Breakfast with Santa

We had the best Santa and Mrs. Claus for the Primary party. It was a brother and his wife in the ward. His wife's mother made their suits...they were amazing and beautiful. I think he somehow dyed his beard or something...they were perfect. Addy didn't seem to appriate it though.

Kaden went right to him and talked and loved it! Spencer didn't even want to talk about talking to Santa. He was just happy watching...from a distance.

And again Addy. I think Santa is reaching for a candy cane as fast as he can. Poor Addy, the things we do to our children.

Preschool Christmas Program

This was a cute program. There was a backdrop and costumes, music, and dancing. Miss Lori, Spencer's teacher provided all the costumes...she provided everything. It was awesome! The amazing thing was that Spencer stayed up there the whole time! I was so happy. Grandma and Grandpa Hodson were able to come too. The play was in Santa's workshop. It was of the elves making all of the toys.

Spencer was the Locomotive for the toy train set.

For most of the program...especially the singing parts Spencer had his hand over his ears.

The Caboose, Evan, was the only train part that preformed.

At the end of Spencer's program...Santa came to visit. And...da da da...Spencer, yes that is right SPENCER, sat on his lap! I never thought he would do that! This was a day of miracles...it might have helped that all his friends were doing it and that Santa was handing out toys.

Samuel

Charla came to visit with my new little nephew, Samuel! He is super cute! Don't you just love his dimples. I wanted to squish him all day. He is a very good and happy baby. I just so I can brag, I made that sweater he is wearing in the first two pictures!

Star K Ranch

It took me awhile to find this place, but it is worth it! There are paths and trees and water...a ton of bugs in the summer. It was a gorgeous November afternoon, and we just walked. No agenda, no time slot, it was awesome. For me I think the key is to not care if we go one mile or just a couple steps. I want them to just enjoy there time outside. We collected some sticks and rocks and some branches with buds. I wanted to see if I could get them to bloom inside...no such luck yet. I read somewhere that a child should be able to walk one mile for every year old he is. So I would like to get to that point...but I am not pushing the kids to beat the clock or anything. I think I have that as a far off goal so that we keep active.

My sweet Addy...I love her smile. Most of the time she is a little ball of fun...except after shots.

November Walk

We love Star K Ranch! It is free and has a lot of places for these little guys to explore. We found a big tree that they spent about 30 minutes climbing and exploring. They also loved "jumping" from log to log.

Garden, Snow, and Brothers

I am pretty proud of myself. I put the garden "to bed" all by myself! I decided to try sheet mulching. We didn't have enough cardboard boxes to cover the whole garden area so I covered about half. And then I stole my neighbors leaves out of their trash pile, while the garbage men looked on; confused I am sure. I wanted to get hay to cover the top...but it is like 5+ dollars a bail...and the hay needs to be deep. So as I was driving around with the kids I was passing a church that has a pumpkin sale every year. They had been finished for a few days now and their hay had been raked up and put into bags...just sitting there waiting for....me! I did a quick...not to safe...turn into the parking lot and went into the church to ask someone if I could have to hay. I felt kind of silly, no one seemed to know, and they had to call a bunch of people. In the end they took my number and I left hayless. We went home, then 15 minutes later we got a call saying that I could take the hay. Woo hoo! I quickly loaded the kids into the car...I had to be fast, what if someone else took the hay. There where 5 BIG bags of hay. I don't know how I fit it into the car...I think I scared Addy, she was kind of surronded by hay bags. I shoved and squished them all in and then headed home to put them on the garden! Wow, that was a long story about hay. Can you tell I'm excited?

We have had one big snow storm this year so far. We went outside and had some fun. By we I mean Spencer, me, and Addy. Kaden is not a cold weather guy. He stayed inside. Addy sort of had some fun. She liked it until she figured out she couldn't really move well in the snow with her snowsuit. But she sure was super cute!

At bedtime after the boys are tucked in, Kaden will climb into bed with Spencer and they will look at books or do whatever they do together. Kaden will usually get back into bed before he falls asleep...but not all the time. I love these boys. It is crazy how different they are and yet they still came from the same two people.

Preschool

This is Spencer's Preschool Costume Parade. They went to a park near the school to march around for the parents. His teacher is Miss Lori, she is the witch on the right.

He was a fireman...just in case there was any questions

Camping in August

So I know it is 3 months too late, but I thought I would share pictures from our first camping trip. It was suppose to be for two nights...it quickly turned into one. I hurt my back during the second afternoon, and some of the bigger kids were less then thrilled with having to hang out with the little kids. I think we'll try this again though...practice makes more perfect.
There was a beautiful lake there where we got to go fishing, it was so peaceful and pretty. I think and hope that next time will be better.

Park 3

Sorry, the pictures are all out of order.  So if you want to look in order start with Park 1, then 2, then 3.  They are not three separate parks, we were at one park the whole time. Sorry it is all confusing.

I don't know if you can see him, but on the tree trunk there is a squirrel.  I had a hard time getting the boys to eat lunch, they kept chasing squirrels.

Park 2

They have just discovered the joy of hill rolling.  They want to do it every time they see a hill.  It is fun to watch.