Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve typically during the day sometime we have the kids exchange gifts from each other. We enjoy separating this from Christmas Day because the kids can enjoy and appreciate what they got from each other without the excitement of what Santa brought them. 

The kids adding their ornaments for this year to the tree.

And yes I am half way dressed for the day.

 

Then we were off to a brunch at my sisters house. I should have taken a picture of the delicious food we had for brunch. The cousins exchanged names and opened presents from one another.

 

Devan, Boston, Jacob, Chase, Zoe and Maeley

By the looks of all the smiles it looks like they all liked what they got.

The older boys played video games while the younger boys played with Legos.

 

I'm terrible at getting the camera out sometimes because I have no pictures of that evening. We had dinner at the Jones', watched a few short videos on Christ, spent some time doing the puzzle and then back home.

 

Serious

Silly

 

Finally off to bed so Santa can come.

 

 

Dressed up for church

The last several years we have taken a family picture before heading to church the Sunday before Christmas. As you can tell the kids weren't too thrilled.  This is until they could do a goofy picture.

 

 

Thanksgiving!

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. For some reason that channel does not come in downstairs.

The kids enjoyed decorating their tree in the morning.

And yes, the tree is leaning and driving me crazy!

Their elf Buddy came back. If you notice the kids gave him a starburst.

She is growing up way too fast!

Zoe is a goofball!

Chase is as sweet as can be!

We had Thanksgiving dinner with Derek's family. That night the kids spent the night at my parents so Derek and I could do some shopping It was nice to have him come with me, normally he's home with the kids.

Chase lost his 1st tooth

11-17-2013

 

Chase's story behind how he lost his tooth isn't what you'd expect.

 

Derek and I were downstairs when it happened. Apparently Maeley and Chase were pulling from both ends of his blanket. For whatever reason he had his blanket in his mouth. Well Maeley pulled hard enough a tooth popped out. The crazy thing is was it wasn't even loose to begin with!

Chase was quite upset. The funniest part were the comments he was saying. He was definitely having some separation anxiety.

 

"It was my favorite tooth!"

"It was my buddy."

"It was my favorite."

"I miss it."

 

At one point he took it out of the Ziploc bag and kissed it.

 

He's okay now especially after the tooth fairy came a few nights later.

Maeley got baptized!

Maeley was baptized November 16th. The day finally came, she couldn't have been more excited! She loved bearing her testimony after she was baptized and confirmed.

 

These pictures of Maeley and Derek are all I have from her baptism day. I was not feeling well and clearly not thinking straight.

 

I'm so proud of her. She is such a sweet girl who is always wanting to choose the right. I love watching her grow and develop her talents. She loved going to Activity Days a couple weeks ago. Its hard to believe she's 8.

 

I love you Maeley!

Rummy

When we went to some cabins back in October they had an old Rummikub game.  We all  really enjoyed it. Well the next week I was in charge of the activity for FHE I thought getting Rummikub would be fun. Turns out they don't have the old fashioned one I always remember playing with when I was a kid. The same kind the was at the cabin. Instead of the kubs numbered they have Jack, Queen, King, Ace. After going to a game store and realizing how uncommon that is, Derek set out to find one online. After searching for an hour he found one. The exact one the cabin had.

Its by far the most played game in our house.

Zoe wasn't interested in playing that round so she was our cheerleader instead.

Halloween

It's about time I finally blog about Halloween.

 

Before trick or treating we had Kim, Laurel, Zach Jacob and Devan come over for pizza.  

 

Jacob as a prison inmate and Devan as Bane.

Maeley as Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty)

Zoe as Rapunzel

Chase as a fireman

Jacob and Devan and also Kim took our kids trick or treating while we stayed back and passed out candy.

 

This year the next day we sold all our Halloween candy to a near by orthodontist. Best decision ever. With the money we got we put it towards the Monsters University movie. The kids thought it was a great idea. They never even complained once about giving up their candy.

The girls birthday party!

Zoe has been obsessed with zebra's lately and Maeley likes everything girly. So the girls decided on a pink/zebra birthday cake. My sister Laurel did great at coming through with that task.

 

 

Overall the girls had a wonderful birthday and were spoiled by everyone. These girls are such good friends and have so much fun together. They both love playing with their American Girl dolls. They love to color, draw and do anything crafty. They love giggling, getting their nails painted and playing dress up.