Savannah turns 4

Beautiful cake made for our little princess by her daddy. Strawberry cake from scratch with strawberry cream cheese - delicious!
Such a cute little girl. We love her so much. She has so much spunk, is terribly stubborn and bursting with personality. She adds so much to our family and I cannot imagine life without her. I told her on her birthday that she had to stop getting older and she said, "Mom I can't! Then I would never be a mommy and I want to be a mommy!"
Here is Emily reading her the present she gave Savannah. It says, "Ariel loves you Savannah and Emily loves you too!" At the bottom it says, "Emily loves you more". Savannah's favorite princess right now is Ariel so she drew Ariel by a horse. I love that my little girls are such cute sisters.
She got Ariel from my Parents and then Sleeping Beauty from us. She loves her Princesses.
You can't tell with this picture, but she also got really excited when she saw the new clothes from Granny and Grandpa. She loves getting new clothes.
Here is her Princess castle.
And her Papa, she loves him so much.
We had a friend Birthday party for Savannah this year. All the girls came dressed up as Princesses. Here is Eden with her adorable funky socks.
Mike helped out by painting butterflies, crowns and hearts on all of the girls. They thought it was so much fun and only made them more beautiful.
This was such a fun little game and a good alternative to our traditional pinata. The girls would spin the wheel and then see what color they needed. Once they pulled out the tab candy would come out and at the end it all came out at once. This is definitely a game for little girls. They sat there so patiently waiting for their turn.
I love that Brett was willing to be a part of the "Girl Party" but only if he could dress up as a ninja, lol.
We had a great time and more important Savannah loved it. She is already asking "how many days until my next birthday?"

Christmas

Santa must be a Utah fan, he left all of the kids a swoop pillow pet for Christmas :)
Here we are about ready to go down the stairs. Emily's excited expression is priceless.
Liam got a little tent that he could crawl in and out of.
Here is what Santa left.
Emily got the doll she was asking for. She named her Sandie.
Liam got a ball pit which seemed like an ingenious idea for Santa to fill an inflatable swimming pool with balls. Too bad the pool lasted a week until Liam popped it.
Brett so excited to get the stars that glow in the dark.. He is excited to stick them on his ceiling.
The big gift was the foosball table for the whole family. This has been a huge hit, we play it almost every night.
And Savannah got a beautiful Doll House, I admit I am a bit jealous :). The girls in the family have had a lot of fun playing with it. We had a wonderful Christmas and I can't believe how quickly it came and went!

I love the magic of Christmas in our home. The kids are at such fun ages right now! One of our favorite traditions is wrapping all of the Christmas books we have received in the past and opening one a night starting in December until we end with the classic "Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve.

Some other fun things that happened during the season was seeing Emily in her Piano Performance. She played two solos, both memorized. It is so amazing to see how much progress she is making and when I asked her if she was scared she said, "not really." She is such a beautiful little girl and it is so fun to see her perform. Here she is with her teacher and the other students.

We also made some yummy peppermint cookies in the shape of candy canes and some homemade peanut butter cups and chocolate dipped pretzels with peanut butter in the middle. I love that Mike was able to get some extra boxes at work so we could give our neighbors a delicious gift that looked nice too!

For the last three years we have been having Christmas Eve with just our little family. I love it. I love that we can spend time together and have a good time before the craziness in the morning. Mike's parents joined us this year. It was nice to have someone actually enjoy the meal we made. The kids are too excited to eat :)

Mike made an awesome Prime rib, it was a hit! I made the rolls you can see in the background. We also had mashed potatoes, corn and jello.
Here the kids are about ready to open their Christmas Jammies. Trust me, they looked adorable. I didn't remember to get a pic of them in their jammies that night. After dinner Emily and Brett preformed for Granny and Grandpa and then set out some cookies and egg nog and went to bed in record time. The magic of Christmas was in the air and they could not wait to get into bed, they didn't want Santa to pass them by.

Frenette Christmas Party

This year we had a few changes to the Frenette Christmas Party. We used to have it with all of our cousins, but everyone decided it was getting to crazy and that we needed to break it up into individual families. We had it at my parents house and it was a lot of fun. We did a nativity for the first year and it was a hit! Baby Paige did a great job being baby Jesus and everyone looked great. I love how Emily played the part of Mary looking adoringly at baby "Jesus" the whole time.





Savannah played a wise man along with her favorite cousin Zoey. She kept telling me, we are the Princesses that came to visit baby Jesus and gave him presents.


Liam was scared to death when I put him on Santa's lap, but quickly stopped screaming and just stared. He must have thought if he sat really quiet Santa might let him go.


'
Brett telling Santa he wants video games, Santa tried to convince him that a ball might be more fun, but Brett wasn't so sure.


Emily with Santa telling him she wants a baby. Not a real baby she had to remind him, just a doll. She doesn't want any more little brothers or sisters, hahaha.



Cute Savannah, she was so excited to sit on Santa and to tell him that she really wanted a Barbie.

My Dad reading Brett the book Santa brought to him. It has everything you ever wanted to know about Reindeer's. Brett thought it was so amazing.

Mike reading Savannah the book Santa gave to Liam.
My beautiful little niece Paige. I just wish she didn't live so far away. Glad Mandi came with her family for the Christmas Holiday all the way from Texas.


Mom reading Poochie the Pup. This is a story my dad received when he was a little boy and we have read it every year of my life. I love how we all repeat phrases in unison, fun tradition.


Liam about ready to start un-decorating Grandma and Grandpa's tree, lol.


Emily playing Jolly Old Saint Nicholas while Brett does the actions and sings. They practiced every night for a week for this performance, so cute. I was so glad we could get everyone together for the Christmas Party. Kind of crazy having all the kids running around extra hyper on Christmas excitement, but it was so worth it.