Christmas vacation so far!

Christmas has been AWESOME this year!! I mean it's always fun, but this year was just great. Lance and Kara and their kids came up last wednesday and stayed until sunday. We went to my mom's school's gym and played, bowled, went out to a movie, made cookies, played games, ate a lot of yummy food, went sledding, played, played and played some more! It was really fun. Vicky and Kurt and their kids came up saturday evening and so far we have already gone back to mom and dad's gym and played! tomorrow we're going snowboarding and I'm sure the week will be fun of a bunch more activities for me to post about, but right now I feel like there's an overload and I don't want TOO much to have to remember!

So these were taken at the elementary gym where we played the first time with lance and kara and their kids (I forgot my camera today when we went with vicky and kurt and their kids, but I'll get some of those pictures because there was some really funny stuff there too!)

Here's bowling on Christmas Eve

And sledding. The guys just shoveled up a hill for the kids to use in their backyard.

She smiled as soon as we stopped, so I'm not so sure how much she liked it. haha

Tanna and matthew helped grandma make cookies for santa

my mom sewed up pj pants for all of the grandkids. She even made some tiny ones for Hailey!

she was ready to go to bed though here

Christmas morning! I really liked how we woke up, ate breakfast, and then Curt sat Matthew on his lap and talked to him about Jesus and how Christmas is his birthday party and He loves us all so much he wants everyone to get presents on his birthday and he talked more about what Christ did for us and how grateful we are that he was born on this earth.

then the kids ripped into their presents!

This was like where's waldo only where's hailey in all the carnage!

8:45 and we were ready for a nap!

It was a very Merry Christmas and my favorite part:

The joy of FAMILY

I am so blessed!

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year coming up!

MORE TO COME!

Pearly Whites

Can you see Hailey's two bottom teeth?!

They sure do make her happy!

BIG WEEKEND!

The kids and I rode down with my parents last friday to Utah for the Thorson Christmas party. Sadly Curt couldn't come because he only has 1 week until finals and he has a lot to do! The first night we stayed with Vicky and Kurt. Matthew and Jexten always have so much fun together and Adessa is so entertaining with her big words and grown up games. She cracks me up.

the next day Hailey was exhausted from all of the fun we had there! isn't my mom so pretty sitting there in the sunlight?

They made us an AWESOME breakfast of "muffin cakes" as matthew calls them, eggs, bacon, and hashdebulas (hash browns in sleemaneese). We also had orange juice.

Matthew was very excited to try it. He's never been willing to at home, but since Jexten was he thought he would too.

So I gave them both some...

I guess Matthew found it to be a little too sour!!!! Jexten liked it.

We talked to Curt on the phone A LOT. We missed him tons and Matthew asked to talk to "superman" often.

The Thorson Christmas party was great! The food was delicious, the family was great to see, and the program was touching!

then we went to see Great Grandma Patsy and Grandpa Mel. I didn't get any pictures of that because the kids were insanely wild (entertained the greats immensely) and then after that we met Lance and Kara at the mall. The kids were bushed...

So I napped in the car with them while the others went in the mall.

The second night we stayed with Lance and Kara. I think this was the first time that Matthew and Isaac played WELL together. They seemed to have a lot of fun! Then Hailey snatched up the swords as soon as the boys dropped them.

Matthew and Tanna were playing puppy pet shop when I snapped this one.

and now just some other pictures I've taken lately...

My sweet, compliant baby has gotten an ATTITUDE lately! Doing her hair is a chore, but I still love to do it. She is totally a mama's girl too. And such a drama queen!! oh boy

Hailey's favorite place to play lately is at the bottom of the stairs. I wonder what it is that's so interesting about that place. It used to be Matthew's favorite too... And don't mind her after nap hair :)

My kids are so sweet and so fun. I am so grateful to be their mommy!