Gingerbread Houses and Santa

We look forward to the tradition of going to Aunt LarRene's house every year to decorate gingerbread houses and a visit from Santa. The kids have a great time with both.
Heath helping Hayden with his house. The kids anticipating Santa's arrival.
Chloe's new favorite word is Santa and loves to see pictures and figures of Santa. I hoped that this would translate into excitement to sit on his lap. You can tell from the snapshot how well that went but she was excited to get the ball and candy from him. Maybe next year, Santa.
Hannah now for two years in a row was not scared at all to sit on his lap. This is a big thing for this shy girl. She asked for magnetic earrings since she is too scared to get her ears pierced. We did ask her on the way home how cool it was to see the real Santa. Her reply, "Mom, that was just one of his helpers because when we were singing the song when he first came in I saw him pull up his beard." She getting a little two smart for her age. At least the magic is still there.
Hayden was so nervous all day to see Santa because he was so worried he would be on the naughty list. I think this is from a little too much teasing on his parents part. He decided that he just wouldn't ask Santa and hope for the best Christmas morning. However, when he got on Santa's lap Heath asked Santa the big question. Poor Hayden was so scared he started crying (which is a big thing for him because he prides himself on being a tough kid), but luckily Santa told him the good news - He's on the nice list. Whooh, what a relief.
Hannah got to go to YW's with me the other night and decorate gingerbread houses. She had a great time hanging out with the big girls and made a beautiful house.
A quick shot of her new favorite trick to do with Chloe.
We had a few houses left over so they had fun decorating them with some neighbors.
Hayden's favorite new way to sleep. Santa hat on in anticipation of the big day. We can't wait!

Concerts

It quickly became the time of the year for Christmas recitals and progams. The kids each had a singing concert with the school and Hannah had her Christmas recital for dance. She is loving taking dance from Infinity with Ms. Sam. She danced one cute Christmas number and had a great time watching all the competition teams perform.

One shot of the first graders at the Hillview concert. Hayden is in the back row.

Thanksgiving 2011

This is a holiday I usually don't blog about so I decided it shouldn't be skipped this year. I love Thanksgiving because it is a lot more low key and you just hang out and eat. Throw in a little thankfulness and you are set. We had dinner with Heath's family this year up at his Grandma and Grandpa Romrell's.
The rest of the kids getting ready to dish up their food.


The next day after putting up all the Christmas decorations. My sister invited us out to her new house for games and fondue. It was great to see all her kids and their kids.

Chloe had a great time playing with my nephew's daughter Tilly.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Worth waiting for

Hayden has been bugging me for a white shirt and tie for church for awhile now. We have just kept him comfortable with polo's and sweaters. I felt like he was old enough that he could actually stand to keep the tie on so it was time to make the purchase. He was so excited that he looked like the deacons that he could hardly sleep the night before. He was actually excited to go to church for once. We all thought he looked pretty handsome and a little too grown up for my taste.
I feel like I have been stuck in Idaho Falls for a few months and needed a little trip. We didn't really have any plans for the week off so I decided we needed to go for a little drive yesterday. I have been wanting to try the rec center pool in Jackson for awhile now but it has just never worked out. We had a great time. The drive was nice (even though it was a little slick) and we loved the pool. It was nice to get away for an afternoon. We definately need a pool like this in Idaho Falls.

Halloween

Here are my cute little spookies, although two of them wanted to go for the scarier side of Halloween. Hannah the Vampire, Chloe the Ladybug and Hayden the Devil.

Hannah at the school parade.

Hayden at the parade.

And if that wasn't dressing up enough for one week, they had to go all out on Red Ribbon week "Red Day". They felt it paid off because they won the contest for each of their classes.

Happy Halloween 2011

Halloween First Addition

I love getting together with family. This weekend we had two different Halloween parties with each side of the family. I love these traditions and my kids look forward to it each year.

The first was at Grandma and Grandpa Thornton's house. We made eyeball cake pops and carved pumpkins that they grow for us each year. My older two were finally able to handle touching the gooey stuff on the inside and clear them out. Chloe loved the whole thing and wanted to eat the insides. She kept giving her pumpkin a kiss. They ended up with some great faces on them.

The next party was with the Jackson side. We all brought fixings to make Cafe Rio burritos. YUM! We all ate too much. Then we decorated Halloween cookies - thanks Aunt Audra for supplying them.
We are so lucky to have such great family that live near and we can spend time together. My kids love their cousins and we love the friendships that they have.

Roadshow!

Our youth truly did an amazing job at our stake roadshow this weekend. It was so fun to work with them and see it all come together. I was so lucky to have Michele Farnsworth to do the scenery, costumes and help (well mostly) write it. I couldn't have done it without her. I think everyone had a great experience with it and we all did things that we didn't think we could do before.

On a side note here are a few more things we have been doing around here:

The start of the amazing fort Hannah, Hayden and friends built on the first snow storm of the year. They had a great time out there. I didn't make it out to get a picture of the finished product but they were pretty proud of it until we had to break it apart so it would melt to mow the lawn.
Hannah started dance again. She is loving it.

