Our Christmas Season

It was a busy Christmas season for our family.  Parties, traditions, movies, temple square and friends.  We feel so blessed and we are grateful for the real reason that we are able to have this beautiful time of year to celebrate.  I had an idea to to have the kids do service each day before Christmas, but I quickly realized that my schedule didn't quite allow me to do it everyday, the kids were sick or I was too lazy.  We did manage to get in a few days of service.  One of the days we were to put money in an envelope and give it to a random stranger at walmart.  I had the kids pray with me to make sure the money went to someone who really needed it.  We arrived at walmart and walked around for a time.  We were ready to give up when right before we got to the door to leave we saw a woman who looked sad and had tears in her eyes.  I asked the kids if we should give it to her and they all said "yes!".  We handed the envelope to her and said that this was for her.  She replied "are you sure?".  The kids said yes and she said thank you.   We left and ran to our car.  I know it is a small act of service, but for some reason I truly feel that this woman either needed this money or just needed to know that someone cared.  I hope that our kids were able to learn that service comes in all types of packages.  That family, friends, neighbors and random people can all be recipients of acts of kindness.

Besides our service we were able to fill our time with so many activities: 

 We began with the ginger bread house.  This is our kids favorite tradition.  Tommy ate more frosting than anything else.  Caroline was bossy pants making sure everything was perfect.  Rexy wanted to follow daddy in everything, if dad did it he did it. 

Christmas cookies are a must at our home. We had the Reeses and the Tadje family come enjoy the tradition. We definitely had some beautiful cookies, but first place went to Tom.

 We had our aunties come to temple square with us. It was crowded, but it was fun and beautiful.

 

Christmas morning was so much fun. We had grammy and papa sleep over, new jammies, an American Girl doll, football attire and the best gift of all was a trampoline. The kids went crazy over this gift. They were screaming and cheering. Rexy even had to sit down his excitement was that overwhelming. We all laughed our heads off. I love Christmas with little ones. It is so magical!

First tooth

Nathan and I were a little scared pulling this little tooth out, so thanks to Aunt Jill-B we were successful!  I will now send all my kids over aunties house to do the dirty work. 

Caroline had a special tooth fairy come to the house named Star Light. My big girl is getting bigger.

Let it snow



We had our first snow of the season.  It has since melted completely and feels like September.  Here's hoping that this season is filled with many snow falls, hot chocolate and snowmen.



This dad is the best




I love our house





Tommy hated this




Caroline with her best buddies



The twiners




Dang, he is cute!



Grateful

A few weeks ago I had this strong feeling that I needed to start writing down my kids experiences again. For me, blogging is the best way to do that.  So hopefully now I can get back into the swing of things so my kids can have something to look back on.

 We just had Thanksgiving and I definitely have had so much to be grateful for, most of all my family.  For reason unknown to me I feel like the luckiest mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend in the world.  The Lord has blessed me with so many wonderful people to be surrounded by.  Without so many amazing examples my life I would not feel so complete.  I have been thinking about how my life has been led to the here and now and quite honestly I would not change one experience.  I have made mistake after mistake, and I have gotten so frustrated with my choices and actions time and time again.  To these frustrations and mistakes I am grateful.  I am not a perfect person, but some how the Lord has blessed me with the most amazing family and although I have many imperfections the Lord seems to still love me because I have this beautiful life. 

 Here's what we have been doing the past six months:

Halloween was a superhero theme.  Donuts, candy, family and parties. Lina was Spider girl, Rexy was Batman, and Tom Tom was Spiderman.  Our cousins Zuri and Rigby came for the night.

 Caroline started kindergarten.  Isn't she adorable?!  She is loving school and all the kids seem to love her.  Her teacher Mrs. Robbins is so sweet and fun and loves Caroline too. 

 Caroline (6) loves art, jump roping, riding bikes taking care of her brothers and laughing.  She has her first loose tooth and can't wait for the tooth fairy to come. 

 Rex (4 1/2) is my sweet little love bug.  His smile can light up a room as well as his hugs.  He started preschool and has loved every minute.  His handwriting is getting better everyday and he loves to write his name.  He can't get enough of swords, ninja turtles, ninjago or any sport.  He loves his friends and could play with them all day long. 

 Thomas (2 1/2 is so much fun.  He is so smart it's a little scary.  He figured out how to hop out of his crib and unlock any door by 1 1/2.  He gets mad at anybody who tells him he's two.  In his mind he is four and you cannot tell him differently.  He is strong willed, happy, determined and makes us laugh all the time. 

Beautiful kids

My great friends and neighbor took these adorable pics of my kids for fathers day.  She did a fabulous job.  I must say my kids are pretty darn cute ( maybe I am a little bias).  Lina is 5 and so responsible, Rex is 4 and so sweet and Bubbas is 2 with a bundle of personality in that little body.  I love these sweet things and I am greatful that I get to be a mommy to these special kiddos. 

 

The Wreckage

These pictures do not do the wind storm justice and I feel like we had so little done compared to others, but just thought I would post these for the memories. On the bright side we don't have to take down the trees like we planned in the the summer, our kids think it's awesome that they can see the whole neighborhood from our backyard and we can check off our list with getting wood for emergency preparedness. Let's cross our fingers insurance is on our side these days.

Family

October and November have come and gone. Crazy. But they were so much fun. I love being able to watch my kids grow and learn and see life as so exciting. We love our neighborhood and have met so many great people. We love spending the hollidays with family, this is the reason we moved home.
Caroline is such a spunky little girl. She is wanting to color and create all the time. She asks everyday when she gets to go kindergarten. Sometimes I wish it was tomorrow, just to get her to stop asking.
Rexy is pottytrained! It only took him until he was three and a half. I never knew it was going to be so hard. He is so sweet. He comes in our bed each night to cuddle. I can't seem to send him back to his bed because of his sweet little face.
Tommy is a fireball. This child knows what he want's and will do what it takes to get it. I hope this turns into a good quality when he's older. He is starting to put two and three words together. He will say I love you and it will melt your heart.
I love my sweet family.