Christmas

We celebrated our Christmas in Indiana this year, and it was a wonderful, wonderful day. The kids woke up at about 7 and walked downstairs in wonder and excitement. I absolutely loved watching their faces as they looked at the presents, checked out their stockings, and just took it all in.

We all got spoiled. We got race tracks (all for Bo), doll houses, clothes, movies, legos, goodies, and more. Seriously spoiled.

It was a fun day. We missed our extended family, but still enjoyed just being together at our own home and making our own traditions.

It's a little late, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So stinkin' cute!

Our ward Christmas party had karaoke. Megs saw a bunch of kids going up there to sing, and when asked by Bo if she wanted to join them, up she went.

They sang Jingle Bells, which is her ultimate favorite song, and much to our surprise, she actually sang! I was sure she would just get all shy, but nope.

Oh my goodness, she was so adorable up there.

I love that little girl!

Master "Gingerbread" House Makers

A couple days before Christmas we had a fun evening making a gingerbread house. The kids had tons of fun, and I don't think the candy lasted more than 3 days on that house.

Derrick participated by supervising the construction and taste testing the graham crackers.

Jolly Days

We are trying to make the most of this holiday season, so on Bo's day off last week we took the kids to the Childrens museum to hang out in the Jolly Days section again.

This time we went it wasn't nearly as crowded as it was after Thanksgiving, which was great. Meg had tons of fun playing with the play food, and Carter did this to-do list the museum had to earn elf ears. Of course we topped the day off with going down the slide again, because really, how can you resist a giant slide?

Oh yeah, this time the kids got to go meet Santa too. Meg wouldn't go within five feet of Santa, but she stilled yelled to him that he was her best friend. Carter and Derrick got to sith with Santa, Carter thinking it was great, Derrick wondering what was going on. All in all, a great day!

Meg frantically trying to get away from Santa. So funny.

Don't worry Santa, we've got it covered.

So we watched Elf tonight as a family. Man, I love that movie. So funny. Will Farrell is awesome and just makes it perfect.
Anyways...as we're watching the bit with Santa in Central Park (towards the end), I asked Megan and Carter if they were so excited for Santa to come. Carter was, of course, super excited and literally bouncing on the couch. I love that he just is old enough to get really into it.
Megan's reaction to Santa was my favorite though. She said that she didn't need Santa to come to our house anymore because she already has a "little present under the tree." I explained to her that the one present was nice, but it was from Grandma Sandy, and wasn't she just so excited that Santa would bring her some more? Nope. She started getting very emphatic that she didn't want any more. She had her "tiny one." Oh that Megan girl. I heart her. She makes me laugh. You see, she's a girl, therefore anything small or tiny is a "baby" one, and therefore it is to be prized more. She's probably going to keep this true for jewelry in the future too, I can just see it.
I just thought it was funny. Carter would like the biggest present ever, Megan is happy with a little one.
Also, in Elf, the part where the midget and famous writer comes into the movie and Buddy is all excited about seeing an "Elf", Megan went off on how she doesn't like that elf. "He's a mean elf. I don't like mean elfs. I don't like clowns. I don't like them." I laughed so hard. I love that she snuck clowns in there too. Apparently she just can't let Halloween go.

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week....yeah I'm just now getting around to blog about it. Whoops.

Bo took the whole week off and we made sure that we made the most of it!

Bo's dad, Kevin, flew in the Sunday before Thanksgiving and left the Friday immediately following. It was lots of fun showing him where we live and the kids loved hanging out with their grandpa. The highlight with Kevin was the zoo. They had so much fun walking around the practically empty park. The gang got a real close up view of the tiger. In fact, Megs had to actually take a step back from the glass because the Tiger was so close.

Our friends/cousins, the Heslops, came on Wednesday and stayed through Sunday. We (the adults) stayed up late everynight playing games and drinking yummy banana slush. Oh and having cheeseball. And muddy buddies. And pie. And.... yeah I think we all gained a few pounds, but it was sooooo worth it. :)

We took everyone to the Children's Museum on Friday, of course. It was really busy, but we had a great time going down the Yule Slide, playing in Jolly Land, and even getting glimpses of Santa!

The only downer of the whole week was that it went by way too fast.

Grandpa Kevin and the grandbabies.

Seriously, how cute is that baby boy!

Carter and Logan Heslop.

Dave and Sam Heslop. Sorry Syd, you didn't make the cut!

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Carter got really frustrated with me this afternoon because I couldn't figure out how to draw an invisible man for him.

My Oh-So-Humble Children

Yesterday Carter wrote an I love you letter to a girl in his class. Curious, I asked him why. His response: "Because she says she loves me." Huh, okay. Good enough for five year old love, I guess. "Carter, is she pretty?" "Yes (shrugging), she thinks I'm handsome."

Today I told Megs she was pretty. "Yes, I know," was her response.

Latest happenings of our lives

We haven't had any crazy happenings going on here, but every once in awhile my kids say or do things that I think, "this needs to go on the blog." So, without further ado, here's the latest with my family:

Carter: Every successful businessman or millionaire needs to get their start somewhere. Carter's happened about a week ago. He was supposed to be out helping Bo rake and gather leaves. Instead he comes in with a tin lunchbox full of leaves and asks me what one I like. Looking at the leaves, I pick one out, to which he replies, that'll be 78 cents. !! I put it back and told him I didn't want it that bad. hahaaa. If you think the story stops there, you're wrong. He then pulls a dollar and 25 cents out of his pocket and says that some of the neighbors bought some leaves! Seriously. My kid went around our little cul-de-sac selling LEAVES. And two poor saps took pity on my child and bought some, one even giving him a dollar.

