Wondering

Tonight as we were driving home, Aaron commented on the beautiful sunset. Then, all of the sudden, he asked very seriously, "Does Heavenly Father live in the sunset?" That is a deep wondering from such a little child.

Ice Skating downtown

Downtown, right by Barth's work, they have a big outside skating rink. Last year we took the kids on Christmas eve and had a good time. This year, we took the money that we got from my Grandpa Drew and took the kids today since it was the warmest that it will be for a while. (54 degrees) It was still a little chilly, but we all had a great time. I decided this time that I would take the kids out one at a time to skate so that hopefully it would be a little easier for them. Last year they barely made it around the rink twice in 20 minutes because Weston and Brian kept falling and pulling each other down. This year, even Aaron got in on the fun. We wondered how he would do, but he absolutely loved every minute of it! Enjoy the pictures from our afternoon of fun!!!
Weston did fantastic this year! One lap around the rink with me and he was ready to go on his own. He did great as long as he didn't stick his hands in his pockets!! :) Once he got the hang of it, he skated with me as I helped out Aaron and Brian. I would go 3 laps with one and then take 3 laps with the other. Amber sat in the stroller with Daddy and was good the majority of the time until the end!!!
We were lucky that they were just finishing with the ice resurfacing when we got there. We had to wait in line about 20 minutes before we got our skates, but the boys loved watching all the people skate while we waited.

At the very end, I took a few laps on my own and then it was time to leave. It has been so fun having Barth around and being able to do some fun things together. I can't believe that the time for the Christmas break is passing by so fast!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful day. The boys all had so much fun that I think that we may need to repeat it soon before they take the rink down at the beginning of February!!! :)

Yesterday at Church

me: Aaron, today is your last day in nursery. Next week you will.....

Aaron: I know! I know! I'll be a sunBEEP!!!!!

Christmas Morning!

We had a wonderful Christmas morning here. The kids came in just before 6 to let us know that Santa had come!! There we so excited that they could barely stand it!! So, not too much later, we got up Aaron and Amber and headed downstairs to open the gifts. After thoroughly checking out their stockings and gifts from Santa, the boys were ready to sort out the presents and get to the opening!!! We have satellite radio on our TV, so we turned it to the Christmas music and got going!!! Above, the boys are picking out their gifts to open first!
Weston is checking out his stocking here and Brian is quite excited that Santa left him a huge Lego set! (even though they weren't really Lego's!)

Aaron was very excited about his candy and his chapstick!!!! I don't think that he has put the chapstick down since he got it. I think that he puts it on about every 2 minutes. He shouldn't have any chapped lips!!!! :)

Here is Amber checking out her dolly!! Don't you just love her left over pigtail hair?!!

Here we are opening one of her gifts. She got a Barbie which she just carries around by it's hair! She wasn't too sure about the whole unwrapping thing. She just mostly wanted to wander among the presents and give her brothers hugs and kisses!

After the first snowfall, we decided that the sled that Aaron got last year wasn't so great for him just going down the hill on his own, so he got this new saucer sled so that he could do it all by himself during the next snow!! As soon as he opened it, he wanted to go and put it in the garage by his brothers' sleds. He is my one child that wants everything to have its own spot!!!

Amber and Weston have a special bond. She just loves him! Here, Weston is showing Amber that the present makes a cool sound if you drum on it. What a good and sweet boy he is!

Amber and her new stroller. She kept wanting to get in it herself!!

As Barth was taking a picture of Weston and Brian, Aaron said, "Take a picture of me Daddy! I am smiling!" What a cutie! In the background you can see what Barth got for Christmas..... (and father's day and his birthday and.....) a new tv! I am so nice aren't I?!! :)

I just love my sweet boys! I thought that they looked so sweet together in this one that I had to include it!

Weston had been asking for this spy gear stuff and I found it on a really good sale right before Christmas. He had lots of fun hiding and spying on us yesterday and today!! :) Make sure you go down to the next post for pictures from later on in the day!

