Christmas Projects!

The school district here does a big Holiday Party for all the schools. It was at the high school last week and since I was alone with the kids, we all went. HOLY COW. I dont know if I have ever felt so out numbered. I saw a few families that matched ours. They had tables and tables of OTC crafts - and glue and stuff to put them together. Yeah right was I going to do that! We are talking 12 projects per kid! Instead of picking a few and doing them there - we went to every table, got the projects, stuffed them in my bag, and got our balloons and faces painted, and went home. Face Paintings

Saturday morning was the big project day. I got out the glue gun and went to town! the boys love a good project...and so do I. Who doesn't love 2 hours of free stuff to do with your kids?!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Merrick with his elf face, ginger bread woman, frame, candy cane holder, Christmas tree, and candy cane ornament.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B with the same - of his projects.^

Family Night

For family night we talked about Temples. Nephi built one, so we did too. We tried to do the Salt Lake temple, out of Legos.

^This is Braxton putting in the "flooring" ^

The boys did most of the planning, I did most of the building. those little bits and pieces are hard to get together! Braxton is very proud of our Temple, and it will be on top of the TV till after the new year.

The boys are way in to Legos right now and we got a bunch from an art store that is going out of business, they were the ones for kids to play with while the parents shopped.....we got them all and the cool table with the bucket in the middle for $40. Not bad - its way more then $40 worth of Legos....so I'm happy.

Boy Toys

Here is B when we said he could open his present. (We decided that these would help on the plane - so Open them before the trip and take them with us.)

Here is Merrick after he barfed on the carpet, we got it cleaned up, and he is going to open his present.

Here are the boys after B got yelled at for not waiting for us to clean up the barf (he went on opening his present even thought we were not watching and taking pictures) - he is smiling extra big because he knows we wanted to see him open the present (and didn't get to). So he is making up for it.

Here is Merrick opening a game for the Leapster.

And B doing the same.

Sophie's Present

Merrill is going to Alabama in a few hours - so we wanted to do our small Christmas here with him (since he will get back after the kids and I have gone to California) Sophie was first. She got a little train that shoots balls and you can make it move or stay still. She loves it! She is happy here - even though she looks like she might be yelling and upset.

Christmas is Coming!

Even thought we are going to my parents house for the holiday - Merrick wanted to get out the tree and stuff yesterday - so Merrill did as he was asked. Climbed up the ladder in the garage and got the tree and 2 boxes of stuff we needed to get Christmas up.

After Braxton ignored me and got out our Tree Mugs - dropped it and shattered one - and we got that mess cleaned up - and yelled at the kids about listening to your parents! - we got the tree set up, decorated, and the mess cleaned up.

Sophie has pink eye still (just like Merrick and Braxton did a little bit ago) so her picture isn't the best - but she is smiling good - and you can see her teeth - so I put it up anyways....and she is favorite right now, since she cant talk back.

Thanks

Had to get that out of the way....Merrill is about to pee his pants with excitement since they won. He is very grateful!

I'm grateful that my mom and dad got to come to Texas and be with my family. They left Tad home to be looked after by Natalie, Ren, and Annie with her Bo - M.C. Hammer. Its good to know that they trust Annie. She drove down with some other college kids(MC Hammer too) and surprised my mom on Saturday, and she left to come see me on Monday! She had no problem leaving Annie with MC Hammer and all the other siblings.

I'm thankful for the Church and the rules we were taught growing up about how we should, and were, expected to act. I see all the problems in other families that didn't have any morals taught to the children, and they are not in a good place. I'm thankful for parents who taught us what was right from wrong. And parents who said something when it needed to be said. Us kids show respect and make our parents proud when we do what we were taught in our youth.

Being a new parent (4 years isn't that far into an 18 + year job) I have come to see that its hard. Saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over. But I know that some day they will hear me and listen to me and I hope follow what we have taught. Its always int resting to me that each child is SO different. Braxton wants to mind me and wants to be a good boy, but gets caught up in the moment. Merrick is deaf right now - and I have to physically make him aware that I'm talking to HIM! We will see what Sophie is like......but they are all my kids. That's what makes it MY and Merrill's job to teach them. And to figure out what works for each kid....Braxton will do time out and Merrick will not. So we are trying to find something that will work instead.

All of this has made my more grateful to my parents. They had to police some of us kids more then others, but in the end it was what we each needed to succeed and be kept in line.

Thanks Mom and Dad.

Braxton

On the Trampoline yesterday.

Close up

Pre-bounce

Lovin' it!

Yumm!

I was told about this blog by my aunt: www.ourbestbites.com I have tried a few things already - and have loved everything! This morning we made the No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls. WOW! I had them made, baked, and we were eating in less then an hour. And it made the perfect amount for our family. They use baking powder and soda instead of yeast, so they are very biscuit like....and very good. Kinda flaky, kinda sweet, kinda De-lish! I didn't have cottage cheese on hand (yes - they call for cottage cheese) so I used sour cream - and it worked out fine. Maybe they would have been a little more tangy - but DANG! Good recipe. Fast and Easy - Just how I like it!

Sophie's New Tricks

Standing in the crib....got up all by her self.

She loves pretzles.

Climbing up the 1st step - all by her self.

My fave - The bird!

Merrick Food

I decided to blog this because it is funny to me - and I don't want to forget. Merrick is my boy who is a real weired eater. I was gonna say picky - but he will eat things Braxton won't touch and he is always asking to try things when I'm getting dinner ready. Like raw, diced onion. Or Flour. Or celery. He LOVES berries. And pickles. Or raw garlic. Or potato. Really anything raw that I cut up for dinner - with the intent of cooking it.

So this morning here is what he has eaten: 2 bowls of coco puffs, 1 pickle,

12 strawberries, a handful of pretzels, some shredded zucchini (we made zucchini bread), a finger tip of cinnamon, a BIG finger tip of vanilla pudding mix, 2 glasses of milk And its only 9:21

Halloween

This year we went to our Ward Halloween Party! (after kickball) We got the boys new Transformer costumes, but Braxton decided to use his Bumblebee outfit from last year - and it still fit. So he will be Optimus Prime next year. I helped the boys carve a pumpkin (good thing too, because we went to buy one on Thursday and couldn't find one ANYWHERE!) - but did not win a prize for "Best-Ever-Skull". The boys got to play the "toss the salt water taffy in a bucket" game, go trunk-or-treating. And Merrill did a great job passing out mini play-doh and candy to the kids who came to our trunk. Sophie had her hair in a mo-hawk at one point during the day and had a little skull tattoo on her cheek - so she was a "PUNK-in" for Halloween.

Special Package!!!

Merrill LOVED the Mullet man from the viewing so much that Aunt Cathrine got him a little something to remember him. We all (except Braxton and Sophie) tried it on.

Yellow Stone