Temple Square

While we were in Utah, we were able to go to Temple Square to see the beautiful lights. It was a frigid night, but we bundled up and headed out.

The cousins loved walking around together looking at all the lights. We watched the Nativity reinactment together. They loved when the star appeared and watched for that star the whole night.

Despite the cold, we loved being together and sharing that time together.

Lilly's room

The week before Christmas, we were pretty sure that Santa Claus was going to be bringing Lilly a new desk for Christmas. Don't ask how we knew, we just KNEW!

Well, to fit a new desk in her room, we needed to do some serious reorganizing (which I happen to LOVE to do!). We decided to get Ikea closet organizers, the same ones that we installed in the boys' room. With her closet space utilized much more efficiently, we were able to get rid of her dresser and free up an entire wall for her special present.

BUT...

Before we could install the closet organizers, we had to paint inside. We didn't want to paint inside unless we painted the entire room.

THEN...

We wanted to do beadboard in her room. This meant re-doing all the moulding in her room and adding a little extra.

Needless to say, that Christmas present has turned into a huge project.

Thanks Santa!

P.S. We are getting closer to being done. I am working on the decorating as Clarke finishes the mouldings, caulk, and painting.

Christmas all in one LONG post

Christmas has come and gone (decorations started coming down at our house on December 27th), but I did want to "journal" our Holiday season this year.

Here's the run-down:

Gingerbread house: Lilly got a kit this year and really enjoyed putting it together. She didn't eat hardly anything off of it all season long, we just used it as a really cute centerpiece on the table!

Snow: Rocklin got snow. This does NOT happen very often (and we are extremely okay with this fact!). The kids really liked waking up to a blanket (1/2 - 1 inch) of snow and playing in it all day long!

Decorating for Christmas: This happened the day after Thanksgiving (I refuse to do it any sooner, but can't wait for Thanksgiving to be over to decorate for Christmas!). We had fun getting everything put up and amazed at how well all three kids did with having a Christmas tree and decorated dining room table. No one ever touched it!

Visit to Utah: I will blog more about this later this week, but wanted to mention our trip. We flew out to Utah December 18-22 to celebrate the Holidays with Clarke's family. The entire family was together for the first time in a long while, so we couldn't miss out! One of our excursions was Temple Square to see the lights and Nativity. So cool!

Lilly lost her first tooth: Lilly's tooth had been loose for some time, but she was quite freaked out by the "pulling it out" scenario. We finally held her down and just yanked it out, on Christmas Eve. She had two visitors that night: Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy!

The highlights of Christmas morning: This year Santa Claus was very good to our family. He brought Lilly a desk for her room (which meant we had to re-do her entire room...to be blogged at a later date). Owen got a 2-wheel bike, and Wyatt got a car to ride in.
Our Christmas was simple and sweet, with not too many presents, just the way we like it. We want to teach our children Christmas isn't about Santa and "getting" gifts, but about the Savior and His birth. We are so grateful for the Savior and His birth we celebrate at Christmas-time!

We wish you all a Happy New Year!

My best friend

Is it any wonder that my best friend is the Swiffer Wet mop?

This is no exception! My floors look like this after EVERY meal.

Wyatt is the true culprit, although Owen does add to the mess 99% of the time.

Every meal, I want my children to sit on their bottoms all the way, facing their plates. I want them to use their utensils appropriately and chew with their mouths closed in hopes that these rules will eliminate some of the mess on the floor after each meal. I don't think that is too much to ask, do you? Yet, each meal, I find myself repeating the words: "Turn around," "Sit on your bottom," "Use your fork," etc, etc, etc. In their defense, Lilly does do a pretty good job, unless there is something going on around her that she is gawking at (she gawks a lot!) and Owen still has motor deficits with holding a fork/spoon and using them appropriately.

Wyatt is at that lovely stage of throwing EVERYTHING on the floor. He picks it up looks at it, and then chucks it. He does it so conniving too! He knows it drives me crazy, looks at me and smiles as he does it again and again. I love this age!

In an attempt to make lemonade out of lemons:

At least after meal-time, my kitchen floors are super clean!

Family Pictures

On Thanksgiving day, we decided to attempt some family pictures. My dad took the pictures on my parents' street and neighbor's house. I am actually quite impressed with how well they turned out. Besides me in the picture (I think everyone can always find a flaw with a picture of themselves), everyone looks really cute and the background colors are fantastic! For a family who has an incredibly hard time sitting still, looking and smiling at the camera, HORRAY for us.

Fall

We have a large tree in our front yard that we love. It gives our home so much shade during the heat of the summer months. It is beautiful, although I don't have any idea what type of tree it is.

The down-side of having our tree is the fall season. The leaves fall off the tree so quickly and clog the gutters and bury our planters. At certain times, we will rake in the morning and by that same afternoon, the whole lawn is covered in leaves...again!

At least we can have some fun too!

Ice Skating

Okay, I am finally getting around to posting what we did for Lilly's 6th Birthday.

Since the kids had the day off from school (Lilly will never have to go to school on her birthday, pretty sweet!), we took the kids to the local ice rink.

We had a blast! The ice rink had buckets that the kids could use to help support themselves and keep from falling, what a clever idea!

Aubrey came too (when we told Lilly we were only having a family party this year, she happily announced that Aubrey could come too! She was right, Aubrey is part of our family).

The kids did fantatic!

We hit up Leatherby's on the way home. The ice cream quickly disappeared!