Christmas at Home

I LOVE the new jammies Christmas Even tradition. This year we went easy and found coordinating jammies at Costco. They were perfect! The kids were pretty excited too! I think this may be Carter's last year of footie jammes....**sniff sniff**  

I love our little family time together Christmas Eve after all the festivities with extended family. 

The littles were stoked to put out the cookies and milk for Santa. !

CHRISTMAS MORNING!  Bry makes the boys stay blocked off down the hall and then rants and raves about all he can see while the boys anxiously wait! Sweet Maylee had a nasty case of pink eye. Poor think woke up with her eyes glued shut and some serious puffiness going on.  A couple weeks too late Carter asked for a kitchen....but Santa already planned on a pink one for Maylee. Carter thought it was his and ran over and hugged it. He still talks about getting a red kitchen next Christmas. Silly kid.

The boys took turn being the "elf" and handing out presents. I love to see them recognize everyone's names on the presents. 

The spiderman masks from Poppie and Grammy were a huge hit! (along with the jets and dragon knight costume!)

Fell in love with our ornament from my parents this year. Super cute!

That night we went out to see Christmas lights in a neighborhood. In all my brilliance I thought we would grab french fries for the kids to each...on Christmas...around 7:30 PM...riiiiight. Everything was closed. We were saved by a Del Taco we happened to pass on one of the exits we tried! whew...

I love Christmas and the Christmas season. I try to savor it each year and make it a bit less stressful and to really enjoy it all...but it still always goes by too quickly....but then again, I am sure it will be here again before I know it!

Another Fantastic Baker Christmas Eve

We love the tradition of Christmas Eve with the Baker family! Always filled with delicious soup and bread bowls and dessert! The kids love playing together and the nativity is about the cutest thing ever. One year I will remember to prep my kids for the talent show!

The Glory in Glitter

Mom and Dad gave us girls boxes of Christmas stuff they did not want/need anymore. Among the treasures were tons and tons of large, colored Christmas bulbs. Jules took some for her house while Shell and I got a twinkle in our eyes when we remembered the glittered bulb I idea we saw on pinterest....

So we glittered.....

and glittered....

 and seriously filled with glee. It is amazing what something so sparkly can do to a girl! We LOVE them! I even added some chunky glitter to the cinnamon ornaments we made this year and hung them deep in the tree.  It turned out beautiful!

**Another idea implemented this year was a no-sew tree skirt. Love it. Now I need a bigger tree...

And these little beuts of bulbs adorned teacher presents for my boys. Carter took 2 to school for his teacher and aid....and Drew....he came in at a total of 16-18 gifts for all the teachers, aids, therapists, bus drivers, and nurses that have invested in the happiness and education of our little man!

Gingerbread....Candy Houses

I love the tradition of gingerbread houses every year with the family. This year was nothing less than fun-filled, sugar fun! The kids had their own and I think they enjoyed the toothpicks as much as the candy. The boys specialized with a bowling lane on the side along with a fire pit in the front and a nativity scene. The girls went with lots of color and beauty! The cotton candy was a great idea for snow...for the first couple of hours until it all melted and condensed.

 

My Little Bed Bugs

L.O.V.E. them

A Sad Mourning

He was cutting magazines with scissors. Then...he asked to see a mirror.  I paid no attention as to why. Minutes later I turned around and found quite a site. There were clumps of my sweet boy's hair all over the house. He literally used to hands on the scissors and hacked off his hair. He was devastated, as was I. He cried when he realized his hair was gone. This child loves his hair. I would do his hair in the morning and on the way to school he would have me check it multiple times to make sure it still looked good. He loved his "church hair" and mohawk and curls. It was a sad day.

We buzzed it all off. It took a couple days before he would take his hood off a school. I think he learned his lesson.

Now I pray his curls are not gone for good!

Happy Birthday Drew!!!

 Happy Birthday to this adorable, charming, handsome, silly, energetic, stubborn, brilliant, blessing of a boy!  He loves birthdays, balloons, cousins, cake (well, at least the icing), and fun! Such a great day for this little man. We had lunch together at soon, eating of course In-n-Out (fries and shake for him). Sadly it was at the quiet table....which was nice for me since we could sit at our own table without a ton of little people around! He loved his hockey set and the many gifts he received. The Star Wars cake with Darth Vader may have been the favorite!

Happy happy birthday to the biggest brother in the house! We love you Drew!!!

A Bloggable Day

Definitely a bloggable day.

I had a lovely morning with my two littles at my sisters's house getting my hair done and it turned out fabulous! We then headed to the car to head to lunch and to Downeast. All was going smoothly and Carter requested a mint. I had two left. One for him and one for Maylee. They are small, white, and round. I was buckling Maylee. "Carter get your finger out of your nose"...not a strange phrase with a 4 year old little boy, right? Then the crying started. Jules and I concluded he must have scraped his nose. WRONG! I went over and looked up there and sure enough there is was, I could barely see the little, smooth, round mint. Why child, why?! We did this years ago with coco krispies.....didn't he remember. There was much screaming and clogging of the other nostril with instructions to blow. He was hysterical, but we finally got it out. Laughing ensued and more crying (on his part).

Downeast was a bit of a flop. I did get some shirts for Maylee, but nothing to inspire for our family pictures this weekend. *sigh*

Swung into Gymboree to return some pants and let the kids play at the "big" fountain.

Made it home with 10 minutes to spare before Drew got home on the bus....or so I though. Message on the machine that went something to the effect of....this is transportation and the bus is outside with Andrew. WEDNESDAY IS EARLY RELEASE! I missed him by 15 minutes. Poor kid had to ride on the bus for over a half hour since they took other kids home before trying us again. Super mom here...

I have been looking forward to a TBI training meeting we have every other month.  Tonight was the night. My normal sitter was sick so I was looking for another. I found a sweet friend in the ward who agreed to watch my little monsters. I scooted out, picked up Bry from work, and arrived just in time to miss the dinner....or so I thought. I would have missed the dinner if it wasn't LAST NIGHT! Yes, I missed it completely. It was the night before. Fail fail fail. I almost cried. 

So yes, between the mint, shopping, bus, and training - today was not my best day. Good thing I have tomorrow and these people to share it with :)