Christmas is Magical

Oh. My. Gosh! I love how these pictures turned out! I love every single one of them. We had Foto Fly take the kids' pictures with Santa in the background!

 The look on the kids face in this picture is my absolute favorite. I don't how many more years I will get of this, but for right now I am soaking in every minute of this magic.

 Better not let Santa get those cookies!

We decorated our basement. The kids decorated the tree all by themselves and it looks so good!

 Brynnli got to put the star on our tree this year.

 and Makayla got to put our favorite (and most random) decoration on the tree.

 Kitty the Elf came to stay with us for the month again! The kids were so excited to have him back and made him a special bed.

 We decorated gingerbread houses. The kids are needing our help less and less. I didn't think it would make me sad, but it is just a reminder of how fast time is going.

 Kitty even made a gingie house that night too!

 We had to get a new tree for our piano room and I absolutely love it! I love this room, especially when the Christmas lights are on and Tyler plays my favorite Christmas songs.

Tyler gripes about having to put up Christmas lights on the trees every year, but when you're house looks this  magical, you do it anyway. One of these years we will pay to have someone put lights on our house, but for now, this is perfect. 

 Oh Kitty, we sure do love this elf and all his fun magic. The kids wrote letters to Santa and Kitty delivered the notes Santa wrote back.

 We have seen lots of Santa's helpers this month. We don't know for sure, but we're pretty sure one of them is THE real deal. We went to our ward Christmas party and Mr. and Mrs. Claus were there.

 Caden wants the Lego camping set and Dogman Books

 Makayla wants ear muffs and Cupcake Diaries books.

 Brynnli wants a bouncy ball and a baby.

 That same day we got to decorate cookies and see Santa again.

 We went to Daddy's work kids Christmas party and got to see Frozen! We loved it and have been listening to the soundtrack non stop.

 Guess who was at the movie theater? Santa! Again!

 Ok, this picture is really bad of me (can we say big eyes?) but it was the only picture we took the night we went to see Kurt Bestor. This has become my favorite Christmas tradition and I'm really grateful that Tyler has made me so cultured.

 We had a family day date and it was so much fun! We started out at Tyler's work Christmas party, then we went to Caden's basketball game, then we went to see Jenny Oaks Baker in concert (we're trying to get our kids cultured too), to end our fun day we surprised our kids with Christmas in Color! We waited in line for forever but the drive through light show was pretty great. Our kids thought it was so fun to stick their heads outside the car.

 Do you know what I didn't love? Brynnli's butt in my face the whole time.

 I think we may have to make that a yearly tradition.

Our cute Brynnie had her preschool Christmas program. I didn't think it would make me that sad, but this is our very last preschool Christmas program. I remember going to Makayla's first program and Brynnli was just an infant. Now here we are attending our last one, and I don't know if I can handle my kids growing up so fast.

Brynnli was so shy, but oh, so cute. She knew the words to every song, but would not give a smile at all.

 We love Miss Aubrey and Miss Karly... even if Brynnli doesn't look it.

 Brynnli also got to see Santa at her preschool and have a fun class party.

Christmas is magical. I wish everyone could see the magic that I see through our kids' eyes. 

How 'Bout Them Jazz and other Randomness

Ok, Caden is playing Jr. Jazz basketball and it might just be the cutest thing I have ever seen. Ok, I say that about everything my kids do, but watching 7 year olds play basketball is so much fun! We love watching our #12

Caden is really good and has made a few baskets and assists for his team. We just love watching Caden try new things and find out what he loves. 

And just for randomness, here's me and Brynnie right before preschool dropoff.

 Our kids really want a baby. That's clearly not going to happen, because, well, we can barely keep up with the 3 shiz nuggets we have, so we did the next best thing. We baby sat a baby... actually 2 babies. Tyler's coworker had twins and we watched them while they did some Christmas shopping. It was definitely a reality check and an exhausting night, but the kids had a lot of fun playing with the babies. I only got a picture with Caden holding Brock. Tucker was there, but he was crying the whole time, so I didn't get any pictures of him.

We Have so Much to be Thankful For!

Everyday I feel so blessed everyday, but November is a great chance to specifically reflect on things we are grateful for. We made our thankful tree this year and tried to write down one thing each day.  

I am so thankful for these little shiz nuggets. One day I was frustrated with the kids and called them this, and Tyler and I thought it was so funny. It's become a term of endearment now. 

 I'm am grateful for creativity. All of our kids are so creative in their own way. Makayla loves to make beautiful art, Caden is amazing at creating things with Legos, and Brynnli can be entertained with a empty paper towel roll. I love watching her play. She was playing chef one day (notice the swim suit underneath).

 I am grateful for a healthy family. We had a nasty bug hit the kids this month. and then poor Tyler got "a pneumonia" (as he calls it) this month that knocked him out for a few weeks. Poor Brynn woke up one night throwing up. She couldn't keep anything down but she was so thirsty. I felt so bad for her. It is the worst feeling when your kids are sick and you can't do anything to make it go away. It's the times when they are super sick that you realize how grateful you are for good health.

 I am grateful for kids who are happy, healthy, and involved in lots of activities. Sometimes I complain about being the family taxi, but I am grateful my kids love to explore things they are interested in. Dance, tumbling, piano, baseball, basketball, and cheer keep us on the move. Makayla got her cheer pictures back. I am just sitting here in awe at how grown up and beautiful she is. I am so proud of Makayla for trying something new and challenging herself.

 I am grateful for the changing seasons. I love spring, summer, and fall, and I am learning to embrace winter. We had a huge snow storm come in. The kids couldn't wait to get outside to build a snowman.

 I am grateful for Family and good food. Our families are really close and like to have a lot of parties. I'm grateful for my parents and the wonderful family I married into. Thanksgiving was spent with Tyler's family at Tammy and Bruce's this year.  We were missing the Jones family but we had so much fun eating and talking with our family.

 I am grateful for cousins. I love that our kids have such a close relationship with their cousins. And can they get any cuter in their matching jammies?

 I am grateful for Christmas time. Seeing this view just reminds me how close Christmas is. I love the look of the fresh snow covering the trees.

 I am grateful our kids keep us young. They stress us out a lot, but they also show us how to have fun. Brynnli was having a blast sledding down our driveway. She is so cute!

 At the end of the month our Thankful tree was full!

Some of my favorite thankful leaves included: 

"My Swimsuit!" - Brynnli

"Elektrisady"- Caden

"Being Kind"- Makayla

"The Changing seasons"- Mom

"Bed Time"-Dad

"Hot Chocolate"- Kitty the Elf

I love this time of year!