Christmas is in the air

We are one of the families that LOVES getting out Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. I asked to put up Christmas stuff a week ago, but was asked to wait at least until the day after Thanksgiving. So Saturday morning we set up our tree (fake this year, I know I know, a cop out, but last year we forgot to water our tree, dead pine needles all over, messy...poky, we decided to alternate each year between real and fake) and the kids all decorated it, even Liam. Although his was more of a deconstruction of the light strands. The kids are very excited for Christmas to come, and we'll have more decoration fun for FHE when we finish putting up our Christmas village and other stuff...as well putting up all our outdoor lights we got on clearance on the after-Christmas sales. Yay! Shhh...don't tell Josh. He loves putting up lights, but maybe not the whole "that doesn't look even/tight enough/long enough/it's the wrong color/let's try this instead" type deal. Maybe I'll surprise him and do it while he's at work. Or at least get it ready and set up. :) wink wink...

Thanksgiving

We traveled to Grandma and Grandpa K's house for Thanksgiving this year, and spent two great days with them. Dinner was tasty and there was plenty of food at that one meal to feed a family of five for about a week. Ammon discovered that sweet potatoes are not his favorite, but pumpkin pie is great. Shayla lightly grazed on her turkey and corn until the pies and whipped cream were brought out. Grandpa had fun tossing Liam into the air and spend a little bonding time with him and the other two grandkids. Our kids were living it up, being the only children there with all that attention! I overheard Shayla telling Grandma K quite a few stories, that girl has a great imagination. I did go out early for Black Friday shopping at Walmart and actually had a pleasant experience there-polite and courteous employees and shoppers. Josh was teasing me saying it's the one day of the year I get up before he does. Not true. But mostly, yes.

I have so much to be thankful for, food, clothing, shelter, working cars, my husband's employment...these are all wonderful things, but I am most grateful for wonderful family and friends and the blessings the gospel brings to me daily. My heart is full, and I am truly happy.

Friday Fun

We get together with other moms on Fridays and do fun field trips and activities, and before Thanksgiving, we got together and made turkeys out of oreos. We also had a cookie exchange, where we would give a plate of cookies to someone we were thankful for, and we made cards to go with the goodies. The turkey oreo was a good idea, even if I didn't quite have all the turkey parts exactly right. And the kids ate them just about instantly after they were created, so in the end, the important part is, that they tasted great. I grabbed the camera just in time to catch a glimpse of Ammon and Shayla's turkeys before they met their demise.

Shayla's 3rd Birthday

I feel like Shayla's been three for awhile already with the way she talks and acts. And she's been telling me that she's going to skip three and just be four. We convinced her that three is a very good year, and she relented. She wanted a princess cake, so we made a crown cake for her, and plopped a princess in the middle. Walah. You can see in the picture, Ammon picked out a present just for her, and she's opening it. Hmm... A Cars puzzle?! She does love it, and of course big brother is always ready and willing to help her put it together. Of course, most if not all her presents from everyone were princess based. She even reminded me when I was getting after her on her birthday that, "Mom, you are NOT treating me like a princess." Well! She told me. :)

She is such a huge bundle of radiant and joyful energy in our home, and we are SO grateful for her! We love you Shayla!

Change is in the air

I'm thinking about changing our blog address soon and making a few tweaks and twizzles to our blog...I haven't been diligent in my updates lately and I apologize. I promise to do better. Consider yourself warned of changes on the horizon. I will email ya'll our new blog address when I figure one out. And no. There is no other change to speak of. I'm not pregnant. I may look it but that is just winter storage. :)

Halloween came with lots of candy, fun costumes, and a huge party. We went to Josh's parent's ward's party, and they were loaded! Candy, haunted house, dry ice, cobwebs, candy, cupcake walk, food, candy...did I mention candy?

We had three temporary members of the family that night. A cute little elephant, a very famous MotoGP motorcycle racer, Valentino Rossi, and a very dainty and fanciful princess. It was fun having them over for the night, and we were sad to see them go.


The kids enjoyed themselves, ok, maybe not the elephant so much (he kept trying to eat his hood) and we are still coming down off of our sugar high almost a week later. Just in time for Thanksgiving treats, right? What a great time of year!