Pretty nails!

For Christmas my brother's family gave us a nail polish kit.  They look like pens, but one lid is for painting the nails and the top lid is a fine point that is for decorating.  We had ourselves a little nail party yesterday.

Rebecca wanted red nails with white flowers.  That smeared flower was the second, so instead of painting it for a third time, I just left it smeared.

Sarah wanted snowflakes on her toes and a snowman on her thumbs.

Breanna wanted hearts.

It was loads of fun!  Thanks Shayne, Nyla & kids!  We've had a lot of fun!

Christmas

What do you get when you don't have enough boys in the family for the nativity reenactment?

AN ALL FEMALE CAST!

Rebecca (shepherd), Breanna (wise men), Kelsey (wise men), Ashley (Mary), Cabbage Patch Doll (baby Jesus), Sarah (Joseph), Riley (wise men)

The two little boys that belong to these two families were just a little to young to help out.

Here everybody is patiently waiting their turn while Papa is reading the story and songs are being sung.

The story is getting a little long and the little ones are just starting to get restless.  By the end, Rebecca was finished and another cousin was laying on the floor.  It was really cute, though!  Thanks to my SIL's mom who made the costumes!

Isn't she a darling shepherd?

Here's the wise "woman" showing off her best "princess smile".

The way we got her to wear the costume was by showing her that this one had jewels on it!

The elf came!  He never disappoints us!

Christmas cheer was there in abundance.  Papa forgot to get the See's chocolates, but Nannie had a stash.

After the elf came, the children got to open one present! 

PJ's!

Christmas day was loads of fun watching the kids open their presents!  Sarah likes to rip through them all to see what she and everyone got.  Breanna likes to take her time.  Rebecca likes the presents but is still working on understanding what's going on.  Hunter just enjoys being part of it all.  He liked to play with each present before moving on the next one, but of course, Sarah would not allow it!

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours -- May you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Traditions

Just thought it would be fun to list some of my favorite family Christmas traditions:

Making Christmas goodies -- I always loved how the kitchen smelled when my mom was baking all her Christmas goodies. 

Every Christmas Eve the elf would come light the candle to let us know Santa was on his way.  We'd also get to open one gift before going to bed.

Christmas cheer -- my dad makes this every year.  It's just eggnog with a little Sprite in it.  Then we'd each get a See's chocolate.

Christmas stockings favorites -- beef jerky (our very own, which was big at our house growing up with 7 kids you never got your own), oranges and nuts.

Christmas story -- all of us kids would dress up in robes, towels, whatever we could find to reinact the story of the Savior's birth.

Christmas books -- my mom collects Christmas books when they go on sale.  She'd wrap them up and we'd get to open one each night and read it together.  Now she has so many -- three baskets full -- so she sets them out for the grandchildren to enjoy when they come over.

Christmas morning -- we'd all gather in my parents' room and have family prayer together.  Then my dad would go out in the family room to see if Santa came, turn on the Christmas tree lights, and give us a signal to come out. 

Advent calendar -- one year my mom made an advent calendar and we'd always see who could get there the fastest Christmas morning to turn over baby Jesus.

I love everything about Christmas -- the lights, the smells, the feelings, everything!  I am especially grateful that this season reminds us of the Savior -- his birth, his life, and his sacrifice.

Hayride

My parents decided this year it would be fun to go on a hayride as a family to sing Christmas carols and look at Christmas lights in their neighborhood!

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!

There were about 22 of us.  My dad drove his truck with the trailer attached.  He organized a little route for us to follow.  We had a lot of fun singing -- my older brother mostly singing the wrong words to every song -- laughing, and having a ball being together. 

A great memory that will hopefully become a yearly tradition.

Gingerbread houses

Well, I've already missed one day!  So on the ball!  So you'll be getting two today!

This year we went to my SIL, Brenda's for a gingerbread house making party.  SO MUCH FUN!!!  She had all the houses made, a wonderful taco bar lunch, and loads of already homemade goodies!  The kids each made a gingerbread house and later all the adults got to sit and visit for a while.  It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday -- with family!

Now the houses sit on my counter in the kitchen.  Yesterday I went out to the storage room to get something and came back to Rebecca standing on a chair in front of the houses.  She said, with something in her mouth, "I not touch anysing, Mommy!  I not eating the candies." 

What we've been up to!

Well -- just in time for the count down to Christmas -- I will attempt to write a little something on this blog everyday for the rest of the week. 

I know, I know, what a treat!

It's quite out of the ordinary for me so --

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Sarah earned her "Top Bear" t-shirt this month! 

That means she passed the timed math facts test for 1st grade. 

It's a very big deal and she was quite excited!

Breanna & Rebecca are still their cute little selves. 

Playing nicely together and getting every toy out they can find just for the sake of getting them out. 

Rebecca has learned two things recently: 

mascara and climbing on Sarah's bed.

A week ago Sunday I was getting ready for church when Rebecca came in my room with a long spool of ribbon unraveling behind her.  I set down my mascara, ran to clean up the ribbon mess before it got out of control, put the ribbon back, and came back to that cute little face above.  All she could say was, "I putting on my scara, Mommy."  That "scara" was waterproof. 

Yep, scrub, scrub, scrub.

Cute little Hunter.  I just love his smile.  He loves the Christmas tree and all the ornaments.  Yes, it is decorated only halfway on purpose. 

We were hoping he couldn't reach some of the ornaments,

but somehow he has found a few. 

One of the things he loves to do is sit down in front of your legs. 

You could be cooking in the kitchen, standing there talking to someone, or whatever just as long as you are standing,

and he'll come sit his little self down right between your legs. 

