Christmas 2013

For Christmas this year it was just our family in our new home and it was perfect.  The night before the kids got the milk, cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer:

The next morning the kids didn't wake until 7:00 which shocked me.  I remember as a kid getting up at 5:30 or 6:00.  They dove right into their stockings and presents:

Isla got her Barbie car and Barbie boat:

And Drew got his Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship.  He loves this thing - it goes everywhere with him:

Including his bed when he goes to sleep.

I think Santa did pretty well this year if I say so myself.  After presents and breakfast we packed the kids up and headed up to Sun Valley for a week.  More pictures to come . . .

In Lieu of a Christmas Program

The kids Christmas program was postponed once and then canceled due to sickness this year.  Thank goodness my kids never got sick because I heard it was baaaaaad (there were only 6 out of 40 kids who attended day care one day). Isla and Drew were so disappointed that they didn't get to participate, so we had an open mike night:

Jingle Bells by Isla (can't you almost hear the pretend jingle bells she starts ringing halfway through?):

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Drew (or has he likes to call it Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeers):

Before Christmas

In the weeks leading up to Christmas we kept busy with a multitude of things:

First the Christmas tree (which we found in ten degree weather after visiting FOUR tree lots):

Papa and GiGi came for a visit:

And we braved the cold weather and went to the Botanical Gardens (Drew could have watched the trains all night):

For the first time I actually bought a gingerbread house kit and let the kids go to town and they actually kept it quite clean and did a great job at decorating it:

We also had pajama day at school and the kids, with no urging from me, decided to wear their matching pajamas:

Got to enjoy these moments while I can still get them!

Christmas Party 2013

I think it's about time to start my catch up posts considering it is already January :-).  I will start with the Christmas/Housewarming party that we threw for the adults.  I figured since our house would be decorated for Christmas (which will hide the areas we still need to work on in the new house) it would be the perfect time to have a little party sans kiddos.  It was a laid back affair with some of our best friends and I had a LOT of fun.  

Anna and Robert and this guy even made the trip down to the party:

Me and the Mr got all dolled up.  I even got a tan, but oh my GAWD it turned out orange (I mean oompa loompa orange - yuck):

It was great to catch up with everyone:

We even got in a card game of Cards Against Humanity:

Words can't describe how much I love these two:

I think the best part of the night may have been when Anna and Jeremy Bordner traded pants (because Anna bet him that he would fit into her pants - and he did).  Good times, good times:

I would say our house is officially broken in!

A Visit with Santa

This story starts with another parade - the Holiday one to be more specific.  Ryan and I walked the kids downtown to see the parade on a very very cold Saturday morning.  While we were walking down there I mentioned to Isla that Santa would be at the end of the parade so she wouldn't be freaked out (Santa has done this to her in the past).  Not sure what it is with young kids and Santa - they love him yet fear him at the same time.  Anywho . . .

Trying to keep warm during the parade:

The parade turned out to be a looooooooong one and about an hour into it I couldn't feel my toes so we decided to head back home.  Isla was not happy about this at all.  I tried to explain that we were all cold and needed to warm up, but she replied back that she wanted to see Santa.  In order to avoid losing my toes and an Isla meltdown I mentioned to her that we could go and see Santa later that day thinking that she would probably forget about it.  The thing I'm learning about Isla is that her memory is getting better.  Later that day she asked if we could go and see Santa and being the good mom that I am (most of the time), I put her and Drew into the car and drove them to the mall.  I figured all she wanted to do was look at him and watch him, but imagine my shock when my painfully shy daughter asked if she could sit on his lap.  I almost fell over.  I quickly went with the kids to stand in line for Santa, but of course was informed that Santa was taking a break to feed his reindeer. Since we didn't have time to wait for Santa I promised Isla we would come back the next day.

The next morning, the first thing Isla asked about was when she could go and see Santa.  So again, I packed up her and Drew (and wrangled Ryan) into the car to head out to the mall.  We ended up being the one of the first ones in line.  I thought Isla would back out, but she waited in line patiently with her brother:

She did look a little nervous I guess.  When their time came they both went right up to Santa and sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas (Drew - a fire truck, Isla - a baby doll) and took a picture. The result was an awkward smile by both children, but hey, at least there were no tears:

I was so proud of Isla though - maybe she starting to come out of the painfully shy stage (yay!)?

  

New House, End of November, Thanksgiving 2013

A nice combo post for you:

We moved!  After spending the summer and early fall in the Plex we finally found the house we have been waiting for.  I am pleasantly surprised that we found what we were looking for in the "flat" land as Ryan calls it as I thought we would have had to move up into the foothills to find it.  In fact the house is about as close to downtown as you can get and we have been enjoying the location by riding our bikes and walking to events (see previous post).  I am so thankful that we found what we were looking for and I seriously love this house more and more everyday.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we ventured out to the Zac Brown Band concert with some friends.  Such a great concert and I highly recommend seeing this band if you can.  All the boys in their plaid shirts - so original:

We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving again this year and host Grandma, Papa Randy and Uncle Johnny.  It was my first time cooking the bird by myself (except Grandma took out the insides and neck of the turkey as that part makes me a wee bit squeamish) and I have to say that it turned out really well.  The finished product:

 My other turkey:

Dinning room set for Thanksgiving dinner:

 

Veteran's Day Parade

Okay so I'm a little behind on the blogging.  These pictures are from way back at the beginning of November when I walked the kids (yes, we can walk to downtown from our new house!) to the Veteran's Day parade.  I was surprised that I really enjoyed the parade and watching my kids wave their American Flags.  It was also touching to watch people in the parade stop and shake the hand of servicemen who were among the parade watchers and thank them for their service.  I'm glad my kids liked it too:

    Except for when the motorcycles went by: