christmas 2011

we spent our Christmas eve making cookies for Santa...

then we headed over to my parent's house for our traditional prime rib dinner

we ate, exchanged gifts and had a nice time just being together

my kids are obsessed with their cousins and as usual had so much fun being with them!

there is just something about going home for Christmas :)

Christmas morning was so much fun!

connor was hilarious...he'd tear the paper on a present (he assumed was his) to see what it was and he was on to the next one

molly on the other hand carefully unwrapped each gift and immediately wanted it opened up to play with it

her favorite gift (my guess), was the princess lip glosses that she put on all of our lips and applied to her own every 4 minutes

it took us a good hour to get through everything

there was gasping, laughing, screaming and far too much excitement!

After we cleaned up the ridiculous mess, all of James' family came over to spend the day with us...we had a full house! It was such a great day, we throughly enjoyed ourselves.  James' family took care of everything, all I had to do was...nothing!  We even got a Christmas surprise when our good friend stopped by!
With everything that didn't get done in time for Christmas it was one of the best we've had! 

Merry Christmas!

we had a wonderful day with family and friends

at our house and

we couldn't have asked for a better holiday.

we hope everyone had a great day too!

we have so much to be thankful for

Christmas was so magical this year with the kids, i could hardly sleep last night i was so excited...i will cherish my memories of our little family christmas, the smiles, the laughter, the joy!

we nailed it :)

*note to self, crop the fan

James' surgery

this guy had surgery on his foot yesterday...

and it went great

on top of having a broken heel he has planters fasciitis on both feet, but his left foot was worse and needed...uh, to be fixed.

the doctor explained it to us and even took a picture of the tissue he cut off the bone, but it's still a little confusing:)

james did great and was very entertaining to the doctor and staff after he woke up from the surgery

he has to wear his soft case boot for the next 6 weeks, but for 4 of those weeks he cannot put any pressure on his left foot!

and after that he will have physical therapy

so it'll be a while until he's on both feet, but he has seriously been in pain from this for at least the last 9 month! I'm sorry he had to have surgery but glad to finally have it figured out.

 

he was pretty nervous about getting the IV but the nurse did such a great job that he didn't even feel it

this was a happy sedated man post op

after we got home his foot swelled up a little and the vicodin did not seem to work...he could not fall asleep on it and started itching and by this afternoon he'd had enough!

his doctor was so great and even met us afterhours with new prescriptions to help make him comfortable
(seriously if anyone needs an awesome foot doctor just ask!)

hopefully the next few weeks go ok in his recovery and he is patient...crutches take some getting used to and make getting around a little slow :( being on what he calls injured reserve has been tough for him and he's been in pain for so long now.  it's been a frustrating few months for him, but things are definitely looking up.
james does a lot around here to help out and i'm definitely feeling our team is a man down but i'm feeling a new appreciation for him and how much i need him :)
we have such great people/family in our lives that have been so great to help already and have offered to help me with the kids(and i will certainly take any that's offered)
Thank you!

mini mani

oh the trouble this girl can get into in a flash!

she loves girlie stuff

but...

she has to do EVERYTHING on her own.

pouring the milk, buckling her carseat, opening doors, the list goes on

and painting her nails was no exception

it's tough some days and takes a great deal of patients (that i don't always have) to let her do things on her own

but it's also awesome to see her learning to do things and be independent

I love that Connor is letting her paint his nails
he's such a good brother!

painting with papa

the kids and i went by my parent's a few weeks ago while all the other kids were in school

we found molly on the table outside getting into the paints

my dad sat outside and painted with them and the kids had a so much fun with their papa!

they made all sorts of creations

and papa painted things on request:

cars, dinosaurs, people...

we made a mess and ate snacks, everything you do when you go to grandpa's house :)

it was a sweet afternoon with papa and i know my dad loved every minute of it!

