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