Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas Festivities!

This Month was full of Christmas Festivities! We just love Christmas here in the Granados Home.  And I think what is most exciting for me is coming up with new Christmas traditions.  Neither Isaac nor I grew up with very many Christmas traditions, so we are making our own!  A new one this year was that Santa sent an Elf on the Shelf to help our kids behave extra good all month!  His name is Thomas and our kids LOVE him! 
On one of the first days he ate one of our Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  And left a trail of evidence.
And even got chocolate on his face ;)
He wasn't too mischievous, most of the time he just sat in different places.  Like on top of the Christmas Tree!
We also went to the Christmas Story time Puppet show!  It is also a favorite of ours every year!
Isabel especially liked it!

Another fun thing we got to do was that the Kindergarten classes at Benjamin's school put on a "performance" of the Grinch who stole Christmas!  It was really cute! 
Benjamin was a Who and I think he looks awesome!
Smiling for Mom!

"Hi Mom!"
Saying his part
With two friends!
Afterward I got to volunteer at his class Christmas Party!


And of course in Escuelita we put on our Annual Nativity at our Annual Escuelita Christmas Party.  This year Benjamin got to be Joseph!
And Samantha was Mary
Abby was an Angle, but this year she really wanted a party to say, so I had her memorize "Fear not, I bring tidings of great Joy."  She said it perfectly!
The Shepards
The Wise Men Bringing their gifts

Xochitl helped us make some great ornaments!

They were hand prints made to look like Snowmen!





We also went to our Annual Ward Christmas Party!  The kids got to sit on Santa's lap!

Benjamin

Abby

And Isabel.  I love this age!

Even when she got back in Daddy's arms she was still not happy about being close to Santa.

We had a laugh seeing our Bishop sit on Santa's lap!
Then the week before Christmas I made these fun Neighbor gifts
On Christmas Eve Benjamin and Abby made cookies for Santa!


Lots of Sprinkles!
This year for THE FIRST TIME EVER, we were home for Christmas morning!  And we loved it!  Now that our kids are getting older Isaac and I want to be at our own home making our own traditions.  And I love the idea of waking up at our house and running down to our Christmas tree on Christmas morning.  And something that we were not able to do in previous years, because of all the chaos of being at someone else house, was talk to the kids about the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas.  And this year we got to do that and I loved it.
Before our elf Thomas flew back to the North Pole he put this up to make sure the kids did not go downstairs before mom and dad were up. ;)

Running downstairs

The picture came out fuzzy, but it was quite a site... we were super blessed this year!

Checking out what they got in their stockings

Isabel too!

Quite a stash!

Santa brought Abby her Merida doll and Angus and the movie!

Santa brought Benjamin his Wii !!  What a lucky boy!

And they got lots of other stuff from Mom and Dad, liker Spriderman/girl costumes for dress up, new blankets, their own Book of Mormons and a few other things!  I think I got a little carried away this year!
Later that Christmas day all of Isaac's family came over for Christmas dinner and then Danny (Elder Garity) called  from his mission it was a great Christmas!  And it was so hectic that I forgot to take pictures.  Oh well.

The day after Christmas we spent more time with our cousins that were in town for Christmas by riding frontrunner to see the lights on Temple Square.
Benjamin just loves his older cousins!

Tito, Nena, Pati, Carl
Abby, Emma, Jacob, Agelita

Enjoying the lights
The next day after that we all went sledding!  We didn't last long because it was soooo cold that day.  But we still had fun!



Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Card

Here is our 2012 Christmas Card and letter!........

Dear Friends & Family December 2012

We hope this Holiday Season finds you healthy and happy. Here at the Granados home we are happy, healthy, and very blessed by our Heavenly Father. It has been a great year for us and how can we take any credit for it, when all of our blessing come from the Lord and he has been especially good to us this year.

As a family we got to go on 2 more Disneyland trips! They were so fun! What a blessing it was to be able to get Annual Passes and go multiple times. We went in February with my Mom & Gary, and Allan & Lindy. Then we got to go again in September with my in-laws! And both times we were able to stop in Las Vegas and see my cousin Eric and his sweet little family. Another fun thing we did this year for the first time ever was camping! It was for our (also a first) Rincon Family Reunion! We hadn't all gotten together in many
years and it was so fun to finally be able to do it! I hope we are able to do it more often.

On a more serious note, our family also experienced loss this year. After 2 years battling cancer my father passed away in July of this year. How grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ and knowing that one day I will see him again and we will all live again. I know that he is with his parents and his brother, my dear Uncle Rick and I know he continues to do missionary work on the other side of the veil.

Moving on, other exciting news in our family is that our oldest boy, Benjamin started Kindergarten this year! I officially have a child in school! It is such a different and new stage in motherhood to have a kid in school, but we are learning as we go. Benjamin on the other hand is doing great! He loves it! Thanks to the awesome on-line preschool program that he participated in, he started reading before he even started Kindergarten and is now doing exceptionally well in his class. We are super proud of him. He also continues to enjoy Soccer and now Basketball! And he still loves trains!

Abby is trailing right behind her big brother! She is turning 4 in Feb. and is super smart. She is learning her ABC's, and numbers and shapes. She already can maneuver her way around the computer and learns and catches on real quick! She is also super social and everyone she meets is her “best friend.” She continues to love Princesses and ponies and baby dolls and everything girly!

Isabel is now 14 months old and says a handful of words and is quite good at communicating what she wants. She is also super smart and loves to copy everything mama does. But the thing she loves most is her Daddy! She is a Daddy's girl like nothing you have ever seen! She dances when she hears the garage open because that means he is about to walk through the door, she runs to him when he does walk through the door and when he walks out the door she stands at the door crying for a long time. It is so funny! But we just love having her in our home. She is a joy and so fun!

Isaac continues to excel in his job at L-3 Communications and I feel so blessed that he enjoys his work and that he has such a great job and works for such a wonderful company! I have continued to run around busy as a bee like always. Three kids keeps me on my toes 24/7. But I love motherhood and I love being home with my kids. I continue to coordinate our co-op preschool, I also volunteer at Benjamin's school, and I started teaching Zumba as I finally decided it is time to lose the baby weight. I have lost 10 lbs. And have 20 more to go. I know I can reach my goal and I am loving teaching Zumba classes!

Finally I just want to say that I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and great kids! The Lord has truly blessed us in every way and how grateful I am to have his gospel and the opportunity to be blessed. I know it is because of my Savior Jesus Christ and that is why I love this season so much, so that we can remember his birth and his life and his sacrifice so that we can return to live with him again some day. May we all remember the reason we have this season. We love all of you and you are welcome to visit us in our home any time! We love visitors!

Love,
Liz, Isaac, Benjamin, Abigail, & Isabel

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Junior Jazz Basketball

This was Benjamin's first year of organized team Basketball.  He loved it!  It was really fun and funny watching a bunch of Kindergartener's play "organized" Basketball.  We can't wait to do it again next year!
Such a Handsome Boy!
Team Picture!
Benjamin is #24

Getting the Re-bound

Taking it down the court!  Go Benji, Go!
With their Trophy's at the end of the last game.  Benjamin loves his Trophy!