Santa Clause is coming to town

I think they both need to ask Santa for some new pants...

Home for the Holidays

I love being home.

The Christmas tree is up, the nativity is set, the stockings are hung, and the music is on full blast (and mainly coming from three little boys).

Let the countdown begin.

This little guy, standing on a pillow trying to stretch as far as he can to get a candy cane, makes me happy.

The boys love this Nativity. You can tell how much they have been played with these past few years. Poor Joseph has no eyes.

The stockings were hung by the T.V. with care.

Our little star of Bethlehem. Day 8.

Day 25 it will reach Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

The boys made their own countdowns. Sometimes they try to cut off a few in a day hoping that Christmas will get here sooner. If that's the case. I think we will just forget to cut off one for a few days. Maybe that will slow this season down.

I think Taylor is most excited for the green tag on his countdown. That's HIS day.

I love traditions. I love starting new ones to go with the old.

This year we welcome our newest tradition. The moment I saw this little guy I was instantly happy. He is the most jolly elf I have ever seen. We named him Jingles.

Each day mommy hides him and on the back he has an activity for us to do that day. After he is found he goes right back to his home on the kitchen table.

So far we have sung Christmas songs, read some books, watched the First Presidency Devotional, made a box for our gifts to Jesus, and built donut snowmen.

Taylor was the only one who didn't devour his within seconds of finishing. He named this guy Frosty. Pretty cute.

Each Friday before Christmas we are having a Christmas movie night and sleeping under the tree (okay, just the boys are doing that one)

For some reason this picture of the boys makes me teary eye.

I would say this guy enjoyed it the most.

For those of you who want to know or if you would like some ideas, here is what we will be doing for the rest of the season.

1. More Friday night movies and sleepover under the tree.
2. Sledding (if it snows)
3. Read books under the tree
4. Get a box of chocolate and take turns picking some out to enjoy (this was a tradition in my family growing up)
5. Make treats
6. Make treats
7. Probably make a few more treats.
8. Make Gingerbread houses with Morris Family
9. Decorate bedroom doors
10. Christmas craft - Reindeer pop treat
11. See the lights at Temple Square
12. Make Gifts for teachers (primary and school)
13. Watch "The Nativity"
14. Play games under the Tree
15. Christmas Eve Dinner with Packer Family

I will be happy to post more pics.

I am so happy to be Home for the Holidays. I love my home, more than ever. I am secretly quite thrilled that our house has not sold yet. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now.

I am so grateful for this month and to feel the spirit of sweet baby Jesus and the life he led and the life he gave, for us.

October Love #6

There are plenty of things to love about October. the crisp air, the colors on the trees, the food, the cuddling at night, but most of all this year was the

Halloween Fun!

Halloween day was quite enjoyable.

frisbee

mummy hot dogs

grocery store trunk or treat

rain

pizza party with aunt, uncle, and baby cousin

neighborhood trick or treating

and then plenty of this

(do you think it will last until Christmas?)

Two days before Halloween was just as fun.

Dressing up and meeting cousins at the nearest witch party at Gardner Village. I have taken the kids every years for the last four or five years and we love it. We usually see the same witches, but it never gets boring. Unfortunately no pictures of them, however we have some even better pics!

The boys love Uncle Ry, however they were slightly nervous when they saw him walking towards them.

Leonardo (without the turtle shell), knight in shining armor, ghost, tiger, Mario (with a turtle shell), a bat and then a bunch of cute kiddos underneath.

At first Corbin was going to be Mario, then after I made the hat, it was too small. He decided on something else. (and changed his mind five other times after that). I am biased, but I thought Levi looked too adorable in the hat not to have him be Mario.

Ealier this year we got the old school Nintendo. We love it. The boys think it is the greatest technology around. (That's my boys, we don't need high tech stuff.) We don't play it as much as we used to, but a month ago I thought it would be so fun to have Corbs be Mario, Tay be Luigi, and Levi be Yoshi. Levi loves to watch Yoshi (the little green dino). He runs around yelling "Soshi, Soshi!! Lellow Soshi, Green Soshi, Red Soshi!" Saying he loves Yoshi is an understatement.

