Christmas Vacation

We have been looking forward to Christmas vacation for months. Kirk's family came from Seattle, Texas, Idaho, and Utah. We are so glad everyone came to us. We felt like we were on vacation without having to pack our bags and leave home. We had such a wonderful time. Here are some highlights.

Lunch at Joe's Farm Grill (featured on the Food Network and was just as good as we hoped)

Temple Lights

Every Christmas needs to include gingerbread houses (aka grahm cracker houses). We had houses with slides, pools, sleigh and toys, christmas lights, and many other very original creations.

The cast from the nativity reenactment (minus our cute shepherd boy who disappeared before photos)

Of course Christmas morning was wonderful.

Emma's 1st Christmas

Carter is still a tad bit sleepy!

Our Polar Bear Club was much larger this year. (PICTURES COMING SOON) We had 14 brave souls. It was much colder than I had imagined and it literally took your breath away-brrrrr. You know it is cold when everyone comes up gasping for air, and when you get out of the water you instantly feel warm.

Next we played kickball at the park.

We wrapped up the evening with our tradition of reading a Christmas book in front the fire.

The next day was followed lots of shopping, pizza and movie night.

The whole gang (all 21)

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas (inside)

One of the many reasons why I love shatterproof ornaments.

The Christmas tree ornaments spend alot of time on the floor or in a grocery cart, but every once in awhile all of the decorations will be on the tree at the same time, usually at night when everyone is asleep. Nevertheless, it is beginning to feel like Christmas around our house, except when you step out the front door and feel wonderful 70 degree weather.

Simple pleasures...

...having your very own swing. We are beginning to remember why we love AZ.

Happy Birthday Mom

We celebrated my mom's b-day by waking up at the crack of dawn (4 a.m. to be exact) and going Black Friday shopping. Even though it was only my mom and I this year we couldn't stop the tradition (thanks dad for sleeping on my couch while I was out shopping, and for Kirk who was hard at work while I was spending his hard earned cash). We hit Old Navy, Target, JoAnns, and Office Max. We were done by 8:30, just in time to get home and feed a baby.

Oh and by the way, the candles on the cake are not really her age.

Happy Halloween

I was frantically sewing Halloween costumes all day (and week) so we decided to treat ourselves to Papa Murphy's Jack o' Lantern pizza, which was very delicious but the best part was the Cinnamon wheel. This was our first experience with the Cinnamon wheel and we will definately be doing it again- mmm good!!!

Katelyn and Kaleb wanted to be Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker so that started the Halloween theme for us. Carter was R2D2 and Emma was Master Yoda (we know we cross dressed her but couldn't help it, it was just too cute). Kirk was Anikin and I was Princess Amadala (aka Padme). It was the first year Kirk and I have both dressed up since before we had kids, but it was so much fun I think we might have to do it again next year.

Good Times

Not a day goes by where we don't laugh at something our children have said or done.

My mom brought cupcakes over and we set them on the counter. Later, Carter climbed on the barstool and onto the counter and partook. He was so proud of himself when I found him.

Yesterday, Kaleb was pretending to be blind during dinner (not sure why). As dinner went on he tattled on something he saw Katelyn do, and we reminded him that he was blind. He quickly replied, "I was, but Heavenly Father and Jesus healed me".

All Smiles

This girly never stops smiling. She is so happy, coos and talks all the time, and is now starting to laugh. Oh Emmy we love YOU!!!

Thumb vs. Pacifier

It is official... Emma sucks her thumb.

However, Carter still prefers the pacifier, even if it is pink and not his.

Monkey Bread

Kirk came home from work with a great new recipe... MONKEY BREAD. The kids and I thought we would give it a try. It was really good and SO easy. The kids basically did the whole thing, I just supervised. The recipe we tried is from Allrecipes, but as I was looking through our family cookbook what do ya know, it was in there too(and I just discovered it after having the cookbook for about 5 years)

Star Student

Kaleb was thrilled to be the first person to be star student in his class. He got to make a poster about his favorite things, and sit in the rocking chair at school and tell the class jokes.

I am Special Because...
Loves to laugh, joke, and tease.

Always has a smile on his face

Is a good worker and helper (does his jobs everyday)

Loves to play games (video games, board games, card games, etc.)

