Christmas at Grandma's

The day after Christmas we went to my mom's to finish celebrating Christmas. My entire family was there! It was so nice to have a few noisy days with everyone! We opened the gifts we were exchanging that evening! We didn't worry about the paper mess as we went and the kids had more fun with that then anything. They made really fancy clothes out of it all!
We exchange families so we just buy one family gifts. It was so cute because Sunny and Angela's family had us this year and we had them. They got us towels with all of our names sewn on them. My kids were soooo excited about it! They love personalized things! It was very sweet to see them get so excited over towels!

Lia all dressed up in her "Christmas best!"

Ethan working on his own outfit!

Brigham just stuffing his shirt!
This trip was a lot of fun to be together. The only down side was we went sledding Saturday afternoon. I have to say I am typically just a spectator at this (I am a little bit chicken since having kids) But decided I would go on one run with Amelia.... I am now sporting some nice crutches and a possible fractured foot. The Doctors aren't sure yet. I will try to post my x-ray. Since I did it in Prineville and went to the ER there AGAIN! They sent me home with the x-rays so that I could give them to my DR. for treatment.... Anyway It was nice to get lots of help from my family while we were there for one more day. Thank goodness for great friends that will help me through the rest!

Christmas Morning!

Santa Came!!!!
Our kids were so excited for Christmas morning I hear the boys awake at 4am!!! I told them to go back to bed but they never went back to sleep. I finally got up at 6 am and made breakfast. At out house we eat breakfast before there are any presents opened. We have a traditional breakfast that we have every year so it is special. We have scrambled eggs, sausage, and home made baked in the oven Cinnamon toast, OJ, and milk! Then on to presents. All the kids got just what they wanted from Santa and were very excited about it all!
Usually I take my kids to the dollar store and let them pick out some thing small for each other. Which I still did with Amelia. But they boys wanted to make presents for everyone this year. I was a little skeptical as to what they would "make" for each other but I was blown away at their ideas and how much each of them LOVED their home made gifts!
Ethan made these tin can stilts for Brock (Brock had actually been wanting me to save cans so he could make a pair!) he made paper dolls with my Cricut for Amelia, and a little chunky board book of things for Hayden using my Cricut! Brock fixed one of Amelia's old purses by putting a new handle on it and decorating it all fancy with sparkles and her name on it (she loves it!) he made Ethan a bed for his stuffed animals, and Hayden got a blanket for her dollies!


The stilts made by Ethan!

Santa brought Hayden the stroller and baby! We got her this pony She loves them both!!!

Ethan got the skate board he had been wanting from Santa!

Amelia got the Ponyville amusement park she wanted from Santa and a Polly pocket from us! She was in heaven! Still is!

Ice Storms

Some of you know that in the Northwest we have been having some CRAZY weather patterns! My kids are getting a 3 week Christmas Break because of it! Last night the freezing rain started. Most of our trees are severely damaged. We are praying that they don't damage more of our house! (As I am writing this we are hearing the creak and crack of more ice on the trees!) Anyway We have lost many branches, and major limbs. If the trees don't fall on there own we will have to chop them down when all is said and done! (Well most of them anyway!) But I think the Willow tree will survive! As scary as the ice can be it makes for some very pretty pictures! I had to have Larry help me get most of these because I was having a really hard time walking on the sheet of ice. But I hope you enjoy my pictures! The storm was so bad that they cancelled church for our ward again this morning! The 3rd ward held just Sacrament meeting. We decided to brave the streets and go to their ward. It was a beautiful meeting. What really got me was the closing hymn when the Primary sang the first verse of Silent Night, then 3 Young Women joined with a beautiful Descant and then the ward joined for the last 2 verses and it was beautiful! The spirit was so strong and so beautiful. I caught a touch of the beauty of Christmas and the spirit of it! It was worth the rush of getting hair and fancy dresses on at the last minute to enjoy the spirit felt there!

Winter Wonderland!

As some of you know my kids have been out all week because of the weather. Last night I thought they would go to school today because things had "cleared up". I thought at least they would get their parties! Well last night about 5pm it started again! We woke up to this beautiful winter wonderland and NO SCHOOL! Oh well. It has been fun having the snow and the kids are being "good" so let it snow! Although now at 1:30 it is melting fast! I am glad I took pictures first thing this morning! I just love the way snow looks on the trees!

Our willow tree

The garden fence

The willow tree!

Yesterday we had a "Christmas" party for the kids since I guessed they might not get one at school. So Allison and I just did a little spur of the moment thing with the kids. I took my camera thinking I would post it but got there and found my card was still in my card reader at home! (Sadly this is not the first time I have done this! Last time it was the pumpkin patch!!!) So If you want to see pictures of it you can go to Allison's blog! It was a lot of fun we made cookies, mangers, and a "gift"exchange with the kids!

My next 30 years!

