Dland Fun-Dec. 2011

As with the past two year, Brett's company held their End of the Year Party at Disneyland.  We love this tradition and hope that it continues for a very long time.  The last two years it has been raining on the day we went, which is awesome because it is less crowded, but it was nice to have better weather this year so that the shows weren't cancelled.  

With me being pregnant this year, I was the runner to go get "fast pass tickets" (tickets for later in the day to ride the rides without waiting in the normal line).  We were able to get on the first few rides rather quickly and then with fast passes we were able to ride everything we wanted, some more than a couple of times!  Brett's brother Brian went with us with his two boys and my sister Debbie came along to be another sent of hands to help with the kids.  It was an awesome day, full of fun memories!

 Space Mountain: Debbie in the back left, Tanner and Brett in the middle row and Natalie and Bailey in the front row.  I love all the different facial expressions!

 Space Mountain: Spencer and Grayden

Buzz Lightyear: Grayden and Spencer on the left, Talmage and Brian on the right.

 Buzz Lightyear: Tanner and Brett

 Autopia: Debbie and Bailey

 Autopia: Grayden, Talmage and Brian

 Haunted Mansion: Bailey and Rachel 

Haunted Mansion: Grayden and Spencer 

Haunted Mansion: Natalie and Debbie

 Haunted Mansion: Tanner and Brett

 Talmage, Bailey, Natalie, Tanner, Spencer, Grayden

 Jungle Cruise: Talmage, Bailey and Tanner

We got scammed into doing this canoe ride (not sure it's exact name) over by Splash Mountain.  We thought it would be fun, but really it was just work.  Just in case anyone is wondering next time they go if they should do it.

 Canoe Ride: Natalie, Spencer, Talmage, Brett, Debbie, Brian, Talmage, and Tanner

 Canoe Ride: Bailey and I were up front.

 Carousel: Natalie

 Carousel: Tanner

 Carousel: Talmage

The kids also had the opportunity to do a little Jedi Training.  Spencer, Grayden, Bailey and Tanner all got picked to be a part of it.  There was a short "training" in the beginning, and then they each got a turn to fight one of two characters.  Great experience and worth the time if you have any Star Wars fans.

 Grayden

 Tanner

 Spencer

 Bailey

 Spencer

 Tanner

 Bailey

 Grayden

All in all is was a fabulous day and we wore the kids out.  We stayed for fireworks and Fantasmic and then headed out of the park.  You know it is a great day when the kids are out when you arrive home!

Block Building Fun-Dec. 2011

My kids can sit and play with blocks for hours, and they do on many occasions.  Legos are the most preferred, but they also like the Fisher Price Trio sets that we have (although they build their own designs instead of  what the box says to build).  It is fun to see the different stages they are in in their building capabilities and the creative things that they can come up with.

Christmas Decorations

Brett wasn't around this year when we were decorating the tree, so I let the kids do everything by themselves while I handed out the ornaments.  The older ones were so helpful with the younger ones and it was a really fun night.  I can't believe that my kids are old enough to decorate the tree by themselves!  Looking at these pictures makes me want to get out the Christmas decorations again. . .

Family Picture

As part of a present for Christmas for my parents, Tami asked us to take a family picture with the letter M.  Each family was assigned a letter to spell out "Higham Family" (there are twelve siblings in our family).  I thought the picture turned our really well, especially since the camera was sitting next to the TV on a timer.  Hunter thought it was hilarious when the flash would go off.

Bailey Thanksgiving Program and Feast

 In Kindergarten each year the kids get to learn about the pilgrims and Indians and why we celebrate Thanksgiving each year.  It is always fun to listen to the parts they have memories and see them eat their feast after.

 Oh how we love our happy smiley Bailey Girl.

Bailey Soccer 2011-Blue Angels

Natalie Soccer 2011-Pink Firecrackers