Christmas

A couple of days before Christmas we went to Grandma and Grandpa Crick's and made gingerbread houses. The kids got really creative, although I think Jill was the most creative. She made a stable with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. Very cute!




On Christmas Eve, we dipped chocolates - LOTS of chocolates. Then we had the Christmas party. The kids all dressed up for the Nativity story. It was a little crazy, but it turned out really cute.







Christmas Day was good. We opened presents at our house. The kids got way more than they needed, as usual. Then we went back to Springerville and hung out with family. Until the boys had a little accident on the 4-wheeler. Bryson ended up going to the hospital. We thought his arm was broke. Poor kid. He ended up with a dislocated elbow. I felt so bad. Besides that it was a good day.

Before Christmas

Cody had a program. It was really cute. Cody looked like he was going to cry through the whole thing. But he stayed up there!



On the 17th, Grandma Peggy had reserved us a cabin in Greer and got us all tickets to go to the North Pole. So Friday we met up with Peggy, Greg and Shane's family. We went to Greer and checked in to the cabin. Then, we went to eat dinner at Molly Butlers. After we ate, we went rode the trolley to the North Pole. We went to Santa's workshop and they got to meet some elves and dress some stuffed bears that the donated. Then they got to shoot pumping nerf gun things at the elves. The boys had a good time with that. They had cookies and hot chocolate, then they went to Elf University. There they learned about being good and having manners. They got to write letters to Santa and then they got to meet Santa. Then we rode back to Molly's on the trolley and we were supposed to listen to Mrs. Claus read a story but the kids were so tired that we just went back to the cabin. There we exchanged gifts and went to bed. In the morning, we checked out and then ate breakfast at Molly Butlers. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved it! We'll have to do it again sometime.

Christmas

Christmas

Gavin is working on some teeth but until then he looks like a vampire. None of my other kids got their fangs in before the front teeth. It makes me laugh! He thinks he's so big. He has to do all the things the other kids do, not all of it is good though. The other day Cody made him mad so he spit at him then hit him. Cody thought it was so funny he kept making him mad so he would hit him. Not good!



The kids are so excited for Christmas. We tried to get some pictures taken for Christmas cards but it didn't work out real well. I did get a couple of ok pictures.

Wow! I am not good at blogging! Blake had his 9th birthday. I can't believe he's that old already. It's gone by so fast! He had a couple of friends over and they played some games like pumpkin bowling and toilet paper mummies. I think they had a good time.





My kids had fun on Halloween. We had a witch, a dog, Mario (from Super Mario Bros.), and a ninja. Mario lost his mustache so we had to draw one on. We ended up in Springerville and didn't get to go to very many houses but they had fun.






We have a little monkey. I catch him on the kitchen table and coffee table all the time. I watched him get in the draw in the bathroom then climb onto the counter. I didn't get a picture of him on the counter but I get one of him in the drawer. He's such a wild man!

I'm finally able to get on here and do some updates. It's be a little wild! Last month Gavin turned 1. It went by so fast! He just doesn't seem like he's a year old - poor little guy. He had a dinosaur cake and got a lot of fun presents. My older kids even play with them. He's still trying to walk. He takes a few steps bit but then gets scared and sits down. He's such a funny kid with lots of personality.



Paige started preschool this month and it loving it. She can't wait to go each time. Everyday she's asking if she has school today. She is so funny. She loves to sing and is always singing a song that she knows or making up her own. The other day she was playing in my shoes and had some of my flip flops on. They have sequins on them so she was calling them dancing shoes. Then she started singing a song about mom's dancing shoes. It was so funny!

Cody started soccer. He's having a good time. He's had a couple of games and even made 3 goals one game. He was so excited. He hasn't made any other ones but it really working on it. He is loving kindergarten. His teacher says he sits quietly at his desk and raises his hand to talk. As far as I know he hasn't had his card changed yet(something they do when they get in trouble. They have to miss part or all of a recess.) Maybe I need to start doing that at home to see if it will work!

Blake is playing football. It's been a little rough on us. The first game he didn't get to play his minimum amount of plays which is 8. That still doesn't seem like anything but he maybe got 6. So we were a little upset. Justin talked to the coach about it and he said Blake was a little scared to get hit, so he had a talk with him and he's done awesome! He's been playing a little bit more, usually on defense, sometimes on kickoffs. He's made some good tackles and hits. They have played 3 games and haven't won yet but there are only 4 or 5 kids on their team that have played before. They are doing really good though and hopefully they will win a game.


We were able to go camping with the Eagar family for Labor Day. It was a lot of fun. The kids rode 4-wheelers and played in the dirt. Blake shot his first chipmunk and thought it was really cool to pick it up with his bare hands even though it was still alive. So yucky! It was a way better experience than the first camping trip. We didn't have any problems with the trailer and the kids slept pretty good.





One more thing. This past weekend Jamie, Jana, Jill, and I were able to go to Thatcher and meet Marcia Lynn McClure. She is the author of a bunch of books that we love. AWESOME books! We were there with a few other women where we got to ask her questions and talk to her. She is so much fun and had the best stories! A lot of things that happen in her books are from real life experiences which makes them even better. Her husband was there with her and he was just as funny. I had a lot of fun and would love to see her again!