Christmas time

We are back from Boise and after such a fun, family filled number of days, it has been hard to get back to normal-fun kind.
We did all sorts of things while we were there, visited with many friends and family, ate tons of good food :), played games, watched Christmas movies, got to go through the coffee drive thru (we don't have any in our town so it is always a treat).
Emmy got a new doll from her Grandpa and Grandma - here she finally figured out that it goes to the bathroom after you feed it...the problem is, no reusing the diapers so off to the store parents have to go to stock up on more of those little things (not me I say the diaper changing days and spending are over)


Here are many pictures, way out of order, but I just couldn't get myself together enough to put them in their correct timeline spots...

Trying on cousin's skates. Isaiah is 'helping her' learn

but of course everything is funnier when falling down happens

A Christmas bow...happy or sad???

Emery and Gunner...she loves him a little too much sometimes...he looks like he is headed somewhere else in a hurry ha ha :)

Showing the camera her new backpack

Our cousins got some cool bathtub crayons...the kids wasted no time in using them, and it kept them busy and quiet for a long time. It came out of Emery's clothes, hope it has actually come off everything else in the bathroom too (Lisa?)

Surprise!!! We got to sneak out onto the field and run around on the blue turf

Trying stuff on in the store...I hope this doesn't push either of the kids to have some crazy hair days in real life! Yikes!

Might have been Christmas Eve? All those jammies and smiles. I think they are having fun

The 'first feeding'

Happy 3 Day!!!

Happy 3rd birthday Emery Grace!!!



When she was so little...
1 week old


2 weeks old

And now...on her birthday at her party

Princess jammies

Cinderella cake (too bad I didn't make this one, I didn't even try)

Loving her gifts :)

Christmas Cookie TIME!

Life is changing a bit around here. Jenessa (the little girl we have had here 4 days a week for the last 3 1/2 years) has just started kindergarten at the public school. This is a good and bad thing. Good because I am more free to focus on teaching our own kids, as well as getting involved in an extracurricular activity some afternoon if we want. Bad because that was some income for us. Also bad in a small way because Isaiah thinks some amazing, spectacular things are going on in that class down at the school and now wants to go - so I need to help the kids through their loneliness for their missing friend by crafts, activities and just being a fun wonderful Mom!!! (I say that kind of as a joke to myself because I am not always the most fun to be around on those stressful days that are constantly full of children).
So I said, hey kids do you want to make some yummy Christmas cookies for everyone?




Now will my family actually eat them after being handeled by a couple of kids???


This picture made me laugh - oh the thoughts that can be expressed by a look :)

Some more random pictures to try and bring myself some sunshine on this rainy day.

The kids are so proud of the great sand castle they made with Grandma and Grandpa who seem to be avoiding the camera

The guys watching last nights Boise State game

I had put the kids to bed, then after a few minutes I heard Isaiah sneak into his sister's room and ask if he could read her a story...this is how I found them

Below is a picture of the youth group harvest party from last week...this is right before the pie eating contest...there are no pictures from after sadly, but I had to run into the other room and grab a garbage bag...just in case someone had problems

Below is a quick picture of the teens getting ready to play the hit game of the summer 'smash face' (with a volleyball)

Emmy and Aunt Leanne on a babysitting night i think

Isaiah's serious soccer game face

Us girls

The Weekend is Beautiful

This is how I looked most of the week...two kids on my lap, reading or trying to help one stop crying. They are actually smiling in this picture, so let's pretend it was how they were the rest of the week too :)

Then they recovered, but not enough to visit anyone's house for candy (which was fine with me). They had a blast on Saturday pretending to be a dinosaur and puppy. It was noisy, but the good kind.

Treasure Hunt

My family set up a small treasure hunt for the kids on Saturday. They have been sick with the flu for the past week so I know the kids were excited to actually leave the house and do something fun. It sure is hard to have sick kids and encourage them to do something else other than want to watch tv. I am so glad they are better...and I didn't get it...yet.

so here are some pictures of the hunt:

Mommy reading the clues

Running to the apple tree clue

Entering the corn patch to look for the "X"

Unknowingly flinging wet dirt in all directions, including Grandma, Leanne, and eachother

Digging up the hole

Deeper

Deeper (Emmy is helping a lot with the dirt as you can see)

FOUND IT! The kids thought it was amazing...so easy to please :)

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Yes we all know it has been raining around here...so here are some indoor fort pictures from last week. This week I have box boats that the kids are climbing around in. Anything to keep them busy :)

Took a while, but the kids got into it and had ewwy gooey fun. And made a bit of a mess for Mommy to clean up I might add!

Not sure why the others are so blurry, but here is Isaiah giving an a ok? mad at the pumpkin look? I am not sure

We found out how serious Daddy is about the pumpkin carving stuff too - it is very serious :)