december 3 through 8

I had such great intentions of updating every day with our Christmas festivites. But alas, life continues to move forward and I can't get to the blogging everyday. So, for the quick update:

december 3: Watch the "Joy to the World" dvd

december 4: Draw Christmas pictures (at least this was the plan). It actually happened on the 5th. Here's Will's final product. I don't know where Hyde's ended up or if he ever did one!

december 5: We went to the Festival of Trees in Smithfield. It's a building filled with trees decorated by different companies etc. Here is one decorated to celebrate UNC. Our family's shout out to Caitlin.
And the kids favorite of the day, the Dr. Suess tree.

december 6: We delivered goodies to a couple of families

december 7: We told Christmas jokes. Explanation: when I was putting together the advent activities I asked the boys to each come up with a couple of activities to do. Will came up with this one. And how can you deny a cute boy with enthusiasm for bad jokes? And they were bad. Not to boast or anything but I think mine was the best: What is Santa's favorite place on the entire earth? Answer: Ho-Ho-Home. Yeah, I made that up on the spot. The best Andrew could come up with was: What did the Christmas tree say to the reindeer? Answer: Isn't it time for you to LEAVE? hahaha! It is constant laughs over here folks!

december 8: Drink hot chocolate with marshmallows. For the sake of family history I must record that Hyde missed out mightily on this one. He refused to go potty before his shower which he had been warned would result in no wii. Well, then he pretty much fell apart and cried and cried and whined and wouldn't get in the shower so he was into his pj's without a shower and in bed at 6:30pm. I'm sure when we look back on this someday we'll laugh. I'm hoping we will.

Alright, let's hope I do better the rest of the month!

december 1 and 2

Well, the annual countdown has begun. We have our cute little advent calendar that has an activity behind each numberd door for our family to do every day. We love this tradition! On December 1 we snuggled under a blanket and read Christmas stories. Unfortunately, daddy was at Young Men's so he missed out.

No picture of tonight's activity (December 2). We played a family game. The boys really think Scattergories is fun though it's pretty difficult for them. So today I made a list that would be easier for the kids (type of food, color, things at school, etc.). It was a lot of fun! Until tomorrow. Goodnight!

'Tis the Season

The Christmas festivities have begun. Our tradition is to string popcorn and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Well, that plan was thwarted due to Stake Priesthood meeting. So instead we did it Saturday night and invited the Judds to help us since we don't trust our kids yet with needles! It was nice of them to come and bring the movie on DVD (since we only had it on vhs) as well as their air popper and corn. We're good hosts like that. "Hey, do you wanna come over and help us out? Oh, and by the way, can you bring ALL the supplies?" At least I provided some little snacks so maybe they'll still talk to us.

Anyhow, Monday night was the annual decorating the Christmas Tree with ornaments night. The kids love it. Here is our array of pictures from that event. (Be forwarned--there are A LOT of pictures).

Hyde just starting in on the action.
Ivy took the job very seriously, examining every oranament....

from every angle,

until it was finally approved for placement.

Mr. Four-Eyes was the only one who would stop for pictures.

Let's try that again. (Nate was of course in bed--he's not allowed to have fun).

Hyde was very precise.

I LOVE when my kids give genuine smiles like this. Ughh.

The kids got a lot of use on that stool and it took us a little while to realize that if we didn't move it to another location the tree was going to topple over on that side due to the sheer weight of ALL the ornaments!

Ivy showing daddy (the cameraman) the next ornaments she was going to put up. Unforunately, daddy (the cameraman) didn't get them in the picture.

A second attempt was a little better.

Cute Will.

This is what I did the whole time: sat on the floor and handed out ornaments. I'm so glad that was documented.

I love this girl--attitude and all!

And due to contention over who's turn it was to put the star on the top--Daddy got the job! And what a fine job he did.

The finished product.

And finally hot chocolate for all. They take it as seriously as decorating the tree.

See what I mean?!

Merry Christmas!

dirt.

This boy LOVES it.

NURSERY!

Today was a momentous day--my little man had his first official day of nursery at church! Unlike my other kids he actually cried when I left him there but I'm definitely okay with letting the little ones cry it out. And when I got him at the end of church he was of course just fine. Hopefully next Sunday there will be fewer tears.

(These pictures were taken this evening before getting pajamas on. Hence the pantless attire. Also, the stamp on the forehead was a little present from the nursery leaders. Love those ladies!)
How could you not ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS FACE????!!!!

Ivy, of course, can't be left out of a photo shoot. Yep, they're pretty much the same size now except she's got him beat in height (and sass).

thanksgiving 2009

We had Thanksgiving with Casey and Tim. It is so fun to have family close. (Especially when that family includes a husband that LOVES to cook and is pretty dang good at it!) Dinner was of course delicious and the company was wonderful. They had invited some friends from their ward who were just as friendly and warm and had the most darling kids. A great time was definitely had by all. Unfortunately, the picture taking was pretty lacking. Here's the adults/baby table.

L to R: Nate, Reese (sp?), Jaime, Alexa, Stewart, Tim, Casey, and Andrew.
And the kid table.
L to R: Will, Brett, Hyde's little face, Livie, and Taylor. The rest of the kids had scattered by this point.

What was not documented in this picture were the mounds of dishes, kids playing mario kart, and the delicious pie eating. After the friends left and kids were in bed, Casey, Tim, and Andrew all wiped the floor with me at an awesome card game called Shang hai. Why do I love games even when I lose???!!! A highlight for sure was trying our hand (er, should I say body?) at the wii fit. I SO want one! Maybe I just want it because according to it's calculations my wii fit age is 25! I'll take it! Thursday night, at about 11pm, I burned off a bit of the day's calorie intake by trying practically every wii fit game. It was so fun. I apparently missed my calling in life of playing in the marching band because let me tell you I was pretty dang awesome at the marching band game on that thing. My dad would be so proud--since marching bands are pretty much his favorite form of music. HA!

After a good nights rest we spent the morning doing some more wii, cleaning up, and then Casey and I took the kids to their local Y where they have a playground with a running track around it. We ran some laps in the brisk air while the kids played.

Funny story: Casey asked Will to play with/keep an eye on McKenna while she was running. After we were done running and just hanging around in the play area a couple of boys, my boys' age, showed up with their grandpa. The oldest asked Will if he wanted to play. Will said, "I'm sorry I can't. I have to babysit my cousin because my aunt is playing." He then comes over to Casey and asks, "Can you babysit McKenna so I can play?" Love that kid. He can be so conscientious sometimes and then other times....well, he is a 7 year old boy! And that's that for the Thanksgiving celebrations at Casey and Tim's!

update on Will

Just a quick update on Will, who just in the last week lost one of his front teeth...

and got glasses! He LOVES them (understatement)! He even picked out the frames and I think they're pretty darn cute.

Sorry about the glare. I'm actually really liking the missing tooth and glasses. I think it makes him look younger, and boy oh boy how I wish I could keep my kids from growing up so fast....

I just love this kid!!!