Christmas 2011

We had a very nice Christmas. Grandma B came down to spend a couple of weeks with us and we have been loving her here. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

Anxiously awaiting to see if Santa has come! I felt the sign was a fitting....
The "Big" gift this year....a Basketball stand for the front yard! We have had several fun games of Speed and HORSE the past couple of days.
Wars with the rubber band guns! Uncle Boyd made these for the kids and they have had a blast of war after war with them. Todd and I get in on the fights and Grandma just watches and tries to stay out of firing range.
Opening of the gifts: The theme this year was video games and books! Along with the typical new clothing item and the book, the 3 older boys each got their own game, Tobyn got a big white cardboard play house, and Tanner got a red sit-n bounce ball. He bounces around the house on it all day.

Our family shot on the way to church. Not too much longer and I will have to stand in front of TC instead of the other way around. Our ward had a very lovely Christmas program. It was part of the highlight of the day to go to church. What a great way to remember what the day is all about!
Beautiful Grandma and her handsome Grandsons!
Our super yummy Christmas dinner of cheesy potatoes, ham, homemade rolls, green Jell-o, green beans, and apple pie for dessert! Did I mention it tasted SO good?!
This year was the first year spent away from all extended family. I have been so happy to have my mom here so that I wouldn't be quite so lonely. We really did have a wonderful day. It was pretty quiet and we are trying to establish our own traditions. I loved seeing my boys smiling faces in the morning, playing games with them in the afternoon and being together.

I love this time of year! I love the peaceful, happy, wonderful feeling I get. I know I have that because I know the reason for the season. I am so thankful to be able to remember Christ birth and all that means for us!

12 days of Christmas

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen did something a little different for us this year. They did the 12 Days of Christmas. It was a lot of fun. We got some pretty cool things. I don't have all the pictures in order (I am usually pretty good at getting them in order, but not so much this year) It gave us some good things to do as a family!

Christmas Eve was candy canes, hot chocolate, and a good Christmas book. We read the book while drinking the hot chocolate and eating candy canes. It was the perfect thing to do after driving into Frisco to see the light show on Christmas Eve!

One of the first nights was a ginger bread house. The kids LOVED putting it together and we all had a lot of fun eating....I mean decorating the house.

TC has had a lot of fun with his Art Set. I have been showing him a few things I have learned in my classes, and we have some fun drawing different things we see.
Titus has had a lot of fun playing with the Robot Arm he got. He walks around grabbing anything he can. It has even come in handy once or twice to grab something I needed :-)

Tanner and Tate love their car mat. They have a fun time playing with it. They flip-flop in deciding if the town is like our neighborhood, grandmas or both. The details are fun and it's a great Sunday afternoon activity.
I thought I had a picture of Tate in his Bird Watching Gear...but I couldn't find one. He uses his bird calls all the time and loves walking around outside checking out stuff with his binoculars! He loves to explore, so it was a perfect match for him.

Other things we got that we are loving is the movie 17 Miracles. It's a great movie about miracles that the Martin Handcart company experienced. We really enjoyed watching it for FHE. I got some really cute bathroom decorations for around my tub. I will take pictures when my bathroom is all pulled together. Todd received a little fire pit for the backyard. We haven't had a chance to use it yet, but the kids can't wait to go out and roast marshmallows or hotdogs!

There were a few other things, but I can't remember all of them. We have enjoyed using each new thing and love that Grandma and Grandpa were so thoughtful! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! The boys miss you and the gifts have been awesome!

Christmas Programs!

The week before Christmas we had the pleasure of listening to 3 of the boys in Christmas programs. The first was TC. He played the drums and he did a great job! He got a turn to play the Snare Drum for one of the songs. He was pretty excited about that. He is LOVING the drums and drums on anything near him.

Friday was Tobyn's turn. He sang so well for us! The kindergarden is pretty awesome and they knew all of the songs so well. They sang loud and clear. It was a lot of fun to watch them.

Thursday we listened to Tate perform in The Bell Who Couldn't Ring. He did a great job in the Choir! He was chosen to be back-up Santa and practiced all the time to make sure he knew the parts. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the Santa was healthy and well and so Tate did a great job singing all of the songs!
I love listening to all the boys perform this time of year. It is so fun to see them grow!

Blessings

I have many constant prayers. You know the kind that you just mutter to your self all day because you seem to need it that bad or that desperately? Many, many of those prayers are answered daily.

Today I realized that a prayer, I had almost forgotten I muttered, has been answered. I realized the small little miracles that have happened for that prayer to be answered. Oh-man what a good feeling.

Guess my prayer tonight will be one of thanks.

Tid-bit Tuesday

It's been a while:

Even though I didn't get on the band wagon of 26 days of Thankful stuff, it doesn't mean my heart is any less full.

SO thankful that my husband has a job! Seems like the work is never ending to keep things going.

Grateful for tender mercies. Much needed right now, it's one thing that keeps me going. For example: Not know WHY my sewing machine wasn't working, but that it started working again after a prayer and pleading for one little thing to go right because I might snap.

Thankful for my kids. They are my world, wouldn't know what to do with out them! Ok-maybe a spa or some quiet time, but those thing don't always beat a big smile, a good hug, a "tank you mom" or my snuggling up with them while we watch a movie.

LOVE this time of year. The spiritual, the fun, the family, and all that comes with the wonderful crazy, heartfelt, lovely Christmas time.

Grateful for husband that helps his kids with homework, while their mom updates the blog or does something else.

There's more but my list would go on for days.

A wonderful Thanksgiving!

