Christmas Day

We spent another Christmas with just our little-ish family. We were trying to think how many we have done alone and its been about 5/8 that is a lot. I don't know why it used to be so hard to make it home, actually I do. Taking Christmas to another state is hard no matter how many kids you have, but the more that harder. So this year we had yet another mellow year.

The kids woke up about 7:30 and we opened Grandma Rhonda's presents (Christmas apparel) and Santa's. then got ready for church. Off to church then Back for more presents and Christmas Breakfast, more like brunch, casserole. kids played with toys, Carter got a remote control car her played with in the cul-de-sac the girls did make-overs and the house never got clean! its still a work in progress. Shaun and I were talking about that last night. there is NO way, either set of parents would have gone to bed with our house the way it was. Does Cleanliness come with age, or did we miss the boat? It is funny to see the traits we did inherit. We both had a garbage sack ready to collect wrapping paper. then headed straight to eat...

Shaun said I have pregnancy brain, which is true. I completely forgot to do adult stockings, I also forgot the hash browns for the casserole so we had to make due with shredding potatoes. its works ok, but they turn brown and take longer to cook. I wrapped the presents that needed to be charged, and I completely didnt plan a Christmas dinner... oops. if Things go how I am thinking I wont have too many more pregnancy brain moments after baby #5.

Now Christmas is over and the kids are still playing with toys. Shauns had to get a better battery for "carters" remote control car. now onto the new year. new goals(be better at blogging on time rather than back dating) and a few more. I am so grateful for the year. I Love where we live. We miss being by family, but we couldnt have gotten luckier with our ward friends, neighbors and street. I have never felt we have had a "bad year" and i am pretty blessed in saying that.

Christmas morning

Carter in his sweet digs from Grandma
Before church the girls raided the stockings
Ellie Loved Carters Buzz bed. she wouldnt get out of it
She kept tearing off the wrapping paper, then wouldn't even look at the present, but would grab a new one with paper on it to rip off.

Christmas Eve

Ellie saw the older kids taking pictures near the wall, so after we took their picture she went over and said "cheese" shes a quick learner!

gingere

Kailey is unable to make normal faces anymore... and carter rarely has his eyes opened?

Today I cleaned. We got the house ready for Santa, Shaun took the kids out for some last min "Mom shopping", and i got the house in tip top shape. It lasted about 20 min once they came home... We Had Simons over to make gingerbread houses and homemade cinnamon rolls. They ended up staying for Christmas eve dinner, I was suprised at how well it came together last min. I only had a ham, and i happened to have potatoes, and crescent rolls and she came with deviled eggs and a veggie tray. worked out amazing! It was fun to had a nice sit down dinner with friends. They headed home and we opened Christmas Pajamas, read a few Christmas books, set out some cinnamon rolls for Santa, some reindeer food on the lawn and off to bed. Santa was on his, and/or her way!!

Roasting Smores but the fire

Today the activity was roasting s'mores. We all grabbed a blanket, the kids made s'mores and we read some of the Forgotten Carols. gotta love the things to do at Christmas. Ellie loved the fire and we all stunk like smoke when we came in!

Did you know amazon delivers kids?

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We did 99% of shopping on Amazon.com this year. I will do this every year from now on. Black friday: amazon and toys r us! so everyday in December was Christmas, Carter would yell "MOM THE BOX GUYS HERE!" and we would both get excited! the kids loved the boxes that were scattered all over, they surprisingly didn't catch on there were gifts for them inside. but the box itself was a toy!

Time to decorate the Xmas tree

This year we got our tree from Costco and it was a great tree! only 29 bucks! When Clyde was in town for Thanksgiving we pulled out all the Christmas decorations and so we were prepared, and excited to move onto Christmas. The kids had a blast putting the ornaments on and Ellie was a great bystander, the whole month she didnt even try to pull an ornament off the tree! she loved seeing the ornaments that had the kids pictures on them and would mumble the name of whose it was. Kailey, Jordan and Carter did a pretty good job at getting the ornament on, and not to uneven. They Each had a stool so kailey got the top, carter got the middle (he liked to bunch them) and Jordan filled in the holes. It got us excited to start our December traditions. On December 1st, the Advent house calendar was filled with a scripture, candy and a activity to do. The xmas books were wrapped and placed under the tree along with grandparent gifts and the Chrsitmas season is in full swing here!

one month up to date. a few left...

well, in case you wanted to know. I have officially updated my blog. At least I have blogged about October, as you will see, if you go back in time. There were a lot of things happening. We have been busy around these parts!

want some sugar?

Ellie might have gotten into the sugar this morning? our floors may be sticky, but i think she's proud.

the dancing flower girls

they wouldnt stay off the dance floor it was so funny! I will hopefully get a picture of them from the wedding photographer throwing flowers down the isle! they did such a good job and were so cute!

cupcake, cupcakes and more MORE cupcakes

Shauns friend Rob got married today. Shaun was one of the groomsmen, the girls were flower girls and I was the cake and cupcake maker. Needless to say its been a busy/stressful few weeks... I made 100 cupcakes (50 red velvet, 50 white almond) and a small wedding cake.
I would like to think of myslef as a baker, but more in the cookie domain. Cupcakes are hard! you have to get them to last and stay fresh, you can't let sprinkles go soggy (lesson learned!) you have to have all sorts of tools. and I am just not the cupcakes biggest fan. One thing they do have going for them, is they are pretty and since they aren't super tempting for me I didn't eat the batter, and i only ate a piece of cake, or frosting, but could usually pawn this off on a neighbor or Shaun. so now my first job is done, and who knows maybe I'll start a cupcake business????





this is the display

the cake... these are tricky but for my first cake, not to bad?

the other half of the cake table

the grocery store gave me some plastic cup cake holders. made me look like I bought them. Great holders too!!!! the color was pool blue. this cake is delicious!!and the almond frosting is YUMMY

Bloc Party

The kids on the cul de sac... yeah there are a lot of them! i think there are over 25.

