A Christmas Compromise

Aidan loves to wear shorts. Athletic shorts to be exact. He hates to be restricted with jeans and tight things around his waist. He would wear athletic shorts 24/7 if we let him. Well, now it is winter and I really want him to wear pants. He has jeans, but he hates when I make him wear jeans. So, Santa gave us a compromise...athletic pants! For Christmas he got athletic pants. They're pants for me, and the feel of athletic shorts around his waist for him. It's our own little Christmas miracle! =)

Christmas Eve 2009

This year we spent part of Christmas Eve with my family. We had soup and opened a few presents. The grand kids all drew names, as did the siblings/spouses of siblings. It was a lot of fun, especially with the bows on the heads. Max was so excited for his toy. He was equally as excited to see cousin M open her present from him. London got a beautiful knit hat and mittens made by Aunt McKell and given to her by cousin E. Both babies had no problem sporting the bows. Aidan was happy with a BYU sweatshirt and Andrew praised the heavens with a gumball machine. My grandma also got some gifts and sported some bows. So cute! Then we went home and put out some homemade ginger snap cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. Max saw on "Max and Ruby" that Santa likes Chocolate Milk, so that is what Santa got. P.S. All Christmas day, Max has been going around saying, "Santa really ate our cookies!" He was so excited!

Christmas Eve Fun

On Christmas Eve the boys went sledding with Dad. The girls stayed home and London posed for/with Mommy.

Christmas Jammies

Our Christmas Eve, like many, is to open pajamas. In the past I haven't gotten matching because I just haven't found them or whatever, but this year I couldn't resist. They all got red pajama bottoms. It was also fun to have the kids open their first presents, especially London. She wasn't quite sure it was ok to rip the paper.

Andrew's Christmas

Well, Santa got a great deal on a video camera and Andrew has been loving it. He has been stealing my camera to make movies, so I can now keep my camera. He has also been dying to upload something to YouTube. I went ahead and let him since his face and name are not included. Aidan helped him as well. You'll love the sound effect!

Letter From Santa

Our three younger kids are so excited for Santa. OK, London doesn't really understand, but she isn't that scared of him either. Andrew wrote a letter to him and it is in the mailbox right now. Here are some fun messages to each of them from Santa.

Max's message from Santa
Max's reaction to the video message was pure excitement. He went around the house stating how he was on the nice list.

Andrew's message from Santa
Andrew was freaked out that Santa knew where he lived. I said, "Well how else will he get you your presents?" He continued watching and then stated, "Santa is scary!" =) LOL!

London's message from Santa
London just smiled at Santa.

Christmas Sunday

The Sunday before Christmas is fun to dress up. We also usually have a Ward Choir Program which I am involved in. I had to get some pictures of my cutie pies before church. Max wouldn't let me take one of just him.

After I took pictures Max really wanted to take mine and London's picture. Not bad.

Ward Christmas Party

Well, my camera has disappeared. This is partly why I have been a very poor blogger lately. Fortunately, my Mom has let me use her camera a little here and there. I guess I am going to have to get another camera. Anyway, our ward Christmas party was last weekend. We had dinner and then the primary sang a few songs. The ward choir then did a shortened version of The Forgotten Carols. My Dad sang the part of the Shepherd and I sang "Mary Let Me Hold Her Baby." Here are some cute pics of London with Santa and Max with Santa and his good friend J. Also, there is a picture of Max while he was up with the primary. I got video of all the music stuff, which I will upload if I get a chance.

Merry Christmas Letter

For those of you who haven't received our card (because it was returned or I don't have an address for you), I don't want you to feel left out. We love you all and love to know what you are up to. Here is our Christmas Card this year. If you can't read it, click on the image to enlarge it.

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

This is Max. I have tried to be really good this year. For Christmas I want

scriptures
transformers (the ones that bump into something and transform)
playdoh
candy
movies

I will love anything you bring me.

Love,
Max

Park City Getaway

Last weekend we spent a night in Park City. It was great fun. We were able to go swimming, check out the steam room, get in a little shopping and enjoy each other. We also got to have our favorite mac & cheese at a restaurant there. Our last trip to Park City I got pictures of Max and Andrew in the shower cap, so I had to do one of London. I also recorded her reaction to the jets when I turned them on. It didn't even phase her. Go figure.

Our Bedroom

So, I mentioned my family came over and helped us do the wainscoting in our bedroom. I love it. Here are some pictures. Our room was all blue...too much! I have been dying to change it for quite some time. My family helped us get it all up and then Shane and I did all the filling of nail holes, caulking, sanding and painting. There are still some things I would like to do, like curtains, but I love it. I love every time I walk in.

10 Months

Our little London is 10 months old! I thought I would show pictures of what she loves best...food. She thinks that she needs to hold the spoon and this was one occassion where I lost the battle. You can see what was left after that meal. She actually did get a lot of it in her mouth, not bad for 10 months.

I'm Super Thankful For...

This was what I wanted to post for Thanksgiving, but I just got super busy. I am so thankful for my little family. They are my greatest blessings. Each one of them is different and blesses our family in a different way. I can't imagine our lives without even just one of them.

This year Aidan and Andrew were able to be with their Mom for the holiday. Unfortunately they woke up sick and didn't get to go to their family dinner. They said they started to feel better and were able to go to Mimi's Cafe with their step-dad and step-brother. They said it was really good. I'm so glad they were able to eat something special that day. It's just sad they didn't get to be with cousins and stuff.

