More Christmas Fun

Susie is helping me upload pictures right now. We had a fun conversation:

Me: Susie- all I want for Christmas is you.
Susie: huh? What you said?
Me: All I want for Christmas is you!
Susie: You want me to be your present? I not a present.

It made me laugh. We have done some fun things these last few weeks. I was able to travel up to Utah by myself to attend my sister, Tiffany's, graduation from nursing school. I was so thankful that I could be there. She has worked so hard! We celebrated by going out and getting our nails done and buying lots of ice cream.

We had a little Christmas devotional at our house. We invited a few friends and neighbors to come over and share a thought, scripture or song about the Savior.

We went over to our friends house and made gingerbread houses. I'd never made them before and it was so fun! We had pizza for dinner and watched Elf while we worked on decorating our houses. Susie loved it.

We also bought tickets for the Polar Express! We drove to Williams (30 minutes away) and boarded the train there. On the train we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. We passed the "North Pole" and saw Santa waving. On the way back Santa wasn't there anymore and we all wondered where he had gone. He was on the train! He greeted each of the children and gave them each a bell. It was a lot of fun.

On the way back Paul held the bell to his ear and said, oh darn, it doesn't work. (Non-believer)

Braden came down with a fever on Thursday and has been pretty sick. I took him to the doctor and she said his ears and throat look fine, it might be the flu. We are still home taking care of him. Poor little guy. He hasn't eaten or slept well in 4 days. We are a little nervous because we were planning on leaving for Texas tomorrow. Paul gave him a blessing this morning and we are hoping he shows lots of improvement today (if you are reading this on Sunday, please say a little prayer for him!) We are so excited to go to Texas to spend Christmas with our family there! I hope every one is feeling well so we can go.

Holiday Fun

Lots of pictures to share. We've had a few busy weeks. I don't like it when the word "holiday" and "busy" go together but we are doing our best not to get caught up in our "to do" list and focus instead on what is most important this Christmas season.

We stayed in Flagstaff for Thanksgiving and enjoyed dinner with some friends in our ward.

Before dinner we spent the day as a family and put up Christmas lights. 

We had fun decorating our house for Christmas, too! Braden tried to help by putting books in the tree.  Susie loved putting up her new Princess Aurora ornament.

Last week we went to Little America, which is a hotel in Flagstaff that puts up an amazing light display. We had a great time looking at the lights and bought ice cream cones afterwards. My kids love to look at Christmas lights, they had a ball! 

Paul and I were asked to be in charge of our ward's Christmas party. We decided to center it around the Nephite Christmas story found in the Book of Mormon. We cut out silhouettes of what was supposed to look like Nephite villages... it didn't look quite the way I wanted it too but it was still neat.

Paul borrowed a suit and played Santa Clause for a half hour before the dinner started. He did such a good job! I was impressed. He ho-ho-hoed and asked all the kids if they had been good. I thought for sure Susie would recognize him... nope! It was so funny. Braden didn't recognize him either...

Last weekend we all drove up to St George for our annual Garbett Family Christmas party. It was so so so nice to see everyone and spend a little time with them. We don't get to see them often enough.  Susie and Braden were adored by all and it was so nice for me to have them spend time with people I love so much.

Here are a few other pictures that make me happy. Braden has a smile and laugh that melts my heart. He is the cutest. He is a handful, too. Susie is my little buddy. It's not always easy taking care of 2 kids but I'm grateful I get to do it. We are so blessed.

Kiddo Update

The weather has gotten colder here in Flagstaff, but we are enjoying it. We can still go to the park if we bundle up. I happen to think my kids look adorable bundled up so I love it! 

Susie is doing well in preschool. She does a great job writing her letters and she can keep up with the older girls in the class. She loves having her preschool friends come over. Every night when she goes to bed she asks me, "we have preschool morrow?" She likes to have her day lined out before going to sleep. 

I'm not very good at fancy hair but I was proud of myself for this one! It took forever and I had to give Susie a sucker and my phone to play with to get it done. Susie wanted "Elsa" hair so this was my best effort. 

Braden is a good little walker now. He toddles all around and tries to get into anything he can. I'm a baby proofing pro these days. I'm not sure how we are going to do a Christmas tree this year...

Braden is still taking 2 naps a day (one during preschool- yay!). He LOVES to be outside. He loves his daddy. But he loves his mommy too. He is a good little snuggler. He can say a few words now which is so fun and so cute! He says mama, and dad, dog, ball, cheese (chee) and Jesus (Jee). I love when he points to a picture of Jesus and says Jee! Jee! It is adorable. The boys were matching the other day so I had to get a picture. 

Halloween Fun

We had a fun October. We decorated for Halloween, made some pumpkin treats, and carved a pumpkin, too. We decided to dress up as the Berenstain Bear family because we love reading the books. I made the costumes (don't look too close- I'm not very good at sewing!) 

Paul had to work on Halloween but we did get to go to our ward's Halloween Carnival together. They had some fun games to play and then there was trunk-or-treating. 

On Halloween night the kids and I made homemade pizza and went trick-or-treating with some great friends across the neighborhood. Susie had so much fun. Several of the houses we went to went all out decorating with lights and fake smoke, etc. The kids just loved it. 

My friend Amberlee gave us all haircuts last week. It was Braden's first hair cut! They both look so cute. I just love Susanna's new bangs. Pretty adorable kids if I don't say so myself!!