Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, spending time with both of our families and being blessed with three beautiful, healthy children. On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house and Santa even came to visit! Jayden and Peyton just loved him - they both sat on his lap and Peyton even gave him a high five. Jayden gave him a couple hugs and also had to to keep the tradition alive and do "ring-around-the-rosie" with Santa and Grandpa, and this year Natalie even joined in! Landon was a little scared of Santa and wouldn't sit on his lap or even go near him (he clung on to Grandma's shirt very tight! Then on Christmas Day we went over to Corey's parents house and enjoyed a day with all the Smith boys home (Luke lives in Virginia) and all the grandchildren together. Jayden got a lot of new games for Christmas (Candyland, Bingo, Connect Four, and even a Leapster!) and the boys got some new cars/trucks, clothes and a big bounce bit from Santa! All three kids love it! It takes up half of our living room - but it's well worth it! Here are some pictures that were taken over Christmas.








The boys got shovels for Christmas and wouldn't let them leave their sight the rest of the night!



Papa showing Peyton to put blocks on his head....


Landon is trying to decide which ornament to take down first..... (notice the ornaments don't even start until about 4 feet high!)

Jayden and Ava

The day before Christmas, Corey decided to take Jayden out sledding and he picked up Ava on the way (Jayden's friend). They had a great time, but it only lasted about an hour, because we learned that Jayden's gloves wouldn't stay on and her hands were freezing and wet from the snow. Poor girl! She cried the whole way home and Ava would lean over and tell Jayden to put her hands in between hers to help warm them up! How sweet is that?? Anyways, we realized we needed to get Jayden different gloves before going sledding again. After sledding, Jayden and Ava came back to our house and played for awhile - here are some pictures of them playing dress up. Don't worry - this time I didn't get the boys involved! ;)

Hair cuts!!

Finally, we got the boys' hair cut! Peyton hardly could see anymore, because his hair was in his eyes and Landon was starting to sport the rat tail that was cool back in the '80s. My parents actually put their hair in pony tails just a few days before, which we took as a hint that they needed a hair cut! So, Uncle Jared came over and cut their hair. Here are some pictures:

Peyton before (not too happy at first):


Peyton after:


Landon before (he only cut the back, the front and sides are so short already!)


Landon after:

Jayden dancing to Frosty the Snowman

Here is a video of Jayden and her friend Ava dancing to Frosty the Snowman at dance class last Monday night. It's so cute! Jayden is watching Ava the entire time and just doing whatever Ava does! :)

Jayden's Christmas Pageant

This past Sunday was our Christmas Pageant at church. Jayden and her cousin Natalie both sang "Away in the Manger" during it with the other preschoolers. Jayden has been singing it all the time at home and in the car, but when it comes to singing in front of a lot of people, she gets VERY shy! She started out singing, but then started watching the boy next to her instead. Here are some pictures of her singing and also of our attempt at taking pictures of the kids all dressed up before church.






See what happens when we try getting a picture of all the kids together? Almost everyone is crying, except for Daddy!

Christmas Card

We tried taking a picture of the 3 kids for our Christmas card, but there was no way we could get them all to sit still and look at the camera at the same time. Landon and Jayden did great! But Peyton was not cooperating! Anyhow, we decided to just take 3 individual pictures instead, and I think they turned out great! I especially LOVE the one of Peyton!! (He doesn't need a haircut, does he?) :)

Pictures with Santa

Every year we bring the kids to visit Santa at the mall and so far they haven't ever been scared of him! Jayden went right up to Santa and sat on his lap and started telling him what she wanted for Christmas and we put Peyton on the other side and he was great! Landon sat on the reindeer rocker right in front of Santa and loved it! The boys didn't want to leave because they were having so much fun on that reindeer rocking chair! Here is the picture we got (I scanned a copy of the picture we bought, so it might be a little fuzzy). :)