"I think I'll take a moment celebrate my age
End of an era and the turning of a page
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next 30 years
In my next thirty years I'm gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I've done
Maybe now I've conquered all my adolescent fears
And I'll do it better in my next thirty years
My next thirty years I'm gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fewer
Figure out just what I'm doin' here in my next thirty years
For my next thirty years I'm gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many.... "beers"
Maybe I'll remember my next thirty years.
My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my Husband
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years"

For those of you who don't know those are the words to a Tim McGraw song! Today is my 30th Birthday. No big plans other then a wonderful evening out with my Husband! But last night as I laid in bed I was thinking about all the things I have done in my first 30 years. Things I didn't think would happen by now! Like going to Hawaii TWICE!! Plus the fact that I have accomplished many things I had wanted to do by this age and how lucky I feel to have those blessings like a wonderful husband, and 4 wonderful children!!! But as the song says it is time for turning a page. I am no longer a 20 something (although I think most people who only know me a little probably assume I am older then that anyway since I have so many kids and all!) But I do think it is a good time to think about where I go from her. Where do I want to be when my next "big" birthday comes, what do I want to accomplish before then.... He says try to have a little fun. I don't know what I have been doing if it isn't having fun. But there are days where I know I haven't been having fun. I DO HAVE 4 KIDS! But that is also what brings be the most fun! Even this week being a full week of just for snow and then we have 2 more for Christmas! It has been fun! "I'll do better in my next 30 years." I hope so! "Cry a little less, laugh a little more." I do need to do this. I don't cry a lot. In fact I really don't cry as often as I probably could! But I Defiantly Don't laugh as much as I should! Every time I spend a few hours with Amy and Lyn (my cousins) I hurt like I had worked out like crazy just from laughing! I need that more in my life! I am working really hard at finding more Joy in my journey! "For my next 30 year I'm gonna watch my weight" My goal is to not have it go up and down as many times as it did in my 20's all though that would only take NOT having 4 babies in the next 10 years!!! So we should be good there!!! But it would be great to get to goal weight and keep it before I hit 40!!! I won't have to worry about the drinking less beer part. They only way that would happen is if I could drink negative amounts of it since I have never even tasted it!!! Now the remembering it part is still fuzzy! Maybe I will remember it better to just by not having 4 babies and being so sleep deprived I can't remember my own phone number! The rest of it I hope is true! Raise my family, and spend time with those I hold dear! So I guess I am feeling awfully blessed and happy to be where I am at this point in my life!

Keeping busy!

Since it looks like my kids may end up with a 3 week Christmas vacation (because of the weather school has been canceled most of this week we will see about Thursday and Friday!) Anyway I am trying to keep them very busy so we can enjoy this Christmas season instead of making me go BONKERS! We made roll out cookies this morning and Hayden just wanted to play with the dough so I though I would make them some home made play dough to keep them busy! Brock is the only one with "official" play dough toys so I was telling them that when I was a little girl we just used my mom's cookie cutters, rolling pin, or anything else that looked like fun in the utensil drawer. So we dug out a bunch of things that they thought looked like fun! It was a hit!!! They have played for hours! Literally hours! Hayden only stopped because I made her take a nap! But I am sure she will be right back at it when she wakes up!!! Some of our favorite make shift toys are; the rolling pin, my meat tenderizer, egg slicer, cookie cutters, pizza cutter, apple slicer, funnel, and of course spatulas! So they are all having a wonderful time! Yeah!! Thanks mom for the great ideas (even if you gave them to me when I was 5!)

Hayden loooooves Play dough!

Brock's had to be orange (I didn't have enough yellow to make it very yellow so we added some red and got a great orange!!)

Amelia is putting her toy kitchen rolling pin to good use, while Ethan is testing out the egg slicer!

All of the yummy treats I am making on these days off!!! I think my pants will be SORRY! I think someone better come eat some of this!!!!

New Tricks!

We have been "working" on potty training for a few months. I say "working" loosely because I haven't been real consistent with it. I just do it when we are home and haven't been really pushy with it. Just kind of relaxed about it.... Anyway we have been kind of trapped in for the last few days and last week we spent quite a few days with Claire (Hayden's best friend who is already potty trained!) So Hayden is finally catching on! Asking to go, and typically only maybe one accident a day if that!!!! (usually the accidents are my fault because I am ignoring her while she is telling me she needs to go. (She tells me by saying Uhh OOO!) But it works! Anyway we are all teaching her other new fun things to say! Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds! It is funny how fast they catch on! Sorry about the background noise on the video but with 4 kids there is ALWAYS background noise!

Gingerbread House!

Here is the end product!
(We are going backwards with this one!)

