Christmas Card

Santa's Coming!

 We had one of our favorite annual Christmas traditions at the first of the month. We love going to Aunt LarRene's house. This year instead of decorating Gingerbread houses we made Christmas trains out of candy. They loved this and came up with some great creations. They were easier to eat afterwards too. Chloe had a great time bossing Laramie around decorating hers.

 Then we had one of our favorite visitors come. Hayden is looking a lot older sitting on Santa's lap this year. He was excited to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. We liked it that Santa told him to make sure he was nice to his parents all month.

 Hannah told us on the way over that she was too old to sit on Santa's lap but when the time came she just counldn't pass it up. She surprised us by changing what she wanted. We are glad the magic of Christmas is still alive.

 Chloe wanted nothing to do with Santa. She cried if she even got close. She was happy to get the treat and toy. She did blow him a kiss goodbye. She has been talking about him ever since though. She sings "Santa Clause is coming to my House" and then she tells me she won't cry this time. She seems really excited about Christmas and has loved everything from decorating, wrapping presents and looking at lights. I'm sure she will love it when the actual day comes.

Thanksgiving!

 We started the week out with Cody's wedding. We were so excited for the big event.

 What a cute family.

 It was so nice to have the whole week off for Thanksgiving. We went shopping, to a movie and then the Huls family came and stayed with us. On the actual day, we went to my sister Laura's house. My kids love going there. We had a delicious meal and lots of fun games. They were so excited when they got to spend the night. They had a great time.

 Both of the kids tables.

 Decorating sugar cookies later that weekend before we watched our first christmas movie. We are so lucky to have so much to be thankful for.

 I got a white elephant gift at a party that Hayden had too much fun with. He looks pretty handsome with a "stache". Then he had to try them all on. Let's hope his facial hair doesn't grow in this way in the future.

Kate's Wedding

My neice Katie got married at the first of the month. We were so excited for her. Here she is with her new husband, Adam, my brother and his wife. We were so glad to be able to be there for the festivities. She is such a good example to my kids.

 While we were there we snuck in some shopping and other fun activities. We went to "Wreck it Ralph" and then my sister took us to a park near her house in Saratoga. They had the funnest pyramid to play on. My kids loved it!

 Chloe loving the park because her older cousins would take the time to play with her.

 We moved Chloe into her new room in anticipation of giving her old room to the baby. We are working on decorating it now. She loves it and has slept great in her big girl bed. yah! One more milestone accomplished for this sweet little girl.

Halloween 2012

 Halloween has become quite the event aorund here lasting up to a week of fun! Here they are on the big day - Hayden the BYU football player, Chloe the pink poodle, and Hannah the Chinese girl.

We started out the week with Hannah's halloween piano recital. She played Grim Grinning Ghosts. She decided to dress up as a witch for this night. It was really fun to see everyone's costumes and see all the decorations. Her teacher did a great job.

 
 Here is the pumpkin she carved just for that night.

 We can't have a year without carving pumpkins grown from Grandma and Grandpa's garden.

 All the creations at our house.

 A picture of the brain fruit dip we brought to an adult costume party we went to. I dressed up like a bun in the oven and Heath wore an apron and hat being the bun maker. It was a lot of fun.

 They started out the night before Halloween going trunk or treating with Grandma and Grandpa Jackson. They had a lot of fun.  On Halloween Day we went to the school to see the parade.

 Then we got to help in Hayden's classroom's party. We had so much fun!

 We ended the day with trick or treating! Here we are visiting grandma's and then their dad took them around the neighborhood that night. They ended up with plenty of memories and candy to last for awhile.

Chloe

 This little one is growing up too fast. I thought I better do a post all about her so I can remember just how sweet and fun she is at two years old. I really enjoy this stage. We have a lot of fun together all day while the kids are at school. It is nice to have one on one time with her. She is really speaking a lot now. It is fun to hear her little thoughts. She is really funny and has a quick wit. She loves to sing, march and skip everywhere she goes. She loves to read books. She is still really good at sleeping at night and a three hour nap in the day. She loves to watch Mickey Mouse and Lion King. She loves when her brother and sister come home each day. She is quick to tell them if they are being mean or nice to her. Of course it is never her being mean. She is quick to say that she is "daddy's girl". She loves to be with him. We will be setting up a new room for her this week to make room for her new sister. She seems very excited about it and loves to be around babies. Hopefully that will continue.

