Christmas 2014

Every year I seem to say that we had a great Christmas but it is true every time!  The girls loved every present they opened and Lincoln had a great time playing with the wrapping paper.  Kenna was really the most fun to watch while opening presents because she was just so happy with every present and started to play with it right then.  She was completely oblivious that there were still more presents because she was so happy with the last thing she opened.  (Hence why I think there are more pics of  her this year!) Also, daddy worked really hard on putting a tether-ball court in the backyard and the girls were totally surprised.  They have really enjoyed playing it and Emma is excited to practice so she can get better at school.  For the final present, they were all really surprised!!  Kenna got a new bike that she is learning how to ride and Emma and Madison each got their own tablet.  I was able to put music, games and apps on their tablets before they opened them so they could start playing right away.  I think this is the most surprised they have been with a gift.  You can really see it in the pictures.  We love Christmas and making our kids happy!

Family Pictures

We needed to take some family pictures for the Christmas card so this is what we did.  I think Jacob and Lincoln are the cutest in their matching pajamas!  I also love to take pictures the Sunday before Christmas in our Sunday best!

Christmas Festivities

Every year we have some Christmas traditions with different people that we really look forward to.  Here are the activities that we enjoyed this year.  I was able to get pictures of some of the fun but other times I completely forgot!

1. Making gingerbread houses
2. Seeing the Chino lights with our cousins
3. Ward Christmas Party
4. Decorating for Christmas
5. Seeing the Bainbridge lights with the Carter family (Linc and River got along so well!)
6. Making goodies for our friends 
7. Christmas Eve at MB and Nate's house where we eat delicious food
8. Reading "The Night Before Christmas" with dad in our Christmas pajamas.


Normally we love going to the Mission Inn with MB and Nate but 5 of us got the stomach flu the day before we were supposed to go!  We were all so sad to miss out on the wonderful lights and delicious homemade donuts.

Maddie's Dance Recital

We were able to go and see Madison perform in her dance recital on Saturday.  She did an awesome job and really remember a lot of the dance.  She is a little ham and loves to perform so it was a lot of fun to see her.  I wasn't able to take any photos of her on stage because the lighting was horrible but I at least got her before we left in her cute little outfit!

The Gingerbread Man

Madison has been working really hard on a little play called "The Gingerbread Man" that her kindergarten class was going to perform.  I have been helping in the classroom every week so I got to hear a lot of the songs that they were going to perform and it was so cute!  I was really excited to go and see her perform the whole thing with her class.  However, two days before the performance, we all came down with the stomach flu.  Madison seemed to be a lot better the day after it started (Wednesday) so I thought she might be able to make it to the performance on Thursday.  She didn't eat a lot on Wednesday but the next morning I thought she might be good enough to go and perform.  Mom and Dad, though, were not better.  We still felt pretty horrible and weak but I was determined to see my little girl sing in her play.  I wet my hair to make it look like I showered and wore my sweatpants but we were there!  The performance started off great and Maddie was doing her best faces and all of the hand movements.  She was singing loudly and I could easily hear her.  However, the play was about 30 minutes long and after about 20 minutes we started to see her go downhill.  Jacob got it on videotape and the whole thing is hilarious.  At first, Maddie is really into the performance.  But then we saw her start to just stand there barely moving her arms or singing.  Pretty soon, we worried she was going to pass out or throw up on stage.  Right at the end of the video, she is just standing there holding her stomach and looking pale.  I frantically waved her off the stage and she walked off in the middle of a song and came and got in daddy's lap.  Needless to say, we wrapped up her Christmas cookies and took her home.  She ended up being just fine that day but I think the lack of food and being so weak from the sickness took it's toll on her when she was working so hard to perform.  Here are the good pictures we got of her but nothing compares to the video!

6th Annual Bock Christmas Party

We had another great year with our party!  Normally we like to take pictures of everyone that came but we totally forgot this year.  However, we still had a great time and really enjoyed the games this year.  Also, scary Santa made his 3rd return this year.  Can't wait to see him again next year!!