Christmas Weekend...lots of pictures

My beautiful three little girls. Right before we went and saw Santa. They all seem pretty brave here!

Rylee freaked out and wouldn't go near Santa so Emily and Ally sat with him and Mike held Rylee and took pictures. We decided to leave Nathan out of it.
Finishing my two day baking marathon. The girls helped decorate the cookies. It was hard to explain to Rylee that the whole foil of cookies in front of her wasn't all hers. She didn't get that.


Would you like some cookies with those sprinkles?
I really helped them and did a lot of explaining for the frosting part. I figured the sprinkles would be the easy thing to leave them alone on while I finished making the other cookies. Wrong! They did great with the frosting part and sprinkles went flying.
Christmas Eve, reading the Christmas story. I love that kids Bible.
In front of the tree on Christmas eve. Santa's almost here!
Putting out cookies for Santa. Rylee was mad because she wanted to eat the cookies.
Christmas morning, santa came and brought flashlights for all the girls, and easy bake oven for Emily, Ariel dress up dress for Rylee and a CD and gift certificate for Ally to get her ears pierced.
Opening presents.

Nathan slept through the opening of presents and stockings so when he woke up, he got to open his. All of our kids used this babie's first Christmas stocking. Good thing it's red.
Nathan with his Christmas loot...look at the excitment on his face!
I love this shot of his puppy slippers on his cute little feet!
After opening presents and breakfast at our house, our whole troop went down to my parents for the remainder of the day. The kids got to open a whole set of presents at their house.

Later that night, after dinner, the girls put on their "Biblical" attire and led us in singing Hark The Harold Angels Sing, then Emily read the Christmas story and they finished with We wish you a Merry Christmas. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and Emily blew out his candle.
I wish I could have kept more of a straight face for the performance but Rylee was just so darn funny. Look at her diaper and blanket. She looked so proud.
The day after Christmas we took Ally to use her gift certificate at Claire's to get her ears pierced. We were going to wait until she got older but we decided she was ready and she had watched Emily get it done and knew what would happen. Plus she's been asking and asking since Emily got hers done. So here she is, pre-earrings...
Emily, waiting to watch her sister get it done...she looked so cute in her scarf. She was excited for Ally. She also looks so grown up to me all of a sudden.
Rylee, looking extremely nervous, waiting for Ally to get it done. And by the way, she freaked out and ran into the mall when Ally started crying. She has already declared she DOES NOT want to get her ears pierced.
Ouch!
But it was soooo soooo worth it! Love that face!
Merry Christmas everyone!

Spirit Week and Christmas photos

Last week was spirit week at Emily's school. On Wednesday it was Business day so Emily dressed up as none other than an insurance agent. She looked so cute with her tie and briefcase. Mike even took her to work early to make her a name tag.
Thursday was blast from the past. So we dressed her up like the 80's. I did a side ponytail with a big hair scrunchy, tied her shirt on the side, colorful socks, and Mike pegged her pants. I didn't know what that was but it's where you take the bottom front of her jeans, fold it over and roll it up 2x. I did a close up for you below.


Cheers!

At her class Christmas party, a parent brought in Sunny Delight. I never let Emily have orange juice so this was very special to her. I even let her have seconds, (because I poured all the kids glasses and they all only got a small amount)!
I had signed up to bring cookies and Nathan had a fussy day so I couldn't make any. So the night before we took Emily to the store to pick out cookies to bring. She chose snickerdoodles. She doesn't like those cookies but insists that she does. So when it came time for her party, this is her taking a bite of one. Notice the look on her face...fake enjoyment.
JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD HAS COME!
After church, before going to visit Santa clause. Boy it's hard to get a good picture with all 3!
All four of our beautiful children. We almost got them all to smile. At least they're all looking in the right direction!
After lunch on Sunday, we took the kids to see Santa. They still hadn't told him what they wanted for Christmas. When we were the next in line, Mike ran around the display to the other side to take a picture. So I was holding Nathan and literally dragging a sobbing Rylee across the display to see Santa. She was so strong I had to finally lean down and tell her that daddy was on the other side and she could go stand with him. Then she suddenly found her legs and ran as fast as she could and threw herself at him. So Ally and Emily sat with Santa. Emily asked for an easy bake oven and Ally asked for a princess flashlight and, with my encouragement, earrings to get her ears pierced. She's been begging since Emily got hers.

Nathan at 1 Month

Nathan turned one month today. He is such a sweet baby boy. He's really starting to have some awake times, which is fun. He stares intently and I keep waiting for him to break out into a big silly grin but it hasn't happened yet. He's also really starting to go to bed on his own well. I think he was a little spoiled with the rocking thing, plus the kid slept a ton so I never got a chance to put him down awake.

I am loving having a boy. It's weird that it can be so different yet so similar. I think pretty much he does the normal infant stuff, so I think it's my mindset and how he sounds and looks, which is all boy! Rylee is still his biggest fan. I find her putting, (or shall I say shoving), his pacifier in his mouth all of the time. And she is constantly kissing him or trying to hug him. He is still "her baby" and don't try to tell her differently.

