Christmas Eve

We had a Christmas Eve Breakfast with frosty and snowman pancakes

We built a snowbuddy!

& Baked cookies!

We had a great evening baking and listening to Christmas music. We watched a great Christmas program by the Mormon Tabernacle choir and the short video of "Joy to the World." Then the kids left eight tiny carrots and one large carrot for the Reindeer and a bowl of milk on the front doorstep. Dallin and Penny drew Santa some pictures! They made sure to leave some cheese on Santa's plate for Santa Mouse. They were ready to go to bed at 7:30 and asleep by 8. I have never seen Dallin try to fall asleep so quickly so Santa will come to his house.

Happy Christmas Eve!

My winter babies :)

The kids had a night this week where they got to sleep by the Christmas Tree!

Penny with SARAH BEAR :)

A letter from SANTA!

Dallin wrote a letter to Santa Claus at the beginning of this month and guess what we found in our mailbox today?

A letter from SANTA! I had no idea we would actually get a letter back! What a nice surprise!

Blessed is the Season. . .

Which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of Love

Pre-School

Today we made mouse ornaments that go along with the story book 'Santa Mouse'

The letter for Pre-School was 'M' for Mouse. We ate lots of M&M's while we played the game 'Don't eat Pete' and made cookies after we read the story 'If you give a mouse a cookie'

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; (The ornaments were made with walNUT shells and chestnuts)

And the kids loved watching the train ;)

Merry Christmas!

A year to remember 2002

When we set up our Christmas tree it is always a time to reminisce and remember when Rolo and I were married. It's almost been 6 years ago in six more days. A lot of our decorations were used at our reception at my brothers house. They decorated there tree for us and gave us the decorations, the star and the silver and white/pearl balls. I love the memories associated with all the ornaments.

And we always hang some MISTLETOE!! Dallin's favorite song is "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year. . . Oh, ho the mistletoe, hung where you can see, somebody waits for you, kiss her once for me" ;)



Christmas is a season to remember and express love!

A fun family game

I found this game 'Cut the Candy Bar' at Tip Junkie. We are adding this game to our family traditions. Look at the game info HERE! The object of the game is to eat as much of a candy bar as you can before someone rolls a double with dice. The rules :) you must have an unwrapped candy bar and try and open it with two hot pads on your hands and then you use a fork and knife and cut small portions of the candy bar and eat until someone else rolls a double :) Sounds like a lot of fun!

Tip Junkie also posted the fun game of Don't eat Pete! A great game for toddlers!

AND she has a neat CHRISTMAS M&M POEM you can print out and give as a simple neighbor gift!

Christmas M & M’s

As you hold these candies in your hand
and turn them, you will see
The 'M' becomes a 'W',
An 'E', and then a '3'.

They tell the Christmas Story
I'm sure it's one you know.
It took place in a stable
A long, long time ago.

The 'E' is for the East,
Where the star shone so bright.
The 'M' is for the Manger,
where the Baby Jesus slept at night.

The '3' is for the Wise Men,
Bearing gifts, with which they came.
'W' is for Worship,
Hallelujah! Praise His Name!

So as you eat these candies
Or share them with a friend,
Remember the meaning of Christmas:
It's a love that never ends.

Merry Christmas!

Imaginations

Have you ever watched the video THE SNOWMAN? It is a delightful short film with no words and only music. It's a great family film for the holidays and the kids have loved watching it. They have been dressing up like the Snowman and using there imaginations to pretend they're a snowman that comes to life and flies to the North Pole to visit Santa!


O' the magic and wonders of Christmas! We hope we will get snow one of these days so we can make our own Snowman!!!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

What Do You Remember?

Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
Joel 1:3

Memories- they're the very heart of Christmas!

How many of your most powerful memories are connected with the Christmas season?

We remember our childhood Christmas traditions,
We remember the smells,
We remember the anticipation of Santa coming to town,
We remember dreaming of white Christmas's
We remember the real reason for the season,
The birth of our Savior!

These cherished memories are what we want to tell our children and create new and the very best memories for there childhood.

I have felt a bit overwhelmed with this responsibility but I have been doing my best this season to pause for some quiet teaching moments and teach my children the true purpose of this season. Not just in words but hopefully with gestures of love. I pray that they will always have memories worth remembering!


Wishing you a Holiday you'll always remember :)

Dallin's Birthday Party

Dallin had a fantastic day yesterday from the moment he woke up until bedtime and he did not want the day to end! I asked him what his favorite part about his birthday was and he said "it was all his favortist :)" I loved watching him all day and loved every moment of seeing how happy he was. It makes a Moms heart perfectly content to have a happy child!

He had an ALL BOY POKEMON Birthday party. (except for his little sis :) He helped with a lot of the preparation for his party which made it fun for him! He picked his activities, he decorated, cleaned and put together gift bags, he wanted to choose six of his toys to wrap for his friends and that was fine with me, I let him go to his toy room and gather some toys to give away, he is always so thoughtful!

Dallin is a lucky boy to have some great friends

Seven little Monkeys climbing in our tree ;) The boys had a blast playing in the backyard, it was a beautiful sunny day!

Penny gave Dallin the Pikachu on his cake :)

Dallin picked out Pikachu pictures for his friends to color

It surprised me how much they all enjoyed coloring, they had a good time looking at Dallin's pokemon character book and coloring there own pictures.

We also made Origami Pikachu's :) It was fun watching all the boys play together and have a GREAT time!

Dallin is turning 5 tomorrow!

This is my little boy five years ago! I can't believe it!! He is only two weeks old in this picture, I made him and his Daddy matching Pajamas for Christmas Eve :)

My handsome little man with lots and lots of hair from the day he was born!

He also had many WILD hair days :)

Dallin's 1 st Birthday picture!

Dallin at 3 yrs

and tomorrow I will post more pictures of his 5th birthday. I have been so sentimental the past couple weeks thinking about my little boy turning the BIG 5. He is having an all boy Pokemon party. He has had fun making his own invitations, bags for his treats, and today we will make the Pokemon cake. He really wants Pikachu on his cake, so wish me luck! I am hopefully just doing a simple version of a pokemon cake but I get these ideas in my head and I never know how his cakes will actually turn out. It's always an adventure!

I must be craving some Vitamin E

First on the my baking list for this holiday season is Cinnamon-Roasted Almonds. You can get the recipe here at ALLRECIPES I can't wait to make these and smell the cinnamon roasting in the oven.

I didn't have the chance to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving so Caramel Pecan Puff Tartlets sound delicious :)

By the way I went to my O.B doctor yesterday and I think it is cruel to weigh pregnant women during the Holidays ;) And just so you know in 25 days we find out if this baby is a boy or a girl :)

Anyhoo, back to my list - Mini Chip Snow ball Cookies, you can find that recipe HERE




And look at these fancy cupcakes, I don't know if I will be that festive with my baking! But, they do look adorable!

I have not tried any of these recipes before but they all sound so good and I always like trying out new Holiday recipes.

Happy baking to you all this Christmas Season :) The kitchen is a great place to create wonderful memories!

There is beauty all around when there's LOVE at home!

Family Vacation to Utah

We have been gone for the last nine days visiting family! We had a great time! And we are happy to be back home ;)