Christmas afternoon fun

After all the gifts were opened, the kids all had a great time playing while I made the traditional Christmas breakfast. To say that Brian was thrilled with this tool set is a huge understatement. He just couldn't believe that he got real tools!!! Here he is all set and ready to fix something for us!
Aaron got this cool "wiggle car," as we call it, from Santa. We know a few families that have them and they are SO much fun. You wiggle the steering wheel and it makes you go. Aaron and Amber had fun chasing each other all around. It was less than 30 degrees outside, so we let them go all over the house on the wood floors on it. (it doesn't really work on the carpet!) I would say that this was Aaron's favorite present!

Amber decided to take every one's apples from their stockings yesterday. One by one, she ate them all up. She had an apple in her hand most of the day. I wish that I had a picture of it, but at one point she was pushing the apple around in the baby stroller that she got. She didn't want her dolly in there, just the apple!

Amber and Daddy enjoying a cuddle during the day. Amber really is a daddy's little girl. She comes up to him all day long wanting hugs and cuddles. They are so cute together!

The car can hold someone up to 160 lbs, so we all had a go at it. The big boys thought that it was great fun too.

Brian has been wanting a 2 wheeled scooter for some time now, so he got one for Christmas. He and Aaron chased each other for hours yesterday around and around the circle that our hallways make around out stairs. What great fun!

I have been busy the last week or so, sewing matching pajamas for the boys. I had wanted to make a nightgown for Amber too, but I ran out of time! This is the finished product. I think that the boys look so cute. The pj's are actually made from a king sized set of sheets that were on sale at Target a few weeks back for $13!!! I had been looking for material for the jammies, but didn't want to pay $5 a yard for the material since each set took 3 yards of material. I made all 3 sets of pj's from the top sheet of the set plus just a tiny piece of the fitted sheet. There is still enough material to still make a gown for Amber and pants for Barth and I if I wanted!! What a great deal!!!! Anyway.....I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! I know that we sure did!

Phew! What a day!! :)

I had a very busy day today. I am ready to go and fall into my bed!! :) Here are the things that I got accomplished today:

*switched out our bed for the guest bed (the guest one was really our mattress and box springs- long story short, it is the more comfortable bed) and then lugged the other mattress and box springs back down to the basement

*made 2 dozen home made cinnamon rolls and put them in the fridge so that they would be ready to bake as part of Christmas morning breakfast

*made snicker doodles, fudge, and chocolate chip cookies

*sewed 2 pajama shirts (more about this later- like perhaps tomorrow) for the boys' Christmas presents

*swept, vacuumed, and did the usual cleaning things

*tacos for dinner!! :) The boys just love this dinner and eat really well when we have it!

*made 2 batches of home made Chex Party Mix!! It is Barth's favorite at Christmas time. One of his family's traditions. (You have to bake it in the over for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes)

*4 loads of laundry!

*we were going to deliver cookies tonight after dinner, but when I went to take some to the neighbors, I discovered that what I thought was a wet street was really lots and lots of ice!! Perhaps tomorrow. It should be warmer then!!

Okay, well perhaps it doesn't really look like that much, but I feel like I got a lot done today and am ready to hit the sack!! It's almost Christmas!!! Hip! Hip! Hooray!!!!!

Merry Christmas Y'all!!!

The Christmas Story

Last night for FHE, we did our traditional Christmas story re-enactment. The kids all had a great time. Amber loved being Mary. Brian was Joseph. Aaron and Weston were the wise men and shepherds. Barth was supposed to be one too, but he ended up being the camera man instead. I was the narrator.
It was nice to focus on Christ at Christmas time. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Afterward we all sat and sang around the tree.

I don't think that I have ever seen a cuter Mary or Joseph.

As we were getting ready to do the nativity, I asked what each person wanted to be. Brian declared that he wanted to be Joseph. Weston then said that he wanted to be a wise man. And Aaron announced that he would be Santa. We all got a good laugh out of that one!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Brrrrrrr.......

Its COLD outside!! Right now, as I am getting ready to head off to bed, it is 3 degrees out side. Boy is that cold or what? The wind chill.....negative 18!!!!!! Our high tomorrow is supposed to be 19. Sounds like a good day to stay cozied up to the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and doing some holiday baking!!!!!!!

