More Snow...

Grandpa broke out the skid and made this awesome sledding hill in his front yard. The kids were having so much fun, we had to drag them into the house from below-zero temperatures. Crazy!

Christmas #2 with Grandma Beth and Grandpa

Cookies for Santa....

Christmas morning....

Christmas #1 with Grammie and Poppa

Snow in St. George

The kids were just a little thrilled to see snow...even though it wasn't much!

Christmas "Photoshoot"

Missing Chocolate....

Our neighbors brought us this chocolate-filled advent calendar on December 1 to count down the 24 days before Christmas. I figured we'd divide 24 by 3, so that each child would get a chocolate every three days. Well, this is how I found it today, December 3, after Nathan snuck upstairs with it. Fifteen chocolates missing. I guess I will be buying two more so everyone can have his/her own calendar and count down the days at his/her own pace!

Thanksgiving

We certainly have a great deal to be thankful for this year. We had so much fun with Grammie, Poppa, Grandma Yancey, Eric, Angela, Jeff, Heidi, and Maylee on Thanksgiving. The girls thought it would be fun to have everyone dress up for the dinner, and although there was a little grumbling (I won't say who from), I think in the end everyone really enjoyed it. The food was delicious, but the best part by far was being with loved ones. Thanks, everyone, for making the trip to be with us!

Kids and Dogs

Nathan is always telling us how much he would love a puppy. Whenever we see a dog he asks, "Can I please have one of those?" Unfortunately for Nathan, Daddy isn't in love with the idea, and Mommy is overwhelmed by it!

The girls are in on the begging too. A puppy is on their Christmas "wish list" .....as well as other lists. Every time I go to the store and pull out my grocery list I see the following: milk, eggs, bread, etc. (my handwriting), puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy, etc. (Anna's writing.)

The logical side of me thinks that we're just not ready for that level of commitment. But then I look at these pictures of Nathan and Toolie, and all "logic" goes out the window. Lucky for me, he still has to talk Daddy into it.....

We get pretty territorial about our cookies around here.

Happy Birthday, Aimee!

Aimee's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. (She decorated it herself.)

Waiting for presents....


Daddy made us his yummy breakfast burritos in honor of the special day.

Seven things we love about our 'seven-year-old':

1. She has a very cute and contagious laugh.

2. She loves to have fun.

3. Aimee is an entertaining big sister for Nathan and a best friend for Anna.

4. She makes a mean fruit salad (her own secret recipe).

5. Aimee is great at spelling. She even out-spelled most of the third graders in her 2-3 combo class's "Spelling Olympics."

6. She has a remarkable fashion sense for a little girl. She's been putting together her own cute outfits for four years now! (I should ask her to lay my clothes out at night...)

7. Aimee has a very vivid imagination. She loves to play everything from school to church to "Rachel Ray." I love to eaves drop in on her "conversations" when she plays.....you'd think you were listening to a 30-year-old!

We love you, Aimee!

Halloween

Pre-Trick-or-Treating party with Friends (Nathan, the only boy once again, refused to pose for the picture with all of those girls!)

Carving the pumpkin with Daddy's Dremel (it's great to have power tools around...)


Our beautiful (and good) witches.


The bag started getting a little heavy...