Ward Christmas Party

We were asked to be on the committee to help plan the Ward Christmas Party.  The lady in charge was super gung-ho and a real firecracker.  She planned the whole thing and all we had to do was make 10 pans of jello and supervise the kids' table.  She had the theme be "Christmas Sweaters" so there was a program around Glen Beck's book "The Christmas Sweater" and everyone was supposed to wear an ugly Christmas sweater.  The kids and I whipped some up out of Christmas decorations.  It was really fun to see how creative they were.  Not many in our ward dressed up so I had to laugh when 2 of us won 1st place at the party.  We'll pretend it was because we are so awesome! (And not for lack of participants.)  :)

good intentions

So many fun ideas out there and I wanted to try some.

Whip cream Santa beards?  Sure!

The only problem was I just bought one can of that gross spray whip cream thinking it would do the whole family.  It only did ONE beard. The other kids were sad (or maybe relieved).  But lucky Porter was our first and only Santa.  Hohoho!

My next attempt was these healthy Grinch treats. We were watching The Grinch that night after all.  At the store the strawberries looked delicious.  And they were, they were just gigantic!  So our cute little grinch heads were disproportionate with gigantic Santa hats.  But I had a darling helper.

Next attempt, Santa pancakes.  

Only no one was feeling it that morning.  No one would eat the Santa pancakes.

They only wanted cream and chocolate chips.  So they made snowmen instead. 

Santa handprint ornaments.  They actually turned out pretty cute.  We took the dough to church one week and had our Sunbeam class make their handprints, then took them back the next week painted as Santa.  They thought that was magic!  They were darling, just darn heavy!

  

Next good intention: This awesome 25 Days of Christ tree.  I finally got the ornaments painted, oh the 15th of December.  Each night a scripture and song go with each ornament and the few nights we did it it was really really wonderful.  Next year I  intend to do it every night!

I found these stickers and so I made another block nativity.

And finally, our Elf.  Who was renamed this year by Brenner as Elfie.  There are so many fun 'tricky' Elf ideas on Pinterest I wanted to try, maybe another year.  I kept forgetting to change his hiding spot, and what a great surprise to find that my older kids stepped up and did it for me!  It was almost as fun for me as it was for Brenner and Mia to see where he was hidden each morning.  My favorite spot was when he was holding baby Jesus.

oranges in a row

one day i heard mia in the kitchen and when i came in to see what she was up to i saw she had peeled two of those tiny oranges and lined them all up in a row on the floor in front of her to eat while she watched Wild Kratts, her favorite show.  totally unsanitary, but totally cute.  have i mentioned that everything she does is cute?

snowmen snowangels snowforts

first lost tooth

a couple weeks before Christmas

Brenner lost his first tooth!

o happy day.

story time

 have i mentioned that she is the cutest?

christmas lights

One of our favorite things this season was seeing all the gorgeous Christmas lights around town.  A couple nights we drove around with candy canes to see all the spectacular lights.  Mia especially loved it and still asks if we can drive to see them.  I love people that put in the effort to light up their yards.  One day I hope we do!

My favorite was this gigantic green tree we named The Tree of Life.  

It lit up the neighborhood!  So amazing!

sugar cookies

The kids were out of school for 3 unexpected days because of snow - Thursday, Friday, then Saturday/Sunday, and then again Monday!  By Monday night I was tired and cranky when they wanted to make Christmas sugar cookies.  I had just gotten the kitchen clean but they begged and pleaded.  I just wanted to sit and watch a movie or something easy.  But we got out the ingredients.  And I'm glad we did.  I just wish I had been a little more cheerful about it.

Frosting time!

The good thing is we put some in the freezer for Christmas Eve so we did't have to make more for Santa, we just unthawed some.

snow days

In December we had a snowfall that reminded us of Idaho.  Big fluffy flakes that stuck 

to the ground.  The kids were overjoyed.  AND school was cancelled for 3 days!

  

And boys would not be complete without a snow fight!

decking the halls

The day the Christmas tree goes up and we break out all the decorations 

is one of my favorite of the whole year.  

The kids are growing up enough to be such a great help, they practically put the whole tree together by themselves this year.  Sure love these kids.

Mia talked the whole month of December about how she got to put the star on top.  

A week later my mom mailed some ornaments we had stored at her house for a couple years while we were in New York, so our poor tree looked much better the next week!

One funny thing is that Lexi is a perfectionist like her mother, and so it drives her crazy how the tree gets decorated haphazardly by everyone.  She secretly tries to rearrange everything after all is done.  And she really doesn't like these snowmen ornaments, so after the other box of ornaments came she begged if we could take them off.  I think I'll save them in a box and give them to her the first year she gets married and is decorating her first Christmas tree.  Heehee!

