Merry Christmas!

We want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!

Gingerbread Houses

This year we were invited to some friends house to help in their annual tradition of decorating gingerbread houses. I can't remember if I have ever made "real" gingerbread houses (I've made plenty out of graham crackers) or not before, so I think this was a first for me. There was a table FULL of candy and gingerbread houses for each of the kids (and missionaries) to decorate. Travis was WAY more interested in playing with the toys than decorating a house, so Christian and I decorated one and Carson decorated the other. It was fun to decorate the houses and see how different they turned out. After we were done decorating, the family we made them with, went and carolled to some families and gave them the houses. We didn't end up joining them because we are a bunch of scrooges and don't sing, but we had fun decorating them! Thanks for such a fun evening, H. family. We are glad we got to participate in one of your Christmas traditions!!

Carson's gingerbread house "before" shot.

during the gingerbread decorating...

The final product! He was a little excited about how his house turned out! :)

Travis assisting Christian on his hosue.

The whole gang working away.

Christian and his house of brands. I took the picture a little early...he proceeded to add a few more family cattle brands to the house.

The kids and their gingerbread houses!

Our masterpiece!

Parties, parties and more parties!

WOW, this week has been crazy! I'm not going to lie, I will be giving a big sigh of relief when it is over. We have been super busy this week with 3 Christmas parties and and getting things ready to leave next week.

Christmas party #1 was our local story time Christmas party. Our library ladies do a great job of providing a good time for the kids and we are lucky that we have such a fun story time! The kids listened to stories for half an hour and then they played games and ate lunch. The kids all seemed to have a fun time and loved the gingerbread boxes they got full of goodies!

Carson playing Santa Says

The boys playing a ball toss game through a wreath.

Party #2 was our Branch Christmas party. We had probably the best turn out for a party that I've see since we've been here, which is great, except we have an extremely small mulit-purpose room which meant being really cozy and loudness. Anyways, we enjoyed a yummy ham dinner with funeral potatoes, salad and cookies for dessert. After dinner, there was a Christmas craft and cookie decorating for the kids. Santa was supposed to visit, but somehow got lost on his way to the church...but his treat bags made it, so kids were ok with it.

The kids' table

Decorating gingerbread notebooks.

Travy's gingerbread guy.

Carson decorating his cookie.

Thursday was party #3 at Carson's preschool. I got to go help with the games and watch them eat their treats and open presents.

Enjoying a yummy cupcake.

Playing pass the present. They passed presents around in a circle until the music stopped. Once the music stopped, the present they were holding was the present they got to open and keep.

The book Carson got in the gift exchange.

Carson as Rudolph after their reindeer relay race.

Playing bingo.

The class playin the freeze dance game. This was so funny to watch. The kids would dance like crazy and when the music stopped they would freeze. What's funny is that when the music stopped, they would freeze fast and then quickly freeze in a better, cooler position...so funny to watch!

Carson turns 5!!

Now that it's almost a month later, I decided I should blog about Carson's birthday! Carson's official birthday was Sunday, December 5, but we partied all week. On Tuesday, Carson got to take birthday treats to school. He chose to take chocolate chip cookies and milk (one of his favorite treats). He was so excited to get to wear a birthday crown at school all day and was surprised to get a new book from his teacher.That Friday, we had a friend party at our house. It never fails that his birthday sneeks up on me! I need to remember that I should have things all figured out for it before we leave for Thanksgiving. We decided to throw a ninja turtle party this year. When Each kid arrived, they were equipped with a turtle mask and belt. After a little playing, we ate some lunch consisting of pizza (a ninja turtle fave) rolls, veggies, green jello and cool aid, and cheese and crackers.

After lunch, the kids enjoyed playing pin the mask on the turtle, our version of duck, duck, goose... turtle, turtle, shredder, and we attempted a gift game, but that didn't go over so well!

After games and gifts, we sang to the birthday boy Happy Birthday and enjoyed some ninja turtle cupcakes and ice cream.

After we had all the fun we could handle, the kids got to fill their pizza boxes with goodies of their choice.

Thanks to all of Carson's friends for coming and celebrating his specail day with us!

Sunday, Carson's real b-day, we invited a family over for dinner from church to celebrate with us. They have some older youth in our branch that my boys absolutely love and when I asked Carson who he wanted to invite to his birthday, they were amoungst the names listed. Since they wouldn't be able to make it on a week day because of school, we had them for dinner and desseret on Sunday. They came and partied with us and even brought Carson a straw hat and real multi-tool...a boy's dream! Later that evening we opened gifts just as a family. Carson got lots of cool legos, some clothes, new cowboy boots, a bug hunting set, and a new nerf gun. Thanks to all our family who thought to call and wish Carson a happy birthday and those who sent gifts. Carson had a great couple of days!

We are so glad that Carson came to our family 5 years ago. He is loving, a good friend, considerate, a good helper at home, and has the one of the best smiles in the world! At five, Carson loves:

*going to school

*playing with legos

*watching movies

*playing with friends...he is such a social butterfly!

*pretending to be different characters from the movies he watches

We love you, Carson!

Oh, Christmas tree. Oh, Christmas tree!

After helping my mom decorate her tree, my boys were pretty excited to do ours. In fact, the night we got back from our trip back home for Thanksgiving, Carson asked if we could put it up. Clearly, the answer was no, but I think we put it up the next day, which might be the earliest we have ever got it up. They boys had a ton of fun decorating it, and continue to have fun re-decorating it daily!

Christmas Kick-off Weekend!

This weekend was sort of the Christmas kick-off weekend for our town and as a result, we were busy going from one event to another. We started Friday by attending Carson's first preschool program. They had a short program where they sang like 5 songs, followed by a cookie reception where Santa greeted all the kids. It was super cute to watch him sing (or yell) his little heart out!

All dressed up and ready to sing.

Singin' some Jingle Bells!

Carson and the rest of the kids that attend his preschool (there were a couple of classes there).

Caron and his two best friends from his class, Mykuh and Lexi H.

Carson and his friends playing.

A visit with Santa!!

Saturday started out with an ornament exchange party but on by my friend JulieAnn. Each person brought an ornament for each person attending, and at the end of the party, we each came home with 7 new ornaments. It was fun to visit with other ladies (and Rob), eat some yummy food, and get some great ornaments for my tree! Thanks for a fun time JulieAnn! Later that evening, we went to the lighted parade down town. The boys enjoyed getting candy, but I don't think they enjoyed the cold, so much!

The ladies from the ornament exchange.

The ornaments I made to take.

Waiting for the parade to start!

Sunday, Carson turned five...CRAZY! We have celebrated his birthday twice now and I will post pictures from his special days next!