Very Merry Indeed

This was our year to spend Christmas with Ma and Pa Idaho. We had so much fun and can't believe it's already over!

Christmas Eve was spent eating way too much food and making cookies for Santa. Addie chose gingerbread cookies cut out as dinosaurs and cowboy hats. Who says you have to make them look like little men?

The kids got to open one present before bed.

Pajamas of course!

Christmas morning we were able to open two stockings. One for breakfast with a little box of cereal, donuts, and an orange (a tradition from Davey's childhood), and one from Santa with tons of fun stuff (a tradition from mine).


Then the cousins came over and we were able to open presents. It was awesome that they all happened to get new watches this year. They thought it was pretty cool.

Brandon had a tough time sharing grandma's lap with Reggie. He was not happy with the fact that there was someone else big enough to sit on it. It was pretty funny to watch them figure each other out.

Addie and Brenna had a sleepover Christmas night. They had a fun time but poor Brenna woke up in the night and gave Davey and I the pleasure of cleaning up her puke. Luckily it was due to either too much candy or something she ate, not sickness. It was the perfect way to end a Christmas night (Rick and Jen you owe us).

Beaming With Pride

Some major accomplishments in our family this month. After a rigid five-day school week, Megan has finally finished another semester at the illustrious UVU. And we expect again that her grades will be the all-vowel combination of grades (A's for those too tired to think). She gives up so much and works so hard for it. We are so proud of her. Just another semester and a half to go for our soon to be college grad! And she's more beautiful every day that passes.

Adelaide advanced in her gymnastics class. She is still loving it, so she will be back at it after the new year. She is loving the balance beam and uneven bars. But the cartwheel is still proving to be her biggest nemesis, but I get a big smile every time I see her try. She is also loving to practice drawing, reading, and writing. This little girl just loves to learn and try new things. She wants her next adventure to be Kung-Fu. We will see how that works out. My goal was to never have a kid that could beat me up . . ..
Reggie? What has Reggie accomplished? Well, he still laughs and smiles at just about everything. He likes all foods and having said foods put into his mouth. He sleeps well enough that we are quietly maintaining a level of sanity. He thinks Adelaide is hilarious, and in him, Megan finally has a mama's boy. But new accomplishments? He still looks like this during belly time and crawling practice. He still goes to the bathroom on himself each day, and saddest of all, in our market and economy, he is still unable to find good employment. But we sure are proud of him for trying!

Breakfast with Santa

We went to eat breakfast with Santa a couple of weeks ago at UVU. The Snow family joined us with their three little girls and we all had a great time.

If you haven't been before I highly recommend it. There are tons of activities for the kids -- making ornaments, advent chains, ice fishing, pin the nose on the reindeer, and of course...Santa's lap.
Adelaide is loving Christmas so much this year. She really understands what's going on and is so excited about everything. Davey and I especially love using, "You better be a good girl or else..." as reinforcement. It must work really well because she has been a fantastic child and wants to make sure she will be getting that purple watch she's been asking for.

A little bird told me that Santa just might be putting one in her stocking. That is...as long as he gets those gingerbread cookies and milk he's been asking for.

A Hot Mess

We had the privilege of hosting a neighborhood party at our house last weekend. It was so much fun. Although, I don't know if the house had as much fun as we did.

I think every single toy was pulled out and spread across the floor. Snow globes and water balloons were broken, cupcakes smooshed in the carpet, and there was laughter galore. I guess that's what happens when you get approximately 24 children in a 1800 square foot house.


We played holiday Pictionary and exchanged white elephants. Some got "real lucky" with their gifts, if you know what I'm sayin'.

We ate yummy soup, dips, desserts and had an amazing night. Davey said it must have been a hit because we didn't mind cleaning up the mess. Thank you Ashley for hosting it with me and for everyone who made it a great party!