30 year-old outfit

Luckily my mom kept some of her favorite outfits from when I was a child and I have had so much fun dressing Jilli in them. She's worn my blessing dress, she wears my snowsuit and coat, she's worn one of my Sunday dresses, she's worn my old baby doll dress, and the latest was this cute little ensemble.

This was especially sweet to me since my grandma Pearl made this outfit and took this picture of me not long before she passed away. My heart swelled with joy each time I caught sight of my wonderful daughter in this outfit and I could imagine it was making her great grandma in heaven smile as well.
FYI: Jilli is 16 months old in this picture and I am 9 months old -- I'm hoping the outfit was a bit big on me :)

December & Christmas BLISS!

Our beauty!

Nate took the two oldest boys up for their first skiing experience and it was a complete success. Both Jaxton and McCade thought it was awesome and can't wait to get back up to the mountain.

If you take a close look at Mac's mouth, you'll find three front top teeth, yes, three. That baby tooth just wouldn't let go of it's comfy home inside McCade's mouth and so it dangled there by just a "thread" for a few days. Needless to say, Mac's not much of a tooth wiggler, it brings out the best of my gag reflux, and he wouldn't let Nate anywhere around it, so there it stayed until it fell out in his sleep Christmas Eve night.

Here we are ready for our Christmas Eve activities.

Mac worked hard Christmas Eve day to make Nate a special present. In the end he made a drum complete with drumming sticks. One of my happiest moments of the holiday season was watching Nate graciously receive Mac's gift. They sat together, both thrilled, drumming away -- priceless!

Here the kids are on Christmas morning. It's a tradition (ever since I was a child) to sit on the stairs for a picture before going down for your first look at the gifts.

The Final Countdown

December 24th -- Attend Mudrick's annual Gingerbread House Extravaganza
I don't know what we are going to do next year when the Mudrick's move away and leave us with nothing to do on Christmas Eve. We, as well as several other families, have spent the last 4 years at their home eating good food, socializing, and making gingerbread log cabins. Nothin' but good times when the Mudrick family is involved and their family will SO be missed!

December 23rd -- Sleep under the Christmas tree
What better way to bring in Christmas than by having a family sleepover under the kid's Christmas tree?

December 22nd -- Read Christ's birth story from the Bible
This year we also had the kids act the story out impromptu and it definitely kept their attention more.
December 21st -- Have a Christmas movie marathon
Last year we received a DVD with four church produced Christmas movies on it including my childhood favorite, Mr. Krueger's Christmas and my adult favorite, The Nativity. The kids loved each of the movies and it really set the mood for a wonderful Christmas.
December 20th -- Buy a tree-topper
I had my eye on a special FHE that talked about the meaning of the "star" and then you placed the star on the top of your tree. It went over well and hopefully the kids will at least remember what the lights and star represent.
December 19th -- Feed the missionaries
We had the opportunity to feed the missionaries, which is always fun to do, especially during the holiday season. This year we also decided to fill a stocking for each of the elder's with food and yummy treats.
December 18th -- Make gingerbread cookies
I do have to say that my cookies have not turned out as well this year as they have in past years -- I guess it's more about the "experience" this year.

December 17th -- Write "thank you" cards to grandparents
What better way to show gratitude to such wonderful people and the gifts that they give us then with some homemade notes?

Until next year . . . 365 days and counting!

Countdown -- Part 2

December 9th -- Celebrate Beck's 1/2 birthday.
In our family, a 1/2 birthday gets you a trip to the dollar store where you get to pick out something just for you and a treat to share with the family (believe it or not, 1/2 birthdays are a BIG deal around here). Happy 3 1/2 birthday Beckam! It's a privilege to spend every day with you!

December 10th -- Church Christmas party.
I couldn't help but make Jilli a Christmas candy cane tutu to wear to the party. According to me, she was the hit of the party :)


December 11th -- Drink hot cocoa.
Who knew that such an "ordinary" thing as hot cocoa could be so "extraordinary" when you add some Christmas marshmallows and a candy cane to it!

December 12th and carried over to the 13th -- Delivering goodies and Christmas caroling.
The kids had so much fun with this on Sunday, that we decided to continue it the next evening as well. My children have never shied away from being the center of attention or performing, so you can imagine how thrilled they were to have a captive audience as they sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" at each home.

