Christmas Magic!

Santa found us! It was magical! Emri was so excited he remembered her dinosaurs...

...and glow stars!!!!Now that Jet is pulling himself up, Santa thought it would be a good idea for him to have a stand & play musical table. It's a hit (with both the kids). Emri was more than happy to help Jetty with his unwrapping!Brett and I did not exchange gifts....well, we weren't supposed to, but he surprised me with a massage appointment. Can't wait! We bought a kitchen table a few weeks ago (we sold our old hand-me-down table at our garage sale in Ohio--we had outgrown it), and some new pillows that we have been using already. It was fun to just watch the kids that morning be so excited!After presents at our house we drove to my parents in Salt Lake. The kids with their great Gma and Gpa Brklacich. Gma and Gpa always stop by on Christmas morning to see what we got. I love that they still come over even though we're all grown up!

This is probably the most annoying gift (thanks Kade) Emri got when it comes to noise, but an absolute hit with her! She loves jammin' out on her "Dora rock guitar!" Jet is somewhere under that pile of presents!Kolbs & AndiAyden & E figured out it was lots of fun to play with stuffed animals in Uncle Bridger's boots!After a few hours at my parents, we stopped by Gma and Gpa Brklacich's for a traditional Christmas meal...sauerkraut and cabbage rolls. Then we were off to Morgan for dinner and gift exchanges with Brett's family. Emri LOVED her set of Olivia books from Mac!Jet boy being entertained by Brystun and Aunt Jaimilyn.Tabitha and E...gma and gpa gave all the kids beanies...they always do one of the gifts to everyone similar!

The slew of Grandkids sportin' their new hats.As you can imagine, this many kids (plus 16 adults) in one room can be quite a riot! It was....and it was great! We had a wonderful, busy day! I think we literally dropped into bed that night! I took the tree/decorations down the next day (just ready to get some normal decor up in our new place). Emri was so sad...."it's never going to be Christmas again," she said as she sat in the spot where the tree once stood! My nativity is still up though, I might leave it out for a while though so I can enjoy the new pieces to it that my parents gifted me!

Christmas Eve

We had dinner at Brett's parents on Christmas Eve. It was nice and quiet with just the 6 of us.... After dinner the kids opened their ONE gift...Emri had been talking about getting a present all day, so she was thrilled when it was actually time.

She tore right in....Jet on the other hand, went with the mouth approach.......which frustrated him.......but he was determined....Emri loved her jammies.......then snatched Jet's present away because it apparently was taking him too long!Snuggly kids, ready for Santa!Cute dino bum!We tried to have Emri tell us the story of Christmas from the book that Grandma Anderton gave her a couple weeks ago....should have done that before the jammies came out! Emri said they were magical snowflake jammies and was pretty much WIRED the rest of the night....pulling faces like this!Luckily by the time we got home, she was excited to go right to bed so Santa could come!

Family Party and Ogden City Lights

Before heading out to the extended Anderton Christmas party I told Emri all the kids were dressing up for the Nativity. Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: "Emri, at the Christmas party tonight you get to dress up like an angel or a shepherd for the Nativity. What do you want to dress up as?"

E: "Ummmm......Rapunzel!"

Silly girl! When I told her she could take her stuffed sheep along and be a shepherd, she went for that option which is good, because I'm not sure where Rapunzel would have fit in to the Nativity Story :)

The kids were so cute...Emri spent part of her time shush-ing the other kids so she could hear. It was a fun party, but we sure missed Grandpa Anderton reading the story of Christ's birth to us.

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Even though it was FREEZING outside we decided to brave the cold and go see the Ogden City lights with the Palmers. Emri and Tabitha bundled up...Emri was waddling around like the kid on the Christmas Story movie!

Michelle and the girls

the only pic of Jet all night....he was bundled tightly in his stroller.

Michelle and I took the girls on the little train ride....and it only derailed on us once (good thing, cuz the group before us derailed 3 times), not sure if it was worth the $.50!

The fam...Jet really is with us :)

What I love about the Ogden lights are all the little houses that different company's decorate. They are so fun for the kids to climb up to see... just a little different than the norm.

E and Dad enjoying some hot chocolate

See....Ogden's not totally ghetto!

Jet @10 Months

Jet is lookin like such a big boy these days...maybe the looks along with all the new things he's learning make him seem not so "babyish" to me.

Grandma helping to soothe teething pains :) No wonder he loves her so much!

At 10 Months Jet:

• Is officially in his crib and no longer the pack-n-play he's been in since birth and moving to grandparents.
• finally cut his 1st tooth around 9 1/2 mos--Dec 6th to be exact (gma's bday)!
• was on Amoxicillan for a double ear infection....I thought the no sleeping and grumpiness was due to a cold/stuffy nose, new room and bed, and teething. Finally I took him in to the dr, then felt like a really bad mom for not going sooner. It's been a rough month!
• is such a busy body! He still uses his one-arm army crawl to get everywhere and is in to everything!
• is a human vacuum. If there is the most miniscule piece of anything on the floor....it's bound to go in his mouth. On the up-side, my floors get vacuumed daily!
• is pulling himself up to a few pieces of furniture to stand.
• can get up the first 2 stairs on his own.
• goes from lying down to sitting up on his own now.
• says mamama and dadadada, but not as a title to either of us yet
• at the dr appt for ear infection weighed 19 lb. 5 oz. (yay, a little growth in the last month)!
• learned to clap.
• his poor little (BIG) noggin is the first thing to bonk into everything and has lots of bumps and bruises.
• likes to growl and give slimy open mouth kisses!

A special treat on Jet's 10 month bday....we got to hang out with my amazing friend Katie (who is living the life in SoCal). She got to meet Jet for the first time, and see Emri for the first time since she was only 3 months old!

Santa is at Chick Fila....

...or at least that's Emri's understanding of where you go if you want to see him! We had breakfast with Santa at the Layton Chick Fila a couple weeks ago. She asked him for glow stars and specific dinosaurs. She was a little shy about it...hence the fingers in her mouth.

Jet is still too young to have an opinion of him, or any requests!

We met up with Michelle's family (Brett's sister). Tabitha and Emri were obsessed with the cow-elf.

Loralye.....she will melt your heart with those eyes! So beautiful! Many women pay big bucks these days to get their eyelashes to look like this!

Jet and Loralye....so big sitting up in the highchairs!

We went bright and early (8am), but it was perfect and hardly anyone was there.

Cousin Time

We've started doing a babysitting swap with Brett's sister who lives close to us. The older girls play so well together...and these two, I'm sure they'll play great together when they get to that point! For now they are happy to have a sink bath side-by-side (loving the deep sink in our house for this very reason)!

Nothin' better than lotioned up babies in jammies!