Frozen, Gingerbread, Slug..

 

We took the whole family to Disney on Ice: Frozen. We bought aisle seats so if Katy freaked out we could easily escape.

 

The show was a replay of the movie and the kids LOVED it!

 

Although all of the kids were totally excited and into it, Diana really captured our hearts. Jim and I loved watching her by turns be thrilled, in awe, overwhelmed with joy...it was a completely wonderful time being with the family at such a fun show.

 

 

Everyone snuggling as they get ready for a Friday night movie!

 

 

After a sweet family night lesson by Nicole on the symbols of Christmas, we frosted gingerbread houses!

Diana managed to decorate her house and everything collapsed only once. I thought that was pretty good. She was SO proud of herself and we gave her a round of applause when it was finished. Her personality is more of a "no block left standing" one so to leave a house covered in candy in peace is a big deal! 

 

Michael's little village was AWESOME. He has had a lot of sugar at this point.

 

Jacob was very creative with a four chimney house.

 

Nicole made three houses and kept adding more and more after we took pictures.

 

I finished the fudge for this year finally. I made and boxed a total of 53 pounds, I had a lot of fun.

 

Jake's preschool Christmas program! They sing the same songs every year and since this is our fifth straight year...I didn't mind so much that we were in the very back and the majority of the parents in front of us were holding up cameras, ipads, you name it- to record their children. It was pretty funny watching the mad scramble to take pictures.

We decided to stand in the back and could see just fine. Jake has rhythm! He was totally bouncing to the music and then singing and acting things out with all his heart. It was such a joy to watch him! He finally saw us halfway through and was waving and blowing kisses. I had the sweetest experience with Jake last night. Our family read in the scriptures about how Christ went into the mountains to pray, and then we discussed how we can go by ourselves to pray. Jake said, "I'll be right back" and dashed into the front room to have his own heartfelt private prayer. It was the sweetest thing.

 

I was making gingerbread cookies yesterday and looked at the clock to see it was time to make dinner. Oops! It was a spaghetti night :)

 

Leaf raking this morning. We had a ton of leaves and the kids couldn't get enough of it.

 

I guess this might be as close as we get to a snowball fight?

 

Mike's Kindergarten class! He has an amazing teacher that has really put so much time and effort into the class. I am so grateful for a dedicated teacher like her! Michael has blossomed and it is a joy to see what he's done in class.

 

And I could never say enough about sweet Katy Lynn. She is eight months old now, and is doing more real crawl than army crawl these days. She is one tough cookie and has tried climbing the stairs a few times already. Yesterday I caught her holding-and about to eat-a black slug!! Yes, that is right. Michael had come in the house and left (he leaves his shoes outside so I am assuming it was transferred that way) and she crawled after him to the door...and thankfully I just happened to look over... anyways it was a very close call and very gross. I'd hate to end the post on that note...so let me end with a funny picture.

 

Tis the season

 

Finally!! We got our family picture up! It makes our house feel so much more complete for some odd reason.

 

Tis the season! I love making fudge for Jim's work. It smells great, is pretty basic to make, and for just a few weeks I can live the dream of being a confectioner.

 

Scraps from round one! Brandon Jr. really likes fudge so we brought it over to share the good stuff.

 

Jim took a half day Friday since he had work on Saturday and he was working with the cage while Katy played in the pack n play and Jacob was creating things with tape and amazon boxes.

 

Finished!

 

I took the kids to Home Depot for their free workshop while Jim was at work. Experiences like these are good growing experiences. The kids have to take on more responsibility and are eager to help since they know we'll just leave if it becomes too much. I usually only stress out for a short period of time, and when the situation includes Diana and a hammer or Diana and a paintbrush. :)

They REALLY liked that Santa was there and giving out candy canes! Diana even sat on his lap without freaking out although it took a while for her to actually look at the camera instead of the furry white beard on a strange man.

 

We nailed together and painted three yard stakes for each kid. My thumb was never hit by a hammer (a first) and we didn't get any paint on the car driving home. Victory!

 

My old programmer days have done me some good. I got dosbox on our computer and downloaded some of my oldtime favorites: Number Munchers, Castle and Island of Dr. Brain, Incredible Machine, Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego, Oregon Trail, Civilization. Some good times! I love how the kids have to really use their brains in these games!

 

We finished decorating for Christmas finally! Daniel did the lights while he was here over Thanksgiving, Jim added the wreaths and I did the greenery around the door and rails. And of course the kids are very proud of their stakes lining the front walk.

Thanksgiving

 

Joe the baby whisperer with Katy

 

The appetizers! Daniel put together a fruit platter and Joe made a meat, crackers and cheese pepperoni turkey. That and an assortment of baked treats kept everyone happy until the big meal.

 

Playing soccer on the back porch with Daniel. They played a LOT of soccer on the porch on Tday since it was wet from rain and in the backyard the other days.

Jim and Brandon tried peeling potatoes as seen on the internet. We didn't use small potatoes and it didn't work. But attaching a (new) toilet scrubber to a big drill from Jim's work and trying to make it work was entertaining to watch. We have new ideas for next year though. Someday we won't have to peel them!

Joe definitely has the skills of a surgeon. I don't think a dog could have cleaned up that turkey off the bone better!

 

The kids table! We were so hungry and so happy the kids were behaving we forgot to take a picture of the adults, or any of the rest of the tday spread! but...the kids were very good and we had a lovely dinner and conversation.

 

To prove that worms don't drown, we all watched the PBS wild kratts show episode about worms and everyone enjoyed it.

 

Pie time! Key lime, pecan, pumpkin, lemon meringue and apple. Happy happy family! For the Thanksgiving holiday we snapped pictures when we remembered but really never got a whole shot of us all since with the adult to kid ratio we had things were fairly wild! 

 

The next morning we went to Marbles. It got more crowded after the first hour but we had some great times.

 

Katy loved the kids place.

 

It was fun for me to spend a little time in there with here because usually she is in a stroller while I chase D around.

 

Love that little tongue :)

 

Kiersten in the tower she and Daniel built together.

 

Diana in the other big house.

 

Jake building on to the big house. And Addie showing Joe here goggles.

 

Diana our fearless climber doing what she loves.

 

My kids really got into the hockey!

 

Addie and Joe playing some hockey as well!

 

Brandon made some kind of paper rocket launcher and it got stuck in a tree. And then a soccer ball got stuck in a tree trying to get it out. So Brandon climbed the tree to get everything down! After he got down Brandon told us that we need to cut that tree down before Michael is just a few years older. Wondering why? Look at the base of the tree and there is Michael, trying to follow his uncle.

 

Drumroll for the next addition to our family...Jim is making a lizard cage for a bearded dragon. This cage is going to look amazing I can't wait to see the finished product. And the kids are thrilled with the prospect! We took them to the pet store the other day and they took out a bearded dragon for the kids (minus Diana :) to touch.