A New Christmas Tradition

This year we started a new tradition, inspired by some Albuquerque friends, and let our kids sleep out by the Christmas tree the night before Christmas eve.  They were really excited and had a hard time calming down to fall asleep.  After some time they all drifted off to sweet dream land and I couldn't help but peek at them several times before going to bed myself.  Their faces were so peaceful and innocent, illuminated by the lights.  This is a tradition I look forward to continuing in years to come. 

Christmas 2013

Christmas this year was magical.  Maybe it was because we were at our own home with our own tree, or maybe it was that our kids are little older and were more excited, or maybe it was that we were able to skype with family and have them be a part of our day, or it could have been that our own attitudes and expectations of Christmas have changed.  Whatever the reason, it was a special time for us.  Our Christmas began the night before as we gathered around the tree and talked about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  After we talked about how the wise men brought gifts to Jesus we then gave our own gifts to each other.  This year we had each picked a name of someone in our family to get a gift for.  It was touching to see the boys so excited to give their gift to someone.  They kept saying, "When do I get to give my gift to the person I picked?"  Not once did I hear them say, "When do I get to open my present?"  We also let them open their traditional Christmas pj's.  This year Daddy had picked out some super cool Ninja Turtle jammies.  The boys loved them!  Emily was equally delighted to have her own pink and purple pair.  The next morning the kids woke up shortly before 6:30 and could hardly contain their excitement.  They were thrilled to find stockings full of treasures and an electric train from Santa.  After opening presents we ate Dave's childhood Christmas breakfast of conference rolls and "real" bacon.  We spent rest of the day playing and enjoying a very relaxed and lazy day together.  Daddy spent most of his day fixing broken toys and keeping smiles on the kids faces.  He's amazing!  We topped the day off with our Christmas dinner and homemade apple pie.  We feel very blessed this Christmas and know that our greatest joys come from our knowledge that families can be together forever because of our Savior Jesus Christ, who's birth we reverence this time of year.  Merry Christmas!

Candy Houses

Making candy houses this year was so enjoyable.  We did them on Christmas eve and it really helped bring the Christmas spirit into our home.  The boys are getting older now and it was fun to watch them design their houses, build and decorate them and add little details.  Thomas was especially particular about how he wanted his house to look.  As the years go by I have come to realize that making candy houses is not about ending up with a perfectly built little house decorated with candy pieces uniformly placed; rather, it's about creativity and personality.  I love how each house was so unique.  This was Emily's first real experience with candy houses and she loved it.  She did what all the boys did at her age, she just sat and ate all the frosting. When the night was done we had four fun houses and four sugar loaded kiddos.  Good times!

 

Polar Express Party

Thursday was Hyrum and William's last day of school before winter break, and as luck would have it Hyrum woke up sick that morning and had to stay home from school.  He was so sad to have to miss the school spelling bee (he won his class bee and was so excited for the school bee) and his class pajama polar express party.  I felt so bad for him and wanted to help him feel special and happy so I planned our own polar express party.  I printed polar express tickets and had the kids find them at the breakfast table Friday morning.  I told them the train would depart after dinner.  We ate homemade pizza for dinner and then I sent the kids upstairs to get on their pajamas.  While they were upstairs I strung up some extra Christmas lights, started the fire and pushed the couches together so they kind of resembled a train car.  As the kids came downstairs I punched the first letter of their name in their ticket and they excitedly jumped on the couch...er...I mean train!  I served them kettle corn and hot chocolate, complete with chocolate chips, marshmallows and a candy cane.  They were in heaven and had chocolate all over their faces by the time they were done.  It was so fun snuggle on the couch together as a family enjoying the spirit of Christmas.  Oh how I love Christmas and our family!

William's 6th Birthday

Another year has gone by in William's life and he still has just as much energy as ever.  This boy is such an animated and fun-loving kid.  Everything he does is done in style and with lots of drama.  His facial expressions and body movements are one of a kind.  There is never a dull moment with him around.  Here are some things about him at this stage of life:

-  He had no problem adjusting to life in kindergarten.  He loves being social with his friends during recess and has excelled academically in math and reading. 

-  Since starting school his relationship with his big brother, Hyrum, has really taken root.  Those two are best buds. 

-  He continues to be very athletic and loves to play any and all sports.  He can often be found shooting hoops, playing catch or dangling from his bunk bed as he does acrobatic stunts. :)

-  Though crazy and busy most of the time, he does take a break every now and then to sit on the couch and read books.  

-  He loves to build and create things with legos, trio blocks, cardboard boxes, paper...basically anything he can get his hands on.

-  He loves candy, treats and ice cream, especially when they are made of chocolate

-  He is easy to please and finds joy in simple things

-  He makes up his mind quickly and doesn't look back to re-evaluate his options (ie. when picking a candy from his Halloween bucket he see's what he wants, picks it, eats it and is completely happy)

- He really enjoys "screen time" and tries really hard to earn it during the week.

