Claira's Christmas Valentine Heart Song.

Claira is an official Christmas nut!  Like real nut.  Crazy person.  We did the best thing that we have ever done in our marriage...bought a fake pre-lit Christmas tree...and ever since we put it up (IN FIVE MINUTES...GLORIOUS!) Claira has been obsessed with all the Christmas decorations and Christmas songs and Christmas books and Christmas stuffed animals.  She even wrote her own Christmas song.  This is the second version that is a little different from the original because somehow it turned into a half Christmas and half Valentine's Day song.  Here it is in all it's glory.  

Christmas things are snowing down

The bells are ringing bong bong bong

And everything is bonging and making snowflakes down the wildom (that means going down the drain)

I want the Christmas things snowing and everything and I just want Christmas to come right now.  ‘

And I want stockings and I want presents and I just want some valentine’s days. 

And hearts are going to make it soon and heart paper and heart cookies and frosting and cupcakes and hearts hearts hearts.

I want heart and Christmas all the time!  Coming hearts and coming Christmas and I just want things coming down.  I want Christmas day and stuffed animals and snowflakes and hearts  coming down.  

Note that she actually invented a new word: Wildom.  Which means going down the drain.  

Here are some pictures of her teaching Gentry to be Christmas crazy.  

Saturday Than got busy and put up some outside Christmas lights!  The kids love 'em and I love 'em even if there are just a few.  

 And Gentry is a nut about the Christmas tree!  Every toddler is but seriously, I cannot get the girl away from the darn tree!  I can't blame her.  It is pretty. 

 We put lights in all the kids rooms again this year.  They love it! 

 Having Thanksgiving early is really where it's at!  I truly feel like we'll be all ready for Christmas.  WE are all decorated and have most of our shopping done.  I'm ready to start wrapping and it's still November!  That has never happened.  I just finished our activity advent calendar!  And that's one of those things where I was like, "OH, I should do that!"  Well guess what...we're actually doing it!  And it's going to be awesome.  We may even get some JOY out of this season instead of just running around with our heads cut off. 

 One other funny thing that Claira did was stop me when I skipped past a Christmas song on the radio.  I was just flipping through the stations when she was like, "Mom!  You passed a Christmas song!"  Like it was the worst thing in the world.  Every time we are in the car, Christmas music it is!  

Thanksgiving!

Sadly I did not take very many pictures of Thanksgiving.  But we really did have a great Thanksgiving.   We drove up to Shauna's brand new (to them) house which is only six hours away but feels like a hop, skip and jump compared to our usual 12 hour drives to Utah. 

Here we are all excited to go!

And then a little sleepy after a bit.  Isn't she the cutest with her doll?  She loves those things. 

 Their house is awesome!  It's right by the school and the church...like walking distance...how perfect is that??!?!  Shauna was very proud to be having Thanksgiving in her first very own home and we were very happy that we could be there for it.

This year we really did have much to be thankful for.  We are having a brand new baby in a few..okay nine...weeks.  The baby looks healthy and right on time.  I just heard her hear beat again two days ago and I just got excited that she was coming.  Another girl.  I just can't wait to see how she fits in and how much she will be loved by everyone.  Most likely she'll be the baby of the family and be completely spoiled rotten but I find it hard to believe that there can be more spoiled kids than we already have.  

Than has a great job that supports us and gives us some wants as well as needs.  He's been able to be home a lot more now lately (and as I type this he is on a red-eye to Boston...oh the irony!) and the kids just really need him to be home.  I can do as much as I can but life is a lot better when he's around.  He did Pacen's piano practice the other day and it was seriously a big load off of my shoulders.  And it seems (and I'm being hopeful here) that Pacen may have seen the benefit of really practicing and that if you don't cry and throw a fit you can actually get your piano practice done in hardly no time at all!  We'll see how long it lasts.  

We live in a great house in a great area.  The kids have a good teachers and a good school and good friends.  And my kids are just awesome.  They make me laugh and they love each other (most of the time)  and are just good kids.  In many ways, on the outside looking in, I'm sure that it looks like we have the "perfect" life but we have our issues just like anyone else.  But we have been blessed in so many ways and we also know that where much is given much is required and are trying to live our lives in accordance to Heavenly Fathers plan and commandments and try to do good in the world and in our family.  