*As a side note, I wanted to add that I think that it is cool that it is this cold. I never really knew the meaning of frosted window panes until I was checking the windows last night before heading to bed and noticed that all of our windows have ice on them. Pretty fun!!!

Frozen Pizza

Tonight as I was talking to Barth on the phone, he mentioned that he would be late. To that, I said that I was just going to make frozen pizzas for dinner then. Brian, overhearing the conversation, yelled, "No, no! I don't want frozen pizza! I only like the cooked kind!!!!"

Fun in the snow

Yesterday afternoon, the kids had fun out in the snow. The boys got out the shovels and made snow forts. Amber toddled around and looked at the snow and I was busy trying to keep Aaron from stomping on his brothers' forts.
Weston decided to make a fort just for Aaron. What a nice brother! After that, he spent the rest of the time throwing snowballs at me. :)

It was a fun afternoon in the snow!

I got this snow suit from DI when Weston was a baby and we were in UT. It has had lots of use through the years. It is a bit big for Amber, but I must say that she does look a lot like Weston wearing it!

True spirit of Christmas

Just now I was the recipient of the true spirit of Christmas. Christ-like service. As you can see, it snowed this morning. When I went out to pick of Brian from school, the snow was coming down strong and the roads were a mess. I barely made it up my street. I decided that even though they were making no announcement about letting school out early, I really didn't want to risk driving in the mess this afternoon too, so I went ahead and picked up Weston at the same time. None of the streets had been salted or plowed yet and I was slipping all over the place. As I turned onto our street, I thought that I could make it to our driveway, but was worried about actually making it up the driveway. As I turned our van to go up the driveway, my van slipped sideways further down our street. I decided that parking on the street would be just fine, so I left my van where it landed....up by the curb. Well, while I was posting my cookie blog below, I guess that the plow/ salt truck came by. I had heard snow shovels going for about 10 minutes and figured that since the snow had really let up by now, that my neighbors were planning on going somewhere, and where out shoveling their driveway. After posting my blog, I started to head upstairs and that is when I saw it. My dear neighbor from across the street was out shoveling my driveway. His wife was doing theirs and he was doing mine. I quickly put on my coat and went outside to thank him. He was on his last shovel full of snow. We will have to take some of our cookies over this afternoon. Really, what a nice and Christ-like thing to do. I really am blessed to live where I do and to have such kind and generous neighbors. Seeing their example makes me want to go out and do something nice for somebody else.

Christmas cookies

Yesterday morning, Aaron and I made sugar cookie dough. I decided that we would make cookies for FHE last night. After school yesterday, the boys all worked on cutting out cookies so that we could frost them later. Amber felt left out just walking around the table, so I put her up in her high chair and she was content to watch all the excitement.
Weston was pretty self sufficient when it came to the cookie making. He did a great job.

I had to help Aaron the most, but by the end, ever he could pretty much do most of it himself. Notice that the candy cane cutter is right there by Aaron. The vast majority of cookies that he made were candy cane ones. Brian did a great job as well. He only needed to be shown a few times how to roll and cut the cookies before he was a regular old pro at it!

Here we are last night, frosting and decorating the cookies. It sure did make a huge mess, but was so worth it. We all had a great time together. Because I made a double batch of dough, we didn't get to decorate all the cookies last night. I think that we will do the rest of them this afternoon!!

I think that Barth had just as much fun decorating as the kids did!! We all enjoyed the yummy cookies when we were finished! I always did love this Christmas tradition when I was a kid. I am glad that we can now do it with our family and keep the tradition going!

