Kid Collages

Talmage and Anya in their new clothes from HoneyGram and Papa.

The kids after church on Sunday.

New Christmas Suit

Talmage was so excited to wear his new suit on Sunday. Again he wanted to match his tie to Anya's dress. This is us after church.

As a true Kay boy, Talmage needed his pants hemmed a few inches. This is Aaron attempting to hem Talmage's pants before church while I am finishing Anya's hair. The hem looked great but started coming out before Primary started.

Gifts

Here are some pictures of the kids with a few of their gifts. Santa brought Anya a mattress, new pillow, and sheets.

Here's the kids beds put together into a bunk bed. They are loving it for play time but Anya's still trying to get used to the new feel.

Anya insisted on putting this Elmo outfit from Sierra on as soon as she opened. She is also wearing Talmage's roller skates that Santa gave him.

Talmage got a SUIT! Now he can look like Dad on Sundays. He was very excited and put the jacket on and started searching for the "secret pockets". But his doesn't have any. He was a little sad but got over it quickly. We'll have to rig up something so he can put a pen inside his jacket were his Dad keeps his.


Here is one of Talmage's reaction to Aaron receiving a Wii from Santa.

Anya was so cute trying to play boxing.

This is a awesome picture of me looking super excited. It was snapped as I was explaining to the kids what the gift is. I am opening a scanner/copier/printer. I got a cord (USB2) in my stocking. Those of you who know Aaron's fascination with cords may find this funny. I was happy to have something to plug my cord into when I opened this gift, though I had guessed I would be getting it because I had been doing some serious hinting and out right asking for this. It will be great for preparing lessons for the kids.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve day he kids enjoyed playing outside to pass the time until they could go to bed and Santa could come. It was a warm day but I made the kids wear long sleeves because it was windy and they both have a cough.


The kids loved there pajamas they opened on Christmas Eve. Talmage is still obsessed with Mario and Anya loves her stuffed Elmo and all things that look like him. She even calls herself Elmo Mama.

Matching Brother and Sister

Talmage likes to match his ties with Anya's dresses on Sunday's. I think it's so cute. So here are the kids on Sunday in front of our Christmas tree. They sure love each other!

Talmage found a few more flowers like the ones in Anya's hair and wanted to take a picture of him giveing them to here. I think he must have some of Uncle Justin's romantic blood, cause he sure doesn't get it from his dad.

Christmas Light Bike Ride

On Saturday Aaron got his new bike. His company will reimburses us for $400 worth of exercise equipment or gymn membership for the year. And bikes count as exercise equipment. Aaron chose a orange and brown Trek mountain bike. He likes it so much better than his old one. He is now trying to pawn his old one off on the missionaries or anyone else who wants it.

So on Saturday evening we took a family bike ride around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. The kids enjoyed being out on a warm night with mom AND DAD. We hit a few dead ends and did a little off-roading. It was a lot of fun.

Trading Clothes

Talmage and Anya were playing quietly in there closet for a long time. When I was just about to go investigate Anya comes running out wearing Talmage's Sunday clothes. She was grinning from ear to ear and thought she was silliest girl ever. Then out runs Talmage in Anya's dress. Aaron and I were surprised and the kids just laughed and laughed. I was amazed at how well they worked together. Talmage had to button his white shirt on Anya and put the tie on and I'm not sure what they did to her hair. Anya had to zip her dress up on him. It was a little tight on him but she got it all the way up. Too funny!

USAA Family Christmas Party

Here is our family at the USAA Family Christmas party. It was held at USAA and they had a theater group come in and perform "An Amelia Bedilia Christmas." We like Amelia Bedilia and were excited to see the show. It wasn't as good as we had hoped for but Talmage said he enjoyed it. Santa was also there to take pictures with and the kids each got a gift bag with a teddy bear and snacks.

USAA Christmas Party

This is us getting ready to leave for the USAA (adult) Christmas party. This party was held at the Alamodome, downtown San Antonio. It was an "after five attire" party so clothing ranged from tuxes and formal gowns to slacks with dress shirt Most of the employees, including us, park at USAA and rode downtown in the tour buses provided. It was great to have free parking, a free ride, and to avoid driving in traffic. The party was fully catered and alcihol free (they are an insurance company after all). For entertainment they had LoneStar opened for Styx. We enjoyed LoneStar because it is music we actually know. They did a great job. We were able to go right up near the stage. We stayed for about half of the Styx concert. They put on a great show, we were about five rows back, but we didn't know there music very well and our feet were tired by that point. We had a great time. We also had a great free babysitter. She is a lady we sit behind at church most sundays that loves our kids and actually wanted to watch them. She even rented Horton Hears a Who to watch with them.

Anya Reading

Anya has started reading. It has been fun to see her putting sounds together to form words. She is also learning to write her letters. She wrote the words on the paper and spelled them all by herself! She's a quick learner. Our next lesson will be on putting a "two finger space" between words.

If you are wondering, it is Elmo she has under her shirt. She was pretending to be fat.

A Santa Suit for Anya

Anya was telling us she wanted a Santa suit for Christmas. So while the kids and I were decorating for Christmas I put the tree skirt on Anya and she found a Santa hat. She thought it was great. We took this picture and she has not talked about a Santa suit since. How easy to please my kids are! Now what are the chances of them being this easy to please as teenagers?

Picture With Santa

On Saturday we kids got to talk to Santa and have their picture taken. Bass Pro Shops gave us this free picture that I then took a picture of so that you can see it. They both chose not to sit on his lap but Anya didn't break down crying when we stepped away for the picture. She's come a long way. Talmage asked for "bubble gum, the kind you can blow bubbles with" and Anya asked for a "big girl bed". Talmage's is no problem and for Anya we already have a bed frame that matches Talmages but I am still shocked at how expensive twin mattresses are. Santa's little elves better get busy on that one.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we went the more traditional route. We got together with two other families in the ward at a friends house and pulled together a really Thanksgiving meal. None of us really like cranberry sauce or yams so we just left that part out-- what a great meal. I made my mom's wonderful stuffing, butter horn rolls, strawberry jello salad, and vanilla pudding fruit salad. It was a good meal. Here is a family picture of us at our friends house.

The kids loved swinging on the swings while the rest of us ate pie. Both kids flat out refused pie-- they are so weird!Anya's so goofy!

Flashback to Halloween

We didn't get into Halloween very much this year. They kids were going to be knights with there plastic knight costumes. But on the way out the door Anya decided she didn't want to wear the costume because it was scraping her. (It is made for a little older kids) So at the last minute I pulled out some wings and a fairy skirt from the dress up clothes and made a wand (not pictured). She was the flighty fairy and Talmage was "a knight that's right"-- both from a favorite Backyardigans episode.