December 14th -- Celebrate Jaxton's 5th Birthday!
Jaxton turned 5 years old and I can hardly believe it! We celebrated by opening presents, going to McDonald's for a play date with some friends, playing arcade games, eating at a pizza restaurant, going shopping with birthday money, eating cake and ice cream, and finishing off the festivities by taking cookies to school the next day.
Jaxton is a champ in every way. He brightens each day with his contagious giggle and the sweet way he goes about life. We are SO grateful for him and the joy he brings to our family. We love you Jaxton, to the moon and back!




December 15th -- Make paper snowflakes.
I wasn't sure how excited my boys were going to be about this, but I was happy to find that they LOVED making paper snowflakes and hanging them in the windows. There's just something magical about unfolding a cut up piece of paper to discover your snowy masterpiece!

December 16th -- Play outside in the snow/sleet. Today's plan was actually to attend Jaxton's preschool Christmas program, but since school was cancelled today because of the weather, we had to improvise.

Stay tuned for Part 3, the Final Countdown to Christmas . . .

The Countdown Begins

I found this advent calendar on one of my new favorite blogs eighteen25 and knew I had to have it.

In our calendar, each pocket holds 4 chocolate candies (one for each child) and a Christmas activity for that day. Such fun!
Dec. 1st -- Write a letter to Santa.

I love that Beckam says "I want to be a good boy" instead of "I am a good boy" -- at least we both agree that we've still got some work ahead of us.

A shirt, pants, underwear, scissors, paper, and glasses -- if this boy were any sweeter I'd have to cry.

The Kung Zhu pets and pair of jeans Santa can handle, but an almost $100 BigFoot seems unnecessary to this Santa (hope this doesn't crush our 6 year-olds Christmas dreams).
Dec. 2nd -- Make marshmallow snowmen.
I wasn't sure how this task would work out, but my kids loved making the snowmen and loved eating them even more.




Dec. 3rd -- Watch the "Birth of Christ" movie.
This movie is always a great way to remind us of the true "reason for the season."
Dec. 4th -- Visit Santa.
Santa came to our neighborhood's grand opening of our new playground (how exciting is that?).



Dec. 5th -- Make sugar cookies.
Sugar, frosting, sprinkles, happy kids (need I say more?).



Dec. 6th -- Watch family home movies.
In my life, there's nothing like watching old home videos to get you in the Christmas spirit. I'm famous in my family for pulling out the old videos (even one without sound) and making everyone sit down to reminisce for a while.
Dec. 7th -- Make ornaments.
Thanks to Grandma Vicki for the snowman foam kits (sure saved me some time).

Dec. 8th -- Talk to Santa on the phone.
Santa called the boys on the phone and talked to each of them. The boys were thrilled and Mac was amazed at how much Santa knew about them -- such magic!
Stay tuned as our family continues to countdown to the big day!

Snowy Surprise!

The boys were THRILLED about the snow we got yesterday. They couldn't wait to put on their snow stuff and head out in to the cold. They lasted for longer than I thought they would, especially Beckam, but when they did come in they were FREEZING and exhausted!




And what did Jilli do while the boys played out in the super cold snow? She ate Doritos! Like momma, like daughter -- eating Doritos inside where it's warm is so much better than being uncomfortable and freezing outside!

And this picture, just because it's my favorite! Is it even allowed to have a face that cute?

Nervous and/or Scared

Jaxton: Mom, Bailey told me that she's my girlfriend.
Me: Well, what do you think about that?
Jaxton: It made me kinda . . . nervous.
(And then he thought for another second before saying . . .)
Jaxton: Does nervous mean scared?

Wall + Head = Staples

On Tuesday night Mac karate kicked, got his foot caught, lost his balance, and fell backwards into the corner of the wall, splitting his head open. So, at 8:00pm Nate found an urgent care to take him to, they stapled him up and they returned home just after 10:00. Mac insisted on going to school the next day and when I picked him up at the end of the day he informed me that "it was the best day ever!" According to his teacher Mac was just like a rock star with those staples in his head, plus it helps that they're so visible in his white hair. He was such a tough kid through the whole thing, but we'll see how the unstapling goes this Friday -- that probably won't be so cool.
* Wouldn't you know that the head incident happened the same week as Beckam's 2 night sickness, Jaxton's 2 night/day sickness, and Mac's 1 night/day sickness (all different days and nights). Is that pouring rain that I hear?

Fall Family Pics

Not bad for a 15 minute photo shoot in the backyard AND a good friend (thanks Kristi).
After a serious pep talk and a few silly shots, we finally got some fairly good pictures.