Out with the Old

Christmas is over, but this year it feels like the holidays are still in full swing. I think that's because we still have family in town this week and lot's of gatherings happening. We had a small group this year for Christmas eve, none of the out of towners came, but we still had a great time. We veered off the traditional dinner menu and had prime rib this year and it was lovely. We read the santa letter and talked with the kids for quite a while about the true meaning of Christmas. It's fun to realize how much they really do understand.

Christmas morning we opened presents at our house and tried out the new toys. The older two could not wait to get their roller blades on, but after 30 seconds realized this was going to take some work.

Andi's hair looks like this every morning without fail.

Peter loved his new car.

 

Then we went to my parents for a big breakfast and more presents. These kids are definitely spoiled. Bobby & Kelsie were in town for Christmas morning this year. After naps all around, we had Christmas dinner at our house that night and played an intense round of rumikub.  We won. And we've spent a rather lazy week puttering around our house, and Thad's parents house, doing projects. Dinner and a movie date night with the grown ups in my family. And now Kelsie and Cameron are in town so we have another week of hanging out and eating too much to enjoy.

Peter has been climbing this week and enjoying his newly discovered freedom. 

There is no going back from this. I have to watch him like a hawk now. And yes there is saw dust in Thad's hair. Don't worry about it.

After months of car shopping on line Thad finally decided to buy a new truck. A monster truck as the kids and I call it. It's huge, like there is no way the kids can even get in it without help. And he's bringing it home today.

Tis the Season

Well, our annual bout of the plague has passed and Thad escaped this year unscathed. I thought the coughing would never end, and I was pretty tired of Dr's offices by the end of it, but everyone is healthy again just in time for Christmas! The kids, sick as they were, managed to have fun in all our visits.

The last couple weeks have been fun. We have been caroling, and been to visit family for my Aunts 50th birthday, and been to Christmas town at the museum. This is the first year Christmas Town has happened, and it was a really cool set up. There were lights everywhere, ice skating, sledding down a giant slide,(both with man made snow/ice) a rockwall, tractor ride to see the lights, bounce houses, and music (of the Jr high band variety). Excuse the grainy phone pictures.

The pictures of the kids on the slide did not turn out, and these ones from the climbing wall aren't much better, but Andi got all the way to the top. Sammy had a hard time, and we found out after that it was because they were on the hard side. Apparently there are easier sections of the wall. Who knew?

Peter spent the night like this, and had a great time watching all the activities.

We have been baking goodies, and watching Christmas movies, going to parties and crafting with my new silhouette. Yes, it was a christmas present, but it came last week so I opened it early and have been loving it! Here is one of the projects I got to finish. We also made little teacher gifts with it, and used it to make Christmas gifts for the families, so really, it was a necessity that I open it early.

Story of the week. Tuesday it was time to get Sammy from the bus and I could not find my keys anywhere. I called a friend to pick him up for me, luckily, because I spent two hours searching high and low all over the house for my keys. I knew Peter must have wandered off with them and I checked every kitchen cupboard, under beds and couches and everywhere I could think of. Oh, but why didn't I think to look in the shutters first!

Apparently this is where peter rat holes his treasures. Now we need to find a Peter proof place to store keys. And this is what happens when Thad goes shopping with us.

Today is also noteworthy because it is our anniversary. And not just any anniversary mind you, ten years people! We wanted to do something big to celebrate, but December is a crazy month and there was just no time, so we are planning a trip a little while down the road. We were talking last night about how fast the last ten years have gone, and what ten years from now will look like. Like Andi will be in college, Sammy will be getting a permit, and Peter will almost be out of Primary. Crazy to think about how quickly that will come.
Here's to hoping the next ten years are as kind to us as the first ten!

What Happened?!

Okay, really this time, it's been a month and I have no idea where November went or what we've been doing. This is why I need to post more frequently, so I can remember details and daily funny things. Basically two big things happened in November. First Ashlynn got married on November 9th.

The Bash has been apart of my life since she was a teeny tiny baby. She and Alexis were my first baby sitting job ever and I spent many a friday night and summer day with them over the next 8 years. When we moved back to Bakersfield, she became my kids baby sitter and they love her. We all do, and are happy for the new life she and Sean get to build. 

Shout out to the bridesmaids/sisters of the bride. And stupid Ben photo-bombing.

But let's rewind like 3 days and talk about the reception set up extravaganza and how someone thought it was a great idea to drop the ceiling in the cultural hall with hundreds of yards of fabric.  It turned out just lovely, but I think everyone had some serious neck pain for a few days after, from staring straight up all day long trying to align the fabric at every possible angle.

Then of course there was Thanksgiving. We hosted Thad's family this year and it was a lot of fun to hang out with Cousins we haven't seen in a couple of years. I took zero pictures, but there were about 30 of us and it was a lovely day full of food and lot's of laughing. Thad and the Morgan boys are so much alike in some ways it's weird. But I do have a picture of the turkey hand off. We decided Grandma needed to be relieved of that responsibility, but since no one else has ever had to cook the turkey, I went and learned how to stuff and package a turkey for baking. It is precise, and daunting, and we worried all morning while it was cooking that somehow we would mess it up and ruin thanksgiving. But it was delicious!

