Wrapping Up 2016

Happy New Year! We had a fantastic New Years Eve! But what must be documented first is that we have also had a fantastic last week of 2016.

We have really enjoyed this winter break and some down time! We have relaxed a lot and done some serious playing with all the girls Christmas gifts! The day after Christmas Keagan spent hours on a 726 piece Lego set and finished it all by herself! She is amazing! We had Campbell over to play one day and on another day Kari took all the girls to the movie Sing. We made a gigantic mess when we painted one day and Sa immensely multiplied Keags new supplies of rainbow loom with Addie's old stuff and we have gone rainbow loom crazy! We had such a fun night at Texas Cheer with all the Blacks and the Monsons. Keags and Rys played hard for hours and made new friends! Keagan also figured out how to set up all the mats so the kids could go sledding! The only sledding my girls have ever done! And I got a lot of stuff done while avoiding packing up all the Christmas decor because who wants to do that?

So basically we have had a really great week!

Tonight we topped off a great year with a fantastic New Years Eve party! We headed to the French's house for food, friends, festivities and fireworks! The Balkman's are visiting them from Oklahoma and we always have fun with them! Plus Sa and a Todd joined us. We had food and treats to feed 3 times who was at the party and then Miss Taryn had organized so many fun games! The candy bar game, poop the potato (my favorite), seran wrap ball, and the dice stack were great! We filled out and shared our year in review pages and then the adults played Mexican Train while the kids ran wild and had a ball! Finally we walked to the park near by to send up Chinese lanterns (that didn't go as planned) and do a whole bunch of fireworks! Our fireworks were fun including Riley doing a million Roman candles, but the best part was we were surrounded by serious firework doers in the neighborhood so we got the most incredible free shows! At midnight we had a silly string war and wrapped up the night with some fun on the playground. I really didn't think we would make it til midnight but we were all having way too much fun to barely notice what time it was! 

Of course 2016 had its challenges and trials. But 2016 brought us so many beautiful blessings and wonderful memories so I am sad to see it go! But I am very excited to see the adventure that 2017 has in store! Most of all I'm thankful I get to do all of it with my two precious girls!

See ya 2016 and hello 2017! 

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2016

Magical. Loud. Entertaining. Spiritual. Tiring. Boisterous. Delicious. Tearful. Hilarious. Fast. Messy. Merry. Bright. And Memorable.

All things that Christmas was this year and much more! It sure was one to remember! 

I woke the girls up at 7am to get the party started! Over the next hour they opened way too many gifts than they need from Santa, mommy, their dad and Grandma Debbie. It was SO much fun to watch them receive so many awesome things! Keagan in particular was so animated and excited! They sure were spoiled but they really did appreciate it all! Keagan's favorites were probably the Polaroid camera from their dad, American girl legos from mom, MC2 science kit from Santa and a snow cone machine from Grandma Debbie. Riley's favorites were a stuffed Sid the science kid and doodle board from Santa, Sid movies from mom and from dad, dinosaur feet slippers from mom, and headphones from dad that make her laugh! Both girls also love their orbeeze foot spas from Santa but mommy isn't a big fan of the mess they make. They even appreciated each little stocking stuffer and they were so excited to give me their gifts of drawings from Riley, a homemade earring holder Keagan made out of scrapbook paper and a darling purse that Nana helped them get! 

After the presents were done we zipped over to Sa's house for our traditional Paka breakfast. It was yummy of course and something that we never skip! 

Then it was onto church in our Christmas dresses! I loved that Christmas was on Sunday this year and that we got to celebrate by taking the sacrament and listening to the Angels that are the Klein Ward choir! 

After church the girls had time to play with their gifts while I got the house ready for us to host Christmas dinner. And then it was back to Sa's house for the much awaited skype call with Hermana Foster from her mission in California. How wonderful it was to hear sweet Sami's voice and see her beautiful face. It was even better to hear how well she is doing! My favorite things she said was "my testimony has grown more then I ever thought possible" and "I'm really becoming who I was always supposed to be." That made my Christmas,  and I can only pray for that for my girls! Lots of tears when we said goodbye but in only 6 months we get to hug her and welcome her home! 

