Gale Munchkins

I just don't understand WHY?? Sometimes, she'll even grab a pillow, tuck half of it under the TV, then set her little head on it. WHY? WHY? WHY?

What a fun day! We slept in, the kids played and drew pics while they WAITED for everyone to get up, dress, eat and THEN we opened gifts! Highlights of the day...dress up shoes, Mikenna's mao mao (kitty), Mike's ear protectors for when he gives the girls a bath (actually for when he goes shooting, but he's planning on them for tub time too), and fun movies & games to be enjoyed during family time!! In one of the pics, you'll notice Mikenna crawling under the Christmas tree, she figured out how to work the lights. And of course, here's a quick clip of Mikenna and a mechanical mao mao...in the middle of it, David let a balloon go that flies around...you'll see...

Cast of 2006 Narrator: Eric Joseph: James Mary: Emma Donkey: Michael Baby Jesus: Kyle Angel & Chorus: Kaylee, Kiera, Kassidy & Jodi Shepards: G-ma Haffner & Michelle Wisemen: Adam, Mikenna, Camels: Jamie, Stacy, & Leslie

So, it sort of snowed today, and I decided to send them out for some fresh air. Only the bit of snow that was on the ground...turned a bit icy. It didn't stop them from playing tho. Kassidy tried making a snow angel, Kaylee did a few gymnastics moves, Mikenna headed for the slides and swings, and Kiera tried moving some of the snow to a "central" spot to build a snowman. Mike spent a few hours chopping up a tree for our fireplace. Hopefully more snow will come soon!

For some reason, over the past few weeks, whenever the TV is on, Mikenna likes to place herself front & center. We then play a game of on & off. It is kind of cute to see her: nose against the TV, hands under chin and toes in the air.

Michael stayed up LATE one night networking our computers and Xbox... finally got it to work and now he we can watch shows that are on our computer, through the Xbox, ON our TV. (Those of you who have been helping us understand how frustrating it has been.) So here are the girls and Mike, watching Curious George, the first night of Christmas Break!!

We had several wrapping tubes sitting in the corner that Mikenna just discovered today. She likes to pretend they're horses and drags them around like she is riding them and "wheeing" as she goes. Hopefully I'll get it on video soon!

Isn't she just so sweet?

We spent our evening at Aaron & Allison's, yummy dinner and then gifts!! The biggest hits of the night were the nerf dart guns that D & A got, then a dance mat that Kaylee (and sisters) received from A&A...here we have a few pics of several of the "kids" giving it a try. Allison & I (dots) gave it a go...hmmm...it'll take a LOT of practice to get it to look like a dance...definetly felt like a work out for me!

Friday night we got together with friends and had a fun time...we played "Catch Phrase" which we girls lost horribly to the boys, and a few intense games of "Murder." We also had a white elephant gift exchange, a great laugh! The big hit was the ameoba head thing...can't remember it's official name, but most everyone tried it on...then there were the inexpensive slippers that Stacy made up...skid proof, deoderized, comfy...can you tell what their made of? (The ones pictured here are not the ones she made...Brooke is wearing them in the center pic...) Anyhow...it was a fun night!!

The girls and I attended a performance of the Nutcracker this past Saturday. They've been to many ballets before (cousins in Seattle) but this time there was more "acting" and less dancing. The girls kept asking when the people were going to dance, and during the "acting" parts, wondered why the people weren't talking. Overall the girls loved it and we had a great time!

Are you tired of my video clips yet? O-well....here's one of this silly face Mikenna makes, she started pulling it months ago, at the dinner table, out of the blue..."The Face"! The girls are good at getting her to do it now, as you'll be able to tell from Kiera's expressions on the side. FYI: "The Face" is made worse due to the fact that Mikenna also has pink eye and a runny nose. Mikenna knows few signs that I tried to catch on video..."more" she picked up a few weeks ago, I was feeding her fruit snacks while watching TV and trying to get her to sign "more". She kept saying "uh, uh" & when I finally looked down, she was signing more! It was so cute, I had to laugh. "Milk" was a bit weak here, but she does a fine job when she's really hungry. She's been signing milk since I weaned her from nursing, but I'd been teaching her months before she finally used it...silly girl :)

Mikenna sure does like to cheese it. Everytime I pull out the camera to take a picture or try to video her, she just grins and scrunches up her eyes! She watched Kassi at her dance lesson last week and started to do a step-together-step-together thing, that I tried to catch on camera...and her little horsey that you could wind up, went a bit psych-o on us. She makes a great "wheeing" noise for the horse if you can have time to watch the entire video (she sometimes does the cow noise that we've been teaching her)...then of course, her cheese! p.s. there's a video of her kitty antics on the "kitty" post...if you're interested

Mikenna was having fun pushing the button and taking pictures of her daddy.

So, I've been learning to do all sorts of stuff on Adobe Photoshop. I'm no where near to what my sis, Julia, knows or can do...but I've picked her brain enough to do a so so job on this Gale Family picture! See if you can spot the differences!!

The guys...paintball ready... I thought I'd take more pics...but this was all I got. Mike said it was a lot of fun, as usual...Tim got pegged by Nathan...huge ugly welt (on his hiney that he told us about, but here's a pic Julia has on her site )...Mike's dad had on MAJOR layers, so he didn't feel a thing. You can see Mike is all decked out in his camo...Some guys weren't as smart, ie white sweatshirt, or the large strips David wore... The things guys do for fun:S

Fun times after the kids go to bed...Mike & Tim are learning to survive Halo...Chris is running circles around them...Dr. Mario tournement: I am learning how to play correctly, Julia & Chris are the champions, although Mike (if his brain can communicate with his thumb) is close behind...of course we love Settlers, trying new variations...

...the new favorite Barbie movie. Tim scoffs at it...wait until he has girls! We are only on the 2nd viewing...(and the 2nd time began in the middle.)

On the trip down, I had markers for the girls to color with. I only asked that they color on paper...well...as we neared Blackfoot, ID (a quick detour to visit with Mike's grandparents) Kassi said, "Mom, I accidently got marker on my hand." I thought it was from tracing her hand (you know how that can happen), I asked her to show me...her hand was COMPLETELY red, front & back. I warned her to not do that again..."OK mommy." But then we get to Tim & Julia's...Adam comes running with a purple mark on his cheek, I hunt for Kassi, and this is what she had done! UG!

This afternoon we took the girls to BYU for lunch and bowling. It took us 1.25 hours to bowl one game...the girls did a fun job of getting the ball down the lane, even if it went 1 mph...then afterwards we played at a nearby playground before swimming! WE LOVE VACATIONS!!

The girls love Tim's cat...Stimpy...especially our little Mikenna. She goes around, looking for the "mao mao", every minute she can. She'll look under beds, around corners, even goes up the stairs to the main floor looking. If we are lucky, we catch her at the top of the stairs, pointing and smiling-she hasn't fallen down...yet.

We are having tons of fun here in Utah! I'll have to post pics later, unless I can get Julia to upload some of her pics! So, keep checking back!! Did I mention that on the trip down, Mike decided to take a detour to visit his Grandparents in Blackfoot. It was fun to sit and chat, then the girls got to go out and help Grandpa with his chores: feeding his 12 cows (6 mamas and 6 baby cows) Kassidy wondered where the daddy cows were...and then feeding the chickens & collecting the eggs (only 2 this time). We gave them baths after dinner and then back on the road again!