Baby's 1st Christmas

Part of what made Christmas so fun and special this year was the fact that it was Audrey's 1st Christmas. She is such a fun and sweet little girl. I really don't think that I could have asked for a better daughter. We all just love her so much and she still has her brothers wrapped around her little finger. She has a great personality and is genuinely a happy little person. She still gets up a little more often during the night then I would like, but I love her too much to be too bothered by it :) When I walk into the room and if someone is holding her, she just about jumps out of their arms to try and get to me. She has also discovered food and I must say, she really enjoys it. The week before Christmas 3 more teeth popped through, this time on the top. My 7 month old baby now has 5 teeth!!!!! But anyways, back to Christmas.

Here she is reaching out and getting that lovely green thing with the fun lights. She didn't really start going after the tree to much until the week before Christmas and even then it wasn't too bad.

She was so excited when she got a hold of this present. She liked the stars that were wrapped around it.

Bradyn took this picture for us on Christmas Eve. Audrey was so excited to go to bed and wait for Santa to come :)

"Man, my brothers totally woke me up this morning!!!!!" I think that this picture is so cute, doesn't it look like she is still so tired? I think that she was really excited to look through her pretty pink stocking :)

Gimme that present!!!!! I want to eat it. In her defense, it does look like a big piece of candy.

Ok, the pictures are really started to pick up a theme here :) But hey what can I say, she is 7 months old and loves to put just about anything she finds into her mouth. Which really helps mommy to keep very vacuumed floors.

She really loves the shirt that Grandma got for her. Isn't she doing such a great job sitting up all by herself?

All and all, Baby's 1st Christmas was really wonderful. I think her face says it all, CHRISTMAS WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Day

Surprisingly, Christmas morning didn't start too early. Well, except for when I had to tell Parker it wasn't time yet at about 4:30am. The boys got up around 7am, but the rest of us except for Les didn't get up until like 8am. I couldn't believe that the kids had no problem sitting there that long waiting, actually I didn't know that they were waiting that long because I didn't know that they had gotten up at 7. I have such wonderful little boys. I think that they are usually such zombies in the morning (since they insist on getting up early even though I know that they are still tired) that it takes them a little while of sitting on the couch to actually wake up.

The stockings were all hung and waiting for the kids!!!!!

The lights were blazing on the tree and looking oh so pretty.

Bradyn really wanted a rubix cube and thankfully Santa put one in his stocking.

Santa brought Logan his own little art supply kit. There are times that Logan would just sit and color for quite awhile.

Grandpa and Grandma got Bradyn a really cool remote control race car track. Can't you just see the absolute excitement on his face?

Santa brought Parker a scooter!!!!!

Also, Santa brought Bradyn this really cool remote control helicopter. Now he just needs to learn how to land it without having it slam into the floor.

Not exactly a flattering picture of me, but I wanted to show what the kids got me. I absolutely love this because it has been a while since I have gotten any framed pictures of my kids and so, I just LOVE looking at all their beautiful little faces!!!! I can't wait to hang it up in our bedroom and when we finally buy our own place to hang it in the living or family room.

Whoa!!!!!!! The present looks twice the size of our little Audrey.

Les has been wanting an Ipod for quite some time so, he was pretty excited that my parents gave him one this year.

We had such a great day today. My brother and his family came over for a nice brunch and the cousins had so much fun playing with their new toys together. (Also Parker was feeling much better then yesterday and never complained once that he didn't feel well) In the afternoon we all (except for my mom because she didn't feel well) headed to the movies to see Bedtime Stories. It was pretty funny and the kids seemed to enjoy it because we didn't have any problems. Les and I had to take turns standing up with Audrey, but that is to be expected.

