Brennen's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Brennen's 3rd birthday this month. I can't believe it has been 3 years since he was born! He was so cute and excited this year and told everyone we saw that it was his birthday! He wanted a Mickey cake, so this is what we came up with. He loved it so much, that when we cut it to eat it, he started bawling and said "My birthday is ruined!" He ate the cake anyways though.

Here he is opening presents. He got some play dough and play dough tools, a new outfit, and a stuffed Mickey with a blanket.

Brennen and his Mickey cake.

Brennen and his new Mickey. He loves it so much! It has to do everything with him. We had to put pajamas on him that night. He had to have a bowl of cereal the next morning, and it hasn't left his side since.

Brennen is such a smart little boy. He remembers everything and knows a lot of big words. He loves Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and trains. He has so much energy and is a pretty happy little guy most of the time. We love our little Brennie Boo Boo!

Christmas Moments

Tyson's Kindergarten program.

Kaden's Musical Mustangs program. He was the country elf.

My two Christmas princesses. It just so happened that my girls got hand me down Christmas dresses from two different people, so they were able to be matching. Aubree loves to wear matching now that she has a sister.

Kaden and Tyson dressed up like Santa.

Christmas Eve in our new PJs

This was probably my favorite Christmas moment. Aubree has always wanted an American Girl doll, but we have always told her no because they are so expensive. Well Santa brought her one anyway. Her face when she opened it was priceless.

Cambree just wanted to go back to bed.

Kaden with his Transformer walkie talkies. Something every boy needs at some point in their lives.

Brennen got his Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express. Mickey Mouse on a train ... it doesn't get any better for Brennen.

Tyson with his Devastator. Another surprise from Santa.

Santa Claus

I am way far behind. I really wanted to get these posted before Christmas. Here are my kids sitting on Santa's lap. The 4 older kids talked to him at the Zion's Bank tree lighting after Kaden sang with musical mustangs. But Cambree was asleep, so I had to take her to the grocery store a few weeks later to get a picture. Being from a small town, it was the same Santa both times.

Brennen wants a Choo Choo Express.

Tyson wants a Lego Agents set.

Aubree wants a Best Friends Doll

Kaden wants a Lego City Set

Cambree really doesn't care. But she sure is cute!

Decorating the Tree

I really really love Christmas and one of my favorite traditions is decorating the tree. I don't have a big fancy tree with wonderful ornaments that all match. My tree is all the ornaments that my kids have made throughout the years. To me, no tree is more beautiful, because this tree represents my family, which means more to me than anything on earth. Merry Christmas!

Larsen Family Christmas Party

The first weekend of Dec we had our family Christmas party at my parents house. This has become such a fun tradition, because it's hard to get us all together anymore. The grandkids all dress up and act out the nativity. We have a CD of my Grandma Sitterud reading the Christmas story, and so that is a neat way for our kids to know about her even though she has passed away. This year Aubree was Mary, and it had to be authentic so she stuffed a pillow up her shirt so she could be "great with child" Kaden was Joseph. Tyson wanted to be a wiseman and wear a crown and Brennen wanted a stick so we made him a shepard. Of course Cambree was baby Jesus.
Here is the cast of the play. Brielle the angel really just wanted her mom. I also like Tyson the Wise Man picking his nose. Nice.

Joseph and Mary great with child.

My niece Brielle wouldn't wear her halo. This is my Grandpa Dee showing her how to wear it. It was just a precious moment.

My parents alway have the kids open the presents from them and the cousins also draw names so they get to open that present too. Also Santa's elf brings them a little present. After all the toys that were everywhere, Brennen and Brielle just wanted to stack paper cups.

Basketball

Kaden's absolute favorite sport is Basketball, which is appropriate since he is 8 years old and almost 5 feet tall. This year he has had a really good year because his coordination is finally catching up to his body. He is awesome on defense and he even scored 2 baskets at his game the other night. (That is really good, because at this age, sometimes no one scores a basket the entire game.)

Kaden's Program

For third grade program, they do a cultural program. They learn all about a specific culture and then they perform a program at the end. It is a really neat thing. They did Polyensia again this year. Kaden's teacher did an Awesome job painting all the boys face for the Haka, or war dance. At the end, they are suposed to pull a scary face to intimidate the enemies, so that is what this pose is. I didn't get any pics of the actual program because we sat on the wrong side of the gym and couldn't get a good angle.