And then the Fosters and the Texas Ginn's came to our house for a really great Christmas dinner! We missed the French's who were home because Taryn has the flu and the Chicago Ginn's who we got to talk to on FaceTime. We had way too much food but it sure was delicious! Kari made a Yule log which I had never had before and Riley sat at the kid table and fed herself! We laughed and chatted and had a great time! The kids played around and had fun with those dumb Orbeez foot spas and we were all loud like always. We ended the night with the acting out of the nativity with our masks from last year. It was fun, loud and crazy, just how we love it and Keagan documented it all with her new Polaroid camera! 

Even though it was a long, busy day it went by way too fast! It always does! But the good news is we created so many memories that we will hold dear forever and never forget! Not much more I can ask for on Christmas! We are SO incredibly blessed and that is presents enough! 

Christmas Adam & Eve

It's confession time.  

I must admit to the three people that read my blog, plus my girls who I hope will cherish it one day, that I haven't rocked the Christmas Spirit the last two days...until tonight that is. I have tried my darnedest to still make a great Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve for my girls despite my moodiness. I think I mostly pulled it off. Hopefully all we remember in years to come is the wonderful memories we made and our time together celebrating this season!

So as we call it in our family, Christmas Adam is usually a day that us 3 Kikuchi girls do something super fun together. This year we blew the fun out of the park by going grocery shopping in our jammies in the morning! Riley was rocking her princess Anna dress up so I was happy when we saw a 4 year old spider man at Kroger. To really bring the fun I let the girls do something they have been begging me to do. I let them pick whatever frozen dinner they wanted and eat it for lunch! Yep we really know how to party! Then we had lots of fun when we played board games including our new hilarious game "Speak Out." After dinner we did one of our favorite holiday activities which is look at lights and we found the most incredible street! Not our usual festivities but I think we still had a really fun Christmas Adam! 

Today was Christmas Eve and we struggled a little during the day but thank heavens we really got it together tonight! This morning we started out great with the last present of Sa's amazing 12 days of Christmas for the girls which were awesome slippers. But then the girls decided to make me a homemade Christmas gift which would have been so sweet if they hadn't been fighting non stop about it including hitting and crying! After that, the huge mess they made and me having to ask something 17 times before it gets a response, mommy kinda lost it. Not my finest Christmas Eve behavior. Thank heavens for Sa and Todd who came to the rescue to save the girls from mommy calling Santa! They took the girls while I went grocery shopping again but this time for Taryn who unfortunately has the flu! With a little time away we were all ready to party for Christmas Eve! 

Unfortunately our original plans for Christmas Eve with the Fosters and French's were at Taryn's house. But that darn flu! So change of plans and we went with the Fosters to Cheesecake Factory for a fun dinner! Who doesn't love Cheescake Factory and not having to cook or clean it up on Christmas Eve?! And then I really started to get the magic back! After a little more looking at lights and singing carols with my girls (see much better) it was time to get ready for Santa! Keagan and Riley know Santa likes a clean house so we vacuumed and cleaned before we put out the cookies and milk. Today Keagan decorated the cutest little tree for the big guy and set that by his cookies! We sprinkled our reindeer food and marveled over the fact that reindeer will be in our backyard tonight! My favorite quote was "mom maybe Roudoulph will do his business back there!" Keagan cracks me up!  Then the thing that really did it for all of us was when Keagan read Luke 2 to Riley and I about our Saviors birth before bed. My heart was full blown bursting with the Christmas spirit that I had been looking for! Thanks heavens I finally got it together! 

So now my heart is full and I am feeling so incredibly blessed! Presents are covering the bottom of the tree and beyond. Presents for the girls from me, their dad and Grandma Debbie. (I think we all are very thankful for Amazon this year!) And now Santa has come and added his gifts as well! 

I am almost too excited to go to bed! How wonderful that Christmas is on a Sunday this year so we can do the fun but also do what is most important and celebrate the Savior of the world in such a wonderful way at church tomorrow! Now that I've got that Christmas Spirit totally back, I am ready!! Bring on Christmas!!