Simply Wonderful Christmas Time

Every year Christmas turns out to be such a magical event and this year was no exception. I always have to take one last picture of the tree and stockings before the destruction begins.

All time favorite photo is always the one that captures the kids faces as they see what is under the tree!

Trey was speechless, yes for the first time in his life, when opened a Wii from Santa. We are still trying to remind him it was a "family" gift however he believes otherwise.

Other highlights for Trey, Broncos shirt, Legos, football & remote control truck!

Kaden on the other hand was VERY disappointed in Santa's work. He had specifically asked for a Bumble Bee Transformer that transformed into a car and the guy so you can see from the picture why he was so upset that he only brought him the guy. Before he had even finished unwrapping it he started crying and hitting his gift. Once we were able to calm him down, and signed him up for an anger management class, he was happy with the gift and willingly opened more.

A huge sigh of relief when mom and dad gave him a Bumble Bee Transformer that was a guy and a car!!

Avrey was so excited to open presents and made sure she opened all of her all by herself. She was very excited about her new baby stroller and sat in it the rest of the morning to open her gifts.

She also loved her new baby doll, Elmo shirt, Barbie doll, and necklaces.

My parents always send the life saver gifts!! Everyone gets their favorite box of cereal that gets devoured once we are done opening gifts. We love it!

I love that Christmas was on Sunday this year. Once we enjoyed the fun of Christmas and a nice big breakfast we got all dressed up and headed to church to enjoy the true meaning of Christmas.

Thank you Gram & Grandpa for the darling Christmas outfits!

Needless to say we had a wonderful Christmas and are so grateful for our many blessings!

Christmas Eve Adventures

With 12 inches of snow outside we thought it would be fun to take the kids sledding. To be honest I am not big a big fan of sledding or any winter sport that forces me to be in the cold but the kids love it so what is a mother to do! We started out on the "bunny hill" for the sake of the girls but that did not last too long!

The boys went straight for the big guns! Jeff took Trey & Avrey on the first run and were showered in snow the whole way down. Needless to say Avrey was not happy about that and was ready to go home!

I talked Kaden into riding with me assuring him I would keep my feet on the sled and we would not get covered in snow. At the bottom covered in snow, Kaden is ready to go home too!

Even with half of us waiting in the car and after several injuries we could not get Trey to stop. This boy is all about the adventure!

We got home and spent the rest of the day trying to get warm!

Visions of sugar plums...

Some friends of ours had told us that one of their favorite traditions is to sleep by the Christmas tree on Christmas eve eve so once our boys heard that they were all over it!

I'll be honest at first I thought what a pain it would be to try and get the kids to bed and honestly it was so much fun to re-live that childhood excitement. And surprisingly they feel asleep pretty fast.

Christmas eve morning I woke up to the sounds of little whispers as Trey told Kaden a made up Christmas story at 5:30 am. Even with the early wake up call I can't wait to do it again next year!

Dreaming of a White Chocolate Christmas

Every year I try to come up with something new to make for our holiday treats and every year I resort back to our favorites! Why give up the classics when they are so deliciously yummy!

White chocolate chex mix...VERY addicting!

White chocolate popcorn drizzled in dark chocolate!

We are also enjoying our fair share of candy canes.

And something new for us, sprinkle pancakes. The kids LOVE them!

It looks like we will be having a real white Christmas as well. We woke up this morning to 12 inches of snow and love that we get to stay inside and enjoy our hot cocoa!

It looks a lot like Christmas

I love the weeks before Christmas and all the fun activities there is to do. We have been having so much fun I am scared we will be exhausted by Christmas. The kids in their new Christmas pj's.

Letters to Santa. Trey's list was pretty long but his #1 request was video games.

Kaden's focus is Transformers and Super Heros.

Avrey's wish is for a new baby doll.

Watching movies by the Christmas tree and eating popcorn.

Making gingerbread houses with friends!

Decorating sugar cookies with friends!

Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas party this weekend which I wouldn't normally post, however, I was partly in charge and I'm so happy with how it turned out. We planned a "mocktail" party, aka: a mormon cocktail party.

Our theme was Winter Wonderland for the adults...

...and Polar Express for the kids. We had train tickets made up for the kids and Trey played the Train conductor. All the kids came in their pj's and watched the movie 'Polar Express' while they waited for Santa to get there.

Trey not so sure this was the "real" Santa, but was not going to miss the chance to say what he wants for Christmas.

Kaden ended up sitting on his lap a few times. I think it was so he could get more candy canes!

Avrey wanted nothing to do with Santa but was determined to get a candy cane. She didn't take her eyes off me for a second!

Bye Bye Binkie

I am pretty sure this is the sign that it is time to say good-bye to the binkie!! We actually lost the last two this last week and I thought for sure we would be racing to the store at midnight to buy more just to save our sanity but, surprisingly she never noticed they were gone.

Our many blessings

For some reason I forgot how much I truly LOVE Thanksgiving. This year was extra special because we had my mom and dad and sisters Laura and Kelly here with us. While we waited for the Turkey to cook we made turkey pictures and watched a lot of football.

We enjoyed delicious appetizers. I think I made too many because when I was setting them out Trey and Kaden both thought it was the actual Thanksgiving meal!!

Since it was 70 degrees that day we enjoyed our appetizers outside and then took the kids to the park.

The Feast! As much as I love all the deliciousness of the holiday nothing compares to sharing it with family.

Actual proof that our meal was a success!

Not only did we all gain 10 lbs we also went swimming, saw the new Muppet movie, and attended Trey's first annual White Elephant party. My family has a W.E. party every year at Christmas and since we can't be there Trey really wanted to have one here. We had an amazing weekend and are so grateful for our many blessings!