Brad's Work Christmas Party

We went to Brad's work party & had a fun time. There was tons of good food & treats. I was so excited that there was fudge. I love fudge & it seems like the only time I get it is at Christmas time. The employees played a game of Yankee Swap/White Elephant gift exchange. That's always fun to watch. Brad ended up getting alcohol...funny cuz we don't drink but he was being nice. We also had a surpise visit from Santa!!! I'm so glad because I don't make a big deal about going to see Santa. The last time we did was when Sonny was 2 months old. Not a top priority & besides...Santa is scary to little kids as you'll see in the slide show. I love Christmas time.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas Crafts with the Kids

Well...my friend Jaime & I got together on a weekly basis & did Christmas crafts with & for the kids. Sometimes we ended up doing everything...hahaha...but the kids really had fun. We had Christmas stamps & think the kids liked those the best so I will have to get more that are not themed. I also let the kids paint. It was finger paint but they only wanted to use the brushes.

The brown paper is actually supposed to be used for covering school books but it works great for projects. I picked a bunch of it up @ Target when they have all the back to school stuff on clearance. Great stuff.

On another day we made Rudolph with cutouts of their shoeprint & their hands & then added googly eyes & red pom poms for the nose...Of course. We also made Christmas tree pictures by drawing the outline of a tree & then shredding green construction paper & gluing on (thanks again Brandy for the idea). Then you just add on whatever decorations you have on hand to make it all fancy. Then we decorated foam stockings with foam stickers. That was so easy & fun. We also had an assortment of wooden ornaments for the older kids to color & then decorate with glitter glue. Blake made of ton of them & I even made a few one night. We sent some to our cousins who live out of state & attached them to presents. I really hope they enjoyed them. Now we have a stash of stuff for next year too & I think I will bring them out in November (the wooden decorations) so we will have them done in time instead of scrambling around.

I had fun with the kids & I hope they did too. Oh..the snowman stockings are from a FREE craft day at Michael's. I took the kids on a rainy morning & my friend Jaime took her family & when we were done we went shopping. It was fun.

Gingerbread Houses with Naunie

This was a fun rainy day. Before we went to Naunie's & Grandpa's house I took the boys & met up with Bryan, Kimi, & Libby & Lisa to go see the new Disney Princess movie. The boys & I got there about 20 minutes early & it was the 1st showing of the day so the price was going to be even cheaper than a matinee. Woohoo. Well....the computers in the Box office weren't working so they let us see the movie for FREE!!!! Yes....FREE!!! Awesome!!! I was so excited that I called the others to make sure they got there quickly so we all wouldn't miss out. We had fun & the boys did great & Sonny only had to go to the bathroom 4 times during the last 45 minutes of the movie....ahhhh!!! Oh well. That's what you get when you let him drink & drink & drink & he's potty trained. It was a cute movie & I highly recommend it & it's not just a girly movie. Ask Blake...he'll tell ya.

After the movie we went to Naunie & Grandpa's house to decorate Gingerbread houses. We did this last year too & I'm hoping that this will be a tradition to be carried on forever. April & Robert were there with their 4 kids too. Maybe next year Mason will be ready to participate. So here's a slideshow of the construction on the houses. Enjoy!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Show me your Stars Sonny!!

Towards the beginning of the month I had to take Sonny to his 1st of many dental treatments. I've been taking him for cleanings since he was 1 because of what happened with Blake. I was hoping that he would get used to the dentist by taking him in at such an early age. Well....let's just say that cleanings are NOT his fave!!! I found out that he has some cavities....awww crap!!! I was hoping he'd have the good teeth. No such luck but at least we are catching it early so he hopefully won't have to have the same stuff as Blake. Hopefully just fillings & no pullings. I had to take him in for his 1st visit on one of my babysitting days so my awesome Sister-in-law Kimi said she was available to go with me & sit with the kids while I was back with Sonny. Thank goodness because I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't there with me.

We took Sonny back & he played for a little bit & then it was time.

Let's just say he FREAKED out!!!

And boy is he a STRONG little boy.

Thank goodness for the awesome staff at

Weideman Pediatric Dentistry!!!!

Anyway we got through it....

I didn't cry but I sure could've &

I'm not a mom that cries when my kids are at the doctors.

I laugh because I don't know what else to do.

I know weird.

Well...he survived...the little trooper...

I mean...he's 3 & wouldn't you freak if somebody put something in your mouth to keep it open & then started doing weird stuff in there?!!

Probably.

And we still have to go back a few more times.

Dang cavity prone teeth....and...whatever sugar crap I let him eat.

Here's a picture a few days later of me asking him to "show me your stars".

That's what the dentist calls them.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!

I love this picture.

So now I'm always telling him to show everybody his stars & then people show him their stars.

It's pretty safe to say that most people have stars in their teeth too.