Thanksgiving 2013

I loved Thanksgiving this year. 

  

Dave's sister, Debbie, invited us to their house to eat (have I mentioned how great it is to live by them?!) and Dave's parents came to Oklahoma for the holiday!!  It was SO very good to see them again.  Mia got to open more birthday presents, an amazing flannel board paper doll set with clothes made by Grandma Bev.  Mia LOVES it.

The food was DELICIOUS and the company was so fun.

 It was so warm we played outside, and then played the card game Hand and Foot for a few hours with Grandma Bev and Cheryl while the football fans watched the game.  Loved it!

Another reason Thanksgiving break was so great is because Dave and I got to go on a date to the temple on Saturday.  It was something we needed so much.  Dave's parents watched our kids and we knew they were having a great time painting Christmas ornaments and playing lots of cards.  Best day ever.

And each year in November my parents mail out turkeys to all the grandkids to color for the Turkey Contest.  My kids look so forward to this, actually we all do.  We mail them back for my parents to judge and then they mail out prizes.  It's a fun tradition I hope never ends!

Porter won $10 for coloring the most turkeys this year!

naps

She hasn't taken 'real' naps for nearly a year now, but every few days she will fall asleep somewhere random during the afternoon.  It's way too cute how she can fall asleep like this, with her feet crossed and her hands folded.

or all wrapped up like a little burrito.


or even just in an awkward position on the ottoman.

i think she is so stinkin' cute everytime.

wow, a rare moment

Malia adores her brothers and sisters, especially Brenner.  He teases her so much it drives me crazy, but what a great surprise to walk in one morning and see this!  When moments like this happen and I remember I have best best best kids in the world and my heart overflows.

brenner's thanksgiving program

Brenner had a cute kindergarten Thanksgiving Program.  Mia and I had fun watching him sing all the cute songs and hear his little speaking part where he said, "I is for Indians, the Wampanoag."  At the end they each got to tell what they were thankful for and when it was Brenner's turn he said, "My Mom and Dad."  Aw!  And I learned that the little girl in red (Cassidy) has a crush on him.  I love his shy smile.  Good job on your program Brenner!  I loved it!

student of the week

Brenner was Student of the Week in his Kindergarten class the week before Thanksgiving.  He was cute making this poster all about him.  He put each sticker on in a certain pattern and circled some of them with marker.  He picked which photos he wanted, placed them just where he wanted them, then told me what to write by each one.  So fun to see the way he wanted it.  I have a problem wanting to make things perfect and it was so hard to bite my cheek and let him do it how he wanted and not how I wanted.  He and I are both stubborn.  But his cute poster turned out great, and I love it even more because it was all him!  And it was so fun for him to have a special week where he got a little extra attention in class.  

Monday - he got to take his poster

Tuesday - take a favorite book for his teacher to read during circle time (he chose "Don't Eat the Babysitter!")

Wednesday - take your favorite toy to show the class (he took his bey blades)

Thursday - take your favorite snack to share (Gogurts and apple juice)

Friday - no shoes day, where he got to wear socks instead, which I understand is pretty cool!

We love YOU Brenner!

Mia's 3rd Birthday

Oh my sweet little Malia!  She is the sweetest, most peaceful child I have ever known.  She makes it such a joy to be a mother every single day.  I am so thankful for her loving spirit in our family and how she seeks to comfort us and helps us all to be happy and cheerful.  She loves to help clean the house, one of her favorite things is unloading the dishwasher.  She has the cutest little imagination and listening to her play with her dolls and princesses makes us all smile.  She also has a very tender heart, she says 'please' and 'thank you' more than any of my other kids, and when she gets hurt the first thing she says is 'I'm sorry.' It breaks our hearts because she is the one who is hurt!  She is just so very sweet.  We love her so very much, especially with this cute little blueberry-shake mustache.

She was so super excited for her birthday.  We talked about it for weeks!  Months even.  She couldn't wait to have a birthday.  She woke up to balloons and crepe paper all over her room and the living room.  Brenner even buried her in balloons and she got to explode out of them to surprise us.

Looks like Brenner surprised us a few times too.

I love her expressions and how she thinks Porter is so funny.

She was so happy opening her presents.  

Each and every one she opened made her gasp with joy.  Made us laugh!

Our little Sleeping Beauty.  All the excitement wore her right out.

In the evening Aunt Debbie, Uncle Bill, and cousins Anna and Mark came over for pizza and cake to celebrate with us.  Mia wanted Strawberry Shortcake on her cake and I was afraid I would make a complete mess of it, but I did try.  And thankfully she loved it.  

So thankful for our sweet 3 year old.

Malia how we LOVE you!