Our Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve with everything ready for the morning! I never did find the ornaments from last year (new ones like the sweet one Fern made in Nursery, and the R & F Aunt Mary made). Hrumph, but Christmas came anyway.
After opening Dan's family's gifts we let the kids open a gift from Grandma J. (they have not figured out that it is always PJ's they get to open). So here are my cuties all ready for bed in their new jammies ala grandma!

Grandma even made Fern a sleeping cap! How cute is she!!

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Dan and I managed to not stay up too late, but between the wind storm (which broke one small tree out back), Fern, and my ever increasingly uncomfortable bed/body I did not get a ton of sleep. Riley woke up at 4am, I heard him go out and look at the tree then at 4:30 he was in our bed and by 5 we had sent him back to his!! Thankfully they all stayed in bed until 7:30! :)

Then it was time to open gifts!

Sorry this is blurry, but try getting a picture of a light saber wielding 7 year old!! :)

Jake got a green one too, and Fern a purple one! They soon had Dad get his out (yes Mike and Anna the one you gave him 11 years ago) and they have been "fighting" ever since! :) It was a hit, and I knew it would be that is why I bought a plastic toy for them. :)

I know silly hu, I do this every year, I arrange all of my favorite gifts and take a picture. Now no one get offended I love all my gifts because they were all given in love these are just a few that really stuck out! :) Ok, Top-picture of my mom's family outside the St. George temple when they were sealed together! A button wreath ornament my mom made, Kirsten's winter outfit I have wanted for YEARS!! A casserole dish (nice and deep) with our last name etched on the bottom I have always wanted one, tangerines, I am a So. Cal. gal living in no citrus land. The Hungry Little Caterpillar ornament, Wrap-n-mats I have always wanted these! A 12oz. Klean Kanteen bottle that will fit in my purse so now I have no excuse not to drink my water, cinnamon Glee Gum, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth I have always wanted one of her books! The Creative Family, I know you all have heard me talk about that! :) A neat etching of a Mother and Son that says "preparing her son", A caterpillar key chain, a maternity coat (but so sad the sleeves are too short, I must be gorilla-ish), an apple peeler-corer-slicer, and underneath it all a "rag" Mary Englebright quilt!

I was completely spoiled! :)

Look at this happy Christmas smile!! Fern had me take a picture of her and her doll MANY times throughout the day, but this is the cutest!! :)

And here are a few of the things the kids got that I really liked! :)

Far left- colored pencils, Riley and Jake got little combination safes, card games, card holders for little hands, ear muffs (Riley has rarely taken them off since he opened them), personalized place mats, Fern got a new doll dress, rock crayons, some fun books, and fleece blankets embroidered with their names.

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Dan's most exciting gift was a new set of scriptures, he has had his last pair since he was a teenager! :)

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We are so thankful for the thoughtful family and friends who made sure we knew we were loved this Christmas! We hope everyone feels the love our Savior has for all of us as we begin this new year!

Love you all!

Who's is Bigger...

St. Nick's or mine? Looking forward to June!

Our Fun Week!

This past week we got to have Daddy aka: Gran-pa, pa-pa, super duper dish washer, and let mom take naps guy visit! We had a great time even though we did not end up with too many photos, but here is a couple! Here we are out freezing to death choosing a Christmas tree from the local farm we have gone to the last couple years! Jake was grumpy because the adults (yes all three) freaked out at him when he was leaning over the bank of the VERY swollen, fast, frigid, deep river trying to stick his stick in. I know poor guy! :)
If you have been following over at our schooling blog you will know that we have been participating in the Pizza Hut Book-it program. It is a great reading program where you set goals and if you achieve them you get a ticket to get a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. They now have an extension of the program for homeschoolers! So Riley achieved his goal last month and asked if he and Grandpa could go for his pizza while he was here! So brave Grandpa took my google directions and he and Riley enjoyed Pizza for lunch!

Riley snapped Grandpa too, sometimes you have to be sneaky! I had Daddy take the camera and asked him to get a good shot of Riley, and then I whispered in Riley's ear to be sure to get a good shot of Grandpa too! :)
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More excitement to come!

Merry Christmas & Funny Fern!

We saw this in a house as we went to town for Riley's cub scout meeting, I made Dan pull over so I could take a picture!! I laughed for a while over that!! :) We just received this movie from netflix and will be subjecting the kids to it this year!! :)
Sorry all my pictures are blurry today! Here is Fern so HAPPY, Grandma sent her stick on earrings, do you see them? She loves my earrings and was so excited to have some of her own! :)

And her is Fern later that night conked out on our bed, she sleeps just like Dan!! :)

I hope all your Holiday Shopping is done, and that you are toasty warm!! :)

Another Sunday Post! :)

And another white Sunday! We got a good 3 inches last night and woke up to our own winter wonderland!
This is only like the second or third time that we have had snow that sticks to all the trees since we have been here. And that is something I LOVED in Virginia and looked forward too. It is so beautiful! The plow was out all night so the roads were clear this morning so off we went to church, it was a beautiful drive this morning!
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Yesterday we had a fun lunch!
Riley has recently become aware that I cooked at his age and that I have "kid" cookbooks, so he has been wanting to try them out! :)
So last week I pulled out my old Winnie the Pooh cookbook out and I found some good recipes for him to start with, then yesterday we put it into action!
And I think in the process I have fixed Riley from wanting to make a whole meal for a while! :)


Here is the finished product before the party descended! :)

Here is the menu, Riley was working on writing it out, but he puttered out and so we used my copy! :)

And here is our merry little party! :)

Everyone loved having a luncheon tea party and loved everything we made! :)

Now just to work on Mom and Riley's patience for each other while working in the kitchen! :)