\

christmas fun

we made gingerbread houses last weekend at my parent's house

their house is so magical during Christmas

(the house is completely decked out)

and for the past several years we have done family a night where we eat, make gingerbread houses and pick names for our gift exchange

this year was so fun!

connor had a blast decorating our house and i had to keep telling him to stop eating it before it was decorated

we also tried to get a decent picture for our Christmas card

we've been so busy and haven't had time to get our pictures taken

so i decided not to stress myself!

we got a few cute pictures but as you can see connor's max for pictures is about 2, after that he doesn't want anything to do with it

check this off the list

we went to the zoo last night...

this was our first time and i loved it

the zoo was lit up so beautifully 

with christmas lights

we also got to meet Santa, enjoy cookies and take a family photo (i'll put it up later)

it was especially cold last night so the kids were bundled up pretty good

(ok i'm a little obsessed with molly all bundled up - she's so cute!)

all of our favorite people were there:

grandma Kathy, Nana, Papa, Ali, Matt, Tony, Yvonne, Brianna, Nicole & Cash!

we had so much fun

connor was disappointed the animals weren't out

so grandma promised to take him back durning the day to visit

it was a great night!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

we are loving the cool weather here!

we've been slowly decorating the house for Christmas

the kids had a great time putting ornaments on the tree and

afterwards, the kids enjoyed their first cup of hot cocoa 

they thought that was pretty fun!

we have so much more to do to get the house ready for Santa

but the kids are loving December so far!

we still have to write letters to Sants, put the lights on the house, find moo's stocking 

:(, christmas cards!, visit Santa at the mall, zoo lights, shop and so much more...

happy holidays!

we love art at our house!

molly loves to color all the time

it is seriously the only thing that keeps her attention for more then a second

she's pretty good with her colors too

she knows the basics: pink & purple, sometimes blue

we have quite the collection of art work...

and they let us help sometimes too!

molly b gets better

molly is feeling much better after starting an antibiotic for double ear infections and a sore throat, it's been a tough week but we are on the mend and i just wanted to document what this cutie pie is saying lately...

"it's dangerous mommy"

"no, mommy do it!"

"again!" - especially when you are tossing her up in the air

"connor, you see my binkie anywhere?"

"where's my nichol?"

"james!"

"i sorry connor" - she says this all day long!

"scratch my back"

"i got an idea"

and so many more funny things that comes out of her mouth

i love her little voice and how chatty she is (most of the time ;)

halloween fun

happy halloween!

(yesterday)

october was so crazy busy for us...

the kids have been a little under the weather

so they didn't last long last night...

molly was truly amazed with the entire trick or treat process 

her first house she just stared into her bucket and said "thank you"

she got a little more chatty with people after about a block

she was a kitty and connor was spider man

connor wanted to quit after about 4 houses and 4 pieces of candy and

he would not let us take any pictures of him 

:(

and again no family pictures!

this is connor's mummy he made at preschool last week, he was so proud of it!

(so am I)

 this is connor's class after their halloween party

i was taking pictures like a pro and discovered no sim card in the camera...again! he absolutely loves preschool and especially his teacher and friends!

 Pumpkin carving

 my little kitty...she was so sweet trick-or-treating! 

our spooky red light and cob webs

i seriously need to learn how to take proper pictures

 trick-or-treating 

the kids insisted on taking the wagon that took more effort to climb in and out at each house then just walking 

fall break

we spent our fall break up in Utah

(i thought it was so cute connor had fall break from preschool)

the weather was so nice and there was so much fun stuff to do 

the kids had such a fun time

thanks to the Vonk family for having us!

here are some pictures of our adventure...

matching pjs are a must with 4 cute kids

awesome children's museum

temple square

chuck-e-cheese

hee-haws pumpkin patch

movies, dress up and horse play!

and there was a lot more we didn't even get to

 i'm glad connor knows the universal sign for choking...not sure what's happening here

poor carlee...molly got a couple good scratches in before we left :(

 i want this water table at our house

the kids played there forever!

connor's birthday cake

(he really wanted batman, but settled for spiderman)

riding the big slide with daddy

(because mommy was too scared)

horseback at the museum

ironing at the museum

corn kernel angels