Sunday, January 19, 2014

Christmas morning

 This is the moment I wait for the entire year!  I might've been more excited than they were!  Having a 5 year old and nearly 3 year old at Christmastime is pretty awesome.


 SANTA CAME!!!





 Reed bought Taryn fairy wings from the Dollar Store and they have been the one thing that has gotten the most use since Christmas

 Yay, a brand new sippy!

Playing with new toys

Minute-to-Win-It Party

We held our first Minute-to-It party with 2 couples from our new ward, the Rowes and Bawdens, and Kevin's sister, Whitney and Marty.  Kevin and I hadn't tested out any of the games before playing to make it fair (in fact, I think I've only seen the show once), and they were hard!  But we all had a lot of fun!

Hang 3 ornaments on the string without using your hands.  Marty had a unique technique of holding the ornament. :)



 Swing a "reindeer nose" onto your nose without using your hands (vaseline-covered) 3 times



Get a cookie into your mouth 3 times without using your hands



Stack 36 cups and bring back into a single stack



Toss mini marshmallows through a wreath into a bowl (most in the bowl wins)...Derek did not miss one time!  So not fair-he played baseball in college.


Balance as many ornaments on a stick as you can without them falling


The Bawdens took the trophy home this time, but there will be a rematch which we don't expect to lose.  It was a ton of fun!

More December happenings.....

We made gingerbread houses with some old friends....





 Bed head baby....


We talked to Santa....(Reed panicked and said he wanted "a block"--must've been all the talks we had with him about not being too greedy and being grateful for what you have :).  Taryn asked for a "princess gaga" (??))....





Is it even possible to get a good picture of 3 kids??....





We made a lot of Christmas treats this year....





Reed helped whenever my dad and Kevin were working on the electrical in the basement....


Corbin had a playdate with his cute baby friends, Riley and William....



More sledding in the backyard....







Cute brothers.....



Dad's Christmas party

 We started a new Christmas tradition this year.  Instead of picking names and exchanging gifts with cousins, we decided to do a service project and put together "blessing bags" for the homeless.  Tera got all the supplies at the Dollar Store and we had each kid assigned to an item.  Then we simply passed bags around and they put one item in each bag.  Easy-peasy and fun!  I was so impressed with how fast we put together 20+ bags and kept the kids' attention.  They seemed to actually enjoy it.

 12 boy cousins + 1 girl (Taryn)

 Dad, Denise (my dad's fiance'), Corby, and Taryn

Dad and Denise got each family a tube of (70+) matchbox cars...the boys were so excited!

They immediately went to the basement and set up the tube and tracks to send all the cars down. :)