Getting in the Christmas Spirit...

To get into the Christmas spirit around these parts, we pose like we're constipated.... ok, just him. One day he'll regret making faces like this! Baby Ike just chills no matter what we're doing. 

 For FHE the kids decorated the tree...and I did my best not to move any ornaments (unless they were being played with).

 Jet disassembled ornaments faster than I could keep them put together...

 He wanted to be the star-putter-onner this year, but couldn't quite make it stay....

 ...so sister helped with the finishing touches.

 Such a genuine picture of this guy (who is all of a sudden WAAAAY too grown up)! Love the ornament glitter all over his face.

 Little Miss Sass-a-frass!

 The finished product.

 Snow arrived and these two could not wait to play in it. They actually lasted about 40 minutes their first time out there. I was surprised because it was so dang cold out.

 With Christmas, comes shopping.... and lunch out on several occasions to get errands finished. This day was Sam's Club lunch. Pretzels and soda. Yep, super healthy!

 Emri performed in her preschool program and was a doll in her pretty purple Christmas dress.

 She is surrounded by "boy" friends at school and in church. These are her homies: Trevin, Ryder & Luke. She LOVES the attention they give her. 

 G & G Anderton came...

 ....and so did Momma Max. We are grateful for the support of our grandparents!! 

One Saturday morning we hit up Chick-Fila for breakfast with Santa Claus himself! 

 Oh, and the cow elf. 

 I think Ike had a sneaky suspicion about him....

 ...i thought he was the real deal! The kids told him their Christmas wishes. Emri wanted dolls from the new Disney movie "Frozen." Jet asked for a blue "minja turtle" (Ninja Turtle).

 One night out shopping it was so foggy when I walked into a store, I'm pretty sure I didn't even notice a tree here... on my way out, the fog had cleared, and left behind a gorgeous layer of frost on everything. 

Decorating gingerbread houses has become a pre-Christmas tradition at our house...the kids eat waaaay more candy than gets onto the house, and they love it! Dad did the frosting this year...

Jet requested fish on his side of the roof. Random. But Dad pulled through!

 Gma Anderton also brought the kids their own gingerbread man to decorate. It was great timing.... I had come down with influenza, so it was a great activity to keep them busy (again with Dad's help).

 This year we started a new tradition (thanks Rod for the idea)! I wrapped up the Christmas stories we had and put them under the tree. Each night before bedtime we'd gather in front of the Christmas tree and open a book and read it. I loved it and the kids looked forward to a "gift" each night. We only have about 8 books right no, so this will be a fun way to add to our collection each year!

Ike @ 3 Months

such a handsome little squirt!! 

my only baby who has loved the swing!  

 growing OUT of his 3 month onesies! ha!

still a little wobbly in the bumbo, but getting better. 

cute towel from my friend Jaime 

At 3 Months, Ike:

• constantly has his hands in his mouth...sometimes he sucks his thumb when he can find it!
• has found his voice in the past week and loves to sing ooooooh, ooooh, ooooh and likes to coo in the morning when he wakes up.
• Takes a pacifier, but doesn't always need it to go to sleep.
• still naps between each feeding (4 naps/day).
• Naps are getting better in the sense that he usually always puts himself to sleep now. Sometimes he still wakes up after about 40 minutes and needs help getting back to sleep. I've noticed about every OTHER day is a really good napping day!
• Does great at night... goes to bed at 8pm, i dream feed him at 10pm, then he sleeps thru till about 6:30 or 7 am. About once a week he'll wake up around 4 am. I haven't wanted him to cry and wake the older kids, so i feed him and then he's back up around 7:30. Of course that one night a week always seems to happen on a Saturday night. Sunday mornings are rough getting us all to church by 9 am (alone). Brett has early meetings on Sundays, so he's gone by 7. I'm exhausted by Sunday afternoons!
• He is such a content baby...I still keep waiting for him to change (not that I want him to, I just can't believe how good he is)!!
• Seems like he's getting close to laughing...he'll smile really big and do a body convulsion, but no noise comes out! 

Turkey Day Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving Weekend in SLC with the Brklacich fam. Really, we are so blessed and I could list a million things to be thankful for, but here I'll just add a few highlights of the weekend.

First thing to be thankful for: Grandpa being there. His health hasn't been very good lately and the previous week he had a surgery to get ready for dialysis. And here he is still smiling, and wanting to help with the turkey.

2nd thing to be thankful for: Grandma being there. Her Alzheimer's is getting worse. She doesn't recognize my parents house, and I don't think she remembers her great grandkids names. It's heartbreaking. I love her dearly. 

 3rd reason to be thankful: my parents hosting a large group and for an amazing meal and full bellies.

 4th reason to be thankful: FAMILY! These are my dad's 2 sisters Bonnie & Jana. I've been very close to them my whole life. And here they are holding their "great nephews," Kasen & Ike. Jana is actually Kasen's gma :)

 Me holding my cousin Kylie's baby (Kasen--just 3 weeks younger than Ike, but definitely heftier) and Aunt Jana with Ike.

 5th reason to be thankful: awesome movies! We took the kids to see "Frozen" and it was darling. Brett and I also snuck out for a date night and saw "Catching Fire,"

 6th reason to be thankful: my own little family, and for healthy, happy (most of the time) kiddos.

 Momma Max took us to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. Some of Santa's reindeer are there being taken care of until the big night and Jet & E were so excited! They were sure one of them was "Sven" from the movie they just saw!

We took a wagon ride behind horses through the lights.

 Kass & Bridger

 Brody, Britt, Kade & Keeley

 Brett, Jet, Jami

 Ayden, Momma Max, Emri

 We had such a fun weekend! 

Annual Pie Pig Out

So happy for traditions! This one we stole from some Ohio friends, and have loved carrying it on! Sadly I didn't take any pictures until everyone was getting ready to leave. 

We had some friends over from the neighborhood...the kids all are in the same age range. As you can see the girls are a bit outnumbered!

 Jessica, Jami, Katie, Alli--i just love these girls!

 Travis, Brian, Travis, Brett & Jet

The rule is: Calories DON'T count on pie pig out night! We eat to our hearts content (or till we're ready to puke...whichever comes first)...that way on Thanksgiving night when we're stuffed from a delicious dinner, we don't feel bad if we don't get to eat lots of pie! We already did....