Christmastime!

sending out their Santa letters at the mall

the line for Santa was WAY too long, so we just took a picture by the decorations, since we already saw him at pre-school

grandpa & grandma Kondel spent the holidays with us

Our mixer has gone into overdrive, we have been baking like crazy! Slovak pastries, fudge, rice krispie treats, sugar cookies, cinnamon rolls

El loves to make sugar cookies

we each pick out an ornament for Christmas, this year I picked out this set that is just like the one we had growing up (remember mom?)

Dan bought the girls these nutcrackers when we went to see the ballet (another tradition since I was a kid)

before the chaos...

Christmas eve (Em put on a ballet leotard & swimsuit inside out & topped it off w/ Wilby's sweater)

new pj's & robe for Christmas eve

Goofy & Donald to add to the collection

frosting cookies for Santa

and some carrots for the reindeer

Christmas morning we were waiting for the girls to get up, but ended up having to wake them up at 8

Grandma & Grandpa Bond got the girls this awesome dollhouse (thanks mom, they LOVE it!!)

Santa brought bikes (hopefully Em will grow into hers by summer)

they also got a big box of dress up costumes (gotta love the post Halloween sales)

princess snow globes

adorable hats made by Grandma Kondel

Grandpa K. fell asleep after dessert & we put a baby blanket on him

silly faces w/ Grandma K.

El is pretty much obsessed w/ her baby niece, Kiana

we were caught in a blizzard Christmas afternoon/evening, here's Kass getting ready to go out in the scarf we got her (best baby-sitter ever!)

playing El's new princess wii game the next morning

and Wilby loves his new blanket from G & G Bond

El's pre-school Christmas program

Santa made a visit to El's class

El's teacher, Miss Heather

here are some video clips of the songs they sang. They sang everything that they've learned so far this year ( I didn't post all of them). It is pretty crazy because they are all shouting!

some random video clips

sorry about the dark lighting on some of these

catching up

Well it's been a while since I've been able to post pictures & download my camera. Our hard drive died & our back-up hard drive died within a week of each other. Thankfully Dan had saved the pictures somewhere else. So I have all the kids baby pictures & stuff. We're only missing a month or so from October I think. It has been horrible & I did not realize how much I relied on my computer! Dan is still fixing a lot of stuff, but made it possible for me to download the camera & access the picture files. Thank you Dan!! I was not very patient the last few weeks! So here is the first of many posts that I am catching up on. These are just random pictures from the last month.

Wilby being pushed by the girls in their doll pram

this is what Dan found one day when he went to wake Em up from her nap

she had taken off her diaper & all her clothes, put on underwear & went to sleep in her doll crib

he loves to sleep (& pee) on this rug in the kitchen

look at those puppy dog eyes!

this is the first snowman I've built, it was harder than I thought it would be!

Dan made fun of me when he saw it because it looks like I'm teaching the girls to smoke. I was jsut thinking of the song, "with a corncob pipe & a button nose!"

my little snow angels

Emma having fun with stickers @ my expense

Wilby's Christmas sweater ( I don't believe in dressing dogs, but we wanted him to have some kind of Holiday thing & this was the only thing we could find in his size)

he had it off in about 10 seconds

new chew toy w/ squeaker inside (El calls it a cheeky toy)

Merry Christmas!

Here's our 2008 Christmas card & letter if you haven't seen it...

Merry Christmas!

We hope this letter finds you & your family well. Here is a brief update on our little family.

Eliška just turned four & started pre-school at the new Challenger school right behind our house, which is very convenient! She is doing great & learning so much. She loves all things princess & pink & is the social butterfly of our family.

Emma is two & a little chatterbox! She loves her big sister & her gang of stuffed animals. She is already looking forward to joining Eliška at pre-school next Fall.

Dan is still enjoying his work at Cirque Corp. in Salt Lake & has had the opportunity to develop some interesting projects this past year.

Michelle has been trying her hand at sewing & has really enjoyed making things for the house.

Wilby, our nine week old Beagle is the newest member of our family. We sure are having a lot of fun with our early Christmas present!

We are so grateful for all of our wonderful friends & family & wish you all a great holiday season & a happy new year!

Love,
Dan, Michelle, Eliška, Emma, & Wilby

experiencing technical difficulties

Our computer & server has been having problems & our hard drive died. At least I still have Dan's laptop with the internet, but I haven't been able to download my camera in what seems like ages! I am trying to be patient while Dan reorganizes all the files or whatever he's doing. I have tons of posts to do, but am waiting for pictures to go with them. We are having a lot of fun with Wilby & I have some cute pictures of him in the snow, which he HATES & a video of him chasing Christmas ornaments. I also have videos of El's pre-school Christmas program yesterday. Anyway, hopefully soon!

Oops!

Things are so different this Christmas, now that El is older. She has already accidentally seen 2 presents & they were major ones too! El convinced an unsuspecting Grandpa to open the door to the nursery where her bike was hidden & then I had her get something for me in the basement, not remembering that Dan had moved the bike down there! Then a package came to the door & El always gets them for me, unfortunately the box showed exactly what toy was inside, who does that! I'm trying to find good hiding places, but it is difficult with my little sneek!