MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We had a fun Christmas this year. The boys are excited for the snow to melt so they can enjoy their new skateboards and bikes. As always Gabe is just happy to be wherever! Here are a few (a lot) of pictures of the holiday and a video of Gabe. Hope you all had a great Christmas and we wish you a Fabulous New Year for 2009!!

Gabe

While Miriam was here, she captured some great moments and pictures of Gabe.
Our favorite is of him waiving to Adam through the window. The boys were in the backyard playing in the snow and Gabe just wanted to join them.

Here is another one of my favorites -- just hangin out!

Saturday I gave Gabe his first "real" haircut (with the buzzer). My little baby doesn't look like a baby any more. It's crazy what a haircut can do. :(

Star Student Award

On Friday, Caden was recognized in the Star Assembly for being a star student by displaying the characteristic trait of cooperation in the classroom. It was a family affair ~ as we went to see his big debut. He didn't know he was going to be recognized. Glad he wore his long sleeves! (sorry for the dark pic?)

Gingerbread Train

The boys opened a special present this morning that was marked "Open Dec. 21st". Tanner promptly reminded me this morning that today was the day to open it.
It was a fun project for a Sunday afternoon! Thanks Mom!





And here's Gabe just hangin out -- trying to climb in the dishwasher!

Live Nativity

Last night we went to a live nativity with a REAL live camel, live sheep and a real donkey. Oh yeah, and we rode on a REAL tractor trailer pulled by a real tractor. The boys were in heaven! Afterwards we had some nice hot chocolate! We had a special guest with us.... Miriam! Her flight was cancelled to Portland, so we her picked up from the airport and she's hanging out with us until the next flight!

Here's some fun pics from our COLD adventure last night. (Notice Tan's funny wink while drinking hot chocolate and the nice cup in the face so I don't have to look at the camera look!)

Another video

The boys love to play this game of hide and seek. It's so fun to hear Gabe's little squeal when he finds Tanner. I just had to get a better recording (longer than 5 seconds) of these two playing together. Adam was just telling me that Gabe is always so happy. It's true. A little ray of sunshine and smiles! :)

Blog Worthy Day!

This morning started out with a BIG surprise!
Caden told me that he wanted to wear a long sleeve shirt under his short sleeve shirt!. I gasped in disbelief. What? Long sleeves? For those those of you who know Caden well know that for YEARS this kid has never wanted to wear long sleeves or a jacket, or a coat because he claims he is never cold. Recently the weather has been freezing in the teens and he gave me this announcement this morning. Unfortunately I had to tell him that because he has thrown so many tantrums over long sleeves, I have never bought any. Just then I remembered a shirt I bought long ago on a great clearance sale in the hopes that one day he would change his mind. It was in Tanner's closet. I raced upstairs hoping he wouldn't change his mind while entertaining the thought. Sure enough it fit! It didn't quite match the other shirt, but I didn't bother making him change because it was too good to be true. He told me that his friends in class wear long sleeves like this, so he wanted to try it out! Allelujah! Who knows.... maybe Santa will be taking note of this request! Just for the sake of record keeping I took a picture since it has been a LONG time since he's worn one!





And this tough guy had his kindergarten immunizations today. He got poked 4 times today, but he didn't even cry!! He was sooo brave. I was really proud of the little guy. He's a tough one. Here's a famous pose of Tan the Man. Nice face, huh?

Gabe the Babe

The other day Tanner wanted to hide in one of the cupboards so that Gabe would look for him. It was so funny to watch Gabe as he knew where Tanner was, but how he acted so surprised and thought it was funny when Tanner poked out of the cupboard. I ran to get my camera and caught two small episodes of it before Caden came along and put his hand in the camera!

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Party time

And the party is done! (This was for the owners from Mr. C's work). I just had to post a few pics of our evening last night. It was my first time hosting a formal party (more than 5 people)! Of course I learned a few things along the way that I will take notes on for next time. If you're from the area, I rented the dinnerware from Event Rents and I was impressed with what they had to offer (for people like me who don't have a set of 15 plates that match!)







And the Christmas tree...
There's just something about a Christmas tree lit up when it's all dark outside, so I had to snap a shot of it before I posted tonight. I love sitting by the fire on a winter night with a good little read next to the tree!!

Party prep

The reason for no posts recently is because we're getting ready for a big partay that Mr. C and I are hosting this Saturday! Although it's a bit stressful, it's a good thing in that it's forced me to get the last of the boxes unpacked and to do some extra cleaning. So that is what I've been up to for the last several days. I will take pics of the big event and post later!

Ideas anyone???

Ok, so it's already Dec 6th and I'm still stumped for an idea. Adam and I would like to revisit the concept of service with our children. We thought it would be a great idea to do some type of service this holiday season....but it's a little tricky with little people. We've thought about serving at a soup kitchen, but think the kids are still a bit too young, and they don't have a concept of $ yet, so buying gifts for someone else or another family is not yet doable. Any ideas that would be best suited for a 6 and 4 year old? Thanks in advance for your help!

Thanksgiving 2008

We're back in business!
I left my camera in Idaho Falls and so my sweet momma mailed it to me. So now we can start blogging again! We had a fun Thanksgiving with my whole family! It had been 6 years since we've been together for the holiday, so my boys were very excited to see their cousins for the holiday. We enjoyed good company and some yummy food. The grandkids put together a cute gingerbread house that night. Here are a few pics from the fun occasion.