Christmas Eve

Yeah, I know this is a really dark photo of Connor bowling, but it is the only one I got from our fun Christmas Eve we spent with the Young's. We all went bowling and then went over to Dell and Vicki's for a big family dinner. We then had the gift exchange. The kids opened their gifts from their cousins, from Grandpa Dell and Grandma Vicki and their traditional Christmas Eve gift, jammies. It was a much crazier, louder Christmas Eve than we are used to, but it was so much fun!


After spending most of the day and evening with our Young family we ran over to my parent's house to let the kids model their new Christmas jammies, since Grandma Linda and Grandpa Tom are the ones that picked them out and bought them for them.


We also got to visit with my cousin Ryan and his girlfriend and play a little Beatles Rock Band. Mads tore it up on the drums!

Homemade Marshmallows

After the kids were out of school, but before we left for Utah I had to finish getting out a few Christmas gifts. Part of the gifts were homemade marshmallows. I've never made them before but have wanted to for a long time. It really is very easy and a lot of fun. Of course I had a few helpers!



Amanda adding the finishing touches. She dipped them in chocolate, then in crushed candy canes.


The finished product. I hope our friends had as much fun eating these in their hot cocoa as we had making them!

For anybody out there that wants to try making these themselves hereis where I got the reipe. Homemade marshmallows recipe

Christmas Pictures

Last week I got the kids pictures taken to be used on our Christmas card. The two oldest girls were great. They were instructed to smile and look at the camera no matter what their younger siblings were doing. Because of this they look exactly the same in EVERY picture. Connor and Mads, not so much. They were test on my patience and I'm sure the photographer's. Out of about 250 shots we found a few usable ones. Here are some of the better shots. Yes, these were the good ones.

All about Sam

On Tuesday Sam had her first band concert, since she started playing the clarinet. It was enjoyable and quite humorous! Mads and I had a great time! Here she is with her good friend, and fellow clarinetist, Shay.


Yesterday I got to go help out in Sammie's classroom for a little while. The fifth graders were all making big, paper mache globes with the explores routes on them. It was a lot of fun to be with her and some of her class mates, but I never want to teach fifth graders. Crazy bunch of kids!

Snowman snacks

Samantha is working on earning her child care badge in Girl Scouts and one of the requirements is to make a healthy and fun snack for a group of children. She asked if she could make something for my nursery class this Sunday. I said sure, so she searched on line and found these cute snowman snacks. She got up early Sunday morning and put them together. They turned out really cute and the kiddos in nursery loved them!



A whole army of them!

Disneyland with cousins!

On Monday we got to go to Disneyland with some of our Young cousins. We had such a fun time with them and I got to hold and squeeze my newest little nephew for the first time!


Kind of dark, but it's the only picture I got of all the kiddos.


This was the highlight of Madison's day. She LOVES Minnie Mouse!


Just before we had to say good bye I got a photo of the whole gang!


Why is Ashelyn missing in the last photo? She's there, she was just worn out!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving my parents drove down from Utah and picked Logan up in Redlands on the way. It is really fun to have family around for Thanksgiving. The kiddos had fun crafting with grandma Linda. They made these very cute and tasty turkeys for our Thanksgiving table. These were in fact the only turkeys that made it to our Thanksgiving table. We decided to go this year with what every one liked the most instead of tradition and had ham instead of turkey and Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert instead of pie! It was very yummy and a lot of fun!


Connor concentrating on making the perfect waddle!


By rotten luck I bought a bag of really crumbly Oreos. A lot of the cookies crumbled and we had quite a few turkey heads left over. The girls decided to make baby turkeys with them. I think they turned out so cute!


A whole lotta turkeys!


Our Thanksgiving place settings. Turkeys made by the kids, place card by Logan and the napkin holders by Sammie!


Logan waiting for the feast to begin.