Christmas 2014

Oh how we love this time of year!

It seems every year I get a picture of the kids by this tree that we got at the Dollar Store the first Christmas we were married.  It always shows me how much the kids are growing!

Throwback to 2010

Christmas Sunday

We went to the cabin for a night a day or two before Christmas.  Just for fun.  There was ALOT of snow, a solid 2 feet at least.  Our car made it up the hill, but got so, so stuck trying to turn into the cabin driveway.  After trying to go back and forth for awhile we realized we were really stuck.  The kids were so funny!  They were getting scared and when Isaac got back in the car they said they had been praying.  Anyway, we ended up walking up the drive and then Isaac lugged all our luggage and food up from the car.  Isaac and I then went back down and used some pine tree branches and some pushing to move the car a foot more, just in case anyone else came up the road.  Fun memories!

"Sleeping" in the loft together.

Out enjoying the snow and beautiful scenery!

Sledding.  Love these faces!

Emry is so brave when it comes to sledding.  She loves it and has no fear!

Christmas Eve.

We read the story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible and acted it out.

Here we have a shepherd, Mary, and a wise man.

It looks like she's performing CPR, but she's really wrapping the baby in swaddling clothes.

What a great tradition to start!

Sleeping together in sleeping bags, excited for Santa to come!

Playing with her new play-doh dentist toy.  She's been into play-doh lately, 

which is helpful when the boys and I are doing school.

On Christmas day we went out to some friends' land with a bunch of friends for a little while.  There were 4 wheelers, and mini snow mobile (which my kids loved, and completely took over) and sleds, and cold.  

Asher lovin it!

We had a great time.  

We played games the rest of the day and had a nice Turkey, mashed potatoes, salad and Martinelli's dinner.

A friend snapped a family picture at the sledding and we are excited to add one more to our family!

Three

She's three!

Emry finally got over a crazy virus and we had her birthday.

She had really been looking forward to it.

Opening presents

She requested a kitty cat cake

I can't imagine life without our Emry girl.

-She is so sweet and so so stubborn.

-She talks my ear off at home and is quite funny, but forget it when we go out or she has to actually see other people.  Then she shuts down and can give quite the glare to other people. 

-Sometimes we have to do what we call "control, alt, delete".  When she's having a dramatic, stubborn, meltdown we tell her to go in her room and come out as soon as she's happy.  She'll usually come out a bit later and announce, "I'm happy now, guys"

-She loves kitty cats right now

-Favorite colors: pink and purple

-Calls bananas, "blanas" and crackers, "cracra", and oatmeal is "oatmilk"  She also says, "tinsy" for teensy and little.  Cutest thing ever.

-Asks to have a tea party first thing in the morning and all day long every.single.day.

-Sings Away in a Manger and Santa Claus is coming to Town alot right now, along with Book of Mormon Stories, and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.

-Goes to bed amazingly well, nap not so much.

-Loves to play with and try to keep up with her brothers.

-Loves to tell us she's 3 now.  She gets so mad if we tell her she's a toddler and says, "I'm 3, I'm not a toddler".  In the middle of the quiet library she was insisting on carrying our heavy bag of books, so I let her try after she yelled, "I'm 3 and I'm strong"! 

-Wears underwear for a couple months now.  She was the toughest one to potty train so far, but she's got it now!

-She melts our hearts!

Thanksgiving

Can you believe these are the only pictures I got from Thanksgiving?!

Isaac had a conference in Atlanta, so the kids and I went up to Swensen's early and Isaac joined us before Thanksgiving.

We had a great time, despite the cold.

Here the kids are sledding in -5 degrees.

I think Kason had the beginnings of frostbite on his cheeks after 10 minutes!

And I had to get a picture of our thankful tree.

What alot we have to be thankful for!

Fall Festivities

We had a beautiful fall!

At a local farm that had a pumpkin patch, corn maze, apple cider press, and small petting zoo.

Asher...ha!

Pumpkin carving.  

No one was too squeamish about the guts this year.

Halloween!

We went trick or treating on main street, our church's trunk or treat, and around the neighborhood.

Way too much!

It was 65 degrees though, unheard of in this part of the country on Halloween night.

Black kitty cat, Jedi, and Raphael the ninja turtle

This is what the kids did every single day after Halloween.  I was ready to throw it all out, but was met with major protest about that from everyone else in my family.  We compromised by putting some in "food storage".

We all had a great time!

Soccer Season

We finished up a soccer season for the boys.

They loved it.

And, though this last game was very chilly, it was counted a success because it did not snow for one game!

Asher's team

This was his first time playing on an organized team.  He's had plenty of practice in the backyard with brother and Dad, but he felt pretty cool to be on his own team - the gray team.

I'll always remember him getting his first goal and hearing a little yell from all the way across the field and him running with his arms up.

 

He pretty much grins the entire game.

Pretty proud to have a medal.

I guess I didn't get any good action shots of Kason, but here he is taking his turn as goalie.  He played on a team of 3rd and 4th graders even though he is in 2nd, and totally held his own.  I think he improved alot this year.

Team Maroon Marauders 

We had to travel half an hour for some of the games in order to play on Saturday's and on this particular day it was bright and sunny when we left our house, but we soon entered a huge fog cloud and never came out of it.  It was chilly and we weren't quite prepared!  

Emry tolerating the games straight-jacketed wrapped in Isaac's coat.  

I'm suprised she broke out a smile for this picutre, but I'm sure glad she did, it's a new favorite.

Fall Leaves

We had some fun in the leaves