Before Jason and his family headed home my mom and the kids put on a little Christmas Nativity. It was so cute, but I didn't take any pictures because I was to busy taping it. There were more roles then kids so, a few of them had to do some costumes changes throughout. They all looked so adorable and it was so wonderful to end our Christmas day remembering the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. What a wonderful blessing it was to be able to celebrate his birth together as a family. I hope that everyone was able to have as great of a day as my family and I were.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Les' family this year and had a great time. It was extra special because Les' dad and sister were able to come back into town. Les' dad has been living in W. Virginia since getting a new job there (his mom will be joining him as soon as possible) and his sister is out at BYU and wasn't sure if she was going to be able to make it home. The siblings were able to pool our money to help pay for her ticket as a present to Les' mom. Of course I forgot my camera so, I don't have any pictures of our time there. But, take my word for it and know that it was a really nice afternoon. ALL the cousins and siblings were able to be together and it was nice to see them all (the kids I mean) play so great together.

When we got home from Les' brother Charlie's house it was only 7pm so, we had some time to relax before going to bed. It was nice not to get home too late. So, we all snuggled around the TV and watched the last hour of a good Christmas movie.

Parker hadn't been feeling very good all afternoon. In fact, as soon as we pulled into Charlie's driveway he started crying and said that he had to throw up. Les was able to whip the door open and get Parker out in time to throw up on the grass. (Aren't you glad that I shared that with you?) I am just glad that it didn't hit him until after we were done driving.

Logan with the plate of cookies for Santa.

What a handsome boy!!!!! He did such a good job delivering the cookies to the fireplace.

For the most part the kids went to bed pretty good. Since Parker wasn't feeling good he passed out really fast. Logan fell asleep on the way home from Charlie's so, he had a harding time going to sleep and I think that Bradyn was just too excited for the morning. In fact, he got up multiple times throughout the night wondering if it was time to open presents yet :)

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was the first snow day of the school year. HORRAY!!!!!! Being the wife of a teacher I get just as excited for snow days as students do. The kids were so excited to have all this snow outside they wanted to get out there as soon as they could and start shoveling.

Here is Logan ready to go. Only a real man could be comfortable with a pink scarf. He had actually already been outside for a little while before I saw the scarf inside, but he looked so cold so I had him come in so I could put it on.

The shoveler's fearless leader. Of course he said that there was no way he was going to shovel all this snow so, he is determined to get the snow blower working.

Logan was not part of the shoveling team. Instead he had a great time rolling around in the snow. The kids don't have snow pants so, they had MULTIPLE layers of pants on. Getting some snow pants is definitely on my list.

Can you see how deep the snow is?

Whoa Parker!!!!! He has one major load of snow here.

Bradyn was a dedicated shoveler. It was all business for him.

Parker did some pretty hard core shoveling too!!!! They both did a really great job.

This is one happy boy!!!!! Logan loves eating snow even if I keep telling him not too. Especially when he doesn't seem to care where the snow is.

I just wanted to get a shot of the neighborhood so that everyone can see all the snow.

Logan was the first one that had enough. After we got all his snowy clothes off and into the dryer he went to the couch and snuggled with a blanket. Can you see his pink pink cheeks?

All and all, it was a great snow day!!!!!

Bradyn and the Gingerbread House

Last week I was able to go to Bradyn's class and help with their Gingerbread houses. I was so excited to be able to go because I haven't been able to help in his classroom before. It is hard to go in with the other kids at home, especially Audrey because it is not as easy to leave her with someone. Thankfully, my sister in law Crystal didn't have to work that day and she was able to come and be with the kids. Parker and Logan were so excited to have her come over and play, it was pretty cute. It worked out great because I laid Audrey down about 2 minutes before Crystal came over and she didn't wake up until after I got back home. It is so nice that she doesn't have to eat as often as she used too.

Can you see the concentration? This was very serious business!!!!!

All the kids were really into it and they all worked really hard.

We were suppose to send in some small candies and a can of frosting. I knew the size that the house was going to be so, I didn't send in a ton of candy. Trust me, he had more than enough, but man you should have seen the amount that some of the kids had. I almost felt bad that I actually portioned Bradyn's out.

Here is a pretty happy builder with his final project. I think he did a pretty great job!!!!

This is a better view of the final project. Do you see the green clusters? He said that those were bushes that were on the side of the house. The M&Ms in the front are his walkway and the candy cane on top is the chimney. His creativity always amazes me.