However the kids want to be what they want to be. I think I am now learning that you just have to laugh and go with the flow, let kids be what they want. (within reason) It's for them anyway.

So back to the point. Again, I am biased, but I do think Levi is pretty darn cute in this.

After Gardner Village we went to Daddy's work for a little Trick or Treating.

Work has been good to us. I am so blessed to have an amazing husband who excels at what he does. He is continuing to educate himself. He never stops learning. He sacrifices A LOT to give us a better life and to give our kids a headstart so that when they are ready to enter this world of working, they will be even better prepared. Thank you so much for what you do. We LOVE you!

So for the boys to go and see Daddy's work place was excellent. After we left the boys asked why Daddy didn't come home with us. I told them he needed to continue working so that he can continue to take care of us. They seemed even more grateful this day.

Levi LOVES huckise. What are huckise, you ask? Suckers of course. And we are NOT correcting him on that one. It's too cute. As we were leaving, Levi was getting frustrated, so Justin went over to him and asked him what was wrong. Levi showed him that the balloon string was wrapped around his sucker. Justin said, "oh, is the balloon trying to take your huckie." Levi said in a said voice,

"yah, bloon taking Feevies Hucki."

(don't mess around with Levi's huckise, we have learned that)

I really do love the month of October! It was almost perfect this year. Now onto a great month of November and singing Christmas songs...right?

(the boys have requested for me to sing them baby Jesus songs the last two nights. I never get sick of it.)

October Love #5

Counting down the days to a day full of pretending and candy.

The countdown is on for one of the kids favorite holidays. Halloween is way more fun with kids and I love feeding off of their excitement. This year since we have the house up for sale, we didn't do too many decorations. (Don't think it would be a good selling point if I had creepy, gross things all over the house.) But the kids shouldn't suffer so instead we made a 13 day count down to Halloween. It has been so much fun to see them get excited about it.

Corbin comes home from school and heads straight for the countdown and pulls out the tag that tells us what we are going to do that day. Somedays have been harder because after he reads it I tell the boys we have to wait until daddy gets home. It's been a good lesson on patience.

I have really quite enjoyed it because it hasn't been overwhelming and helps me to focus on the fun of it all.

This night in particular was hilarious.

We had a trick night.

We each had to pull out a slip of paper and do what it said on it.

Whistle "I am a Child of God"

Play patty cake

Write your name and draw a self portrait in 15 seconds

Howl at the moon

Pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time

Waltz with someone

Yodel

to name a few.

We were laughing so hard. It was hilarious, although Corbin didn't love Waltzing with me. Can you beleive it? He's already embarrassed by that and we were in our own home! And someone's certain husband purposely picked yodeling for her.

It was a good night.

October Love #4

Halloween Party with Cousins.

We love our cousins and we love every chance to get together with them. (and I love the chance to see their moms and grandma)

It was the perfect day and ALL the kids looked so cute in their costumes. I have not finished the boys costumes yet so they got to pick from the costume box for the party.

Power Ranger

Night in Shining Armor

Batman rescuing the baby.

Little Red Riding Hood.

Miss America.

Adorable, shy, baby batman.

A Halloween Party is not complete until the dry ice comes out.

The Mummy Game. Boys against Girls.

Boys won for being the fastest. Two rolls of toilet paper

Girls won for actually making a mummy. One roll +

one more. Good job girls!

And lastly, decorating Halloween cookies. It was a VERY good thing that Mandi had plenty of frosting, sprinkles, and candy!

It was such a fun day. Thank you Mandi for allowing 16 energetic, adorable kids to come to your home and play! (which happens to be the most beautiful home) It was so memorable.

Now, a little humor from my dad.

"The Olive Garden"