Christmas Eve 2011

We host Christmas Eve every year and it's by far one of our favorite nights of the year. It just gets better and better the more the kids understand and Preston and Sophia were REALLY excited about everything this year from Elf on a Shelf, to driving around and seeing all the Christmas lights to decorating the Christmas tree and eating lots of treats of course. It's such a magical time of year with the kids and we look forward to making lots more memories. Hearing Preston try and say "Santa Claus" and "Snowman"(which sounds like "no man") was music to our ears. Phia especially loved finding "Snack" the Elf each morning...she'd run downstairs before anyone and would find him so fast! On Christmas Eve this year we had mom and dad Tees, Frank and Sarah and kiddies, Michael and Cheryl, Nana and Nono Paola, and Kelly Stevens. Lots of food, excitement, and presents made for a great night!
Baby Bentley's first Christmas. He was such a good boy:)

Brothers Tees

Phia loves her Auntie Sarah!

Proud Papa

Michael(mommy's cousin) and Phia

Kelly Stevens and Nana

Grandma and Grandpa Tees enjoying Christmas Eve dinner

A nice shot of the table before it was full of food!

Mmmm dinner time!

Nonno and his favorite little people. Presto and Nonno have a special lil' bond which melts our hearts:)

Relaxing after a big ole meal:)

Daddy relaxing with our littlest monkey

And of course we couldn't forget it was Preston John's official 2nd birthday. We got him a birthday cake and sang him Happy Birthday which he LOVED!! He blew out his candles like a big boy. We just love our cuddle bug. He brings us so much joy. He says "Love you Mommy/Daddy/Phia" and requests kisses and hugs from all of us. SUCH a sweet, caring little boy!!


Nana and Nonno

Cousin time!


Presto loved opening presents!

Nana in the middle of the present opening frenzy

Sophia was so excited about her roller skates that she had to put them on immediately! She's really good on them(and looks adorable!)

Nana and our Bentley bear

Everett taking Sophia for a ride in Presto's new truck! They rode all around the kitchen;)

Phia filled up this box with presents and announced she's was "packing for college"...NOT YET PHIA!!!

We love these 3

Family plus Christmas makes me THIS happy!!

Our attempt at a family shot by the tree...

I just love this picture of Bentley and Nana

Happy Paola's!

Fun in the snow and the Christmas train!

We loved the Christmas Metrolink that rolled through town. We've heard about it for a few years but this was the first year we made it. They decorate the train with lights and they put on a show with Santa. Needless to say the kids loved it. We also took the kids to the snow for the first time...it just happened to be at the mall!! They brought it tons of snow and it started raining so it kind of felt like we were in the mountains! We didn't have proper gloves for the kids so next year we'll be more prepared! I caught some pictures of Phia and Daddy's snowball fight:)

Here comes the train! The best part was the look on the kids faces as it roll into the station blaring Christmas music!!

Presto's head was turned the entire time!





It's snow time

Presto was in heaven

Phia insisted on making snow angels so mommy cleared the way and away she went!

SNOWBALL FIGHT!!






And a picture of Sophia in her Christmas dress before Church just 'cuz:)

And a picture of Presto looking handsome in his sweater

Sophia's first Christmas Pageant

Wow was mommy emotional! I started tearing up when the kinder class was singing so I knew I was in trouble(Daddy was emotional too!!). Sophia of course sang her heart out and was in the front row! They sang Jingle Bell Rock and she was shakin' her jingle bells so proudly. I had a front row seat since I'm the room mommy and helped get all the kids ready and to the Church on time! Whew...hard work with 20 three year olds!! One of the parents volunteered to make all the kids scarfs for the performance(girls wore red and boys wore green) and they all wore jammies...such a cute idea! We had a blast and Nonno took a night off at the tree lot to surprise Sophia which of course made her night. We all went out to celebrate after and Nana kept telling Sophia she was "the star of the show"...hopefully she won't repeat that one when school starts again in January ha!(she repeats everything!!)
Miss Sophia in her classroom before the pageant...she was super excited!

Phia, Brady, and Blake...the 2 Musketeers!

Lining up to head to the Church(which Sophia' calls "God's House" too cute)

Our silly monkey


Singin' her heart out!


Mommy and her smallest monkey


Most of the Tees fam...


This picture melts my heart:)