Every year we make a gingerbread house together. When I say we, I mean Larry builds it, the kids help him decorate it, and I take the pictures! This is always a lot of "fun" I say "fun" I mean it is fun but it is always a little crazy trying to let all 4 of them have a turn putting stuff on. Taking turns and waiting can be hard. But it was pretty good this year. Because the older 3 are old enough to get to decorate the tree, or the gingerbread men by themselves while waiting for a turn with the house! So it went better this year then we have had in the past! You can't tell from the picture but Larry always hot glues the house together. This moves things a long a little faster. Then we just frost over the top so you can't see. Then everything else gets put on with frosting. So you can eat the candy just don't eat the edges of the house!

Hayden was really excited about all the candy! She really liked sticking the stuff on the house too! She really liked me taking pictures too! She kept saying EEEESSS! (which is cheese in 2 year old!)

Here is a shot of her putting her decorations on. She needed very little help. We just showed her what to do and away she went!

Here is Ethan decorating the tree for the gingerbread house! He did a great job all by himself!

Amelia was a perfectionist and had a lot of fun doing her gingerbread girl. (You know how you know it is a girl? She has eye lashes! That is her big thing now! She has to have eye lashes!)

Brock's gingerbread man!

Let it Snow Let it snow Let it Snow!

The last few days the weather forecasters have been saying it was going to snow... They have been saying there is going to be an "arctic blast!!!" Larry and I don't have a whole lot of faith in weather men and have been joking about yeah I'll believe it when I see it... Well this morning I woke up to this! I though it was pretty but it will be gone by the time we get back from church. Well about 15 minutes before we leave for church the phone rang and we got word that they were cancelling church! I know all you who live in Idaho, Utah, Alaska, and Wyoming are laughing your heads off since there is less then an inch of snow! But my kids had a wonderful morning building a snowman and then in for hot chocolate! YUMMM! So now we will have a nice quiet Sunday at home. I think we will have a little primary here in our living room! Fun! Enjoy the pictures of our fun morning in the snow!

Brock rolled this snow ball all by himself! It was the base of our snowman and he rolled it till it was as big as him and it was just too heavy!

Ethan rolled the middle piece!

Daddy helping get them together! (This is all in the field at the end of our street! We didn't have enough snow in our own yard to build a snowman bigger then 3 feet!

Amelia building the "Hat with the bucket!

Here is our family with Frosty!

Wrestling match!

Last night the boys had their wrestling match. They each wrestled 3 times and did a great job! More importantly they had a lot of fun!!
Ethan won all 3 of his with a "technical fall" meaning he won by more than 10 points. One of them was an actual pin but the ref didn't call it. It was a lot of fun though!

Brock had a little harder time because the kids he was up against really out weighed him! But he did a really good job! I was so proud of how hard they worked and they both were really good sports!

I love that face!

This is a little video of Hayden and Amelia doing the warm ups with the boys. It always cracks me up!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Amelia putting the angel waaaay up on top!

Saturday after visiting Santa and the carousel we went and cut down our tree at a tree farm. It was a lot of fun! Thank goodness for 4 wheel dive though! Saturday night after the kids went to bed Larry put the light on and then Sunday evening for FHE we put the rest of our decor on the tree. This is always one of my "favorite" parts. I say that because I love the decorations, I love all the memories they bring back, but I don't love the hurry the kids are in to get the next one as quick as they can and can they have another one just as fast as possible. But it all works out! This tree is soooo beautiful! It is almost 12 feet and full and just as perfect as they come!

Amelia showing "her" ornament. It is the one we bought to remember the year she was born (it is a little kitten in a stroller).

Hayden trying to touch her sister's angel (probably to make her sister squeal! or to get me to take a picture! At least one of them worked!)

Carosel!

After we sat on Santa's lap we had to go for a carosel ride. This was a high light for Hayden!!! She loved it! None of them wanted to stop riding but we have to cut it off after 3 rides since with 4 kids it adds up! But it was still a lot of fun and soooo worth it!

These Christmas horses are my personal favorite!
Ethan loved this bright one! The Little one Brock is on was called Larry the Circus pony!

Hayden on a pretty Christmas horse!

This is Amelia's favorite because it was a Unicorn!!!

Visits with Santa!

This is our favorite place to go visit Santa is at the Carosel in Salem! It is "Cheap" and he does a wonderful job. Oh and it is the one time a year we take our kids to ride the carosel. It is always a lot of fun! This year was just as much fun. Especially with a 2 year old! She was in love with the whole thing! The magic of having small children at Christmas never ceases to amaze me and bring joy to my heart!

Amelia with Santa! She told him she wanted a Ponyville Amusement park!
Brock with Santa. He told Santa he wanted Dinosaurs! (Same thing he asked for last year!) Santa told him he loves dino's too and so does Prancer!

Ethan and Santa! Ethan asked for a skateboard! (I want the deductable paid for the insurance first!)

Hayden suprised me by not being shy at all! She had no problem going to him and sitting with him! She "asked" for a baby with a stroller. She doesn't say those words but we know that is what she would love!!!