Christmas Eve

I love that Christmas Eve was on a Friday this year.... PERFECT!
We enjoyed a delicious turkey/ham dinner with all the fixings (and dessert) at Jeff's sister, Haley's home. Her husband was the masterful chef. Afterward Jeff's mom and step-dad gifted us with their presents. Ironically, Quinton has been SMITTEN with Frosty the Snowman (the classic cartoon) this year and Grandma TeeTee gave him a singing Frosty! He loved it...and even slept with it that night!

Along with Frosty, Quinton also got a recordable Frosty the Snowman book. The voice reading the story is his Great-Grandmother Bywater (Heal), aka 'GG'. That was a special treat for the whole family.

Corbin got a new soccer ball... since he lost the one he's used the last 2 seasons. The boys were happy. That's the one thing I love about children... they are so grateful and appreciative of simple gifts.

Jeff & I got a new set of Nutcracker mugs and a matching, darling 'Little Drummer Boy' cookie jar in the shape of a drum.

Jeff's mom also made these cute winter photo collages for all her children with pictures from our annual sleigh/snow party.

I took it right home and hung it up.

Once home the boys couldn't wait to open their Christmas Eve gifts from mom and dad...

They always get new pajamas--and they know that, but a gift is always a surprise and they were excited for new jammies!

Then it was time to prepare for Santa's arrival! We hung the stockings and wrote a note to Santa on his cookie plate.

Of course, we had to taste test Santa's snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies before leaving some for him....

Then it was off to bed!

Festival of Lights

Spanish Fork has a really great light display:
The Festival of Lights.
There is a great variety of displays put to Christmas music, with new additions each year.
Our boys enjoy it because on top of the holiday cheer and all the lights, we allow them out of their seat belts and they get to help dad drive around...one time for each boy.
I guess this is Q's face of approval this year.

Corbin and I approved of the fun night too.

Deagan.... LOVED it! Can you tell? Thrilling!

Here are a few of our favorites from 2010:
The Ice Castle

The Nativity Scene

The animated signs

The Polar Bears

Of course they like the North Pole House with Santa Claus inside but that picture didn't turn out. This year it was especially neat because it snowed the whole night!

Halloween!

The Monday night before Halloween we carved our pumpkins as a family. It's a much anticipated event that seems to climax really quickly after this point:

Mostly because using little sharp knives to cut big fat pumpkins is not real user-friendly for 4, 2, and 1 year old hands or for their attention spans.

But, Corbin was into this year and helped as long as possible....

....until the camera looked like more fun and he began taking pictures of the massacre from his perspective. In his defense, he DID pick one of the most intricate and complicated designs in our book so it did take me a while to finish his.

The pumpkin line-up on the front porch.

Corbin (& mom's) bat:

Dad's custom-designed 'Y'. Of course.

Quinton's happy little Jack-O-Lantern:

During the week of Halloween the boys enjoyed the ward's Fall Festival, costume parties at preschool, Spooky Storytime and the costume parade at the library, and Trick-Or-Treating at Jeff's office. They were busy and well-practiced for the big day.
Saturday the 30th (the day we trick-or-treated here in Utah) but it was snowing... so we made sugar cookies inside a nice warm house.

Corbin rolled out and cut about 80% of the 60 cookies we made. He's my handy little side-kick!

Once the cookies were cooled we trekked over to Grandma TeeTee's. On our way the sky was ominously black and we saw lightning and heard thunder for miles in all directions. About 5 minutes after making it in the house with our hoodlums and all the STUFF.... a torrential downpour began and postponed our Trick-Or-Treating for about an hour. Grandma had pizza and the cousins were there to entertain so it wasn't too bad making the kids wait. Here was this year's line-up: Corbin- aka Darth Vader, Quinton- aka Buzz Lightyear, and Deagan- aka a little monkey. Oh and Jeff and Holly as the proud parents.

It's really nearly impossible to get a decent picture with 3 kids on Halloween night. Isn't it?

By the time the rain stopped there was hail piled up like snow everywhere and it was FREEZING COLD! I walked to a few houses with the group of kids just to snap a few pictures. It's hard to see because the clouds made it so dark.... not like last year!

Deagan wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about but he was snuggly warm...and that's all that mattered!

The boys had a blast collecting candy with Carson, McKenzie, Tanzynn, Ty, and Krew. They jumped in puddles and were thoroughly soaked and cold by the time they made it around the block and back to grandma's.

Buzz Lightyear was so cold but was too proud of his wings to take them off and bundle up! The costume we bought didn't come with wings and he really wanted to fly (to infinity and beyond, right?). But we waited too long to purchase them and they were sold out everywhere we looked. So, I got crafty and made them out of cardboard. Not too bad, right?

When the kids returned they had Hot Chocolate and decorated their sugar cookies.

I mean really, who doesn't need more sugar after Trick-Or-Treating?

Mmmmm.... Aunt Nichole told Q to lick the knife.... and he didn't have to think twice about that one! It was a fun night that only topped off a fun-filled Halloween week!

mmmm... warm jammies!

Not sure about where you live, but here in Utah Fall nights are pretty chilly! The other day we got lucky and accidentally found a sale on warm winter jammies and slippers! My boys were so excited to find pajamas with their favorite characters on them.
Here's Lightning "McQuinton":

And SpiderMan (I think he kind of looks like the little boy on Polar Express in this picture):

The two of them were so happy to get into these new jammies the other night after their bath... and then have a photo shoot to show them off.

Deagan doesn't have a favorite character... he doesn't really tune into TV yet, but we did find his hand-me-down winter jammies from his brothers and he loves them. He is our little snuggle bug, by the way. Here is what it's like trying to get a picture of all kids:

Look at me:

Say "cheese":

"Keep your eyes open!":

Oh boy:
(Deagan does this every now and then... he puts his legs straight out and holds his breath, raises his eyebrows, shakes his hands, and then yells really loud! It cracks us up!)

Ok.... this as close as it gets. We have 2 smiles, and only 1 set of eyes closed. We'll take it. Their sure cute any way they come. Especially when they cuddle right up to you all warm in their new winter jammies!

All dry!

As I was sitting in the office typing an email the other day I heard the dryer door shutting over and over again. All 3 boys were awake.... and I thought they were playing outside so I went to investigate. This is what I found:

As I walked up Quinton yelled, "Hi Mommy! I all dry!"

Of course it scared me that they were shutting each other in the dryer... so I supervised their play for a bit.... and had to grab the camera. They were pretending they were in a dark cave.... and they were being so brave to explore it all alone. Deagan loves to watch his brothers so he was really confused when they suddenly disappeared!

Then.... PEEK-A-BOO! Out crawls one of his brothers and he would laugh hysterically. It was at least a good hour of entertainment.

Until Deagan was so upset... and then I realized it was because he wanted in too!

Right, the third boy in the 3 ring circus.... he can't be left out! Once I put him in the dryer he was checking it out. He found the light and the vents and the door hinges, etc. I love how natural their curiosity is.... all 3 of them!

After a good "round" of dryer fun I gave a short warning speech about the dangers of playing in the dryer without adult supervision.... and they got it, but boy was it a fun afternoon while it lasted! Anyone else's kids ever done this?