Decorating the tree

This morning we set out to find our perfect Christmas tree. Well, I guess that people around here don't know that you are supposed to get your tree 2 weeks or less before Christmas because otherwise it will be dead. We struck out at almost every place we went to. Home Depot had all of about 10 trees with no more shipments coming in. So, we headed over to Lowes. They had about 15, all of which I was taller than. Barth told the kids that he refused to get a tree that he was taller than, so we continued on with our search. Our next stop was Biggs. The trees there were pricey, but they did have the biggest selection that we had seen so far. Wal-mart had 5 whole trees! I told Barth that I had seen a tree farm sign on the way to church, so why didn't we check that out. Barth, being the good sport that he is, decided that it would be fine, so off we went. Well, about 20 minutes later, we found the farm and the 4 ft pine trees priced $55+!! Not really for me either. By this time it was lunch time, so we headed home to get some lunch. I was worried that I would never find a good tree. (I know, I know Momma....I just must have too much of Daddy's blood in me!) Barth, being the sensible man that he is (and the fact that he was tired of marching all around town in 25 degree weather) decided that we would just go to the only place that we had seen any sort of half decent tree, and pay the higher price. So......we finally got our tree!! Above is after we got it up in it's stand. Barth is the official light stringer and garland-putter-on-er!! He did a great job. Our garland that I bought in an after Christmas sale the year we got engaged, had just about bit the dust, so last year after Christmas, we got some new stuff. I thought that it looked pretty nice. Barth did a great job with the lights and garland and then took lots of wonderful pictures of the decorating of the tree!!
Here we are decorating. We had the Christmas music going and the kids hung almost all of the ornaments. Barth did his special ones that he got as a child, but other than that, the kids did it all~ I think that they did an excellent job!

Here is Brian hanging all of his ornaments. He really liked this particular side of the tree. Most all of his ornaments are hung on this one side and in the same spot!

Aaron preferred the other side of the tree. At least they liked different sides so that the tree could be balanced out! Aaron really got into the tree decorating this year. He loved every minute of it and was sad when it was all done.

Weston used the whole tree. He even got the step ladder and used it to hang some up higher than he could reach.

Amber mostly walked around and took the ornaments off of the tree. Sometimes she would get two and then try to bang them together. She didn't like it when we kept having to stop her from this favorite activity of hers so that the ornaments wouldn't break!

This year was Weston's year for the star. We got a ladder for him to climb to put it up. We had a great time doing the tree as a family today.

Here is the almost finished tree. We got the train out to go around it, but it needs new batteries. Once that is up, the tree will be complete!

Isn't it pretty in the dark? We put lights on the big window in the back to make it more festive. I just love it! Merry Christmas!!!

Breakfast with Santa

This morning we (along with several other families from our ward) went to Breakfast with Santa that was put on by the parks department here. It all started out good. Aaron and Amber sat and happily sat listening to Mrs. Claus reading a Christmas story about snowmen. It was cute.

After the story, we headed over to the tables for our breakfast. Amber didn't want any and Aaron promptly announced (with a huff) that this was the wrong kind of donuts! He wanted the white (powdered) kind. Eventually about 5 minutes before the whole thing ended, he decided that they were actually quite yummy after all and ate all of his and Amber's donuts!!

Here we are, watching Frosty, Rudolph and the other characters come out. Aaron and Amber were scared to death of them. Aaron hid under my sweat shirt almost the entire time and Amber wanted to be held.

Personally, I thought that these guys were quite cute!! They had music going and you could have your picture take with the characters and also dance with them.

Finally, it was time to go and meet Santa and sit on his lap. Notice the fake smile from Aaron. It was the best he could muster. He only stopped hiding for about 3 seconds during this time of standing in line and it was only because I told him that I wanted a picture of him and Amber together!

Thanks to my friend, Tammy, she got the only non-screaming Santa picture that we have. Aaron was busy clinging with all his might to my leg and hiding under my sweat shirt again!!!! He wanted nothing to do with Santa or Mrs. Claus!!

Oh my! Aren't we a happy group?! Amber and Aaron were both crying, and really, I just couldn't help but laugh. No other child in the entire place of like 30+ kids screamed for Santa but mine!!!

After the kids talked to Santa, he or she would get a Christmas book. Here is Santa making a desperate attempt at asking Aaron what he wanted this year. As you can see, he is just crying and couldn't wait to get away. Amber was now fine, since she was now sitting on my lap. Oh well!! At least we tried. It was a great idea and at least it was only $5 a child. Maybe next year they will do better!!!