Ugly sweater cookies

Aunt Janiece came over the 1st of December to start the holiday season off right with some ugly sweater cookie decorating.

Vanner wanted so badly to "help" decorate but instead he got stuck in his high chair playing with pom poms.

Liza wanted me to take a picture of all of her sweaters - which didn't quite happen - but here are two.

November

Liza got a new bike helmet.  Vanner thought it was pretty funny to wear it himself.

Max is the most active sleepers.  I'm often finding him all sprawled out sideways on his bed.  Cutie.

By the end of the month Vanner finally decided to start standing up along things.  Doing everything in his own time I guess.

Jeremy's birthday

Another year older for our favorite boy. A few weeks before his birthday I asked the kids what they wanted to give him.  Liza said instantly "I know exactly what daddy wants."  When I asked "What?" she promptly told me he wanted a guitar.  She knew exactly what she wanted it to look like and how it should work.  I helped her a little but mostly she did this all by herself.  I loved her creativity and thoughtfulness.

Max and I made chocolate covered pretzel sticks with different toppings for him.

The plan was to go to Tucano's for dinner but apparently even on a random Thursday night you should make reservations.  The wait was going to be about an hour and a half so we decided to head somewhere else and ended up at a Vietnamese sandwich place which was surprisingly good.  Afterwards it was home for chocolate molten cakes and ice cream.  

His main present was the robot vacuum he has been eyeing and talking about for at least a year.  Now I call it our little dog zooming around the floor picking up our scraps.

The following week we had another party at Doris and Severin's house.

Another year of adventure awaits.

The joy of being a member of the great Smith family

After spending some time in Dallas we drove to Camp Buckner for the George and Beth Smith family reunion (basically all of my aunts and uncles and my cousins).  As expected we all had a great time and love spending our days playing, playing, playing, lounging and eating.

For most of our meals we ate at the cafeteria but for Thanksgiving the cafeteria was closed so we had to fend for ourselves.  Blake saved the day by bringing his massive roaster and spent the day cooking up some super tasty meat.

Mashed potatoes anyone?

A few sides to make our meal complete.

We also did our traditional Thanksgiving piñata.  Vanner got to go first but was a bit unsure what to do.  Max and Liza went a little farther back but definitely had the right idea.

 

Loved seeing Aunt Heather and spending more time with her.  We even got to see her new house while we were in Dallas which was fun.

One night we all went on a hay ride.  The kids liked it but were a little nervous when our driver pulled off the road, turned off the truck and started howling to the coyotes to see if they would howl back.  They weren't so sure about that.

Other than that we talked a lot, stayed up way too late, and just loved on family.  Unfortunately I don't have many pictures with my cousins.  I'll have to remember to make that a priority next reunion.

Until next time, Texas.

 

PS - Did I mention the souped up car we got from the rental company.  It was a Maxima that they had done some "upgrades" to including blue interior lighting and a maxed out stereo.  It was pretty funny and we were laughing about it the whole time.

Ft. Worth, TX zoo

We flew to Dallas over Thanksgiving for a Smith family reunion.  We arrived a few days early and stayed with my cousin Megan.  Since we had some time we decided to spend a day at the Ft. Worth zoo.  The weather was awesome and we all got to see the animals on our list.

The kids got to feed birds with seeds on these sticks.  They were frustrated at first that none of the birds wanted their food because I think they were already full but towards the end they found a few that would eat from them.

We rented a small four door car because it was less expensive.  That meant all three kids across the back seat.  We just brought booster seats with us so we wouldn't have to carry big car seats and we didn't think the bigger ones would all fit in the back.  Since Liza was in the middle she was sad that she didn't have anywhere to put her head when she wanted to rest.  Max was a good brother and said she could lay on him.  It didn't last for long but cute while it did.

Curly cutie

We did curlers overnight in Liza's hair.  It turned out way more curly and short than I was expecting but fun to try something new.  Maybe next time we will try some curlers that are a little bigger.

All Together park, Orem

We tried out a new park in Orem that we really liked called All Together park.  It was created as a space where children with special needs could play alongside children without special needs.  It had some really fun features that were unique and fun.  One of my favorites was this double baby and big kid swing.  Liza could swing herself and swing Vanner at the same time.  Genius!  Wish this park was closer but it is worth the drive and we will definitely go back when the nice weather returns.

Goodbye gymnastics

November brought with it the end of our gymnastics class.  Liza and Max had a fun time but I don't see any competitive gymnastics in their near future.  I was a little disappointed that the teachers didn't spend more time teaching the kids what they wanted them to do instead of just doing it all for them.  But I guess you get what you pay for and it was good exposure to all the different gymnastic elements which was fun.  One thing is for sure...I will not miss the dirty, cold underground location we went to for class.  Vanner was covered in black from head to toe every time we left.

Vanner's first birthday

Our littlest munchkin turned one!   Here are a few noteworthy things about our Vanner Von

Doesn't like to stand.  We are pretty sure he can but he has only done it a handful (that is one handful) of times in his entire life.

He loves to put his finger in your mouth.

When he is crawling away from you and you say his name he stops and puts one hand up in the air and looks back at you.  Pretty cute.

He has a crooked smile that is so unique and just melts your heart.

Liza and Max (and me and Jeremy) think he is pretty darn fun.

Vanner's birthday started out pretty typical.  Lounged in pajamas all morning, played with toys, took a couple naps, took Liza to school.

I attempted marshmallow fondant for the first time for his cake.  The kids really wanted to help me make it so we started before Liza went to school.  Unfortunately it turned out to be a complete mess in the beginning.  The fondant was not hardening and it was super gooey and runny.  Exasperated I threw my hands up and cleaned up a bit before taking Liza to school.  I think that was the magic trick because after I came home it has hardened a bit from sitting out on the counter and I was able to roll it out and make fun colors and shapes.  The taste wasn't amazing but I loved out the design turned out.

I made two cakes.  A smaller one just for Vanner and a bigger one for everyone else.

I had some extra fondant so Liza and Max used it to decorate graham crackers when Liza got home from school.  I had already finished decorating the cake and she was sad she had missed it.

I set up this adorable little photo shoot to capture some pictures but Vanner was not being cooperative.  Every time I set him on the floor he started crawling towards the camera right away.  Not exactly the magical/adorable photos I was hoping for but we did manage to get a few good ones.

Here is his classic one hand up in the air position that he does all the time.

 

 

He wasn't sure about his cake at first.  He just poked it with his finger over and over.  Finally I offered him a piece and after that he was all over it.  Creating a decent chunk out of one side by the time he was finished.

Brother and sister helped a little along the way too.

He was spoiled with tons of presents and didn't know what to play with first.

Cousins, siblings and aunties were happy to help him out.

Sure am happy this guy joined our family.