogged a lot about and it may sound morbid, but #6 is the funerals for both of Garrett’s paternal grandparents. His Grandpa, Samuel Dewey passed away on April 24th and his Grandma, Laura Mae McKibben on Nov 26th. Due to failing health conditions, neither came as a surprise and so while we are extremely saddened at the loss we feel; both funerals provided an opportunity for Garrett’s family to come together, to share stories and special moments while consoling each other and saying their goodbyes.
• Reason 5: JoAnn - Mindy’s Mom came and stayed and with us for the whole month of April. She was a great help during an extremely hectic time in our lives…Garrett was on business in Asia, Maggie was celebrating a birthday, Grandpa McKibben’s funeral and a new baby all in the course of a week. We most certainly would not have made it without her. Thank-you JoAnn!
• Reason 4: Our Anniversary - It was 11 years ago (soon to be 12) on February 7th that Mindy and Garrett were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Young and in love, we had no idea what lay in store for us. But, just look at as now…we’ve come a long way…12 fabulous years together. To celebrate we got away for the weekend to downtown Portland. It was amazing! Made possible by great friends who watched the girls.
• Reason 3: A Baptism - On April 24, Maggie turned 8yrs old (going on 18) and chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We of course are very proud of our little girl. It was a very special day. She was able to share it with her best friend Jessie Spencer.
• Reason 2: Haggis, Henry the 8th, Harry Coos and History - We were so fortunate to have had the opportunity to live in England this summer for 7 weeks (July 15-Aug 31), while Garrett was there for a work assignment. We visited numerous castles, learned a ton about the history of the English Monarchy; enjoyed several days in Scotland; and discovered some fantastic McKibben (McKebin) family history in Ireland.
• And the #1 Reason 2008 was Great: Bella Gwyn - that’s right Girl #4; we have 4 beautiful daughters. (Garrett continuously needs reassurance). And she turned out to be a birthday gift for Garrett, born on his birthday…April 30. Bella has brought such amazing joy to our home. We certainly have been blessed…in spite of some very early concerns with her health (not gaining weight, anemia, etc); she is now completely healthy and happy. Soon to be crawling.

We wish you all (our Family and Friends) a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2009. We pray for your continued happiness. May the Lord bless you and watch over you in these challenging times.
with all our love,
The McKibben Family
Garrett, Mindy, Maggie, Lydia, Paige & Bella

Bella and Antique photos

Since I'm on a roll here tonight with blogging, I thought I'd add one more post with just some random pictures and thoughts. (that makes 4 tonight--look at me go!)

Here are some pictures of sweet Bella (and some of Paige, too):

And a video of Bella in the bath eating a wash cloth. I found it very cute, but I'm her mom. What can I say?

On another note, when I was leaving Fred Meyers the other day, there was a table set up with some family portraits--really nice ones. Some were black and white, some old fashioned, etc. They were from Studio Max and were having a promotion where you could go to their studio and get 5-7 pictures taken in 20's and 30's outfits (which were really cute). They were waiving the sitting fee and you could walk away with a 16 x 20 picture for $10! So, I signed up, made an appointment and paid my $10. Our appointment was yesterday (Saturday) and they are located just in Beaverton, so they weren't very far away. Anyways, it was a nice place with lots of costumes, nice dressing rooms and a good photographer that made my kids laugh (except Bella, but she won't smile whenever she gets pictures taken for some reason). We had so much fun with the girls (they were the only ones that got their pictures taken). I'm so excited to get the pictures back, though. I've always wanted pictures taken in a different time period.

Garrett thought it was funny because you can certainly walk away with just your 16 x 20, and not spend any more money, but they know that you're going to want to spend more when you see the pictures. He called it a great "bait and hook" scheme. I know I'm going to want to buy more pictures because they really were cute in their costumes and hats and necklaces. I guess I'm a sucker, though. They took a couple of all four girls together, then took individual photos of the girls. Anyways, enough babbling. Here's their website if you want to check out their work.

http://studiomaxnw.com/heirloom.html

Don't take my word for it, though! :)

Paige's Christmas Program

Paige had her Preschool Christmas Program this past Thursday at WonderWorld (her preschool). They sing some Christmas songs and do some fingerplays and then Santa comes and gives them a candy cane and they can sit on his lap. It was pretty cute, and I've included a little video of a couple of the songs. I apologize for the shaky filming. Lydia kept jumping up in front of the camera--I guess wanting to be filmed--and was bumping the camera.

Paige and her friend Ella (to the left)

Feliz Navidad

Everytime I hear Feliz Navidad on the radio, it reminds me of Paige. She loves to sing this song, except she sings "Fineese Navias". I got this video of her singing it in the car on the way home from getting our Christmas tree. It's pretty cute!

An Early White Christmas

We had snow today!!

The weather people said it was going to get really cold and snow but I didn't think it would stick, but it did! We had a couple of inches at least! It's so cold here tonight (supposed to get down to 16 degrees) that it's definitely not going to melt, but might be a little icy in the morning. They have already cancelled school for tomorrow! In fact, after sacrament meeting today, they sent us home early. That was fun! We had a really fun and relaxing afternoon. The girls played out in the snow, Garrett made cookies and hot chocolate and I worked on some Christmas presents. Poor, sick Bella had a nap. This evening we watched one of our favorite Christmas movies, Elf and had a great time. The snow is so beautiful at night with everyone's Christmas lights on. It was a fun day!

Our Weekend at Eagle Crest

This past weekend, our friends Joe and Tanya Bender invited us to spend the weekend with them at their condo in Redmond, OR. We've gone with them 2 or 3 other times and it's really fun. The first year we went, there was a ton of snow and we had a blast playing in it. The other times there wasn't any snow, but it was still fun. They have 3 girls and a boy, and their kids are close to the same ages as our kids, so they all get along great. While we were there this time, we went to a Christmas parade, I think our first Christmas parade ever and it was a lot of fun. We decorated sugar cookies, drank hot cocoa, sat on Santa's lap, listened to stories by Mrs. Claus, looked at Christmas lights, watched movies, went swimming and just hung out. It was nice. I also had my friend Tanya take pictures of us for our Christmas card. (One of them is the new picture on the blog).




Getting a different perspective--Lydia thought it was too bright and Bella was a little freaked out.


Bella all bundled up

Watching the parade--Paige, Bella, Tatiana (Titi is her nickname), Garrett and Roman


At the parade--Joe, Natalia, Tanya, Paige (sitting), Garrett, Titi (in black), Alyssa, Maggie and Lydia.

Lydia getting excited when she sees Santa coming.


It's SANTA!!!!




Bella and Santa






Maggie and Santa


Lydia and Santa (she wouldn't go see him last time--so we were happy to see her with Santa)



Decorating
cookies and drinking cocoa


Mrs. Clause reads Christmas stories


Girls swim in the hot tub and watch a movie in bed--with popcorn. It doesn't get any better than that!!