Zoolights

On Friday we bundled up as a family to see the zoolights


1,2,3, say cheese, I mean close your eyes. Here is Santa in his new ride, he is getting more modern these days.

I loved the elephant lights, they were animated.

And Kyrie loved the stars and the fish

We all had a great time, even Hayden. He was still in his pajamas just before we left the house and he threw a fit about getting dressed. Then we had to pull him out of the car and Chris had to drag him around for awhile. We took some hot chocolate with us and he was the keeper of that because it kept his hands warm. He put up a good fight about being there but as we were heading back to the car he was skipping and said, "Wow, that actually was fun".

The Christmas tornado hit a little early this year. "Dutsy" heard me talking about how I would like my tree and outside lights up before Thanksgiving and took it upon himself to make sure it happened, our decor made its way out a week before Thanksgiving. I was upstairs folding laundry and came down the stairs to find all of my Christmas totes brought up from the basement and dumped all over the floor. My floor was covered! Then I got thinking, my totes were stacked 3 high and then the Christmas tree box was on top of that. How did he get the heavy tree down so he could get to the boxes? I guess if there is a will there is a way. He had stuff pulled out, putting it wherever he wanted, draped the garlands across the room like it was a trap and had like a bazillion snowflakes cut out and placed all over the house. He gets a little too excited and has ever since he was teeny-tiny. He loves to decorate! So we replaced some of his other random artwork hung all over the house with Christmas. Every year I try to add a little something to my decor and this year I got some decorative ornament hooks. I love them, they add so much to our tree. Some of them have beads at the top and some don't. The best thing about them is that when the kids knock the ornaments off the tree, the hooks don't fall off the ornaments. We have already had a good dose of Christmas lights, music, smells, movies and hot chocolate, We are all happy about the season this year.

My kids

Sometimes my kids make me angry and frustrated but most of the time they make me smile. They make me laugh everyday and I hate to think about when they grow up and leave me. Sometimes I think I should have like 20 kids just so that I can have little ones in my house like Forever! Here are some of my most recent favorites!

Ky tried putting her shoe on her dad, Chris said that if fit onto 2 toes!


Yesterday Dusty taped his mouth shut and asked his dad to tape his arms behind his back. He got more than he bargained for, he got his legs tied up as well.

And then he got put into the corner!

He somehow got to his feet by himself, hopped over to the fireplace and was able to catch a little piece of the tape from his mouth onto the tile and was finally able to get that off. It was hilarious! I caught some of it on video and after he uncovered his mouth he said, "Mom, maybe you should put that on AFV" (America's Funniest Videos). He then hobbled into the kitchen and pulled the scissors out of the drawer and tried to cut himself free. He tried and tried, but finally had to ask for help.

Hayden is a computer nerd. He loves spending time on the computer and Ky loves to watch him. He lets her sit on his lap or sometimes he sits at the edge of the chair and she on the chair behind him. She usually rubs her hands through his hair as she watches him play. It is so cute. They have a special bond and Hayden is so sweet to her. He has a bear blanket that has been his favorite since he was really young and he gave that to her, now that's love! If I could only explain what that blanket meant to him! He also has to love on her before she goes down to bed, for a nap, and before he gets in line to go into the school. When he gets hurt or is upset he asks Kyrie to give him a luv and she always makes him feel better.

I love how they make me SMILE!

Thanksgiving

Dusty made this cute turkey hat and wore it proudly for 3 days. He even wore it to Kmart and Target while he did some shopping with me. This little boy and this little turkey made a bunch of people end up with a smile on their face!

This Thanksgiving I got off easy. I didn't have to make a single thing! We were invited to join 3 different families this year and I made Chris decide what to do. We ate with our friends, the Easdons and their families. We had great food and lots of fun. Chris cooked up some of his elk meat to contribute to the dinner, and I did end up making some rolls for our family so I felt a little festive.

After we ate there was a knock at the door


and the kids were so excited to see who it was

Dusty is a full believer, he has no reason to doubt. How could he? Our first Christmas here in Colorado he looked out the window and he KNEW he saw Santa. Santa, his sleigh and reindeer were on top of the school across the street. It was dark outside, but he could see the silhouette of Santa and his crew against the night sky. He was beyond excited! He pointed it out for us to see. And to him, it was definatley SANTA! I think that's funny because when he was 4, it was June/July he said, "Mom, do you remember when that Santa sounded like Grandpa?".
Hayden isn't sure what to think about about the Old Jolly Man. His friends on the bus told him secrets last year and he tried to tell his brother how it is and Dusty wouldn't believe it. So now he is confused and doesn't know what to think - but he doesn't care as long as Santa keeps bringing him gifts. On this visit, Santa brought all of the kids a book, thanks Santa!

