Christmas Activities

This Christmas season I was determined not to be stressed and surprisingly, it worked! I love December and all the fun things that go along with it. I think the best part is watching my kids have so much fun and be excited for Christmas and Santa! We were able to do a lot of fun things this year too. If you want to try not to be stressed next year, I recommend doing all your shopping on Amazon. You can't beat great prices and free shipping! It definitely made things a lot easier for me this year!

We had a blast making "gingerbread houses" at my friends house! Isabelle definitely ate her share of candy that day!
Temple lights

Robyn was in The Nutcracker this year as a soldier. She did a great job and we had a lot of fun watching her!

Santa picture at Bass Pro Shop

Soccer Star

This year was Justin's first year doing soccer and he had a blast! His coaches were amazing and the whole team improved so much over the season. Justin had a lot of fun except for the first game which he ended up not even playing in once he learned he couldn't use his ball. He started crying and refused to play so we left early. I guess I should have warned him that there would be a game ball and that he couldn't use his like in practice! He was fine every game after that and averaged one goal per game. He was very proud of himself after a game when he scored three goals. I think one of Justin's favorite parts was getting the ball out of the goal and giving it to the referree. If anyone else tried to get it he would wrestle them for it and usually win. He is a very silly boy!

The star

Look at that hustle! Justin has a funny way of running, he pumps his left arm as hard as he can and doesn't really do much with his right arm. I really need to get it on video!

The team

This was when Justin scored his first goal!

Two Peas in a Pod

It's so fun watching Ruby grow up. The similarities between her and Justin are amazing. Can't you just see the resemblance?! Justin's hair used to be blonde like hers too until we cut it. I wish we could get it back! Oh well! Ruby is even doing the army crawl like Justin did and I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't walk until later like he did too. At nine months, Justin still can't get enough of her and is such a good helper with her. Their body compositions are very similar too. At Ruby's 9 month check up she weighed 16 lbs. (10%),was 28 inches long (60%) and had almost an 18 in. head circumference (80%). Long and skinny, just like Justin. If only she were as good a sleeper as Justin was, he was sleeping through the night at 9 weeks. As for Ruby, well, she's getting there...

Has anyone seen Justin?

Today when I went to pick up Justin from school he wasn't there so I took home this cute Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer instead!

Holiday outfits

I decided to not go with the traditional red and black this year for their Christmas outfits.

It's always nice to mix it up right!

I got a steal on Christmas shirts this year on Black Friday. I always feel guilty buying something that will only be worn a few times a year but not this year! The kids all wore them to our ward Christmas party.

Eight months!!!

Wow! I can't believe it! They really do grow so fast! She is rolling all over the place and it is a challenge to keep all the little things off the ground with Justin and Isabelle around. She is very attached to me, more than the other kids, which is difficult sometimes but I feel very blessed that I have someone who's whole world revolves around me. She is really sweet and since she's sleeping through the night it makes life much better for me!

Turkey Lurkey

One boring Sunday afternoon, when the kids were out of control, I decided we were going to make a turkey and each day until Thanksgiving we would each add a feather of something we were thankful for. We ended up not doing it every day but we still ended with quite a good amount of feathers. We each had our own colors. I was orange, Justin started out as green but then wanted to be brown, "like Dad," so Dave is also green and brown, Isabelle is red, and Robyn is yellow. I think we will do this every year now. The kids really loved it and it was a good reminder of why we celebrate Thanksgiving.