Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

This year Bo's schedule didn't give us anytime to go out and chop down our own tree, so we settled on picking one up at a local grocery store.  The kids still had fun, and our house still smells great, so all parties were happy. 

After decorating the tree, out came the Christmas Jammies!!  This year I was too tired and busy to find matching pajamas, shocking, I know, but they still had new Christmas pjs, so I wasn't a complete failure. :)  After the tree and jammies were on, the hot chocolate was made and some sort of Christmas movie was watched.  Operation: Set up Christmas Tree was a success!

The next night (?) the kids decorated their own mini candy Christmas Trees.  I didn't feel up to buying lots of candy and having huge messes (pregnant, remember?) so this was a nice, fun, cheap, and new activity for them.  They loved it!  I think the tree's lasted maybe a few hours before being eaten. :)

Christmas Outfits.

 

Let me just start by saying that if I can find a way to get my kids to match, I will. Even better is if I can find the right sizes in clothes so that my boys can be wearing the same outfits.  Yes, I'm that kind of mom, and I don't plan on changing anytime soon.  Sorry kids. Let me just say though that Carter LOVES matching Derrick. Really loves it.  True story.

So I found Meg's dress like back in October or September and just HAD to buy it.  I just had to.  It's darling!  Since I already had a dress for her and matching pants (shocking!) for the boys, all I needed to do was find some kind of top for the boys that matched Meg's dress and still was seasonal.  These sweaters were the best find ever!  Blue and silver AND red!

And there you have it! My darling kids in their darling outfits. 

Now to start shopping for Easter.....

Hot Chocolate!

The Holiday Season is not official until it has been celebrated with it's first Hot Chocolate night!

Megs and I were at Costco the day these pictures were taken and both gasped when our eyes hit upon the Danish cookies!  Um, YES PLEASE! So the tin and some hot chocolate made it into our cart, and that night we celebrated.

This night was before Thanksgiving, but I think it was still that week. We made our own turkey's, Derrick might have had a little help, and then we busted out the hot chocolate and cookies.  As you will see in future posts, hot chocolate was a staple almost every night during the Holidays. It's a hard life.

 



Thanksgiving

How sad is it that I have no pictures from Thanksgiving?  Pretty sad. 

This year we went to the Heslops for Thanksgiving.  Dave and Sydney live about 6 hours away, so it wasn't too bad of a drive.  Sydney's brother, Casey, moved to Louisville, KY with his family back in September to start Dental school, and Louisville is about in the middle between the Heslops and us.  SO, since they were nearby too, they joined us in the festivities.  Or maybe we joined them?  Hmmmmm.

So Bo had the overnight shift the day before/of Thanksgiving, so I loaded up the kids Thanksgiving morning and we picked up Bo bright and early at the hospital and headed to Tennessee.  The roads were clear and the weather was great, which made for a smooth drive.  We got to the Heslops around 2 in the afternoon, and about an hour later feast began!!!

It was really yummy and full of the usual; turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, veggies, rolls, and Martenellis. And pie.  Let's not forget the pie.  I also brought tons of homemade candy.  I made cordial cherries, fudge, peppermint bon bons, oreo balls, and toffee. 

"Black Friday" started at like 7 on Thanksgiving Day, so after lying on the couch a bit and checking the ads, Syd, Sylvia (Casey's wife), and I headed off to go get us some bargains!

We got what we wanted and were home before midnight.  A huge success.

The next day we let the kids play outside, ate leftovers, and took the group to go see the movie "Frozen."  That night, after the kids were in bed, we played games.  Oh, how we love to play games!!!

Saturday morning our little family had to take off to head back to Indiana.  In order for Bo to be able to go to the BYU vs. Notre Dame game the weekend before, he had to switch shifts, which meant that in stead of staying till Sunday at the Heslops like we had planned, we had to hurry home for Bo to catch another evening shift. Oh well. 

It was a quick trip, but it was worth it.  We love our cousins/friends. I just wish we had gotten pictures.  :(

BYU vs. Notre Dame

Did you know Notre Dame is only like 2 to 3 hours from Indy?  I didn't until I moved here. 

Every year that we have lived here, the BYU Football team has come and played Notre Dame at Notre Dame.

Bo and I have been wanting to go every year, but funds or schedules or sold out tickets have gotten in the way, and we haven't been able to go.

Not this year!  This year my AWESOME friend Lindsay Adams got her hands on some tickets and invited Bo and me to join her and her husband for the game.  YES, PLEASE!

The game was sooooo fun.  We lost, but it was still intense and exciting.  It was also FREEZING.  And I don't mean 32 degrees freezing, I mean 0 degrees.  It also snowed off and on the whole day too.  Sooooooooooo cold.  And that's a stuttering soooooo because of the cold. I think it took the whole drive home for me to finally thaw off. 

We arrived a couple of hours before the game so we could go see the sites and go to the BYU Alumni tailgating party that was, thankfully, inside. 

After the game we went to a local Irish Pub and had yummy Irish food and listened to live music. Lindsay took lots more photos, but unfortunately my computer won't download them.  Just imagine lots of smiling red cheeks.  And snow. 

Such a fun day!  I'm glad we got to go, and now I can move from Indiana with one more thing checked off my Indiana bucket list.  Thanks Lindsay and Brandt!!! 

 

Meg's Halloween Preschool Field Trip

Megan's Preschool took a field trip to a local retirement home for their October field trip.

They practiced fun Halloween songs at school the whole month and then dressed up in their costumes and sang for the patients.  It was darling. They also had cut out pumpkins on orange paper and handed them out.  Bless those little kids and their big hearts.

 

L to R:  Ander Walker, Hyrum Swenson, Lauren McRae, Max Dockter, Bryant Bailey, Julia McRae, Megs, and Zoe Flory.

Scripture Power!

Tonight during family Scripture time, Carter decided to help Megan "read" her Scriptures.  He would read some words, she would repeat.  Most darling and precious thing EVER.
Carter got Scriptures for his birthday on Friday and has been eager to use them every chance he can get.  Today during sacrament meeting he opened his new set up and was reading from them. Again, so precious!!!  So proud of my little man.
I need to blog on his baptism, and i will....once i load the pics from the camera (this pic is from my phone)...which also has pics of Christmas.
Oh boy, i have a lot to catch up on!