My old piano needed a new bench so that Hannah could practice easier. I found a store that made them but they were unfinished and needed put together. It was a fun project to stain it. I didn't realize that staining wood isn't really that difficult to do, just time consuming. It made me want to take on the bathroom cupboards and change them to a darker color. We will see if I get brave enough for that but this was a fun project.

Hayden

Just a few candids of Hayden and his fun with those creepy-crawly things of the earth. Here is he is being not scared to hold a horny-toad. He was pretty fascinated with this little guy . Not scared of the snakes we find around our circle. This is one that the neighbors found in their yard and Hayden wanted to keep for a pet. I think Harley is enough for us. I'm not to scared of this kind of snake but I don't want him in my house.

Hayden also started football a couple of weeks ago. He loves this sport. Last year they were younger and didn't win any games. They won this week and Hayden was so happy. He even scored one of the touchdowns which totally made his day. It is fun to see how big he can smile in situations like that.

Go Yellow Warriors!

August Rewind

August went by so quickly. We sent Heath back to work so I tried to keep the kids busy with lots of outdoor activities. We went to Rigby lake, PTO movies, road our bikes around the greenbelt a few times, ward park days, outside movies, visited Reed's Dairy, Heise Hot Springs, four-wheeling, Hayden went white water rafting, and we got ready for school.
Chloe not scared of feeding the geese.

Chloe playing at Rigby Lake.

Hannah making friends with a horse at Reed's Dairy.

Riding the tube at Blacktail. Hannah was finally not scared this year.

Hannah and Chloe playing outside. We spend a lot of time in the cul-de-sac playing with all the kids. We love summer!

Back to School 2011

The excitement began in anticipation of going back to school. I wonder how many years we will have both of them so excited to start up another year? Hayden got to make the big move to 1st grade, have lunch at school and stay all day. He loves his teacher, recesses, P.E., and lunch. He said I forgot to tell him the first day how long he would have to stay after lunch. He thought it was a little long and he didn't have as much time as he would have liked after school to play with friends, but he is adjusting with each day. He also had one mishap. His water spilled out of his lunch so he decided he would borrow one of the chocolate milks the school had. I had to explain we needed to pay for those and sent money with him the next day. It was all innocent in his eyes. He did get the big math paper yesterday because he was the quietest kid in class so hopefully we are off to a good start. His teacher is going to have a baby any day so things could change a little with a long term sub for awhile. He doesn't have that many kids in his class that he knows so it will be a good opportunity to make new friends.

Hannah loves school, loves her teacher, and has a classroom full of friends. Life couldn't be better for this second grader. She is having a great time and loves to have the routine of school. Life goes better for her when she can keep her brain moving. She also started piano this week and absolutely loved it and loves to practice any chance she gets - hopefully that will continue.
Nice to have a buddy to go out the door with.

Getting on the bus. I love how many kids are in our neighborhood. It makes everything funner. Chloe and I are adjusting to hanging out by ourselves. It is a little quiet but I do love quiet. She is really enjoying the one on one time - the trick will be not to let her get too spoiled.

Happy School year 2011.

Weekend Fun

We went to Utah this weekend for my nephew's wedding reception. They were married in the Sacramento temple the week before. It was a beautiful outdoor reception at my brother's house in Provo. It was so fun to see them so happy. Congratulations Sean and Kristin! My kids love my brother's fountain he has in his front yard. It is one of those splash kind that go with the music. Whenever we go there in the summer, they end up in it. Love that it is a nice reception and my children are running through a sprinkler. They had a great time!

Chloe had her first pickup at the reception. This little boy couldn't get enough of her. She wasn't sure what to think about it.

We spent the rest of the weekend with the Huls family. It is always fun to stay there. My kids love it. We went for a nature walk in the morning and found a horny toad. I had never seen one before so it was cool to see. Hayden even dared hold it. He wanted to take it home but I didn't think our family needed this kind of a pet. Later we drove to Strawberry Lake up Provo Canyon and went cray fishing. It was so much fun!. They were all over and so easy to catch. We would just hang the poles in the water and they would grab the meat, catch them in the net and put them in the cooler. It was a lot of action for younger children. They loved it and didn't want to leave until we got rained on. It made for a great dinner that night.
Now we are back to school today! We will see how the day turns out. For me it has been a little more relaxing and a very productive day. I will be excited to get the kids home though.

We have a one year old!

One year old birthdays are great! They are excited about every little thing you do and they are easy to keep a little more low key. Chloe had a great day. The last year has gone by so quickly. She is such a busy, happy, excited, strong willed one year old. We are lucky to have her in our family.
She loved opening gifts.

She really didn't want much to do with her cake. I don't think she put one bite in her mouth. She stuck her hands in and then tried to feed it to Hannah and Hayden and then she wanted her hands cleaned. Nothing like my first two who stuck their whole face in they were so excited.

Thanks to all the family who came by to help us celebrate.

Here's to another fun year with this sweet little one.