Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas! First and most important... Alexis made a promise, and she stuck with it... Three weeks ago she refused to go anywhere near Santa, saying that she would sit on his lap once she turned five... which was this past Tuesday. And guess what? She did! Check out that frightened smile! The next day she told Gramma Debi "I don't know why I never did that before. All I had to do was sit on his lap and smile for one picture." HAHAHA if only she had realized that years ago!

Alexis with her new ladybug tent on Christmas Eve. She is getting some help showing it off from Vanna White there on the left.

Dave LOVES his trucks from Aunt Kathey!

Late on Christmas Eve... getting the cookies and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer.

Santa was here!

Check out the great new plasma cars from Gramma Debi and Grampa Joe!

Alexis and her grabber toy...

Checking out the gumball machine...

Alexis is really good at driving her plasma car. We can't wait for the snow to melt so that we can go for a spin outside where there is a lot more space.

Dave loves his car, too! He hasn't figured out the "right" way to do it, but he likes to push himself along with his feet.

Dave got a lawn mower from Santa! Now he has something a little manlier to push around instead of a purple doll stroller.

Hmmm Grandpa is the worst present wrapper ever!

Dave loves his pillow pet from Uncle Brian and Aunt Melissa and Emma!

Taking a break to dig for gold.

Uncle Scott gave Dave a tunnel that was a huge hit!

Dave thinks that Daddy is sooooo funny in that tube!

Pretty girl... she is such a ham, posing for pictures!

Dave loves Granny's stool... just the right height for him to snoop for leftovers!

Alexis and her penguin family...

The Kelleher family on Christmas...

Elf on a Shelf

We had a special visitor arrive in our house this December... one of Santa's elves! He has come to keep an eye on everyone, and every night he flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa all that he knows... who has been good and who has been bad. Every morning before we wake up, he flies back and hides in a different spot in our house.

One morning he was on the TV...

One morning he was in Alexis' stocking...

That crazy elf even hung upside down from the kitchen light!

Alexis named him Snowflake, and she is so excited to look for him each morning! Snowflake has been such a fun addition to our household. We will be sad when he goes back to the North Pole for good on Christmas Eve! He'll be back next year, though!

Happy 5th Birthday to Alexis!

Today Alexis turned five!! We can't believe how quickly the time has gone... she was just a baby and now she is our big preschooler... almost in kindergarten! She can read a bit and write really well, and knows some basic addition and subtraction. She has an opinion about everything and always wants to help us out. She loves to cook and play dress-up and play on the laptop, and always wants to wear dresses. She is a constant source of energy and entertainment. We love her so much!

Decorating the birthday cake...

Cort and I both took the day off so that we could spend the day with Alexis. We got to go to her preschool class and help out for her birthday party. Here she is getting ready to blow out her pretend candles...

Playing birthday Bozo buckets...

Handing out treats... today was the Polar Express day, so everybody got to wear PJ's...

After preschool, we picked up Dave and went bowling with Uncle Brian, Aunt Melissa, and Emma. Alexis is a tiny bit excited for her present, don't you think?

Dave and Emma spent a lot of time waiting for the bowling balls to return...

Alexis did a great job for her first time bowling!

Check out that form!

The most amusing part was the ball speed that showed up on the overhead tv... this was one of Alexis' faster throws at 2.14 MPH... to put it in perspective, we played one game with ten frames. Halfway through, a group of teenagers showed up on the next lane. They managed to finish two full games (20 frames) in the time that we finished our last five frames. :) Heeeheee.

Dave helped out... and tried to run down the alley more than a few times.

Lots of helpers!

Getting tired...

Check out a video of Alexis bowling...

Looks like Dave has had about enough...


Alexis loves her new coat from Gramma Debi and Grampa Joe!


Alexis finally got her Go-Go dog that she always talks about!


Skyping with Gramma Debi and Grampa Joe...


Happy Birthday Alexis!

Almost Christmas...

The kids had a lot of fun putting up the tree this year! So did Cort and I... our pre-lit tree was up in less than ten minutes!
Dave really liked to remove the tape from the boxes from last year...

Uh oh, where is the top part of the tree??!

Alexis loved doing the ornaments...

Dave is thrilled to wear his Santa hat...

Alexis likes to try to put on Santa's pants!