Ellie being cheesey

Happy Pumpkin carving!

Jordan wasn't a fan of gutting the pumpkin, but Kailey had fun with it.

Dad carved Carters and Mom carved what the girs traced

Left to right: Carter, Shaun, Jordan, Kailey, Callie

We had a bloc Party tonight, it was our first cold day of the season. After food and treats and pictures we went inside and carved some pumpkins. I was surprised at how easy it was, I was putting it off becuase i didnt want the mess or the hassle. Lesson learned, It's not as bad as you'd think with 4 kids?

Trunk or Treat!

Carter and Ben. Carter is just getting the friend age. Its so funny, he gives them all nicknames, whether they like it or not. (sorry chasey)

Kailey was a witch with a cat face

Madeline, Jordan the princess and Isabel

Top left: Chloe, Kailey, Madeline, Jordan, Isabel, Front left: Addison, Carter, Ellie, Ben, Chase

We decided to skip the ward trunk or treat because it was past bedtime and Shaun was out of town, so we did the school one instead. We went with a few neighbors and friends. WAY to much candy and it wasn't even halloween night yet (they each got about 5 lbs of candy on Halloween night and only did 2 1/2 streets. thats 15 pounds of candy! I will be fat soon, and not just from pregnancy!) they had face painting, pumpkin painting, games and blow up slides. the kids had a blast and I was ready for bed!

How to host a Murder

We had a murder Mystery party. Needless to say we looked awesome! I was a frumpy secretary and Shaun was climber. It was fun, and something different. I wish i had the group picture, but Its on a friends camera!

Boone Hall Pumpkin patch

It's that time of the year again. We headed to the pumpkin patch and all got snow cones. It's so nice to do fall things in not freezing weather. I am so grateful for warm weather! It makes outside so much more enjoyable!

Jordan can ride a 2 wheeler!!!

I don't know how she does it, but this kid is a quick learner! since moving to the cul de sac she has been riding her bike with training wheels non stop. She was ready to have them off for awhile but today they came off. 2 trips up and down the street and the kid was going up curbs, biking on grass and going over small jumps? she has no fear. She has fallen a few times, but she's brave and just gets back on. Way to go jordan! we are proud of you.

Carter wanted his off because she took hers off. so we tried it. he said "i want the wheels back on, this is to wobbly" hey, worth a try

the Big 3-0

Ellie is so happy its my birthday!

Dinner downtown

Its official, I'm old. I guess I have felt old for sometime, not old, but i have the family to feel old, so turning 30 wasnt so big, until shaun kept saying "you will never be in your 20's again." nice thanks. At least he is older than me, so really he isnt one to say anything!

I was hoping to go to France for my birthday, that didnt pan out, I also got pregnant, and am just starting to show and feel in the "awkward fat/pregnant" look so my hopes weren't to high. Although I do like to play it up and hope for the best!! It worked. Shaun pulled through. It wasnt France, but it was a needed get a way. Shaun arranged a friend to watch the kids overnight so we could go stay downtown, go out to dinner and walk around. We don't get to do that too often, especially without kids. It was fun, and he spoiled me with a few presents. 30 here I come!! bring it on! :)

worn down

I don't know what we did today but i think we all felt like this by 5pm. Shaun has been out of town pretty much everyweek, and the kids have to do all my errands AND play outside non stop. Jordan found a quiet spot (in the clean unfolded clothes) and fell asleep for the night!

Camping day 2

Ellie found herself a nice spot near where the fire would be.

We made it through the night, sort of. I bought 2 air mattresses in hopes we could all sleep comfortably. to bad one had a hole straight out of the box. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, it was Shaun's mattress, but eventually all 6 of us ended up on one full mattress. at least we stayed warm?

I woke up first and hiked up to hanging rock by myself, it wasn't the most kid friendly Hike. It was beautiful to see all the leaves changing and feel the crisp fall. I was also glad that we have to go on vacation in October to get that. I know cold will come but I am not ready for it yet, but didn't want to miss the leaves change. After the hike, we made breakfast, cleaned up and got ready to kayak. turns out they don't let other boats in their water, and it was closed for the season anyway. Good thing I carried them on the roof for 5 hrs! so we headed home, or tried. Shaun took off first and me and the girls were to follow. my car was dead... so about 20 min later he came back, thankfully! (there was no reception) jumped the car and headed home with a quick stop at aunt Linda's to say goodbye. it was nice to camp, its been so long! we may want to do it before the next 3 years? it wasnt as hard with 4 as i would have thought. first we need to get a new air mattress.

to many dirty kids = a full bath tub

I am sure Kailey will one day say "mom I was 7, why was i in the bath with everyone?" and I will reply, cause sometimes i'm a lazy mom and you love baths! thank goodnes for jacuzzi tubs.

Birthday camping weekend extravaganza!

We headed up to Hanging Rock State park up near Greensboro, NC. The kids loved it, Ellie included. We were able to play some games, go on a hike, saw a waterfall, be in the canyon and get away for awhile. Happy birthday Shaun! we celebrated in style!

Ellie got the easy pass with hiking!

Camping buddies

Dad, Kailey and Jordan staying warm

Carter and Mom roasting marshmallows

Shaun carving sharp sticks for the kids, and himself

one of the waterfalls we hiked to

Jordan getting ready to get in the waterfall

Carter checking out the scenery

Ellie was a determined little hiker

Playing UNO fireside

Jordan enjoying her smore