Rylin comes to our house once a week. Chloe loves her Ry Day and can't wait each time to have her all to herself.

She still loves to read and take care of her baby's.



She loves making cookies with her brother.

Sand Dunes

 I have been wanting to take the kids to the sand dunes here in Idaho Falls for a long time. I remember going as a kid and loving it! It seemed like everytime I would think of it it would be too hot or too windy. The Huls were in town and we finally had time to squeeze it in. They loved it! I don't think they realized what a big hill of sand it was going to be. They had fun digging, rolling down the hills, and digging caves. My kids loved it so much we had to go back the next week with Zach and Rees. Once again they had a great time. I will have to keep this on my list of fun things to do. Harley was lucky enough to go and I think he had more fun than the kids running around and digging in the sand.

Hayden's Football 2012

Hayden loves football. He had a another great season. They won some, they lost some but made huge improvements. He plays with a great group of boys and the coach's (thanks Ed Murdock and Christian Taylor) were awesome. He was really good at getting flags, busting throught the line to the quarterback and he even got to run it a few times.  He is really starting to figure out the rules. He can't wait for tackle football (we will see once he actually gets hit a few times).  Now . . . on to basketball season.

It's A Girl!

We were excited for the ultrasound that happened a few weeks ago. It is great because it means you are officially half way through the pregnancy and it eases your mind on health concerns. We were so glad to hear that she is doing great and all looks well.
The gender was a whole different surprise for us. After calling this baby a boy for four months and making decisions based on it's gender, it was quite a shock to hear "yep, that's for sure a girl". He reassured us four or five different times so there really is no doubt that we have more pink, hair and sweetness coming our way. Heath took it in stride and is just so happy to have another baby. I was shocked and had to let it settle in for a few days. Hannah and Chloe were so excited. Chloe had been telling us that this baby was a girl. I should have listened. I am so excited that this will work out really well for her. It is so nice to have a sister close in age to you. I am sure they will be best little friends.
Telling Hayden was a whole different story.  He was so excited to have a brother to teach everything to and not to be outnumbered. His initial response was tears and then he calmed down and has done really well handling it. He just gets to be our special little boy. He does say that the baby owes him a kit kat because she is a girl. We laughed and told him that would probably work. He will be a great brother to her.
So come February we will be blessed once again. We are so excited to get her here. When I look back at our journey it really is amazing that we were able to have four children. There were many times I thought that would be impossible. We are truly thankful for it. I am excited to be done with contractions, back pain, nausea and to just feel normal again. Now comes the real challenge - finding a girl name!

First Day of School 2012

Hannah is in 3rd Grade

 The countdown finally ended. They were so excited to go back to school today. It has been a great day for everyone. Hayden had a hard time going to sleep last night. Hannah woke up at 5:30 this morning. They both were ready to go before 7 and the bus didn't come until 7:55.


Hayden is in 2nd grade



 They looked great!

 The long line at the bus stop and all the kids weren't even there. It takes three stops in our neighborhood to fill a bus.

Off they go! Hopefully it will be a great day!

Chloe turns Two!

 Chloe was so excited for her Happy Day! She knew it would be somethings special for her. We started with a small party at Grandma Thornton's. She had cupcakes and got a new baby and puppy. She was so excited when we sang and she realized the song was for her.

 The next morning she woke up to balloons, decorations and her favorite breakfast.  Of course, the kids had to have her blow out the candle again - I think it is because it gives Hayden a reason to light a match.

 Hannah and Hayden were insistant that she would love going to Blastoff! They were right - she did. She loved having her brother and sister all to herself to play with.

 Later that night she opened her presents.

She has been in heaven with her two babies and the gear to take care of them. She spends hours playing with them.
We are blessed to have this sweet girl in our family. She keeps us smiling with all she does. Happy Day, Chloe!