Merry Christmas!

Christmas around our home

Every year I like to take pictures of how we decorate the house at Christmas. It's fun to see how things change over the years. This year I kept it pretty simple, only putting up a fraction of what we have. I'm really trying to simplify holiday decorating. I also love it when other people post pics of their holiday decorating (hint hint, Bets, Suz & mom). Here's what made the cut this year.

In the living room:

Our nativities:

From our Alaska trip this summer (the kids love it):




The Santa Collection:


Our advent calendars:

This one was a labor of love that I made at Super Saturday. I LOVE it! Each day, you turn a star over and by Christmas, you have night sky filled with golden stars.

Congrats Suz & Ryan!

Happy engagement! Welcome to the fam, Ryan!

The First Snow Day of the Season

The kids were thrilled on Tuesday that the snow actually STUCK. The second they walked into house from school, they threw on their snow garb and were out the door, not to be seen again until nightfall.

Calling Alfred Hitchcock

Earlier this week, BEFORE the snow decided to arrive, Emma & I were eating lunch at the kitchen table when suddenly, we were attacked by birds. Well, WE weren't attacked, but had we been outside, it could have been tragic . . . see for yourself.

We were lucky to escape this freak of nature totally unscathed.

This is what it looks like outside my front door right now...

And out my back door...

Brrrrrr... I've had enough already and it's only been two days of snow.

Gingerbread with Dad

On Joseph's night off last week, he was sweet (brave) enough to build a gingerbread house with the kids and give me a much needed evening off.

Looks awesome!! Thanks sweetie!

Oh no, I think they're in love...

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Suzy & Ryan brought little "Domino" over to play with the kids. Domino belongs to Ryan's sister and he is adorable. It's bad enough that my kids have been begging me for YEARS for a puppy, but seeing this puppy almost convinced me that I want a dog too (then I came to my senses).

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

On Tuesday morning, Sophie told me that she was going to pull out her tooth. I said, "hurry up, it's time for school" not thinking she'd actually do it. I was wrong!




So we put her tooth in a plastic bag and she carried it everywhere with her. But then, right before bed, much to her dismay, we LOST the tooth. I explained that the tooth fairy still honors lost teeth, you just have to write her a note:

The tooth fairy delivered and she got $2 for her tooth!

The remaining tooth was just kind of hanging there and I tried to get her to pull it out, but she wouldn't. Then, last night she was jumping up and down in the kitchen (a very normal thing for Sophie to be doing) and the tooth just fell out of her mouth. It doesn't get any easier than that!

Just don't ask her to say "seven silver swans swam silently seaward."

What do you do when there's no snow?

Weekend Roundup

We started our weekend with Emma going to her good friend Annie's 8th birthday party. It was at a really neat place called "Almosta Ranch". The theme for the party was "Fashion" and the girls were all supposed to dress fashionably. This is what Emma came up with. She bought the cute hat at the Beehive Bazzaar on Friday with her own money. I think she looks adorable.

Saturday evening was spent at InstaCare in Orem. Poor Sophie got a sinus infection and an eye infection. She looked like she'd been socked in the eye, with tons of goop oozing out all sides of her eye. Yuk. No pictures of this doctor visit, sorry.

Sunday evening we went to Grandma & Grandpa McRae's for a birthday dinner for Joseph and Amy. I hope everyone knows that Joseph has a twin, but if you didn't, you do now. Ann provided a delicious dinner, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins. Happy birthday you two!