Adorbs

My mom bought Hannah these cute mini boots for Christmas and said to start wearing them now. They are so adorable!

 Selfies:)

 Our attempt one morning to get a Christmas card photo...wish I would've noticed the junk on the fridge in the background after the first picture instead of the last!! Not sure Christmas cards are being sent this year...

Birthdays!

It was birthday week for us again! Mine was first. It started off with a one hour school delay which sort of ruined my plans of doing some shopping. After I picked Tommy up from school and dropped Damon off at school, we bought my ice cream cake...which made my day go a whole lot better:) We had stuffed shells for dinner, opened presents, and ate cake. Delicious and fun! I'm a little shocked by how old I am now though!!

 The next day was Damon's birthday! There was supposed to be a snow storm, so school was cancelled!!! The kids were up around 5:00ish, so I knew we were going to need some things to do. Damon was allowed to open half his presents so we could do some things during the day. 

 He wanted chocolate chip waffles for breakfast.

 He changed his mind about a dozen or so times about what kind of cake he wanted. When I went to frost it, we came up with this! I think he liked it:)

 Hannah loved eating birthday cake with dad!

One of his presents was a rubber band bracelet loom. He whipped out a bunch!

 One of his presents was this cool bow and arrow. He wasn't following the rules and was aiming it at the house/over the house and it got lost on the roof. The next day we looked out the window in the kitchen and saw it in the drain pipe!! Dad was able to rescue it:)

Damon wanted chicken pattie sandwiches for dinner. It is hard to believe he's 7!!

Snow Day!!

This little face looks cute, but she can turn on the tears and turn them off so fast. She was crying so I pulled out the camera and all of a sudden, no tears!

 It finally snowed after church today! The boys were so excited, so we let the kids play in the fun.

Letters to Santa and Christmas Tree Fun

When my mom was here for Thanksgiving, she had the boys write letters to Santa. We finally dropped them off to the mailbox in the mall. I wish I would have taken a picture of their actual letters to see what they wrote down. Damon's basically consisted of ipod, ipad, kindle (with books), and all other kinds of worldly things. I can't remember what Tommy had on there.

 We were going a little stir crazy Saturday, so headed outside to play. 

 We went and got our tree this weekend. Tommy kept picking out the ugliest trees, but we finally convinced them on a good one.

 Then we got our free hot cider!

 I thought this was pretty hilarious...all the boys had to be under the tree at the same time!

 I woke up and came downstairs to this...Tommy just sitting in the chair next to the tree all lit up NOT watching tv or doing anything. He is so excited for Christmas and our tree!

Cutie Pie

Little Miss Hanny hasn't been herself lately. She woke up not feeling well on Thanksgiving and was feverish for a few days, then extra cranky and clingy. She screamed every time I put her down. Finally she started breaking free again...and she's oh so cute (but not all the time!).

She loves climbing on the chairs whenever the boys are sitting there. 

 She needed to go down for a nap, but I had to go pick up one of the boys soon, so I kept trying to keep her awake...like a bowl of fishies.

 Tommy and I finally pulled out my 3 little trees and he went to decorating like crazy. He made like 5 ornaments one afternoon! Hannah just sat in the chair pulling baggies out one by one and piling them on plates:)

 She discovered this basket and it became her new favorite for the day. She wore it like a hat, put it on her shoulder like a purse (how did she learn that?!), and put things in and out of it. It was pretty adorable to watch.

Post Thanksgiving Fun

Barrett took the clan to Killen's Pond. Hannah still wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home with her. She just wanted to be held...and watch Barney. Everyone had fun even though it was cold!

 Later in the day, Barrett and I switched and I took everyone downtown. We toured the Old State House and rung the bell. We checked out Spence's Baazar for a few minutes too. The best conversation of the day was when we were in the car. Damon asked Tommy if the Dollar Store had been busy when grandma and grandpa took him earlier in the day. Tommy said, "No." Then Damon replied shockingly, "Really?! But it's Black Friday!!" Kim then explained that the Dollar store isn't busy on Black Friday because everything is already cheap. Haha.

 I like this picture of Damon cozying up to Kim:)

 Sisters!!

 Our craft wall from November. Notice Hannah's little footprint/handprint turkey? Adorable.

 Damon wrote this in school:

I am thankful for my dad because he protects me by keeping me safe. 

I am thankful for BYU because they have good football games.

I am thankful for iPods because I like games.

My parents left Friday evening to return their rental car and stay in a hotel since their flight was early in the morning. Damon and I took Kim to the airport Saturday morning. We were all going to take her then head down to the temple, but Hannah still wasn't feeling well. After dropping Kim off, we found a Costco and walked around sampling and buying. We got the house semi-put back together. Barrett took the boys to the church for a Primary movie and pizza party. As always, it is hard to see family leave. It reminds us just how far away we really are. We're grateful to have had Kim and my mom and dad visit. Love you guys!!

Thanksgiving Feastin' and Fun

My parents went to Washington D.C. Monday to sight see and pick up Kim who had stayed the night visiting with old friends. We were excited when they came back! Tuesday was the beginning of the feasting! Tommy's preschool class had a little feast (basically lots of snacks). Kim and I took Hannah while my parents did some birthday and Christmas shopping. His class had a food drive to help out the church's. The man in charge of it came to the class to pick up their donations. Tommy's teacher was talking to the kids and asked why they brought in food. She asked Tommy to answer. So he said, "It was for poor people because they're not as special as us." Kim and I were dying... She told me that afterwards they were walking around and she asked him, "Are those girls your friends?" He said, "Of course, why else would they be here?!" He's hilarious!

 Then I left and went to help out in Damon's class for their Thanksgiving feast...with all the fixings! It was fun being in his class with him. He never wants Barrett or me to come help out, but after school he told me if I wanted to, I could come to things for school now. I guess he was just unsure how it would be to have his parents at school with his friends and teacher around...but luckily, I passed:)

 We took my parents to the Air Mobility Command Museum and were lucky to see this beautiful Christmas tree and trains! We were also lucky to get a little tour of a few planes (which were closed because of the weather...it was cold and rainy) and the tower. The boys even got new airplanes to fly from the gift shop. We made an apple pie and pumpkin pie that night and my parents bought a pecan pie for Barrett.

 Thanksgiving was awesome. We invited a couple from church to join us and Kim's old roommate drove up. Barrett really wanted to brine the turkey this year and it turned out wonderful! We did the rest of the normal sides that we love and we actually ate on time! Hannah woke up a little warm and wasn't quite herself. Her hair was awesome this morning...it was going in all directions. Kim looks great for not having gotten ready yet!

 Barrett put Hannah down to work on some Thanksgiving food and she just sat there with her cheerleader bear waiting for him to pick her back up.

 My dad took the boys to see Frozen which helped out a ton! We got a lot done without having to entertain them! When they got back, the boys made theses turkeys to put on everyone's plate. We usually make Oreo turkeys, but tried something different this year...we loved it!

 Somehow I didn't get any other pictures of Thanksgiving. No food, no turkey, no guests, no pie (actually I did instagram the pies!) We are always grateful for this time of year to reflect on our blessings and life.