He often gets awards from school too for being such a great student. Yesterday when I picked up the kids from school, his teacher came up to the car and told me what a great little boy Kaleb was. I complimented him in the car on doing such a great job and Katelyn revealed that Kaleb told his teacher to come tell me how great he was.

Movie Night

We have made it a tradition in our family to have movie night every week (Thanks Jen and Joey for the idea). We get dinner from one of our favorite restaurants and eat on a blanket in the family room as we watch. This week we watched Dreamer. As the movie started Kirk and I were in the kitchen getting drinks for dinner and Katelyn called from the other room "It is PG, can we get some parental guidance in here"

Ashley's done it again

Ashley has let us be her "models" for her upcoming mini photo sessions and I LOVE them. I will always look at these great pictures she has taken of our family and be grateful for the rest of my life. Thanks Ashley.

Check out some of the pictures here

Oh how I love you, let me count the ways

Reasons I love Carter:

• if you make eye contact with him as you casually walk by he will hold his cubby little hands out for you to pick him up. Oh I LOVE that boy!!!

• He is so gentle and cute with Emma. He likes to push her in her swing and just look at her. I left him in the room by himself for about 5 seconds while she was on the floor and when I came back he was leaning over with his head on hers. They smile at eachother and it reminds me that they have been friends before.

• He never tires of playing with tupperware or climing in the cupboard and closing the doors. And it is especially fun when his sister plays with him.

• He only has 2 tiny bottom teeth at 15 months, and he has the cutest giggle!
• He can say "more" (usually while eating treats, or fruit) and "uh oh".

• If the bathroom door is accidentally left open you will find the toliet paper completely unrolled and he will be in the bathtub/shower playing and eating soap.

Carter had his 15 month dr. checkup and unfortunately the dr. gave us a black mark on our chart when we had to report that Carter still drinks from a bottle. He informed us to get rid of them ASAP and that our family should do a "good-bye ceremony" by throwing the bottles in the garbage and waving good-bye to make the transition less traumatic. I thought that seemed a little extreme and knew Carter would adjust just fine if we skipped the ceremony and just eased him in a sippy cup. He woke up from his nap and I gave him his sippy cup of milk... he cried and cried until I finally gave in and put the milk in a bottle which he happily drank. Looks like we will be having a good-bye bottle ceremony soon (but not too soon)

He weighs 23 lbs and is 30 1/2" tall

More Before and Afters- Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom Before:

Master Bedroom AFTER:



Checklist:
Remove Popcorn Ceiling
Install ceiling fan and light (no light before)
New Carpet
Paint walls (Shenandoha Taupe) and baseboards
Drapes
Started to paint french doors but never finished :)

School Days

The first day of school has come and gone. Kaleb is in all day kingergarden (didn't want it but that was all that was offered) and he absolutely loves it. He wore his name tag so he wouldn't get lost and made a new best friend who was wearing a green shirt (he didn't know his name.)

Katelyn loved doing crafts, has her best friend in her class, and sits close by the boy she likes :)

It was very quiet around our house during nap time. The kids bedroom stayed clean for the whole day and I think Carter was wondering where everyone had gone. Kirk and I celebrated (with the babies) by going to the mall and out to lunch. I think I can get use to this school thing.

Tribute to Halifax (hall & main bath)

Hallway Before:

Hallway AFTER:

Checklist:

New Carpet

Replace light fixture

Paint walls (Parisian Taupe) & Baseboards

Paint cupboards & add hardware

Programable thermostat

Remove doorbell chimes

Main Bathroom Before:

Main Bathroom AFTER:

This bathroom was the grossest room in the house. The pictures do not do it justice!!! There was a hole in the ceiling, where the fan should have been, that was stuffed with a towel, and the toliet had a shell lid and the bowl was cracked.

Checklist:

Replaced fan (twice- ask Kirk why :)

Replace toliet

Paint vanity base (Branchport Brown)

Paint vanity top with Tough as Tile epoxy

Replace faucet

Remove mirror and replace with framed mirror

Spray paint gold trim on medicine cabinet

Replace light fixture

Replace outlets and light switches

Paint walls

Complete overhaul of bathtub