Christmas Day

The treeLiam was excited that not only did Santa bring him what he asked for, but it has a remote control!Super excited about the water bottles…can’t you just see it??

one to prove I was actually thereLiam was proud of the dvds he chose for his favorite brother and sister!Gift cards from Grandma & Grandpa Stevens!

We have a tradition of taking a picture with the gifts they got…that’s one I haven’t slacked on.  Liam in his full BYU clothes.  He is a real FAN now!

We had a great Christmas.  Every year I feel like the kids aren’t getting very much and every year they are happy with whatever they get.  I’m so grateful for them and their great attitudes about gifts.  At least if they hate anything or are really disappointed they hide it from us well. 

Jason and I didn’t get each other anything with the intention that we would go somewhere fun together (out of town) instead.  I’m still trying to make it happen…hopefully we can!  Where do you like to visit?  My only requirement is that it has to be warmer than here!  (oh, and our budget is pretty limited)

Christmas Eve

I’ve been getting a little bit lax in keeping some of our traditions at Christmas.  one of them is that I make the kids take a picture in front of the Tree every year.  Jason Jr. is not very cooperative when it comes to pictures lately so I had to put my foot down and make him do it anyway this year.  This is the silly face picture.The best one we got.I made Jason do a picture with me too, but the camera was held crooked so it looks funny.  I fixed it in picasa, but that doesn’t stay fixed here for some reason.  So, pretend it is straight. I think I know where my son gets his grouchiness about having his picture taken…We always go to the McDonald side of the family on Christmas eve.  We arrived a little early and got to hang out with Melanie for awhile.  I love this picture of her with Liam and I love that she is so patient with him even when he beats her up with his enthusiasm.  Liam loves his cousins!This is before the chaos of opening presents.  Once we start from the youngest grandchild it is complete mayhem…This is Liam wearing his new BYU hat and checking out the reading buddy he got from Grandma.  He likes to make Bigsby talk. 

We drew Easton’s name this yea and all he wanted was a moshi monster game.  Thankfully I was able to find him one within the allotted budget.  I love his face here.  He was thrilled.  Hallie checking out the Minnie Mouse we got her. 

Jason got a hoodie with headphones in the hood string…it was cool, until he lost it at youth conference. Em lucked out and got a super adorable shirt. 

I didn’t get a picture of Grandma opening her gift from us, but here she is opening something.  Everyone chipped in and got Grandpa a new TV.

I am not pictured because by the time the adults get to their turn all the kids just want to play with their stuff and run around making as much noise as they can and I gave the camera to the twins and they only got strange close ups of my hands because they were sitting on the couch next to me and didn’t want to get up to take my picture.  I didn’t get pictures of Jason opening his gifts because he did it so fast that I didn’t have enough time to turn the camera back on. 

We came home and read the Christmas story and then opened our pajamas, but slacker that I am I didn’t get a picture of them actually in their jammies on Christmas eve.  But there are some from Christmas day so that makes up for it. 

Preschool Christmas program

Nothing is cuter than a bunch of four and five year olds singing and trying to remember all the words to the songs they’ve learned.  They started out with a rousing rendition of  SANTA think BINGO, but with different words and about Santa.  Amazingly during this song Santa actually appeared!  It was fun watching the kids be so surprised (even the ones that had this same thing happen last year).  all the kids got to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.  Liam asked for a

BLUE Monster truck thankfully Santa delivered!

 When they sang Rudolph they dressed the part! Liam really got into his singing this year.  Last year he was much more shy about it.  I love seeing him gain confidence and learn so much. 

Fall Fun

Fall just isn’t Fall without a big pile of leaves to jump in.  I missed the action shot of him jumping…dang.

Check out the joy on that face! 

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the McDonald side of the family.  After dinner Grandma had a fun cookie decorating project for everyone.  She had all the stuff to make turkey cookies, most of the kids made their own creations because Turkeys were just too easy for them.  Liam was very serious and intent on making his cookie just how he wanted it.  This is the best shot I got before the cookies were eaten

.  While the kids were creating Kensie and I were bonding.  She is fascinated by my braces and tries to pull them off my teeth.  It is pretty entertaining.  I am jealous of her beautiful blue eyes!

October

Another highlights of the month post.  We keep pretty busy doing stuff in the fall I guess.  I love blogging because it helps me realize how much we really do.We went to pumpkinland with our playgroup friends.  We sure love our playgroup friends! In the corn maze trying to keep Liam from slicing himself with the dried cornstalks he kept picking up to use as swords.  (one of our playgroup friends wasn’t so lucky and he sliced his little fingers)

The halloween totem pole

Liam’s best cheesy smilehe kept getting in the cut outs while other people were trying to get picutres.  They had inflatables!Emily and Jason were on the Shakespeare team for their Jr High this year.  They did scenes from The tempest.  Jason was the pilot of the boat.  Emily got to do a monologue she was prospero and she did a great job with a really  hard part.Liam’s preschool went to a local pumpkin patch.  Here he’s pointing at the animals.  There was a big pile of dried corn that the kids could play in and I swear we were finding corn for a week after this field trip.The whole preschool class making a circle in the corn.The hayride.He was very particular in choosing a pumpkin.  It had to be perfectly round and that was really hard to find.  The Saturday before Halloween the stores on main street do a trick or treat on main street activity.  We ran into Easton, Kensie, and Heather so we had to take a picture of the cousins in their costumes. 

We did our pumpkin carving very last minute so they would be fresh for Halloween.  This is Liam’s jack-o-lantern. 

Em chose hello kitty this year.  I think last year’s intricate carving made her a little more careful in her selection this year. 

  .  There was a part and a parade at preschool.  Halloween was awesome this year becuae the weather was really warm and perfect for trick or treating.  This is Liam with his friend Camden.  We went together with them to the donut house.  There is a house in our town where they give every kid under 12 a dozen krispy kreme donuts.  This family used to be in our ward before they moved to this house.  We love going every year, but even though we got there a little early there were a lot of people in line ahead of us.  This is once we got closer to the door.  the house is in a cul-de-sac and the line was all the way across the circular part of the cul-de-sac.

Liam wasted no time digging in to his box of donuts

At the beginning of the month we spent a weekend watching General conference.  Liam kept himself entertained while we were attempting to pay attention.  He made a fort.  He dressed up with his balloon friend in different masks.  Something new we did this year was go to the Singles over 30 party for our ward (we were invited because my Jason’s the bishop).  After dinner we played games including some minute to win it games.  This is one of Jason trying to get that Oreo from his forehead to his mouth without any hands.  He was not successful.  

So, there you have it.  October in a nutshell…a very big one.