Kyrie was really curious from a distance

but didn't like being close. She now loves to see pictures of Santa and says "Santa is nice".

This Thanksgiving was a good one for us.

We all had a turn saying what we are greatful for and there is so much to be greatful for. But the top of my list is I'm greatful I get to be a mom. I LOVE being a mom, it is so rewarding and brings huge amounts of joy to my life. I'm greatful that I get to be here to raise my kids and I am greatful for Chris and for the great husband/father he is and for how hard he works to provide for us. I am greatful for ALL of my friends, I have been blessed with so many great friends out here in Colorado. I'm especially greatful for them when our families are so far away. We have been blessed in so many ways this past year, Happy Thanksgiving!

This Christmas

This Christmas is going to be different. I am going to try really hard to like it! I used to love Christmas but the last few years I have been the biggest Grinch. The last few (like 4 0r 5 years) I have hated Christmas! I have put up the tree just a couple weeks before the big day and I have taken it back down Christmas day. I know, horrible to take down the tree Christmas day but I just couldn't wait for it to be all over with. This year I am starting early, we will hopefully have our tree and lights up before Thanksgiving that way we can enjoy it all as soon as we can. I want to find some fun festivities to go to besides just Bass Pro Shops. I have already started listening to Christmas music, changed my blog background and playlist and I am almost done with my shopping. I am getting a good start! I hope to enjoy it this year with my kids instead of pretending to enjoy it for their sake. I hope I can somehow learn to love it again!

See it

It has been snowing the last few days and Kyrie is amazed by it all. She keeps saying "see it!"

The boys are begging to go play in it. We did end up getting enough for a few snowballs.

TRADITION

We have gone to the flea market for my birthday ever since we moved to Colorado. I always pick out a new handbag. Chris thinks this is the only one I'll ever need, he says is should go with everything!

Ky loves crawling into teeny tiny spaces, the other day I found her and her baby inside Chris's smallest suitcase. She would be great and hide-and-go-seek! She can really be hard to find at times. And she won't respond when we call out her name. We were getting ready to leave the other day and she was on the stairs and the next second she was GONE. Chris and I couldn't find her, we had to get the boys out of the car to help us look for her. And yesterday I almost had to go pick up Hayden from school without her, I looked and looked and told her "momma is going bye-bye" and she finallly came running out of her crawl space. I can just imagine the other parents asking where my little girl is at, and me answering, "Oh, I couldn't find her." I'd have to come up with some other excuse! She thinks it's great fun, but it scares me!

Halloween 2010

This year we had Robin, a fairy and GI-Joe dude visit for awhile.
I love how GI-Joes cheeks squished with his mask on!

The kids had a great time going door to door with some new friends. Then we ate some yummy jack-o-lantern pizza with our friends while the kids reacted from a sugar high. I think they made the candy record this year!

Here is some of the other scary food we ate during the day, my kids love these mummies

and the ghosts (especially when there is a surprise inside).

And happy 2 years to our new house, we closed on it 2 years ago on Halloween!

Halloween Preview

Halloween snuck up on us fast this year and just when we thought we were all prepared someone stole our pumpkins before we had a chance to turn them into Jack-O-Lanterns. We especially felt bad for Hayden's pumpkin picked just by him out of the pumpkin patch at his field trip. The others were easy to replace, then they hid out in the garage until they were carved.

Ky helped me pick out all of the seeds for toasting, YUM!

Hard at work.

The Jack-O-Lanterns

Chris spent the most time carving away, and Hayden had the most creative idea. He started out with a spooky face that was teeny, tiny and I would've hurried and taken a pic had I known he was going to change it so fast, because they he carved more and turned it into an alien. Not done though, his carving knife had too much fun and kept carving away until it was a turtle! They all turned out nice, and they stayed here on our island until Halloween night (no more stealing pumpkins before the holiday people).

We had lots of parties this year, one was Hayden's class party. He sat down after putting on his costume to find the kid next to him wearing the exact same thing.

And there was also the ward party that was not so fun for some of us!