Christmas Prep

It seemed like there were so many things to do and see before Christmas this year.  It was fun to celebrate Christmas for a whole month with the kids.  We tried to have something to do every day, which was fun yet exhausting.  In addition to the regular cookie decorating and gingerbread house making, we saw the San Diego temple lights, Zoo lights, and went to a few Christmas parties, including ones for our ward and Matt's work.

Christmas card picture

Santa at the Zoo

Art-see and Thanksgiving

Matt's mom, Lori, and her sisters, have come up with the cutest business venture.  Their business is Art-see, and it's so fun.  You are sent a different craft each month that corresponds to a holiday or season.  The idea is that your children create this craft and send it on to a loved one.  It's a great way to share some love.  I know that the grandparents in our family love to get things from the kids in the mail.  Once the kids have created the craft, they put the project into an envelope (already addressed and stamped--awesome!) and send it to a grandparent, or anyone really.  In November, the boys made these super cute turkeys.  They had a lot of fun, especially with those eyes.  There's something about googly eyes that are hilarious to small boys.  We sent the turkeys on to my mom, and she loved them.  : )  The best part, in my opinion, about Art-see, is that the craft comes with all the needed supplies and the envelope is already stamped.  This saves a trip to the craft store and also the post office--two places my kids are at their worst.  Ha.  

Check it out:  www.arts-ee.com 

Also in November... we had a nice Thanksgiving by ourselves.  It was a nice relaxing day, and I only took two pictures.  Nice.

Graham turns 4!

{11-18-2014}

Oh, Graham.  What would we do without him.  Graham is our best 4-year-old.  : )  We were so excited to celebrate Graham's birthday with him this year.  He was beyond excited.  Graham is so sweet.  He is so kind and loving and sooooo friendly.  He will talk to anyone, and he is always saying "hello" to anyone he sees.  He's not afraid of talking to people, and we love to see him carry on conversations with people he doesn't really know.  Graham is so smart and curious.  He's always asking about definitions of words and how things work.  He's very interested in the earth and space.  He's just our all-around good-time kid.  He's kind and mello, and is quite fun to be around.  He loves school, and loves playing with other kids.  We sure love you, Graham.

His birthday fell on a Tuesday, so he got to go to school on his birthday, and even take a treat to share with his friends.  After school we met Matt at the park for a picnic, and had his party after dinner.

My parents were in town the weekend before Graham's birthday, so we got to celebrate a bit before they left.

On his birthday, Graham got his traditional breakfast in bed.  (In our bed, mind you.  Silly kid.)

As per his request, Graham got a Ninja Turtle birthday.  (Which he has never seen, by the way.  All he knows about the Ninja Turtles is that they exist.  Ha ha.)

Happy Birthday, Graham!  We love you!

Elsie rolls

I didn't get a picture of her actually rolling, but this is how I found her one day.  Silly girl has mastered rolling from back to front first. She's getting way too big way too fast.

"goin' trick-or-treating on Halloween night"

The boys were so excited to go trick-or-treating.  Leading up to Halloween, Graham had multiple opportunities to wear his Spider Man costume, and we think by Halloween night he was ready to be something else.  So right before dinner he assembled his own new costume, this time a simple super hero.  We have a great neighborhood, and there were tons of kids and tons of good candy.  Graham kept singing "going trick or treating on Halloween night," and I think it was from a show he saw about Halloween.  He sang it all night, though.  Pretty funny.

(pumpkin pizza)

proof that I exist : )

Halloween Ward Party

Our ward had its annual Halloween party at the park across the street from our house.  It was so nice to just walk on over.  Lovely.  But they boys were so excited for the party and to wear their costumes.  There were lots of little games for them to play, and they made out with a load of candy.  Too much sugar...waaaaay too much sugar.

Halloween prep

We carved pumpkins for family home evening one night.  The boys were super excited, but we carved them way too early.  We do this every year.  Somehow, we always forget that pumpkins get super moldy and mushy after only a few days.  

But they boys loved their pumpkins.  Mason's pumpkin was Lightening McQueen.  Matt helped him, if you can't tell.  They did an awesome job, didn't they?

Graham wanted a scary face.  This (below) was my best attempt.  Clearly, I need some pumpkin carving lessons from Matt.

We made bats and pumpkins out of construction paper.  The bats were to cute.  The boys glued the eyes on all by themselves.  Mason's ended up with three eyes.  Graham's little bats had mouths.  Too funny.