Dovewood Court

Lisa got these tickets to ride a little train around Dovewood Court to see all the decorated houses. It was soo fun. The boys loved going on the train & so did I. After we rode the train we decided to walk around again because it was so exciting. Boy was it COLD!!! Another one of the FREEZING nights!! Bryan, Kimi & Libby were able to join us too. I also saw my good friend Bonnie & some other friends too. These pictures were taken by Lisa & Blake.
Just in case you were wondering.....
Dovewood Court is one of those neighborhoods where every single house decorates in themes for Christmas. It's so fun to see how festive people can get. I love it & secretly wish that one day I will have all the stuff to decorate my own home that way.....sigh....someday.


(click on images to see LARGER)

Christmas Catch up

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!!

I know I did.

I have lots to post from way

back to the beginning of the month.

We did lots of crafts & stuff at home & with family so please be patient with me...there's a lot coming....:)

And away we go........

Christmas Card

Make a Smilebox greeting

Make a Silly Face

The same morning we had snow the boys took my camera & this is what happened.

I could hear each of them saying, "make a silly face."

It was funny & later Blake told me it's weird that I'm the only one that can get Sonny to smile mom. It's true!! Sonny HATES having his picture taken sometimes.

I think this is one of my faves because he's pulling his mouth & sticking out

his tongue.

Yup!! Those are my Silly Silly boys!!!

SNOW....really? Yes...we had snow!!

The night we went to the LIVE Nativity it was pretty cold & it was supposed to start raining. Thank goodness it didn't rain while we were there. It did start raining later that night...I could hear it from the bathroom window. Didn't think much of it. The next morning I got onto Facebook & saw that my dad had posted about there being snow. I was like...what? Then I checked my phone again for the weather & it had little snowflakes on it. WHAT??? I looked out the front door & didn't really see much...it was about 6:20 am & then I went to the back door & this is what I saw.....

SNOW!!!

It was true!! It got cold enough to snow.

It was kinda cool to see. It doesn't usually get

cold enough to snow in the valley where we live.

When we were all getting ready for the day the boys snuck out to "taste" the snow.

Funny Boys!!!

They also got my camera again & took some silly pictures.

To be in the next post.

The next few mornings were FREEZING. One morning I went out to my car & it was

FROZEN!!! I couldn't get the windshield wipers to even move & it was very dangerous driving Blake to school. I finally decided to pull over & walk the rest of the way.

The next day I went out & started the car early to defrost...lesson learned. It hasn't been quite that cold since last week but it sure felt like WINTER which makes it feel like

Christmas too.

Live Nativity

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to attend a "LIVE Nativity" at one of the nearby Churches (sorry, I can't remember what church). It was really really cool & I'm so glad that my boys liked it too. They had their Church grounds set up just like Bethlehem. When you 1st walked in you had to sign in just like they did back then & then you got to walk around the city & try to find the New Born Babe. It was really cool. We found Mary & Joseph & Baby Jesus 1st & the boys were so reverent. Sonny took all the pictures of them but I only posted 1. Then we walked around the rest of the city & looked at all of the amazing things they brought to life. The kids really enjoyed the live animals. Sonny even held a real bunny rabbit. Blake was mesmerized by the wood carvers & even said he'd like to do that one day. They had actors all around talking about the Christ child & Roman Soldiers & even Inn Keepers saying they were out of room. I'm really glad that Lisa & I packed up the boys on this very cold night to go and experience this sacred event.

Mary, Joseph & Baby Jesus
Lisa, Me & Sonny

Here we are with a girl from our ward who is in the 4-H program

& they helped with the sheep & goats.

Watch out for those Roman Soliders (Sonny took this one too)

The 3 Wise Men.

They looked so great I had to take their picture.



Here's the rest of the pics...mainly of all the animals that we all took.

We even ran into a family from our Ward.

(click on images to see larger)

What an amazing experience for my boys. I really feel it's important for me to continually remind them the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I'm hoping that we can find another one to go to before Christmas is gone. It really helped me too. It really made me want to come home & read the "Fishers of Men" Series even though it's about Christ's ministry but it just made me want to get lost in the history of my Savior's time. I haven't done it yet but I will.

I'm so grateful for this Church community that put this on. I think it's something we will look forward to every year.

Christmas Countdown Chain

You know exactly what they are. We've all made them. I decided that we would make these for one of our craft day projects. Jaime & Kael came over & we got down to business.

Blake made one at school too so I was happy about that too.

I decided I wanted to use festive Christmas paper instead of just red & green & this is what I came up with after digging around in the huge stock of scrapbook paper.

Isn't that cute paper. Then you just make a link & glue it & then continue to make links together until you have 25. I found this awesome glitter paper for day 25 but it was tough to glue so we taped it because I couldn't find the stapler.
Here's the finished project. Since Sonny DOES NOT like having pictures of him I tricked him...heeheehee... & told him I was taking a picture of the chain & not him so hold it up high so I can take a picture. Worked like a charm.