Shane also woke up sick! He had food poisoning and was hating life. He did make it to our dinner and tried to eat things that were easy on the stomach. We had a great spread. We also had a lot of people. I made rolls and made a bit too many! Luckily they freeze. All November Max was talking about wanting to eat pumpkin pie. He got his wish! London loved that there was so much food. She loves to eat! It was a day full of baking and relaxing. We also took a day off working on our room.

I'm Thankful For...

This post is long overdue! The Monday night before Thanksgiving my family came over for FHE. They helped us do projects around the house. Some of them resealed our granite counter tops. Some of them painted my bathroom. And, finally, the rest helped to install wainscoting in my bedroom. It looks beautiful! I will post pictures later.

I'm Still Here!

Just super busy and I promise to post soon!

What in the World?

While looking for fun Thanksgiving crafts, I happened upon this little beauty. What the heck? Please don't make this little craft for your children unless you really need a picture of them to embarrass them in the future.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...Christmas

There has been an awful lot of Christmas music on the radio lately! Max keeps commenting on how we have so much Christmas music in our car. He loves it. I also have two little Santas in the bath tub.

9 Months!

Where has the time gone? Our little lady is already 9 months! I would have posted this Monday, but I have had a crazy week. I just started babysitting my friend's little one month old baby, LJR. My hands are full and I am adjusting to how it all works with the three little ones. Warning...this will be a bragging post.


There are so many things that she can do! She has been doing a lot of these for quite some time, but I realized I didn't do good at journaling when she started. My proud Momma moment is when I get my weekly email from ParentCenter and they tell me what my baby should be doing and she has been doing it for weeks! What a smart girl!

Oh, and she is 16 lbs. 14 oz.

Here are some of London's favorite things:


1. Standing up in her crib and looking out the door to my bed and smiling at me when I wake up.


2. Crawling up the stairs.


3. Crawling away from us when we try to get her off the stairs. We will say we are going to get her and she laughs and bounces and tries to go up faster.


4. She loves to wake up Max. She will crawl over to him and pat him and grab his hair and then kiss him.


5. She loves to kiss. She loves to kiss open mouth!


6. She loves to talk and occasionally scream so you can hear her.


7. She says Momma and Dadda and when she is hungry she says Babba. This was the word we taught her so she wouldn't ask for anything more embarrassing.


8. She loves to dance. We can hold her and dance and she loves it.


9. She loves to blow her lips and make noises.


10. She is figuring out her teeth and loves to bite...ouch is all I can say!


11. She loves to hit her hands on things to hear how they sound. Her two favorite things to hit are my skin while I am nursing her (quite annoying) and to stand at a coffee table and hit that. She will even take turns. She was sitting around with her cousins and they would tap the table and then when they stopped she would go. Then she would wait for their turn and go again.


12. She loves her Grandma M. She will go to her and when others try to get her she won't go.


13. She is a Mommy's girl, which I must say I love.


14. She is in a jealous stage. Now that I am watching LJR she can get very jealous when Max or myself are paying too much attention to the baby. She is partially jealous of our attention and partially jealous because she wants to touch the baby.


15. She loves to cuddle and hug. This I am very happy about!


16. She loves toys. She especially loves stuffed animals, but loves anything that makes noise, especially music.

17. She loves to eat paper. We have to be really careful what is left on the floor because I think she would rather eat paper than her food.

18. She loves food and loves to feed herself, which leaves her messy, but happy.





My last bit of bragging is about my gorgeous baby. I think she is beautiful, but I am still stunned at how many comments we get. I can't go anywhere without someone making a comment about her, especially her eyes. She lucked out and has beautiful long eyelashes and bright blue eyes. My Mom will tell me about going to the doctor's office and my Mom's doctor will not stop talking about London's eyes. Shane took her to Children's Place and a lady took about 10 minutes of his/her time talking about London and admiring her. It was crazy. I had a woman see her in the store and rush up to her and kiss her face...seriously! I didn't even have time to stop her, I didn't think she would do that. After her daughter told her not to kiss other people's babies she gushed for a long time about how pretty London is. I didn't know what to say. It can seriously be weird sometimes. But, I can't lie, it makes me super proud.





Anyway, sorry to brag all about her, but I think she is beautiful and it is so fun to hear the comments we have gotten. I can't believe she is so big. I want her to just stop for a minute! I am trying really hard to just enjoy all my time with her. I know she won't always want to spend all her time with Mom so I am cuddling her extra long and looking at her as much as I can! We love our little lady.

Throwback Thursday #22

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. It is from 1982 (I believe). We had a giant window in our living room looking over the backyard. I just love it for some reason.

Side note: My parents bought this red brick house from our friends the Lees. The Lees were moving to Santaquin, where they would become friends with Shane's family. Who knew that later in life they would be on both our invite lists for our wedding. Small world.

Welcome Cousin L

Shane's brother and his wife welcomed a new little baby to their family yesterday. They missed Andrew's birthday by one day, but she did get to come early. We went to visit her last night at the hospital, but all the kids had to wait in the lobby because of restrictions to avoid illnesses. We took lots of pictures so they could see her. We think she looks a lot like her oldest sister and her maternal grandpa. It will be fun to see how she changes as she grows.

Happy Birthday Andrew - Eleven Years Old

Andrew is eleven today! I can't believe how time just flies. I know I say that with every birthday, but it is so true. We celebrated his birthday a day early this year because his birthday this year was with his Mom. We tied out "The Pizza Pie" in Provo. It was pretty good. I think the food is better at Brick Oven, but the food here was good and the buffet was cheaper. Andrew said that it is now his second favorite restaurant, so that's great. It was also good to go yesterday because he was still 10 so we got the cheaper price! I am all about a bargain.

This was the free birthday dessert. Andrew requested a shot of his first bite.

The floor aftermath from London.