December/January....fun stuff.

We had a great Christmas, the kids were spoiled as usual and it was very busy. We headed to South Dakota on the 23rd and spent time with my parents and headed to Brad's Dad and Elaine for the day. We had a great time playing games and spending time with the family. All the kids have cousins that are close to their age so they had fun. All the gifts were associated with Disney, since that was the main gift from Stan and Elaine, see the pics below. Christmas Eve night was spent with Brad's Grandma Fannie and his aunts, uncles and cousins. Christmas Day started at Brad's Grandma Clark's, then to Brad's moms, and ending up at my parents...back home the next day. It was great seeing everyone, just wish that we could have had more time with everyone.
We had to skip my Grandma Phyl's and Grandpa Neil's so that we didn't feel so rushed Christmas Day. It gets hard to travel when Livi's schedule is messed up. I missed seeing my cousins, aunts and uncles but we'll be there next year :)
As you can see I don't have a lot of pics from Christmas, I forgot the cameras at home. The sister-in-laws took pictures so hopefully I'll get a few from them.

Livia FINALLY getting to go outside and play in the snow. She had fun on the sled with Makynna, didn't want to get off. The only problem she had was getting up when she fell, too many clothes on....reminded me of the Christmas Story.
We stayed out for over an hour on Saturday.
John digging a tunnel for Makynna in the snow. I thought this was hilarious, so I had to take a picture.

Surprise, had the camera ready when he came up for air :)

Liv, again, outside....

Makynna in the tunnel that John built :)
Makynna is doing really good. Loves preschool and I think that she'll do well in Kindergarten. We had to sign her up last week for that, doesn't seem like it's time already. She asked me the other day why God put "naughty" in us. I told her I wasn't sure (she caught me off guard). She said that Jody (daycare) told her that it was so that we learned how to make good choices. (Pretty good Jody, if she got it right). I told her that made sense, I didn't want to go into the devil with her. Since monsters don't sit well with her (nightmares). She said that she wanted to ask God to take the naughty out of her, cause she doesn't like to be naughty. I told her that she'll have to pray. :) The things she comes up with.

Livia saying "cheese" for the camera.

Hello?? She has to be just like the big girls.

Happy girl!
She has started to say more and more words. I finally ventured out with her last week to Target we were in the toy isle looking for a gift and she is looking at all the toys and says "Dora" and points. Then I hear "Pooh", "Mickey"...didn't even know she knew who they were. I'm sure it's mainly because of her big sis. She says "Thank you" very clear, but please is "SSS". She is constantly asking for something whether it's a book or something to eat (is it bad that she knows how to say "candy")? If she doesn't know how to say the word she just says "this". Probably from me holding things up when she wants something and asking "do you want this?". So why wouldn't she say that she wants "this" when asked.

John at hockey. The season is almost done, and it's about this time of year that I'm glad it's almost done. Practice 4 nights a week and games on both days during the weekend gets a little old. Luckily my parents came up for the last tournament in Cloquet (4 1/2 hours away) so we didn't have to take the girls. The ride there and back was so nice...and peaceful. Hopefully Brad's mom will be able to come up for Districts at the end of the month. :) At the last tournament John learned an important lesson. Restraint. He has been pretty physical/aggressive this year, probably because this is 1st year Bantams so there are kids closer to his size. He tends to retaliate when someone checks him or does something that he thinks should have been a penalty but wasn't seen by the ref. It usually results in a penalty for himself, and a lecture from his mother. "The team does better when your on the ice then when you're on the bench...." blah, blah, blah (I'm sure is all he hears). Well this time was different. There was a minute left in the game and he was pushed/hit in the back and he turned around swinging. Ended up hitting the guy in the face (helmet) and he went down. He ended up going off the ice on the board/stretcher and taken to the hospital. John is a very caring person and wouldn't intend to hurt someone like that on purpose. Brad went to get him out of the locker room so he could see he guy getting taken away. He was pretty emotional, and so was mom. Brad and him when to the hospital to see how the kid was and found out that he was going to be fine (played the next day). That was a wake up for John and happy to say he hasn't had a penalty since then... On a happier note...he has reached top scorer for the team, pretty excited about that! :)