-  He's an all around, fun and easy going guy!

Since we were in Reno on his birthday and I had promised him a friend party, he got to celebrate twice. While in Reno he requested a castle cake which we threw together using parts from a princess castle.  He helped decorate it and loved how it turned out!  It was fun to celebrate with cousins.  Once we returned home we quickly put together a pirate party complete with a pirate ship cake, oragami pirate boats, pin the eye patch of the pirate, a friendly game of cannon ball attack and, of course, a treasure hunt.  It was crazy with 13 pirates running around, but Will had a great time!  Here are some pictures of the birthday fun followed by his annual birthday video.  We sure love this boy!

 

Thomas is 4 Years Old

Thomas turned 4 years old several months back and I just barely finished his birthday video (that's how I roll these days).  It has been so fun to look back at Thomas a year ago and see how much he has grown and developed.  What a fun and smiley little boy he is.  Here are some things about him at this stage of his life:

-  He loves to play with his little sister Emily, giving her lots of hugs and kisses.  With Hyrm and William being in school, Thomas has really stepped up to being the "big" brother in the house.  He takes care of Emily with a sweentess that melts Mommy's heart.
-  He was very excited to learn how to ride a two-wheeler with training wheels.  His "new" big boy bike brought lots of smiles. (I love how an old beat up hand-me-down bike is "new" to him and brings him just as much joy as a brand new one)
-  He is becoming more and more independent and insists on doing things his own way.  Dave reassures me that this attention to particulars/details (not stubborness) is a good thing.
-  He is very good at sharing.  He loves to make other people happy.
-  He continues to have a low/deep voice
-  He is silly and crazy at times, laughing and playing, yet at other times he can act shy, looking down and away with his eyes.
-  He is so loving and snuggly.  :)
-  He is beginning to draw people and is able to color in the lines for the most part.
-  He loves to swim and play at the pool.
-  He LOVES to tape things, especially his own creations.  It's hard to keep tape around the house, it dissappears so quickly.
-  His favorite book is The Three Little Pigs, he asks to read it almost every night.
-  He told me the other day that he wants to be a cop when he grows up so he can "pull people over."
-  He is not really interested in learning his ABC's.  He can recognize most of them, but doesn't know their sounds.  (Now that he has started preschool he is becoming more interested in learning and has done well with his ABC's so far.)

We celebrated his big day with a "camping" themed family party.  We decorated a cake to look like a camping scene, set up the tent in the backyard and ate grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob.  We ate cake and ice cream and then watched a movie out in the tent before going to bed.  It was a lot of fun.  Thomas is such a delight.  His smile is contagious and his love fills all of us with happiness.  Here are some pictures of our birthday boy.

More Halloween Fun

Here are some pictures from Halloween today...

This little girl sure loves her big brother and wants to be just like him

 

Thomas and all his preschool friends



Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Our little "pumpkin"

Carving Pumpkins

On Monday night we carved pumpkins for family home evening.  Dave is out of town and I was hesitant to attempt carving pumpkins without him, but with some encouragement from Dave to keep our tradition alive, I decided we'd give it a try.  It actually went really smoothly and we ended up with three pretty cool jack-o-lanterns when we were done.  The boys each knew exactly what they wanted their pumpkin faces to look like, and for the most part, they were able to do all the work by themselves.  I love how different they all turned out.  Nothing fancy, but the boys sure are proud of them.

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Halloween Crafts

The older I've gotten the less appealing Halloween has become to me.  It seems like such a pointless holiday.  I don't care for the scary, bloody and eerie aspect and now that I have kids, the stress of finding costumes coupled with hyper, anwry kids begging for candy 24/7 has really given me a negative attitude about the whole thing.  I realized this year, though, that to a kid Halloween is so much fun and I don't want to let my negativity rub off on my kids nor do I want it to lessen the excitment for them.  I decided that instead of just brushing the holiday off, I would try to make it a time to have fun and positive experiences together as a family.  Here are some of the things we've done so far.

We decorated our door to look like a monster and Hyrum spent sevearl hours creating the witch leaning in the corner.  He saw a Wizard of Oz witch decoration at Walmart and after I refused to buy it he decided to make his own.  I think it turned out pretty good considering the resources we had to work with.
 

This is a pumpkin vegetable tray we made and took to a Halloween carnival. 

These fun spiders turned out too "sweet" to be scary.  We made them using styrofoam balls painted black, colored wire, gumdrops, gummy life savers, a candy necklace and straight pins.  The kids had a great time eating the leftovers. 

Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without some caramel apples.  Hyrum and William's school was selling caramel apples as a fundraiser, but since Hyrum can't eat real caramel we decided to make our own.  They turned out really yummy, I was impressed.  The boys thought it was pretty cool that they got to eat their very own apple right off the stick.  (I usually just cut the apple into pieces and they all share since it's less messy that way).

There will be more Halloween fun to come...