I Do What I Want

So what if it's Izzy's turn to give the lesson at FHE... So what if Olivia set up a podium for her to conduct FHE... So what if I'm not wearing pants...I do what I want! and right now I want to talk on the karaoke machine during the lesson at FHE while Izzy is trying to share a spiritual message...DONE!

Chocolate Covered Everything

So maybe we put ourselves into a chocolate induced coma...

And maybe we just loved every minute of it!!

Wearing The Pants

Collin has started loving picking out his own clothes, and he's SERIOUS about his outfits! Today he preferred to wear two shirts instead of a pair of pants, and refused to let me fix it. The other night, he wore 4 pairs of jammie pants to bed. This two year old thing is going to be fun...

Old Tyme Fun!

We got some old tyme games for Christmas, and the kids have been having a BLAST with it! Marbles and Battleship have been their favorites!

Gingerbread House Wars

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Christmas, and invited them to stay for Gingerbread Wars. We had 30 minutes to decorate and a ton of random candies to decorate with.  Everyone was in it for the win, no chit chat, we were out for BLOOD!

The finished products! It was a lot of fun! Then we each got two candies to vote for our favorites (you couldn't vote for your own)

Bubba's strategy was the classic: get as much candy on it that you like as possible. 

Olivia was our winner! Everyone was especially impressed with the licorice picket fence.

Izzy's was pretty popular with the Christmas lights out of mini m&ms. 

This was about what Collin's mood was the entire time...

Everyone had a BLAST! I think even the missionaries were cracking up through the night.

Christmas BINGO

We like to try different things at Christmas, like to mix it up and make the magic last longer throughout the day. This year we played Christmas BINGO. After all gifts were open and breakfast was eaten, we all made a BINGO card.

As they got a BINGO, They got to pick a little present off the tree!

YAHOO! Fun gift cards and cash!!

Izzy's BINGO card struggled. I think if the goal was to cover up as many squares without getting a BINGO, she would have won hands down!!

Loving the spoils of Christmas!!

All I Want For Christmas Is...

We have LONG lists of wonderful treasures that we hope Santa will bring in our stockings, and this year was filled with all kinds of wonderful Christmas magic!

Izzy has been dying to get an iPod. And not just any iPod, specifically a gen4 ipod with a pink zebra otterbox.

She found a few other treasures along the way...

Olivia got a new camera from Santa. A better one than even mom and dad have! And some much needed new clothes and books!

Bubba ended up having a very Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Christmas! Happiest boy on earth!

Collin received a shiny new red motorcycle!

And the family ended up with a Chrome book! Wow! What a lucky Christmas!

We no longer have a Bubba in the family. We can all just call him Michaelangelo.

Daddy even got a few fun gifts including this Darth Vader hoodie!

The family also got some magformers that have been quite the plaything for the day...even for the adults!

The Ninja turtles have accompanied Bubba everywhere today! Including all meals...

Christmas was a bit much for this almost two-year-old. Ended up crashing out on Daddy.

While the children were nestled all snug in their beds...HE CAME!

I didn't think they would EVER fall asleep! All four, crowded into the same little room, dreams filled with all the great things that Santa will bring!

While everyone slept, HE CAME! We saw his footprints and hoof prints of his reindeer left near our reindeer food!

And what wonderful treasures he left!!

The anticipation of Christmas is finally arrived! Christmas morning is here!

Here's hoping Santa Comes Quickly and We All Made It To The Nice List!

Prepping For Santa

So much to do before Santa comes! We need to make him our favorite cookies, get into pajamas and wait for sleep to eventually overtake us!

Will any presents make it till tomorrow?

The anticipation is too much! They can't wait until tomorrow to crack open some gifts!!

Reindeer Food

One of our Christmas Eve traditions is making reindeer food. It is a 1/4 cup of oats, a dash of glitter and a Christmas wish sprinkled onto our front porch to guide the reindeer to our home. (and yes, Christmas eve is usually done in shorts down here in AZ)

Best Day Ever!

Oh to be a kid again when $1 burgers and funky chairs can make it 

THE BEST DAY EVER!

Rearranging the presents

As a kid, I LOVED rearranging the presents under the Christmas tree. My siblings and I would always find a reason for the presents to need to be reset and resettled. I came upon my little hoodlums doing the exact same thing...It brought back quite the few good memories!

Handlebar

Shayne shaved off the holiday beard into quite the impressive handlebar.

Preschool Christmas Party

Collin loves the days that the preschoolers come over after he's cried when his siblings leave for school. He just likes being involved in the chaos, which with a bunch of 3-5 year olds he's quite entertained constantly. We had our Polar Express Party where everyone came in their jammies, we ate popcorn, played games, and then made gingerbread houses! What a fun party!

Gingerbread House Prep

This year turned out to be the year of the graham cracker gingerbread houses. They are pretty simple to put together, and I've had quite a lot of experience doing it, and doesn't seem like a difficult task when you are being asked to do it for Christmas parties back in mid-November...however, after Girl Scout parties, preschool parties, cub scout parties, own family parties, etc. I ended up making over 40 houses! Maybe next year we'll cut that down a bit...