Christmas Cookies!

The kids always look forward to bringing out the cookie cutters for Santa's Christmas sugar cookies. They all helped make, cut, and decorated them. This year we added in some camels, sheep, and penguins to our regular Christmas cuts.

And then they were devoured.

Jake has the funnest smile and laugh, when he's not trying or being told to smile for the camera. Brad got a hold of the camera, and I don't know what he was doing or how he did it, but I love these smiles he captured.

Lucas, for some reason, doesn't particularly like soft frosting on cookies or cakes, so he would only take little nibbles, and then say he was done. But he would eat them unfrosted. Weird child. 

Also a result of Brad getting control of the camera. I do love cookies.

I made sure Emma enjoyed them too :)

Dec 23, 2016

Say Cheese!, Snow, and Santa

The Traditional Sunday before Christmas pictures where everyone has clothes on and hair done!

Lucas was uninterested in smiling without sitting by his siblings, but he's still cute without one. I kept telling him to say "Cheese," and got a "No Cheese!" instead.

More snow. Our sledding hill is getting better, and every once in a while they run into the fence... lol. 

Our big winter storm is coming in, and it won't stop snowing. These kids don't mind it coming down on them -- they're loving this.

Jake playing fetch with Lizzy. 

 Lucas trying to play keep the ball away from Lizzy. She eventually won. He loves eating the snow off his mittens -- now we just have to worry about the yellow snow... so far, so good.... I think...

 We missed our ward Christmas party on accident, but we ran into Santa at Walmart so they got to see him anyway! Lucas was thrilled until I went to put him on Santa's lap. That wasn't going to happen. Emma wants Legos and Pie Face, Jake wants a blue car, and when you ask Luke what he wants for Christmas, he says, "No Christmas!" He'll learn.  

Dec 17-19, 2016

Nutcracker Ballet

Emma's ballet group played the Angels in their Nutcracker ballet recital this winter. Emma's the middle front in this one. The teacher put her there to help guide some of the other girls that didn't know the dance quite as well... ok, slight bragging moment. She was awesome! I loved having her front and center, and seeing the other girls follow her lead. She was a beautiful angel!  

 We switched studios when we moved, and luckily, her best friend Kjirsten from school and ballet moved even more south, so they switched with us so the girls could stay together.

Emma's ballet and Jake's soccer had conflicting times, so I would drop Emma off at ballet and run to soccer, and Brad would pick up Emma on his way home. I used to watch almost all of her practices, and I hadn't been able to watch much of hers at this new place. When I finally was able to watch, I was blown away at the improvement! She was balancing, graceful, pretty hands, and just flowing! I'm so proud of her for sticking with this, all the hard work and practice she's done, and that she loves it! 

Dec 17, 2016

Snow Day #2

Second Friday in a row that ended up a snow day. Last one we built the snowman, and this time we built a little sledding hill. The kids kept going again and again, and Luke had me going a few times with him also. I didn't grab any pictures, but we built this hill about twice as high with the next snow. We had to grab the kitchen stool so the kids could get on top of it!

In the video, Jake slid into a bucket, and Lucas says "Funny snowing! Funny Day-doe!" (That's his nickname for Jacob. He can actually say Jacob, but chooses not to)

Poor Luke, Lizzy's always trying to get his hat and mittens. He's the shortest target for her. It's hard to grab a clear picture of her with my phone because she's always on the move and shivering when she gets too cold (which doesn't stop her from running back out to play with the kids), but she always comes back like this -- usually worse. I have to put her in the bath to melt all the snowballs off, then blow dry so she doesn't freeze. It's quite the process when you add all the kids' snow stuff on top of it.

The Rarest of Occasions

Wherever I go, I usually have two little followers right on my tail, scratching on the bathroom door, wanting to be held, played with, etc. Once I sit down, I usually have one or the other on my lap, or right next to me. Luke's quite possessive, and will try to push Lizzy away/off when he wants to sit with me. BUT, for ONCE Luke was sitting on me, and Lizzy jumped up and instead of pushing her off, he put his arm around her and kept enjoying his show. It was miraculous and sweet, and hasn't happened since, but here's to hoping it will... because it's just adorable seeing a boy and his dog.

Dec 11, 2016

Frosty

The kids' first snow day this year! Lucas's first year he's old enough to play in the snow, and he loves it! He loves trailing after his older siblings, doing all they things they do.

It was good, sticky snow, so we made a snow man.

Which they named, very originally I might add, Frosty... Instead of rocks, she has pine cone buttons and eyes, and a pine tree branch smile.

                               

Poor Frosty lived a short, but happy life. Falling to her death the next day due to rain...

Dec 9-10, 2016

Strategic Moves

Emma has been learning more about chess at school, and now she and Brad play quite frequently. She beat Brad once when "he wasn't paying close attention." And then on another night, he saw her strategically take down his queen and was one move from beating him before he beat her. He was quite startled, and began practicing on the computer, and bought some online lessons that they both can do. This is now "their thing."  I love that they've found something to do together that they both enjoy! She's good!

I bought Jake some new Avenger underwear, and Lucas saw it and really wanted to wear "Hulk Smash" underwear. I told him when he started going on the potty, I would get him some. Instead, he just runs and gets Jake's and insists it gets put on. I've tried potty training this kid a couple times now, but he couldn't care less if his underwear gets wet and he's sitting in a puddle of pee. So, we'll try again in month or so... At least he's excited about underwear. One step accomplished.

I have an alarm on my phone that goes off when the kids should be getting off the bus. Lizzy has learned what it means, and will run to the door and watch out the window. She loves her kids, and as soon as she sees them, she turns into a spaztastic tasmanian devil running to them, jumping on them, licking anything she can, and trying to get their ears... I'll have to record it. It's pretty funny.

The first (of many) snows. Lizzy surprisingly loves the snow and stays out as long as the kids do. She usually comes back to the door with a snow covered face and balls of snow and ice stuck all over her belly and legs. It's kind of a pain trying to keep her and the house dry...

Quite the disturbing image to walk into when checking to make sure kids are asleep...

Drinking hot cocoa after we had shoveled snow for a bit. "Mmm, so tasty Mommy!" I love this kid!

Dec 2-7, 2016