Almost all of Todd's family and my mom came down to visit us here in TX for Thanksgiving! We were so excited for them to come. I think we counted down for a month. We loved having everyone come! We really missed Nic and Nichole and kids who couldn't come. Having them here would have made everything SO complete, we understand it wasn't in the cards this year, but we'll get them down here sooner or later ;)

We managed to have a lot of fun. We didn't plan too many activities, but we did see a little of the Dallas area. We played, relaxed and most of all just hang out as a fam. That's one thing I really miss about being so far away is all of the good family time.

We did some of this:

And this: The boys loved stabbing the turkey with the needle.

Initiated Tyler into the family: We're sure lucky that he loves Heather enough to stick around! :-)

Grandma shooting the potato gun:

These two have unbeatable scores on their respective Just Dance games, so of course that required a dance off...

We did more of this:

and this:

We made it to the temple one day which was great!

I discovered what a pomegranate looks and tastes like:

Learned how to make homemade rolls! This was a huge highlight for the day because Teresa nor I had ever done it before and they turned out delicious!!

Played Don't Be a Dork (thought of you Nic the whole time ;-) )

Went to the airport and watch the planes...Todd gave a quick rundown of how everything works.

Still playing Don't Be a Dork:

Airport fun:

And the best Thanksgiving feast ever!! (to date that is)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so very grateful for our family! I love each and every one of them. I'm so happy that they could come down and visit, and we truly missed the ones who couldn't. Thank you all for a wonderful holiday!

Now for the countdown of Grandma B coming for Christmas! (14 days!)

Veteran's Day and Scouting

TC has been working super hard is scouts and on Wed. he earned is 1st and 2nd Class rank. He is enjoying scouts. Hopefully he can keep going at this same rate and earn his Eagle in a couple of years! Way to go TC!

For Veteran's Day the 5th grade put on a program for parents and veterans. It was really nice.

They sang a medley of the military theme songs (if they have a specific name I don't know what it is sorry) Each of the Veterans stood when their song was sung. It was so great to see them stand so proudly as the children sang. It made me teary eyed just watching. I have lots of family and friends who are serving or have served and I am truly grateful for their sacrifice. To those men and women I say thank you!

60 years young!

This beautiful lady next to me turned 60 on Sunday. I was able to fly up to UT to visit with her for a day. We had a busy day for having nothing planned, but it was well worth it! I enjoyed spending time with her, just the two of us. Todd was home so he watched the kids. We went out to lunch, did a little shopping, visited my grandparents and had a birthday dinner with Cherry Cobbler for dessert. YUM!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Pumpkin Carving!

Tobyn went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch and brought home a cute little pumpkin. Tobyn decided that pumpkin needed a face.....so mom carved it. Tobyn helped....a little.

Tate added some green hair, and Tobyn watched...a little.

Happy Halloween!

This was our first year away from family....ever...on Halloween! I missed the Taco Soup and crowding into a little house to visit, or going up to my mom's to hit the "good stuff" But over all it was nice. 80*, no coats to hide the costumes, no freezing rain, and a lot of people sit out side to pass out candy. Our neighborhood didn't have much to offer so we hit others. I managed to get a group shot before they all split up to get their candy.

TC: Vampire Slayer? Titus: a Hobo, Tate: a Ninja (no, he's not taller than Titus (yet) he's standing on something) Tobyn: Ben Ten, and Tanner: a Pirate. TC went with his friend, Tate and Tobyn went with their friend, and Titus and Tanner went with Mom and Dad.

The loot: Well...3/5 of it anyway....

Couple of the lucky kids got one of these beauties in their sack.

Nothing like Halloween and Tick-or-treating to get some good preaching in!

Tanner was pretty fun. We'd walk by a scary house and he would get his candy, but if it was too scary he'd come back and tell me "I hate that house". He would also smile and say "I look down and I look up and then I look down and I have candy!"

It was a great night! On Saturday we had gone to our wards Trunk or Treat/Chili Cook-off, and so we have TONS of candy! Our Chili won the "Spiciest Chili" category. The kids have had so much fun over the past few days! Happy Halloween!

Baby came to visit

My friend Debi and her cute little girl came by for a short visit while she was it town. It was great to visit with her and to see Tanner with a baby! I thought he would be really jealous of me holding her, but he was totally happy to play with her and talk to her. It was really cute. He played patty-cake and sang to her.

Averi is a such a cuttie and it's always good to visit with friends! I'm so glad they stopped by!

Tuesday Tid-bit

Made peach freezer jam yesterday. Little more work than strawberry, but very worth it! YUM!

Sick of cleaning off poo-mud from my kids shoes. They love our backyard (see post below) but have managed to cake each and every shoe in this house with the poo-mud!

Halloween is less than a week away. I have 3/5 costumes ready...that should be good enough right?

Sugar is not good for me, well it's not good for anyone, but it makes me feel so yucky...why does it taste SO good?!

I'm happy that we get to answer questions about our religion. I feel like it helps the boys better understand the gospel and what it's all about.

The house is a mess....I really should go clean it now.

Our Forest

Behind our house is a wooded. The boys love going out back to build forts and play. I hadn't explored much back there and one day to keep Tanner busy we went for a walk. I was glad I took my camera. It really is pretty back there. No one will ever be able to build behind us because it drops down a ways into a creek.

I will let the pictures do most of the talking:

These little frogs are everywhere near the water. When you walk they jump around like crazy. This one is actually a "big" one. Tanner, Max, and Dad crossing the pipe that crosses over the creek. Another picture of what the kids get to go exploring in. I took several more pictures but I couldn't get them to load. They might have been too big. It was a lot of fun to go look around back there.