Gingerbread Houses and Parties

The kids have been so excited about all of the Christmas festivities over the past few weeks. They insist on having Christmas music on in the car, they want to go see the lights every night, they have a little tree in their room, and go to sleep every night listening to the Christmas primary songs. They were also very excited to make a gingerbread house. I had bought the kit at Costco(I know, it's not homemade but convenient) and the kids loved helping me do it. Then, they had made little marshmallow snowmen at school one day and we decided that they lived at the gingerbread house. Their faces just lit up while they decorated it.This past Thursday we had their school Christmas party. They made reindeer puppets, saw Santa, and had lunch. Kate was thrilled to see Santa. Luke was happy to see Santa. Lily is terrified of Santa and refused to even be close to him, but she is sure happy that he's coming to our house in 4 days.

Thanksgiving in Palm Spings

Yes, I know it's been 4 weeks since Thanksgiving, but I got a little behind on the blogging. This year we went to Palm Springs (actually Indio-it's 10 min. away) for Thanksgiving. My parents invited us and paid for all of us to stay at the Worldmark resort. It was an early Christmas present. Unfortunately, Bruce's family, Eric's family, and Dave were unable to make it, but the rest of us really enjoyed ourselves.

The resort was perfect. It had big pools, kiddie sized pools, playgrounds, and a lazy river. What more could you ask for? The weather was nice and the kids were swimming constantly. Our condos had 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms each with a full kitchen and washer/dryer. The triplets liked taking their "rest time" in our king size bed.Dan went golfing, we saw movies, we went shopping, and swam. We had a blast. A group also went to the air museum in Plam Springs. Look at these super dads taking the kids to the museum. Then, we had a buffet Thanksgiving dinner at the Hyatt in Palm Springs. It seemed ironic to be spending Thanksgiving by the pool, but it was fantastic!

Christmas Tree Fun

OK, so I am way behind with my blogging and have a little catching up to do. The day after Thanksgiving we went to get our Christmas Tree. The triplets were very excited. Here are a few pictures.This is the first year that they are loving every thing Christmas and they really understand it. They have been helping me decorate the house and every day they(especially Luke) remind me to do our advent calendars. They are really counting down the days and excited for Santa to come.

It has also been great to teach them about the true meaning of Christmas this year. I have a few nativity sets and a special one my mom gave us a few years ago that they can play with. We talk about celebrating Christ's birth and the story of how He came. Christmas is such a special time of year and I love the spirit of the season.

SNOW!

Our friends, Laura, Guy, and Mackenzie invited us up to their cabin in Huntington Lake on Saturday. The kids were so excited to go to the mountains. They really wanted to see snow. Unfortunately there hasn't been much snow this year yet, but we were able to find some man made snow at Sierra Summit. It was perfect. The kids were so excited to touch it, eat it, and to throw snow balls. After, we went back to the cabin-chatted, had hot chocolate, and made a bon fire. It was so fun and the kids were kicking and screaming when it was time to leave. We definitely need to do stuff like this more often! Thank you Brautigam family.

Family Picture

Several months ago, I bid on and won a phototography session at a silent auction. So, this past montth I decided it was time to use it and get a family picture. We have so few pictures of every one together. It is quite a challenge trying to get three 3-year olds and a 1 year old to look at a camera all at the same time. I feel we have a successful picture if no one is crying and every one is looking at the camera. Well, we got it. Angela Person took these pictures of our family at Woodward Park. I love all the fall colors and especially love the triplets faces in these pictures. They were such good sports.

a few more halloween pictures

I just got Halloween pictures from my dad's camera and he was much better than I at getting pictures. Just wanted to post a few.

1 Year Pictures

At Kiddie Kandids you can get a free 8x10 each year on your kids birthdays, so why not? I brought in Sophie to see if she would perform for the camera. She decided to have a poker face most of the time, but I got a few sweet faces out of her. Maybe it didn't help that I had the other 3 running around like crazy:)

October Fun

The last 2 weeks have been full of all of the fun things of October. 2 weeks ago we went on a field trip with preschool to Hillcrest Pumpkin Patch. The kids learned about how pumpkins grew, went on a hayride, and were able to bring home their very own pumpkin. Then, there was the ward Halloween Party. The kids loved dressing up and playing all of the carnival games. I couldn't remember why we had not gone the previous year. Then it dawned on me--I had just had a baby.

Last Thursday, we had our Halloween party at preschool. They decorated pumpkins and trick or treat bags and went trick-or-treating to all the nearby businesses. Then, we played a couple of games and ate all of the yummy goodies that every one had brought. It was also a happy day for me because it was my last day of teaching at the preschool. I just have 8 more weeks of aiding left for the year:)On Halloween, we went to Heidi and Dave's for our annual nachos and goodies, then we were off to trick-or- treat with every one. It was fun having my parents there too. The triplets trick-or-treated their favorite way-getting pulled in the wagon. They were great at going up to houses and saying "trick-or-treat." This is the first year they really seemed to understand it and enjoy it fully. We were out for a while and they really piled up the candy. My theory with candy is let them have as much as they want, then it is gone quicker. They like this theory:) Sophie hung out in the stroller while we were out getting candy. She was happy as long as she had a sucker in her hand.After leaving Heidi's house, we went to Sara-Lynn's house for another party. She had made all kinds of fun Halloween goodies and we had fun hanging out. Needless to say, it was a full evening and very enjoyable(and tiresome). Now, on to November!

Sophie is 1

This was our little birthday party crew. The triplets were so excited for Sophie to blow out her "1 candle." After a fun day at the Pumpkin Festival, I made cupcakes and Sophie loved eating her cupcake. She dug right in with no hesitation.

I cannot believe that she is a year old already. She is starting to really blossom. She is always trying to keep up with the other 3 and "holds her own" at our house. She loves pretending she is talking on the phone and she loves being in the middle of every thing. She still has 4 teeth with her 2 top molars on their way in. She is not walking quite yet, but is into every thing. Opening all cupboards and drawers has become her favorite past time. Recently, she has also started dipping her hands down into the toilet. It is so disgusting, but hard to always keep the lids down with 3 recently potty trained kids in the house. Needless to say, there is a lot of washing and cleaning at my house. I can't wait to see this little girl blossom even more over the next few months. What a fun age? Sophie is such a blessing to our family.