Christmas morning

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was Anna's first ever of course, the boys' first that they are likely to remember, and our first time celebrating with just our little family. It was heavenly.

I was worried that we wouldn't have much, but Steve assured me that it would be fine. He was right of course. We made a lot of gifts and found great deals for everything else. Our Heavenly Father really provided for us.

I was also a little worried that the boys would be upset about not getting to open gifts before church. We have church at 8:30am, so there really wasn't time for much present opening. So we just opened stockings, went to church, and then opened the rest. The boys were fine with that though. How nice that they don't have any expectations yet.

The boys behavior at church was far from amazing, but they enjoyed the music, and we felt the Spirit. We spent a lot of time this month singing Christmas carols. I think music is one of the best ways to spread the true meaning of Christmas.

When we got home, the boys opened their gifts, and they loved them all. It is funny how our little Christmas ended up being so bountiful. God is so good, and he provided more than I thought possible.

And of course the best Christmas gift has already been given: our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we always remember Him, His life, His death, and His resurrection all year long. He is the way and the life.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas jammies!

Every Christmas growing up, we always opened one present on Christmas eve. And it was always pajamas. As a little kid, I can only imagine I thought it was cool. I got to open a present a day early! But as an older kid I remember thinking "Pajamas?!?! I want to open something good!" My mom continues the tradition, and as an adult, I love my Christmas jammies.

We decided to carry the tradition on in our family too. So here are the kids opening their Christmas jammies on Christmas eve. Afterwards we piled in the car and went to look at Christmas lights. Now whenever the boys wear these pjs, they ask to go look at lights.

David tearing in!

And he looks pleased!

Erik going at it.

Pajamas!!!

Anna opening her first Christmas present!!

Apparently, it is delicious.

All three kids in their new Christmas jammies. The boys just adore Anna.

And Anna adores them right back.

Happy, Merry Christmas Eve!!

Decorating our Christmas tree

Sorry about all the catch up posts.

David and Erik helped decorate the Christmas tree this year. They loved it! I would hand them ornaments, and they would place them on the tree. The ornaments ended up a little (well, a lot) clumped, but it was so fun to let them help, and they had a great time. And of course after I took pictures, I moved them all around so it looked nice.

Erik choosing a spot. You can see their favorite spot in this photo. They hung half the ornaments on one branch.

David placing an ornament on the tree.

Mommy handing out the ornaments.

This spot looks a little bare.

Ta da!!

Ready to ring in the holidays!

Pictures with Santa

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Our tree is up, the stockings are hung, and the kids have been to visit jolly old Saint Nick.

David and Erik loved seeing Santa this year. We told them all about how Santa bring children presents, and they though long and hard about what they wanted to ask him for. When we went to the mall, there was absolutely no one else there to see him (it was in the middle of the afternoon on a school day), so the boys sat on Santa's lap for over 5 minutes just talking to him. They loved it! They both asked for "a real fish to go in the water" and also a train. It started out that David wanted a fish and Erik wanted a train, but both liked the other's idea as well.

So they had a great time, but the pictures were awful. Not one had both kids looking at the camera or even looking happy. And the cheapest package was $25. I wasn't about to pay that kind of money for a terrible picture.

Thankfully Santa Claus also visited our church Christmas party, so the boys got to sit on Santa's lap again. When asked what they wanted for Christmas, I was shocked to hear them both ask for a horse!! A horse?!?! Um, I don't think that's going to fit in Santa's sleigh this year...

Anna got a turn on Santa's lap too. She was as pleasant as could be expected of a 4 month old baby sitting on a stranger's lap. And I was able to snap some pictures of them, which aren't amazing, but they were free. =)

David and Erik sitting with Santa.

Anna meeting Santa for the first time.

Halloween Fun

Yes I know Halloween was a month ago. Yes I know I haven't blogged in over 2 months. I'm calling it the blogging paradox. The busier your life is, the more fun things you have to blog about, but you have less time to actually blog about them. Anyway, life with three kids is busy, but we're loving it.

Here are some Halloween highlights.

David and Erik with their pumpkins. They really loved pumpkins this year. So we took them to two different pumpkin patches. They loved them both.

Erik loved the Buzz cutout.

And of course David loved Woody.

They both loved the slides.

And bouncy houses.

And the loved, loved, loved the pond.

They spent forever looking over the edge of the bridge.

Here's why!

Erik also loved the hay.

And the flowers.

And of course, the pumpkins!! Erik like the "big, giant" pumpkins.

David loved the "little, tiny" pumpkins best.

Erik by a giant jack-o-lantern made from hay.

David with the hay jack-o-lantern. They both really like hay.

Anna was less impressed.

She is a cute little pumpkin though!

Look at those darling chubby cheeks! The boys loved when she wore her pumpkin onesie. Once they even corrected me. "It's a jack-o-lantern, Mommy. It's a pumpkin with a face."

Erik and David also liked playing dress up. Here is Erik as a super hero and David as a frog.

David with his jack-o-lantern. He loved his jack-o-lantern and kept wanting to hug it and give it kisses. And surprisingly, he really enjoyed scooping out the seeds and guts. He doesn't usually enjoy getting messy.

Erik and his jack-o-lantern. He wanted a scary face. I think it turned out pretty cute, but he was happy. (Bonus points to whoever guesses who carved whose pumpkins).

And here we all are dressed up for the ward Halloween carnival. Steve was the Cat in the Hat. David and Erik were Thing 1 and Thing 2. Anna was little Sally (the girl in the book with the big red bow). Kristi was the fish, you know, the one who tells everyone else to behave. It seemed fitting. David and Erik embraced their parts well. They ran around like crazy things all night long.

The boys had a fabulous time trick-or-treating for the first time. Erik walked right into the first person's house. I told him it wasn't our house, and he responded "Oh, it's not?" David, despite being told several times what trick-or-treating was all about, was still pleasantly surprised when the first person put candy in his bag. "Mommy, she gave me candy!"

Our camera ran out of batteries trick-or-treating, but we got some when we were home. Here is Mommy with her boys snuggling before bed.

Skeleton David, laughing about all the good times.

Skeleton Erik, ready for some sleep after a long, fun day.