Also, a few days before Thanksgiving we got an outdoor firepit to go under the pergola. The kids love it and ask every night to have coa coa by the fire.

I know I've mentioned that Peter is constantly getting in to things. But here is just more proof to catalog the daily battle of keeping the house is some semblance of order. I guess the best way to empty a drawer is to climb in  it first and then throw everything out.

We are fully into December and the Christmas spirit around here. The tree and stockings are up, the kids are counting down, and watching a new Christmas cartoon they find on netflix every day.  The shopping is done (thank you amazon), the homemade gifts are coming along nicely, and the celebrations begin this weekend with a grown up's only party. Andi saw it on the calendar and thought we were all going to her friends house. When I told her it was no kids allowed she said, "That's rude. I invite you to my tea parties!"  One day she will understand.

Birthday week and Halloween

Sammy is officially 5, and he had a good birthday week run of it to celebrate. Monday night we carved pumpkins for FHE, and by we I mostly mean me. My kids are wusses about cleaning out the pumpkins, and then Sammy is not quite coordinated enough to do much carving, so I end up doing a good chunk of the work. They did however draw their designs on their pumpkins, so they get creative credit I guess.

Sammy's angry face

 Andi's silly face

His birthday was on a Tuesday, which is a little anti-climactic I think. "Yay it's my birthday, but my party isn't for four more days. . ." and when you are a kid it's all about the party. So we tried to make Tuesday special for him anyway. He got a new bike, because his has been a bit small for a while, plus his handle bars wouldn't stay aligned, which makes things interesting. I made his favorite "green pasta" (pesto) for dinner and he got to blow out candles on a small cake that night after dinner. Here he is sporting the birthday crown he made at school and wore most of the day.

Wednesday night we had our ward trunk-or-treak, which technically wasn't a birthday celebration, but there were games and food and tons of candy, so it was definitely an extra fun night for the kids. Here they are dressed up as a spy/secret agent and a witch (a cute witch mind you.)

Then there was the actual halloween night, which Sammy participated in for the first time ever. He is sick every year on halloween, but this year we dodged the bullet. Barely. So we took the kids out around the neighborhood and I could not believe the hoards of children running around. I had no idea we had that many kids in our area.
Saturday was the birthday party with his friends. He wanted a race car party, so Thad cut out pinewood derby cars that we let the kids color and race in the backyard. It was probably the simplest party we've done, but the kids had fun. And only a few cross words were had over who won each race.

Then Sunday we had family dinner at our house and did more birthday celebrating. He really did get a whole week of fun this year.
Aside from partying, Peter had his 15 month check up this week as well. As usual he is above the 97% for height, but his little dot was so far above the 97% line this time that I had to post a picture. It's ridiculous!

Do you see that dot!?!?!  But the poor little bean pole is only in the 20% for weight. His muddy playtime has become a daily occurance lately. Last week, it got pretty bad.

Excuse the sun right behind his head, but I love his mouth wide open in this picture, like he's roaring or something. The sun also blocks the fact that there is mud all in his hair.

He has a love/hate relationship with his swing these days as well. He likes to swing, but has realized we use it as a bit of a baby jail when we are puttering around the yard. This day he was enjoying it though.

 

And then there is this, and I'm not sure why he dumped all the toys out of it and sat there to watch tv. He wasn't sure it was a great idea either.

October Happenings

I am such a blog slacker these days. Thad always tells me that if it weren't for him there would be no blog, because he's the only one who remembers to take pictures. We've had a few events keeping us busy the last couple weeks, and more in store. October for some reason is a crazy month around here. First we threw Ashlynns bridal shower in the backyard, a bridal tea party to be exact. It was fun and turned out really well. Tenille worked her magic and made some super cute invites and recipe cards for which I am ever so grateful. I gathered a bunch of tea cups and mom rounded up tea pots and we decorated the tables with these cute little centerpieces.

We had little tea sandwiches and salads and cupcakes. And I made a cute sign for the Bash.

And we had a "photo area" set up with some frilly tea party hats for playing dress up.

The following weekend was the school carnival, and since I'm the room parent that meant making posters and working the snack booth all night. Thad took the kids around to enjoy the carnival, which was hard to do because all Peter wanted to do was hang out by this.

Yup, the generator was his favorite part of the night. Meanwhile Andi was playing in the jumphouses, and Sammy was jousting.

And they both got their faces painted. We call that a successful night.

Next activity on the list: Pumpkin Patch. Things are going to be busy as we get closer to Halloween so we had to go get pumpkins early this year. Hopefully we'll get them carved before Halloween.

This is how Sammy claimed his pumpkin.

Peter was not quite sure what to think of this place.

And this was the best shot I got of the three of them. They are way to busy to be bothered with pictures.

And in random photo news, I got a bike and trailer and have been riding in the mornings with Peter. He loves going for rides.

He also discovered the joy of playing in the mud, and hasn't been clean since.