The Z Family Blog

Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas highlights 2011

Each year we look forward to celebrating Christmas. We have tried to instill in our girls the true meaning of Christmas... the birth of Christ Jesus, instead of getting wrapped up in the Santa, Rudolf, Frosty traditions which perpetuate in society. As we celebrated our Christmas, I tried to document with pictures; here are some of the highlights.

Each Christmas Eve we bake Jesus a birthday cake. Again, this year, the girls thought Jesus would like a homemade carrot cake. This recipe is one of my favorites... it dates back to my Great Aunt Fern on my mom's side of the family. Here are the girls preparing the cake. Lilly, age 5, is now skilled at using the carrot peeler.

Nana, my mom, joined us from Kansas. The girls only anticipated her arrival for oh...2 or 3 months! So, once she was here, it was play time. Here's Nana with the big girls before our church service on Christmas Eve.

Just back from church, here are the Z 3 posing under our tree. Ever since I began placing gifts under the tree, around the beginning of December, the girls have been asking and asking to open them. Oh the anticipation!

Before our Christmas Eve meal, the girls open one gift... Rapunzel pajamas! As you know, we are BIG fans of Rapunzel. :)

Feel the excitement!

We kept with our Southwest tradition and ate green chili and corn tamales, as well as a to-die-for tortilla soup (new recipe from the Wig Wam Resort) and a traditional cranberry pie for Christmas dinner. Rob made his famous guacamole and pico de gallo to top it off.

In anticipation of the big day, we feared the girls would wake at some insane hour and ask to open gifts. To our surprise, it wasn't bad. Lilly, who opted to sleep in the basement, slept in- we actually had to wake her. And Claire, was kept busy by Nana until about 6:30am. Nice! Once they discovered the gifts under the tree, the fun began...

Here's Lilly with her new Barbie light up scooter. She told me, "I have always wanted one of these."

Maggie was in great spirits for her first Christmas morning.

Another tradition on Christmas morning is to enjoy a breakfast feast... even though we were probably still full from dinner! Here we are enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls and all of the trimmings.

As a teaser before we began opening gifts, the girls opened one little goodie from Nana. Check out the excitement on their faces...

...because EVERY K-State fan needs a Willie Wildcat Pillow Pet!

The girls received wonderful gifts. Thank you so much!

Thank you for the super fabulous art kits, Grandpa Ham!

One of the highlights of this Christmas was Lilly's eagerness to give. She shopped at her school store for the family and simply couldn't wait for us to open her gifts. For me, she bought a little ring and this rose. She also made a calendar at school. Love!

Claire made a gift of her own, a beautiful reindeer plate. Love it too!

Claire continues to love this doll from Nana. It was love at first sight while we were at the Scottsdale mall. We bought it on the sneak so Claire couldn't see. Oh, what a surprise it was on Christmas morning. Thanks, Nana!

And here we are at Christmas dinner about to eat Jesus' birthday cake.
Lilly is serenading us with her new recorder.

Merry Christmas 2011
Maggie's first Christmas was a great one, indeed.

Maggie's stocking... complete!

Since almost August I've been stitching away on Maggie's stocking.

I made a stocking from a Bucilla kit for both Lilly and Claire, and when August rolled around I started to get a little worried Maggie's wouldn't be ready for her first Christmas. So, at night when the girls were asleep, I stitched the stocking together by hand. Almost every morning the girls were excited to see what I'd completed.

Just before Christmas, 5 days before to be exact, the stocking was finally finished.

Here's Lilly helping Maggie with her stocking Christmas morning.

There's still one more stocking left to make... one for baby Jesus. As Lilly told me the other day, "You'd better get started on that, Mom."

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Santa encounter 2011

Santa is becoming more of a fictional character at our house; we are slowing getting away from making him such a big deal around the holidays. Lilly has already asked "Is Santa a REAL man, mom?" To which I replied, "Santa is the spirit of giving." I remember my mom using that line on me when I was little. The focus of Christmas should be Jesus' birthday, of course. But, Santa is still an integral part of the season- he is everywhere- so we had to pay him a visit. My sister, Amy, would be proud that I took advantage of the "free" photo and time with Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. Nice!

Though the photo above doesn't show it, Maggie was excited for her first Santa encounter. It just so happened our visit landed during her usual nap time, so she was in need of her morning snooze. Here she is beforehand... happy as can be.

Oh but wait...

What's a trip to Bass Pro without the opportunity to shoot your first rifle, a pink rifle? The big girls took in some target practice...

There was also an indoor carousel, crafts and the always impressive fish tank.

Who knows, maybe we bought you some taxidermy while we were there!?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Lilly's big day

When Lilly awoke this morning, she was so excited you would have thought today was Christmas.

A little background... About a month ago, the PTA at school held an online auction. I bid on a few things, including a "Kindergarten Teacher for the Day" with Lilly's teacher.

Well, wouldn't you know, I won the auction.

Today was the day... Lilly was the teacher.

Her teacher sent home a note a few days ago outlining Lilly's responsibilities which included... leading circle time, reading a story to the class, helping the teacher ALL day, going to lunch with the teacher, etc etc. As you can imagine, Lilly had a hard time falling asleep last night- too much excitement for her big day! We've practiced her story all week long; last night she patiently read each page of her book and showed each illustration to the stuffed animals in her room.

So, when we arrived early at school - to help set up the room for the day, of course, Lilly was all smiles. Here she is with her teacher and her new personalized clip board given to her by her teacher. Every aspiring teacher must have one of these...

Here is Miss Lilly sitting in the "teacher chair" in the classroom before school...

I couldn't be with her in class today, but one of the other moms texted me this photo. Here's Lilly reading her book, Wemberly's Ice-cream Star to the class.

And, again, as sent to my phone from a parent volunteer, here is Lilly helping the other students in computer lab. According to the parent, Jenny, Lilly had the best day!

When I picked Lilly up from school, she was all smiles. I asked her what she liked best about her day and she said, "I liked getting to do everything." At Lilly's request, her teacher took her to In-n-Out Burger for lunch.
Lilly also told me she asked her classmates to call her "Mrs. Lilly"- and they did, all day. Upon leaving the school, one of her classmates said she wished Lilly could be the teacher every day. Lilly grinned. Then, Lilly proceeded to tell me, "Mom, you'd better win the auction again next year."