A Sunbeam!

Well it's official.  I'm old.  My baby is in primary.  Nobody is left in Nursery.  Every one of them is now in Primary.  And it's weird.  Where are my babies?!  

This Sunday marked Kate's first day in Primary as a Sunbeam... She looked so grown up! Ryan is missing from this picture because he is down for the count.  Poor kid came down with pneumonia over the Christmas break and is currently on the couch resting and drinking juice (all the while some pretty heavy duty anti-biotics are working their way through his system).  

Wish this kid would just stop growing.  Not only do I lose my baby and end up chasing around a sassy little pre-schooler, but it just plain makes me feel old!  All I can say is- it's a dang good thing all three are cute or I wouldn't put up with it!

May Your Days Be Merry... And Bright

Yay!!  Christmas finally made it!  And it happens to be the ONLY day of the year that my kids can be counted on to sleep past 7.  I don't know what their problem is.  I was up at 6.

When they finally got their lazy cute bums out of bed... bedlam ensued!  

Ty was stoked to find his Star Wars Legos made it under the tree...

And Kate went to pieces when she found Elsa and Anna (from Frozen) waiting for her...

And happily Ryan was thrilled when he found some new knights with his name on them!

A new video game...

And more Legos... with any luck- this will keep him busy for days!!  :)

Happy Shaun!  Santa brought him a table saw.  Pretty sweet right?!

Uncle Chase got the boys some pretty sweet Boise State hats...

Shaun and I were gifted with 1/2 of a cow- which I am SO excited about!  There is nothing like having your freezer completely full of food- at the ready for the ever exhausting question "What's for Dinner?"  Thank-you Jacki and Orllo!

We spent the rest of the week in Idaho- that meant lots of 4-wheeler rides...

And time spent outside in the beautiful weather!

Papa liked chasing Ty around the yard... actually- I did too- tired him right out!

We spent some time visiting grandmas and aunts.  This sweet lady is Shaun's grandma June.  We love her.  And her puppy Andy.

She happens to be an amazing knitter- she knit all of our Christmas stockings.

Eventually we made our way home to celebrate with my family.  I love getting to celebrate twice!  And it was nice to come home.  I got a picture of my babies in front of our tree...

This was the ornament I let Ty get when we went to the Nutcracker together... something to remember it by.

And my favorite part- the new additions from the kids.  It seems like between church and school- there are always some new ornaments to put on the tree each year.  I have so much fun pulling them out each year.  Ty made an abominable snow man for my tree...

And Kate brought home a Christmas tree...

Ryan's class made little stockings... and if you look closely- you can see the little blue angel above it- that was his ornament from two years ago.

In all- it was a very merry Christmas for my family.  I am so blessed to have them.  It's always a bit of a letdown after the holidays- but hopefully we can carry the spirit of Christmas with us in our hearts for the rest of the year.

Christmas Eve

So this year is Christmas with the Kidds.  Which means a pretty long car ride and some creative wrapping and "hiding" in the car.  Cue the black garbage bags.  I got this.  :)

Shaun got off work early- which I think is awesome.  Thank-you Shaun's boss.  When he got home the car was packed and the kids had potty-ed and were ready to go.  We jumped in the car and slept until we hit the state line- except for Shaun.  Who is- like his boss- also awesome.  From the state line all we heard was "Are we there yet?"  and "How much LONG-ER?" (you've got to love it when the whine starts making one and two syllable words even longer).  

Eventually- much to the relief of ALL... we made it.  We pulled in just in time for some yummy dinner with Shaun's parents and the Chase and Dani Kidds.  We played around most of the evening and watched some Christmas movies.  Eventually we moved back into the kitchen and let the kids decorate some special cookies for Santa.

Once they had finished making some (for lack of a better word) YUMMY looking cookies for poor Santa, the kids got in their jammies and then pulled out Grandma's Nativity things.  This year, since the kids were getting a little older- we thought it would be fun to re-inact the story.

Kate was the angel and Deja was Mary.  Mary was excited about the news of her upcoming pregnancy- so she hugged the angel.  I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of the original story- but it was so cute.

Ty played Joseph and Ryan was a Shephard/Wiseman.  Cousin Krew was a sheep.  And a donkey.  And a thief.  Again- probably not part of the story- but we just went with it.  :)

Zombies made an appearance when Kate was telling the shepherds to not be afraid.  Sigh.  I kind of wish I had recorded it.  I don't think anyone believes me.  It's hilarious.

To kill a little more time before bed, Aunt Dani pulled out some cute games she had made- the kids LOVED it!  Which reminds me- Dani if you are reading this... I want the "Don't Eat Rudolf!"

We just finished playing when Ty checked my NORAD app on my phone to see where Santa was at.  He had been checking it throughout the night to check on his progress.  Suddenly he dropped the phone and said, "It's time for bed RIGHT NOW!  He's in South America and that's just too close!  We have to be asleep by the time he gets here!  Everyone in bed NOW!"  

And you know what?  They did.  It was 8:00 and all 5 of them made a mad dash for their beds.  Again- I wish I had it on video.  So funny.  

And it was off to bed for the rest of us too!  

Christmas Stories

A couple of years ago, I broke down and bought the Fisher Price Little People Nativity.  It was super expensive and absolutely adorable.  I love having it around because it means that the kids can look and touch a nativity without it being mine (which breaks).  It also works well when we tell the Nativity story over and over again- because we can move the pieces around (you know- the Wisemen can actually come from the East).

That said... my kids are weird.  When Ryan was three he kept picking up the angel and would take off running around the room- all the while holding the angel and saying Bzzzzzzzzz.  I think he thought it was a bug.

Kate on the other hand is absolutely convinced that there are zombies somewhere in the story.  Yeah.  I said zombies.  Ask her about it.  They appear somewhere in the fields with the shepherds.  And apparently will "eat your face off".  I'm really kind of concerned that she knows what a zombie is to begin with.  But also... why is it a part of the Nativity?  I must have missed something somewhere.


Whatever happened or was lost in the translation of the story- I am just grateful that she knows it- for the most part.  She is such a sweetie and I am so happy that she knows Jesus is such an important part of our Christmas celebrations.

Hey Santa...

It's getting pretty close to Christmas and the kids have not yet written their letters to Santa yet.  They are getting worried.  So they sat down, pencils in hand and got right down to business...

Ty was pretty straight forward...


Ryan wrote his all by himself.  Pretty awesome for my little preschooler!  He asked for a Lego Castle and a Remote Control Helicopter (yeah- he's asked for it for like three years now- keep hoping buddy).


Kate dictated to me... and was hilariously honest in her letter.  Then she "decorated" it before she put it in the envelope.


I guess we'll just have to see what Santa thought of their behavior this year... Naughty or Nice?