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.