Oh, can you imagine my embarrassment??? Oh my goodness. I told him no more selling leaves. If he wanted money, he could work for it here at home and I'd pay him. His response? He doesn't want money from me, he likes selling to the neighbors.

I told him that he needed to make cookies or something then. Now he bugs me all the time to make cookies. (picture me smacking my forehead)

After earning the money, Bo and I sat down and taught him about tithing. Yeah, he wasn't too keen on that. Maybe that'll stem his business ventures for awhile. I'm such a supportive mom. haha

Megs: Megan would now like to be called "Princess Cinderella." Or sometimes it's "Princess Megan Cinderella." Yesterday she even went so far as to say I should call her "King Megan Super Girl Princess." She tells me that I can be "Princess Long Hair." (Rapunzel). Thanks Meg. Flattered, really.

She also goes around dressed up in her Cinderella costume, crown and all. And if she can't be found in that, you better believe it's just because she's upstairs changing out of her footie pajamas only to put on another pair. She LOVES those pajamas. I had to buy two extra pairs because she wears them so much.

This princess thing has actually been wonderful because now, anytime Bo and I want her to do something, all we have to say is, "Princesses do..." and she does it! It's been WONDERFUL.

Example: "Megan, princesses ALWAYS have their hair combed and looking pretty." Bam, she's letting me style her hair.

"Megan, princesses ALWAYS are charming and polite, they don't whine and kick." Good behavior, check!

"Megan, princesses ALWAYS help clean up, they love having a clean house." And out pops the real Cinderella.

Repeat with meals, brushing teeth, you name it. Works like a charm.

We love that girl, and as cheesy as it sounds, she really is our princess.

Derrick: I'm thinking this kid is going to have that all or nothing personality. He used to maybe crawl up a couple stairs and then just stay there. Last week, however, he just decided he was going to climb to the top, and away he went, like a pro. Not cool. He thinks it hilarious and can now be found scrambling to the stairs, squealing and laughing, a huge grin on his face. I know I should get a gate, but I really don't want to mess with the drilling holes, the suction cups taking off the paint, and so on. Super vain, I know. So now pretty much all of us keep our eyes on the that little boy, and Bo and I are constantly hearing the "Mooooooom, Derrick's on the stairs!"

Derrick is also pretty much done with baby food. He wants finger food, and he wants it now, thank you very much. He loves sitting around the table with us and eating what we are eating. He thinks he's so cool, the bomb-diggity. That's right. Bringing it back.

So that's it. That's been us for the last week or so. Bo has this week off again for Thanksgiving. Bo's dad, Kevin, is visiting, and later today our cousins and good friends, Dave and Sydney Heslop and co., are coming! We are excited for some yummy food and good company. Now.... who wants to make me some yummy food?

And because no blog post is complete without a picture, here's one of the kids with some friends at the museum. They are pretending to be dinosaurs sitting in a nest.

Our first snow!!

It snowed yesterday afternoon!! Oh my goodness, my little Texans were SOOOO EXCITED. They were jumping up and down and squealing with enthusiasm. They both ran and got on their brand new snow coats, put gloves on, and were out the door in no time. They would've put their snow pants on too, but I told them it wasn't snowing that bad. :)

Unfortunately, for them, it only snowed for about ten minutes yesterday evening. There was snow on the ground this morning, however, and my kids wanted to go out and make snow men like crazy!! As it was only 7 in the morning, I wasn't about to let that happen, not to mention there maybe was enough snow to make an inch tall snowman. They were only able to be persuaded not to go outside by the promise that there would be more snow in a couple weeks, and then they could play to their hearts content.

The best part about this whole snow thing, though, was that Bo gave the "go" for listening to Christmas music!!

Soccer season is over

Carter's first soccer season has come and gone. He had such a fun time playing this year. You could totally see a difference in his playing skills from the beginning of the season to the end.

If you ask Carter his favorite thing about the season, he'll tell you it's the trophy that he got. Yep, he's pretty proud of that thing. Right now its smack in the middle of our mantle, for all to see.

Carter, you totally rocked out there. You were such a great soccer player! You were great at sharing the ball, kicking the ball, scoring, and cheering on your teammates. If you ask me though, I think you were REALLY good at playing defense. You are so fast at running across the field and blocking those kicks! We're proud of you!

Man, that kid of mine sure is a cutie!! (Mine's the blondie in the brown pants.) hahaa.

Trick or Treat!

This year Bo had to work for Halloween. Bummer deal. Thankfully we had some friends who took pity on us and invited us to join their little Halloween party. It was great!

We ate dinner and played, then headed out for some good ol' fashioned door to door trick or treating. One friend, who has kids the same age as me and was also without her husband that night, went around with me to the houses. The rest of our party group were full of older kids who wanted to go a little faster, so they went in a different group, and I don't blame them for ditching us. After about a half hour of trick or treating the little girls, Meg and Eliza, were tired and wanted to go back to the party house. I opted to stay with Carter and Jackson, and together we literally took off running, trying to get as many houses as possible. Phew! Lets just say that Meg maybe had an inch deep of candy in her bucket, and Carter's bucket was FULL.

Oh yeah, Meg decided she wanted to be "Princess Cindalella" for the party, instead of the fairy godmother that she was at the zooboo.