Six Hours in the Making

We started at 9am and didn't finish until 3pm. I didn't eat, blink or move from the table while making these 2 roller coasters with my kids. I think I enjoy them more than my kids do. K'nex are pretty awesome!

Christmas

I want to be able to say that Christmas was great this year, but it was only okay. I was so excited for Christmas this year and really into it. But my kids kind of soured my mood about Christmas. They loved all their presents and were grateful for them, but after they opened them I found everyone doing this....





Nobody was enjoying the new things they got. We don't buy a lot of toys in our home because of this, but they each get 1 new toy for Christmas and it was something they all really wanted and instead they are all playing with electronics that we already have. Then all they could think about was getting to their grandma Halle's and my parents house for more presents. It's almost as if they only care about the number of presents they get and not what is actually inside the box. I was irritated. We had enjoyable visits with everyone but when it came time to opening presents my children's faces were reflecting their like or distaste for what they opened. It made me want to take everything back to the store. So Cam and I talked that night about what we can do to improve our kids understanding of what Christmas is all about. We have so many fun traditions that we do throughout December and we've decided that maybe it's too much. We're going to keep things simpler this next year.

We did have a good Christmas, just different than other years. The thing I love most about Christmas is spending time with my family and extended family. I love that I can shut the rest of the world out and just focus on those I love most. I love that Cam had an entire week off of work and we did fun things with the kids. We went sledding, to the dollar movie, shopping for each other, game nights, movie nights, treat making days. It was so nice to be with my little family. I'm very grateful for them.


And here are my kids sporting their favorite gifts. Austin received a Max Hall and Jake Heaps card and can't put them down. Greta loves her new K'nex roller coaster, Alina loves her new jewelry box and Livvy Lou loves her baby doll.

Christmas Eve

I've been terrible with my camera lately, I keep forgetting to take pictures. Last week we went to Idaho to celebrate Christmas with some of Cam's family. The kids had so much fun seeing their cousins, and I didn't get any pictures to document it.

Cameron also had a work Christmas party where he was given an iphone 4 with a paid contract. He was very excited. We are so lucky for him to have the job he has.

On Christmas Eve we went to my parents and had pizza and played games for my brother Ryan's birthday. He's 22 now, crazy!

Mike came to the door as Santa and the kids instantly recognized him. They were happy to sit on his lap and get a candy cane anyways though. Olivia was especially excited about the candy cane.





And here's the kids in their new Christmas PJ's from their Nana and Papa all excited to go to sleep for Santa to come. They opened up Santa Paws the movie for their Christmas Eve gift. They put out cookies for Santa, carrots for the reindeer and wrote him a note. Then they all huddled together in Greta's room to watch the movie. I can't wait for morning!

Olivia

Olivia has been so fun this Christmas season. She can feel the excitement in the air. She loves to have Christmas music on and dance and she never tires of it. She loves the lights, and the tree. She loves to do the advent calendar. It's been so fun to watch the kids with her. They also love making sure Olivia is included and having fun in everything we do.

Olivia is getting so big. She wants to brush her own hair now and do Greta and Alina's as well. She doesn't know how to brush very softly though, so we can only handle her hair brushing for a minute or two.


She loved helping Cameron put up the lights outside. She climbed in this wagon so she could watch him, and then she fell.

She loves cell phones. I swear she can smell them. She will often be found walking around with my sister Shannon's phone like this. She's so adorable.



And most of all Olivia is fun. She loves to be silly. She loves to laugh. She loves to make everyone happy. She's talking a lot. Here are a few of her favorite words.
Daddy
Mommy
livia
Austy
Deta (Greta)
leeny (Alina)
Heyo (Hello)
appy (apple)
uppy (Puppy)
eat
candy
cracker
dinky (binky)
ganpa
And her favorite word is thank you and she says it all the time.

Check Off List

Making snowflakes....check

Making Christmas cookies.....check


Making peppermint bark and making sure Cameron doesn't eat it all......almost check




Loving the season......double check

Weekend With The Garretts

We spent a weekend hanging out with our dear friends Jen and Greg. We've missed them so much since they moved to Ogden.

The weather was beautiful so we played football outside and had races on Greg's jazzy. Those things are hard to maneuver, I was terrible!

We made gingerbread houses, played games, relaxed, talked, laughed, and ate some yummy homemade chicken noodle soup. It's nice to have good friends.

Christmas Lights and Pranks

We were so good this year that Santa came to help us put up our Christmas lights. See, here's a pic of him.




Our home is the Griswold's house this year. Mike brought us a bunch of his blow up Christmas yard decorations and lights.

We had a neighborhood Christmas party and our friends Jason and Hilary Fitzsimmons have been joking a lot about our blow ups, especially our flamingo driven sleigh. So we went to the party a bit late so we could set up the flamingos in their yard. They kept it up all December long, we knew they secretly loved those flamingos. They say they are going to get them back. I welcome it, I love a good prank:)

Reason #1 I Love Christmas

This is the note Austin left for Cameron and I last night with a little treat.

Our kids all have stockings on their doorknob for December. They are supposed to write nice notes to each other, leave treats, or whatever else they want. I love this tradition because my kids are always finding fun little things to do for each other. I love leaving them notes and having them come up and hug me and say "thank you mom." I love to watch them quickly hide something in someone's stocking. I love to hear little squeals of delight when something is found. I love the love that my little family shows to one another.