Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

I finally finished putting out the decorations! It took a little longer than normal, but I'm just glad I finished before Christmas! lol. I even managed to get some presents wrapped and under the tree too!!!

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

We had a Ward Christmas Breakfast Saturday. The primary enacted the nativity story and sang a few songs. Crystal was Mary and Lily was a wise man! One of the older ladies in our ward made stuffed bears for every child 3 and under! It was so sweet of her! Jay loves his Train Bear!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS EXPO
We had fun at the Expo on Saturday! We got to see Santa, the Grinch, Frosty, Santa's Reindeer, and Mrs. Claus! They also had fun crafts and a lot of gift ideas! The treats there were way over priced, so we went to Sam's Club for an Icee! Lily succeeded in dropping hers on the floor... twice! She's having a butterfinger week. lol. She helped me get a Cafe Rio horchata all the way from the restaurant to the house and spilled it 5 feet from the fridge this week too. lol.  After Sam's Club we went to visit Grandma and Papa Cook! Fun filled day!

(earlier this week)

Wearing Papa's reading glasses while HE reads the story. lol.

Jay found some reading glasses too! lol.

Crystal was feeling left out and needed a picture with someone too! 

GUMMY WORMS
On Sunday the kids came up the stairs begging for gummy worms. All the adults were still at the dinner table chatting. We had fun teasing them as the gummy worm bag was passed from adult to adult to Papa. Hugs and kisses were taken as payment for the gummy worms, so they did get some eventually. lol.

PRESCHOOL
I just have a few pictures of Lily and Jay during preschool centers from this week.

We made a Christmas chain with custom designed strips! 

First Snow and Thanksgiving Fun!

FIRST SNOW

A few weeks ago it snowed just enough to build a snowman and play a little bit. I couldn't find mittens for Jay or boots for Lily or Jay so we were a little unprepared. Jay settled with pink mittens (only thing I could find 2 of) and they suffered in regular shoes (which held up pretty well actually. go sketchers!) They played for an hour while I watched from the warmth of the house! Thank goodness for an enclosed backyard and french doors! Crystal decorated her snowman with a baby carrot, a hat, and pencils. haha. 

THANKSGIVING WEEK
We thought this week would be a good time to transition Jay to a bed. Crystal and Lily didn't have school so bedtime could be more flexible all week long. Turned out we had nothing to worry about! He has been amazing! He only gets out of bed in the morning when he wakes up (not having to get him out of his crib has been nice as well).

A lot of Ty's extended family came for Thanksgiving this year. There were nearly 60 of us for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice to see people we don't see very often and get to know the newest members better (babies, spouses, etc)! The kids had a BLAST with all the cousins running around! It was kind of a let down when they left! They loved seeing old friends and loved making new friends with cousins they haven't spent much time with.  I wish I had taken more pictures of them with their other cousins!

Lily, Lia, Mariah, Crystal

Lily and Isac

Jay was tired. He was relaxing on Daddy's back until I pulled the phone out. lol.

Sledding at Grandma and Papa Cook's

Uncle Mark, Daddy, Jay, Lily, Crystal

Lily, Crystal, Isac

Jay in pink. Haha. We borrowed out his snow pants to someone else so he had to wear the pink ones this week.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we always go out and buy our tree!  This year we bought one that hadn't been opened up yet. And it was frozen solid so we couldn't open it up at all to shake it off outside before bringing it in. Haha. We let it thaw for a day and the kids shook the branches and watched THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of pine needles fall to the ground. The girls were so good to sweep it up. It's been a week and its finally not shedding quite as badly. lol. I LOVE fresh Christmas trees. It wouldn't feel (or smell) like Christmas otherwise! I failed and didn't get a picture of the tree when we were finished decorating. I'm still working on decorating the rest of the house. I'm having a hard time feeling motivated to do it. The THOUGHT of having them out and all pretty and fun to look at is wonderful, but finding energy to getting it all out and arranged is proving to be difficult! We bought a super cheap train to put around the tree this year. Jay has been in HEAVEN. He also can't contain himself and absolutely CAN'T leave it alone. lol. He had to hug it before going to bed the first night. Lol.

RANDOM PICTURES

I was a little worried about the cat. She let not only the dog sit next to her, but Jay also!!!!

Lily absolutely LOVES her 2nd cousin. He's been living with my parents for a few months now, and Lily can't leave him alone when she see's him. In the top picture she is pretending to take his picture. Lol. She actually makes him pretty uncomfortable so I'm constantly telling her to leave him alone. But I finally decided I'd better document her newest crush. ;-) And then asked her to leave him alone. lol.

PRESCHOOL FUN

I forgot to take a picture of us making butter. Thank goodness one of the parents came. She saved my arms from certain death. lol. And she gave them a little lesson on butter and buttermilk while I got the food ready for out Thanksgiving Feast! And no worries, we found all of Thankful Turkey Tom's feathers again this year. They are hopefully stuck back on with thankfulness until next year! We also pulled out the shapes center the other day. The kids all loved it!

I guess that's another use of the pop up tent... at least until someone gets hurt which is what happened when I told Ty to get a picture of it. Lol. No worries. Jay was fine. lol. And they were sliding down the stairs on something else again the next day. They never learn. lol.

Snow cones and gummy worms! Not sure they are sleeping anytime soon. lol.