Christmas PJs

I meant to post this picture with the last post but oh well. I got the kids these cute Christmas pjs and they were oh so excited. And here I am again matching what is my problem!

Christmas Eve

I know it is only a month after Christmas why am I really posting this, because I am crazy and I can't skip so I will make it quick. For Christmas Eve we went to Cameron's parents with all his siblings. We ate, played Bingo, watched the Christmas story from Luke and exchanged a few gifts. The kids always love seeing all there cousins and add presents to that and it is the perfect night. To the left is our family.Cameron's parents and the kids.

Playing Bingo. I will say this year Chris gave out car wash gift cards and that was a great prize.

Chris also got all the kids a piggy bank to decorate and take home so here is Grace and Blake with their pigs. Blake's pretty much turned out like his chin just scribbled all over but he loves it. I also put his name across the pigs butt and he thinks that is terribly funny.

For the last two years we have just been exchanging gifts among the kids. Grace got a necklace and bracelet set and Blake got Captain America. They were both very pleased with there gifts. Thanks Dylan, Braxton and Natalie.

Polar Express

I think my kids favorite thing we did this Christmas was ride the Polar Express. We were going to do this two Christmases ago when my parents last came but we decided that Blake was still too small and after watching some of the kids on the train towards the end I think we were right. Riding the Polar Express is like the book and movie, you are riding to the North Pole to see Santa. While heading there you get hot chocolate " there's only one rule don't let it cool!", a cookie, hear the story The Polar Express, sing Christmas carols and get a visit from Mrs. Claus. Our train car was having a few lighting problems so they kind of forget to say we where nearing the north pole and to look out for Santa so most of us missed seeing him out the window. Blake however did see him because we told him to look for him and for once in his lief he didn't really move and watched out that window. Santa then comes aboard and talks with all the kids as you head back home. Above is a picture of all of us before departing in front of our train car.Our family.

Everyone waiting to go.

Mimi and Grace. Papa and Blake.

Cameron, Lucy and I.

Lucy and Mrs. Claus. Blake for some reason was afraid of her, I can't really figure that one out.

The kids and Santa. Lucy was so tired by this point.

Santa gives all the kids on the train a bell like in the movie and Blake was so proud of his. I heard that bell for days , he carried it around in his pocket everywhere. I am so sorry to report that at the moment he doesn't know where it is, darn! On the way back we all sang the 12 days of Christmas. One of the Elf's really liked Grace, she called her beautiful Grace, so she picked her to be day 1. The kids really liked doing this because we had been singing it every night at home, one day at a time for 12 days, so they were excited that they knew it. We had a really great time and I am glad my parents could do this with us.

7 Months and on the Move!

It seems like the last two weeks of Lucy sixth month she decided she was no longer a baby and she woke up. She got up fully on her hands and knees and since she can't quite crawl yet she started inch worming her way to the things she wants. And let me just say she is good at it. She can make it all the way across the room to get something she has her eye on. She can now also sit on her own and we don't really have to stress about her falling. Also the other day so was laying on her belly and the next thing we knew she was sitting. Also just for the record she can finally roll both ways consistently. It also seems like she is always moving. Even when we try to feed her a bottle she is moving all over. One thing Lucy started this month that I really don't like is drooling all the time. She is soaked by the end of the day and it is gross. Also last month at her check up we discovered she had an ear infection. I am a great mother I didn't even know. She was never really upset so I just missed it I guess. The picture above I wosh I had taken earlier in the day because the neck is ringed in drool.She discovered toys and loves to play with anything in her sight. Blake is good about sharing with her until his toy goes in her mouth and then he takes it away. He says that it is gross when they are all wet. I tend to agree.

Lucy finally noticed that this toy bounces when she jumps and now she is an animal in it. Cameron is afraid she might give herself whiplash.

Up and ready to crawl. I am really not ready for all of this yet. I want my sweet little baby who sleeps all the time back!

We started Gerber this month. Lat month I forgot to mention we started rice cereal and she hated it. She also hated Gerber at first. We had to skip veggies and try fruit because the child wouldn't even open her mouth and when we would finally get it open she spit everything out. She is for sure more picky than the other two and she hates squash.

This is one thing you would have never seen my other two do. I never really taught them to hold their own bottle because I liked to hold them and feed them. Let's just say if she doesn't hold it herself she might not be eating when she wants so she really doesn't have a choice. It is nice that I have the option but I do hold her and feed her as much as I can.

One day I got out of the shower and this is what I found. Blake said she was crying so he was playing with her. I know he means well and he loves her but sometimes he scares me. Also if she is crying and he is saying "Shhh Shhh", he did something naughty. He tries to get her to quit before I get there so he won't be in trouble.

In Grace's hat. You can see she was chewing it because it is all wet.

More December

The Sunday during Christmas I like the kids to have new outfits. I am not overly crazy about the girls matching but I did want them to coordinate and I was tired of always doing red so I went with these clothes. Cameron thought they were still to matchy but I thought they were cute.On Monday for family home evening we went up to Salt Lake with my parents who where here for Christmas. We first had dinner at the Red Iguana. My mom was told by one of her students that skis in Park City that this is a most. We tried it and it was pretty good, not my fav. Next we went to Pioneer Park to do a walk through live nativity. It was the Christmas story told by the Shepard's and the wise men. At the end when we got to the stable Grace asked if the baby Jesus was real. I said no that a baby would die out in this cold for that long. And she said "well we have our real baby out here." I had to explain that the people in the nativity would be out there for hours. After that we went to temple square to see the light and let me just say that it is a crowded place to be the week of Christmas. It was beautiful like always but you could barely move. We got the one picture above and the one below and that is it. And it was also like 10 degrees so we didn't last long.

One thing my kids love to do is make Santa cookies. This year we also made them for some friends and neighbors and Grace's class party. My mom and I helped with the party, she read the Cajun Night before Christmas and Gaston the Green Nosed Gator and I decorated cookies with all the kids. They also played musical chairs and Christmas bingo.

While we were making the cookies little miss sneaky got under the tree and unwrapped one of her presents. Good thing it was one of hers I guess. Thanks Aunt Erin for giving her something she was just dying to open! We will have to keep a closer eye on her in the years to follow!

December Activites

I don't know what it is about the month of December but it always seems like I get behind on my blogging. I guess with all the Christmas fun, not having Internet for a few days, and playing on the kids Wii all the time my blog was forgotten about. But since I can't just move on and skip everything I missed I will do a couple of back blogs. The second weekend of Dec. we had lots of fun. First we had our ward Christmas party. We had yummy dinner, sang songs and Santa came. The kids were very excited about that. Grace was most excited that he gave her a candy cane. Blake forgot what he wanted so Santa said he would surprise him.The next day my friends Chalan, Callie, Heather and I took our girls to see The Princess and the Frog. It was such a cute show and the kids had so much fun. After we all went to lunch at Red Robin. I love doing things with my kids one on one it gives me a chance to give all my attention to them for a little while. Above all the girls Jordan, Kailey, Grace, Blythe and Chloe.

On Sunday we had Cameron's family over to do ginger bread houses. We did this last year and we had so much fun I decided that I wanted to make this a tradition that our family does for all of them. Above is us with our house.

All the houses.

Monday after school Grace home with two basketball tickets for the semi pro team based around here, all the kids in the school got two. She was so excited and really wanted to go so we got two tickets from our neighbors who were not going and went with our friend Jessica and Greg. Above is Grace and their girls Kate and Meagan. Grace and Meagan are in the same class at school.