The Best Christmas Ever!

Abby and Brenna scored big time this year and we thought we'd share some of the fun things they did and got this year. We had such a nice holiday... nobody was fighting, the TV was off all day, the weather was perfect for Christmas which means lots of snow and all in all it was a fabulous day!

Waiting patiently to open presents!

Abby's cute surprised face while opening a present!

This is what I consider to be the best christmas present face EVER!
The best part is that they're Hannah Montana socks- YES!

And they both got guitars from their dad... now the Hannah concerts can even be more real!

Uncle Dennis got his 4-wheelers out and took all the kids for lots of rides around the neighborhood... they had a blast!

Michelle brought one of her family traditions to us this year since they now live in Utah and the kids loved it! They rolled a ball wrapped in crepe paper and full of treats! It made for pretty floor decorations too- thanks Michelle!

Santa & the Mrs.

Our ward party was on the 14th and we were lucky enough to have the coolest jolly old man come to visit, but his sweet wife came along too! We loved getting to see Mrs. Claus helping the old bearded man out too!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
Abby & Brenna


Brenna and the cute visitor from up north

With Ol' St. Nick!

Aaaw- it's the Mrs... she was SO pretty!

Brenna and her buddy Jackson waiting in line!

Abby's Christmas Performance!

Last night Abby's kindergarten class had their little Christmas Performance and it was the cutest thing ever! Her teacher is the wonderful and fabulous Mrs. Hylton that deserves the praise I hear about her from other parents whos kids have been in her class in the past... she is AMAZING! If only everyone was as sweet, softspoken, kind and in control of these 5 & 6 year olds as she is... this world would be SO much better! Anyway... Abby had been secretly practicing her dances and songs for weeks and tonight we got to see it all in action!
Aunt Janne, Uncle Jason & our favorite little Claire Bear came too along with me, Brenna & Grandma Diane. It was really cute and well worth it! I just hope Janna & Jay agree since it snowed the whole time... they were troopers to come though and we appreciate it!


Here's Abby in her Christmas dress all ready to go!

Here's her whole class... she's in the middle on the top row singing her little heart out.

Abby is curled up in a ball on the ground while her friend Emma is the fairy in the Nutcracker performance! The kids fell in love with this story in their class and did the cutest dance to the music! It was adorable!

And this picture is of the finale, and it was the best part of the whole show for me! Each of the kids painted a picture that went along with a particular part of the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and it was the cutest thing ever!
In the end Mrs. Hylton commented on how important it is to remember what a wonderful world we do live in and I couldn't agree more!

Abby did an awesome job and I'm so proud of her!
Grandma Diane even commented that Abby looked like a little Shirley Temple up there with all her facial expressions... which Abby will take as a huge compliment I'm sure because she loves Shirley Temple!

More Snow

Since our mommy has her own blog now she keeps forgetting to fix ours....
Last night we got a TON of snow again... while we were waiting for dinner to cook, we wanted to try making a snow man... Abby got a big ball to start... but the snow was to dry and it fell apart.

So then Aunt Janna and Aunt Sandie started throwing snow balls at us (we'll put those pictures up later... there on Janna's camera)

Brenna wouldn't stop eating the snow!!!

WE LOVE SNOW!!

Karaoke!

So, there is a new craze taking over the Carlton girls... they have a mild obsession with HANNAH MONTANA! It's not a joke--- everything relates to her and when the girls say something and ask if I know what it's from- 9 times out of 10 it's Hannah Montana. (Except yesterday when Brenna said to me "hey mom, what's this from: D-D-D-D-Dora?" Hmmm... let me take a guess!) Anyway... Janna got Brenna on video last night rockin out with Hannah's CD and the new microphone Abby got for her birthday!

This may not work, so here's the direct link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3340552665784066766

Abby's birthday fun!

It's true- I am somehow old enough to have a 6 year old. I know, despite my ageless beauty and non-grey hair and non-wrinkled face... Abby Jane is 6 years old!
She had her first "friend" party yesterday afternoon and we pretended to be pirates! Abby has more boy friends than girl friends and she is always so worried about when boys come over to p lay--- she always tells me to It was a fun party and Aunt Janna came down to help me wrangle the troops--- 8 kids age 6 and under isn't always my most favorite situation, but we handled it pretty well I think. Anyway- here's some pics from the big event! My blog has some other pics from earlier in the day: http://www.debracarlton.blogspot.com/

Here's the invitation--- Janna and I had way too much fun burning the edges!

And luckily I had Janna around with her lovely cupcake making abilities and beautiful presentation!

Mom and Abbers hanging out before the party started.

Janna brought a life-sized number "6" balloon for Abby! It's way cool!

Abby got a visit from our favorite babysitter Krosbi before the party too! We love Krosbo!

Quinten was the first to arrive... he's such a fun kid!

And here are the pirate party goers (minus Baylee):
Sierra, Abby, Ty, Jake, Taren & Quin

Swinging in the backyard with Baylee & Quin.

Abby playing with her new Hannah Montana microphone
(stay tuned for new post that involves this!)

Opening presents with her friends...

It was a great day and again, I'm still in shock that I could have a 6 year old, but I guess I'll have to face the reality of it!

Dinos + Friends = GOOD TIMES!

(This is a late post, but I just realized it was still saved in my drafts... oops!)

A few weeks ago, Abby and Brenna got to invite their friend Sierra to go with us to one of our favorite places... the Dinosaur Nuseum (yes, I spelled it right according to Brenna!) at Thanksgiving Point. It was a really fun day, so we thought we'd share some pictures from there.