Oh, a side note -- we're very excited that there are more teeth coming in next to those two HUGE front teeth. 

Pictures

Thanks to my friend Jana, we got new pictures of our kids.  I finally got around to posting them.  Here's the background information on each:

Sarah's -- we wanted her to have a natural smile instead of the pasted one you see on the school pictures.  We tried to get her to laugh.  She performed well.

Breanna's -- we were trying to get her TO smile and told her, "Breanna, smile like a princess."  Here's what we got -- our little princess!

Rebecca's -- say cheese.  She's very good at it except for she scrunches her eyes.  So Rebecca -- just cute, cute, cute!

Hunter's -- bring a toy and the boy smiles.  Don't you just love his HUGE front teeth.  They're inherited!  My dad thinks he gets them from him.  His first tooth, at 10 months old, was one of the top ones -- only.  Then one of the bottom ones came in and thankfully the other bottom one came in shortly after.  He's had ONLY four teeth since he turned one.  He's almost 17 months old and is getting about 5 teeth right now.  Two molars, two on top and one more on the bottom.  I guess his teeth have a mind of their own.  They are not coming in the "usual" order at all!

Locks of Love

A while back I decided that I wanted to donate Breanna's pretty blonde hair to "Locks of Love". It's been growing out for about a year or so. We finally reached the 10" needed to donate. Thank goodness! It was starting to tangle a lot, and with her sensitive head (just like her mother) "pretty hair" was getting to be very difficult. Here's the result:

Our little Rapunzel has cut her hair and she's still as cute as ever!

Halloween's coming, Halloween's coming! What shall we do?

For Halloween this year we went to Brent & Lori's up north. It was soooo much fun! This is what greeted us when we drove up to their house.

Since our nephew, Nathan was down in the valley playing in a soccer tournament, he wasn't home when we got there. My SIL told my girls that Nathan was buried in the front yard because that's his shoe in the ground. Later, she, of course, showed them it was all fake. Breanna got worried and said, "How can I help Nathan get out of there." Rebecca, smart one that she is, said, "That not Nathan."

They went all out on our meals!

Breakfast: pumpkin pancakes and bacon

Lunch: wormy sandwiches (sliced hot dogs strips cooked in the frying pan) and chips

Dinner: Guts & eyeballs (spaghetti, olives, garlic bread, and green salad)

Breakfast: egg burritos (potatoes, sausage, eggs, & cheese)

THEN, there were fun activities planned for the kids!

Pumpkin carving

Spider cookies

After the activities, we got all the kids ready for Halloween! Oh, soooo cute!!!

Hunter & Rebecca were little gnomes. Oh, incredibly cute! Rebecca played the part so well. She walks with a little hop. She wouldn't let you touch or take off her hat. Don't even think about holding her bucket.

We went down the fairgrounds for some fun activities, then to the ward Trunk-or-Treat.

It was an incredibly fun weekend!

Thanks Turley family -- IT WAS AWESOME!

New Skin Treatment -- "Logurt"

For anyone who needs a new skin treatment -- and it's drinkable.

It's known as "logurt" at our house, but really you can buy it in the yogurt section of your grocery store. I must say that after this treatment, Rebecca's skin was extremely soft!

Birthday girl

Our cute little Breanna turned 4 this weekend. What a day!

We all sang "Happy Birthday" to her and gave her cards in the morning.

She got breakfast in bed -- sort of.

The other children wanted to eat with her in her room, so we set up a table.

She ordered -- blueberry muffins, bacon, yogurt, and chocolate milk.

After stake conference she got to open her gifts. Breanna and Sarah played together for hours. First, they were in the livingroom playing, but moved to their room when

the little kids woke up from their naps.

We had dinner -- flat iron steak, dutch oven potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, rolls w/ raspberry jam (thank you, Mom), and salad.

She ordered a chocolate cake with Rocky Road ice cream -- Bruce did homemade and it was absolutely scrumptious! He even roasted his own almonds. Oh, so yummy!

If you need a fix, just call!

Happy Birthday, Peanut! We're so glad Heavenly Father sent you to our family!

Yummy yummies

Recently I've been asked for a few recipes. I thought the best way to get them to you is on the blog. Here are the yummies!

Artichoke Dip
1 - 14 oz. artichokes in water, chopped
1 cup mayo
7 oz. can chopped green chiles
1 1/2 cups monterrey jack cheese

Combine ingredients together and pour in a 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until brown on top.


Cucumber-Avocado Salsa by Ellie Krieger
1 med. English cucumber, seeded and diced (a regular cucumber is fine too)
2 med. firm-ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 red onion, diced
juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
salt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped, or to taste (I only put in one or two)

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and toss gently to combine. Serve within an hour of preparing. (I like to refrigerate it for at least 30 min. for all the flavors to combine.)

ENJOY!

Poor baby!

Never a dull moment at our house. Yesterday Sarah was playing with Hunter and she thought it would be fun to throw a plastic tub over Hunter's head. Got him right under the lip. The sad thing is he fell and hit that exact same spot on a window sill early that morning. There was already a pretty good bruise, now a gash. We had to take him to urgent care.

Patiently waiting to be seen. We brought his little "Mater" truck and another toy to play with. He was such a good sport. The doctor came out to see if we even needed to be seen. It ended up being deeper than she initially thought.

They gave him a topical anesthetic, wrapped him in a burrito, put the ONE little stitch in to close it, and put on a bandaid.

This morning he's been smiling, laughing, and wanting to clean out the fireplace. Not allowed on the fireplace -- we don't need another accident!