Another picture in front of the Christmas tree.

That's my nephew Gabe's head.

No I did not take any pictures of the boys decorating the Christmas tree because I couldn't find it...I left it at the birthday party. Oh well.

I will post better pics later.

Bad Boys!!

My friend Jaime was over on this particular day with her son Kael & I had my babysitting kids too. We were getting ready

to leave to go have lunch at Costa Vida. Brad went with us too. Went to get the boys

& this is what I found

Sonny & Kael dipping into the whole bag/box of Lucky Charms.

What? What's wrong? We wanted a snack.
Sonny...not pouting because I caught them...pouting because I took a pictre.
This boy has issues with having his picture taken.

Happy 1st Birthday Mason

A couple days after Thanksgiving my Sister Amelia had her baby's 1st Birthday Party.

His name is Mason & he is a cutie. The theme for the party was all about

construction. It was very cute. Here are some pics of Mason with his cake.

The cake had a collage of a ton of his pictures on it. It was very cute & I really liked that idea.

He already put his hand in the cake. It was really cute but mom says he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. That's ok buddy...I don't like getting my hands dirty either.


Here's dad to save the day!!

Trying to get him to blow out his candle. He actually tried to grab it. I mean...who wouldn't. It's really pretty & it flickers. If I didn't know that it would burn me I'd want to grab it too.

After that Amelia put him on his tummy to get him closer to the cake but he was too upset to partake of the goodness right before him. He got a piece later in the high chair.

He got some really fun stuff for presents & I hope he can stay busy playing so his mom can watch & enjoy.

Happy Birthday Mason.

We ♥ having you in the family!!

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. In the morning Brad went to play football with his buddies ( a tradition ) & I took the boys over to Grandpa & Naunie's for breakfast. We had biscuits & gravy...mmm...& fruit & I made pumpkin bars...(sooo good) got the recipe here. Had a nice morning visiting with my family & then went home to rest up for the big dinner. Brad made carrots, fresh green bean casserole & a sausage stuffing. All soo good. We went to Grandmother & Grandad's for dinner. It was a great meal & I'm glad we were surrounded by more family. Sonny & Blake like to take the camera & take pics so some of these are Sonny's 1st attempt at photography. Anyway....I hope everybody had a fantastic Thanksgiving...I sure did...& I am surely grateful for all that I've been blessed with.

A cool day at the Park

The day before Thanksgiving I took the kids to the park. It was cold but the kids

had fun. Here's a few pics.

An autumn tree.
Sonny...thinking about what to do next.

Sonny on the slide.

On the play stucture.

Sonny & Colby playing in the sand.

Blake was there too even though I didn't take any pics of him.

Those 3 boys had so much fun racing up to the slides & then sliding down.

Kylie would climb all the way up & then look down & just go back down the way she came up. I tried to get her to slide but she was a little scared. Guess it was just too high this time.

It was fun watching them until they wanted to go on the swings.

I HATE swings.

I don't mind pushing the little kids....ok I'm lying....I hate standing there & pushing....any of the kids...big or small. I'm a horrible mom....oh well...

Kylie did good on the big kid swing. I think it's because they get to practice when we are at home. They all had fun & I'm glad we went....even though I was so cccccooolllddd.

New Moon Review...finally!!

I went to the midnight showing of New Moon with 4 friends. Hollie & I went REALLY early!! WE got there @ 8:45pm. Actually I'm really glad we went early because we got EXCELLENT seats.

And for one reason or another our theater was one of the only one's (that's not a word) that let people in early. All the other theaters had to wait. Wow!! Did we get lucky. Jaime & Tara came after 10:00 & Sarah got there @ 11:30. Anyway Hollie & I had fun going early.

Me & Hollie having fun waiting

And of course I got popcorn & a Cherry coke.
Hollie's new phone picture of me

Tara, Jaime & Sarah
I have to say that I really enjoyed the movie. I'll say it was better than Twilight only because they had a bigger budget. The director did a great job. Let's remember that both Twilight & New Moon had the same screen writer so if you don't like the movies blame her for her misguided interpretation of the movie. Anyhow....I went with an open mind...kinda sleepy...but I really liked it & didn't hate it like I did when I 1st saw Twilight. Couldn't wait to see it again. It was also fun texting my good friend Amie while she was at a theater in CH while I was in Roseville.

Ok...couldn't resist.

I can't believe we only have to wait a FEW months for the next installment.

So Excited!! Anyway....I finally got to go see it a 2nd time a week later ( I know...what the heck)

with Jaime & it was

EVEN BETTER

the 2nd time around.

You just open your mind up for so much more & it's just so much more enjoyable the more you see it. Just like Twilight.

5 stars from this TWI-HARD!!!

But really...would you expect anything less....