Scotty is so good with Gentry.  She loves him and he loves her.  Here they are reading books.  Apparently Gentry was reading to him. :)

Lucky me, Kyle helped me stuff the bird.  I used mom's recipe that is simply delicious but I really do hate sticking my hand inside a raw turkey cavity.  IT really did make me miss mom though.  When I smell those spices, I just get transported back to Thanksgiving with her.

 This was Thanksgiving Day playing at the park.  Everyone needed a little outside break and Pacen and Than needed their football fix.  

 All these girl cousins could be trouble some day!  So far they are just fun. 

 After stuffing our faces and then stuffing them again with some pie, we tried to get the kids in bed and headed out amongst the crazy Thanksgiving crowds for Black Friday deals.  We didn't really need anything but obviously bought stuff.  Buying things for the kids is so much fun.  I LOVE buying  Christmas presents.  What we didn't understand was why, at 8:00pm on the night of Thanksgiving, would someone...and not just one person....like a big line of people...be eating McDonald's?!?!  There were seriously a load of people eating at the McDonald's after they had done their shopping and it kind of made me sick to my stomach. 

Friday we did a little more shopping and then headed home.  We obviously had a great trip because within minutes everyone was asleep.  

 Not me, of course.  And Kathy too.  We had to hurry home so she could get ready for her flight early the next morning that she ended up missing anyway.  We should not have had that last 'sleepover' with her.  :)  So Thankful this Thanksgiving for such a great family to be a part of.  We are very loved.  

Kathy Came!

We've been wanting Kathy to come out for a while now.  She decided to come out for the WHOLE WEEK of Thanksgiving!  It was awesome.  The kids were super excited and basically just played with Kathy all day every day.  

She got here Friday night and traffic was horrible!  But we made it and grabbed some dinner.  The kids just wanted to sleep with her every night and we had so many "sleepovers" downstairs that I can't keep track now.  

I didn't take too many pictures but here are some highlights.  

Than has some grand idea to do a puzzle and then puts it on the ottoman as if that is a great place to do a puzzle.  Believe it or not, it was not finished between Gentry taking pieces away and just plain losing interest. It was a good try, babe, but really puzzles need to be done on the table. :)

Drive In!  We loaded up the car with snacks and blankets to watch Wreck It Ralph.  I had very low expectations and it was actually pretty good.  The kids liked it but they are not too harsh of critics.  I love going to the drive in and getting all snuggled in with the whole crew.

Shopping Downtown! Kathy always takes the kids to a fun store to get some toys.  And she did "owe" the kids birthday presents.  (Kathy is crazy!)

The whole day Claira went around wearing two different shoes.  She can't find her red sparkly shoe but she really wanted to wear one so that's exactly what she did.  

Monterey Bay Aquarium! 

Tuesday we drove down to Monterey to go to the Aquarium.  It was a two hour drive but totally worth it.  That place is amazing for kids.  My kids were having a sort of rough day.  Camry wore her Uggs and her feet were burning hot all day but wouldn't just take them off and walk around because people would "see her and laugh" but her feet were all sweaty so it was virtually impossible to get them on and off easily which resulted in a lot of tears and frustration for both of us.  Add that to Gentry needing to take a nap and refusing to sit in the stroller and you can see how it wasn't the perfect visit to the aquarium but it still was fun.  

 

 While we were doing this....

 Gentry was getting undressed.  She was crazy! 

Proof that I was there.  I love the ocean.  Even when Camry is throwing a fit about her shoes and Claira just wants to eat pink frosted sugar cookies and Pacen is mad because someone ate the last sandwich and I forgot the juice boxes in the car.  I still love the ocean and can enjoy it and be grateful that we live so close to it.  

 Yep, this is when we decided to leave.  A very full day indeed. 

 But we did have stop and find Kathy some clam chowder.  

 It only took us three hours to get home.  Funny thing was that Than called and we were technically one hour away from home and he said that he was going to run at the gym and then bike until we got there.  LIttle did he know that we'd be another 2+ hours because of traffic.  At least he got a good workout in!  

The next day we loaded up and headed out to Oregon for Thanksgiving!