Nathan and Molly. Molly Grace- born 10/31/09 Nathan Michael- 11/11/09 Don't you love those overalls! Thanks Stephanie for the great hand-me-down!

7 years old

Emily turned 7 on Tuesday. I have always thought that 7 seems so grown up, and actually having her turn 7 confirms it. She is such an independent person now. She is our cheerful helper, she has really taken the girls under her wing and patiently shows them how to do different things. She is a big reader and loves to go outside after school with her stack of books. We are very blessed to have her as our first born and we're enjoying every year with her. I'm excited to see what this year has in store for her!


Emily, on her actual birthday, taking cupcakes to school. I love that some teachers still let you bring homemade treats.
Emily at her birthday party last Friday. Tessa got to spend the night that night and they stayed up until midnight talking.

Emily opening her presents. She got a littlest petshop, an ipod type music player, $5, books, Barbie Wii game, and Mike and I are taking her in february to Disney on Ice.

I was going to bake Emily's cake to keep the cost down but my mom offered to surprise Emily with a cake so we went and picked out a Hello Kitty cake. It was super cute and really good, although very rich tasting.

Emily in front her of her banner and presents. We've had that banner at all of her birthday parties since her first. It's a tradition. I wonder how much she'll like it at 16?

Christmas and a Wedding

This past saturday was a busy day at the Littau house. We woke up really early so Mike, true to his word, got out the Christmas decorations. He always wants to decorate early but was worried about getting it done before the baby so he got it out extra early. The girls were super excited that morning and couldn't wait to put their ornaments on. Mike and I always get them a new ornament each year, put their name and theyear on the bottom. That way when they're older they'll have ornaments for their tree along with knowing what they were into that year. Last year Emily got an Ariel ornament, (no surprise), Ally got an Eden ornament from Barbie and the Christmas Carol, (her favorite movie), and we picked out Rylee a snoopy set. This year we picked them out for the girls as they were only $3.99 at Target.

This is Emily's ornament...Princesses.
Ally got to have a Tinkerbell ornament.

Rylee got a Winnie the Pooh ornament.

We rotate who gets to put the star on the tree each year and looking back at pictures, Allyson did it last year so Em had the honor this year...well of at least getting it on the tree because....

Mike felt bad for how sad Ally was and took pity on her and let her straiten it, she did a good job too.

After decorating, we shipped Ry off to mom and dads for a quick lunch and early nap. Then the girls and I got ready and went to Tricia's to get their hair done for my cousins wedding. They looked so so cute. Tricia does a great job with hair. This is Allyson's hair all pinned up. It was so adorable. She has a TON of hair and although it's a pain to do on a regular basis, it's great for things like this.

Here are the girls all dressed up and ready for pictures. This picture was before the actual photos started. By the end of the night, Rylee finally said "no pictures".

I caught Allyson sitting like this and thought it was so sweet. She looked adorable!

So I made Emily pose like that, she did her hand on her face on her own though. I thought it was super sweet.

Rylee wouldn't sit like that so she just sat. Her dress wasn't poofy enough for that anyway!

Emily's hair. It turned out beautiful and lasted all night. It's always a little sad to take it down.

All five of the flower girls. Left to Right...Ellyana age 2, Emily, 6, Ally 3, Rylee 2, and Trinity 5.

Bridal party.

Going down the aisle. Emily was so good during the wedding. She went down so nice and stood up there so still and serious. She was a great flower girl. She's had practice though, this was her third wedding.

Allyson and Rylee down the aisle...Ally was practicallly dragging Rylee down. Not because Rylee didn't want to go , because she loved it, but because Ally was nervous. Just look at the look on her face!

During the ceremony. Ally was a little wiggly and kept doing this huge fake yawn. Didn't expect that from her.

Daddy and Rylee. They look so nice that day!
Rylee, after the wedding, pre meltdown. Mike and Rylee left pretty quick after dinner.

Halloween 2009

We had a very eventfull halloween this year. Friday Emily got to wear her costume to school and have a parade and a class party. She had a ton of fun and looked cute.

On Halloween Day, we started with Emily's last soccer game. She's the kid in the red jersey in the middle of all of the blue jerseys. This years soccer was interesting. Sometimes she really wanted to be there, others she didn't. But Mike is thinking of being an assistant coach next year and I think she would really do well with him helping on her team. Now to just finish Mike's last day of baseball, (sunday a.m.), and sports are all finished in the Littau household!

The girls before the harvest carnival at Em's school put on by an awesome church in town. They had a lot of fun even though we didn't stay too long as the turnout was huge.

After the Carnival, we went to my parents and ate a great dinner and then took the girls trick or treating. They had so much fun and it was hilarious to see Rylee try to keep up. She was so excited she could barely contain herself. Towards the end, her bucket was so heavy she could barely keep up but she wouldn't let us help her. Finally, when someone tried to put a piece of candy in her bucket and it was so heavy she couldn't even lift it up to get the candy, we forced her to put some in Emily's already overflowing bucket. The girls were exhausted afterwards. I love trick or treating each year. I love watching them run from door to door. Brings back good memories.