Christmas 2009

(Here is a copy of our Christmas card for everyone who I don't have addresses for)

I figured I'd better do my Christmas post before the end of the year. We had a a great Christmas this year. I love that my kids are old enough to get excited about Christmas it makes everything so much more fun for everyone.

The Monday before Christmas we invited a family in our ward, the Comstocks, over for FHE. We had pizza and then we had the kids act out the Christmas story. We had a great time and the kids had so much fun playing together.This makes me laugh a little Landon was Joseph and Savannah was Mary. Landon is 4 and Savannah is 9. Tori was an angel. You can tell that we had fancy costumes ;).
On Christmas Eve we went to our friends Lillian and Blake's for dinner. We had a delicious Christmas feast. I feel so spoiled because my friend Lillian is such a great chef. I am going to be very sad when we move away from each other (of course I will miss way more then her great cooking).

After dinner we came home and got into our new Christmas pajamas. Landon and Tori woke us up at about 7 the next morning. They were so excited to see all the presents under the tree and the gifts that Santa brought them. Like always they were spoiled. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning, I didn't get a ton because the kids were way to preoccupied to cooperate for pictures. I included the above picture because Tori's face cracks me up, she was so excited!
Landon looks less then thrilled in this picture but he really was the most excited out of everyone.

Sunday Best

One of my favorite things about the Sunday before Christmas (or Easter) is seeing all the kids in the ward dressed up in their new holiday outfits. I know that before long my kids will start to have opinions about what I dress them in and they won't want to match so I am enjoying my time having full control over what they wear. Here are some pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits, I think they looked super cute!The pants I planned to go with Landon's vest flooded on him so he wore his suit with his vest. He still looked great!I took Tori to the bathroom during Sacrament meeting and on our way back we ran into a bunch of ladies from the other ward who were waiting to go into the Relief Society room. They started saying how cute and beautiful Tori looked and she ate it up. Tori isn't the smiliest little girl in the world (especially if she doesn't know you well) but apparently all you have to do is tell her she looks pretty to get a big smile out of her. Who knew it was that easy?
I usually don't put Tori and Ella in dresses that match exactly but I just couldn't resist matching Christmas dresses.So hard to get a good picture of three little kids at once.

Christmas Songs

Here are some videos of the kids singing some Christmas songs that Landon learned at school:

Tori wanted a turn (the phone is her microphone):

My favorite part of this next video is Ella dancing in the background:

Check out the post below about Grammy's visit

It's always fun when Grammy comes!

I am way behind on my blogging but last week we had the pleasure of having Jared's mom with us for the week. We had so much fun with her here! She was a great help around the house and we just love having her around. The kids (and Jared and I) were so sad when she left last Sunday.
Here are some pictures of some of the fun things we did while she was here:

We made "pinkalicious" cupcakesShe read lots of books to the kids

She went on a train ride at the mall with Landon and ToriThanks Grammy for the visit we loved having you here

Haircut

Some of you may remember the horrific hair incident of 2009 Well Tori's hair has grown out bit since then and it was getting hard to do so I decided it was time for another hair cut. I took her in to the salon to get it cut and she did really well. I decided to have them cut her some bangs while they were at it. I have had this internal dilemma about cutting Tori some bangs for some time. I thinks bangs can be super cute on little girls but I have also seen them done where they aren't so cute. I really think Tori's hair turned out so cute and you can't even tell that Landon took scissors to it a few months ago

Back View:

Top View:Side View:Front View:

Count Your Blessings

The time of year has once again come where we take some time to contemplate the blessings we have in our lives. I was sitting here today feeling sorry for myself, doing the exact opposite of counting my blessings, thinking about all the things that aren't going right in my life. I decided that I needed to change my attitude so you all will be getting my gratitude list a few days early.

- I am thankful for wonderful friends. This year I have really felt the difference good friends can have in my life. It is great to know that there are people out there that love and care about me even though they don't have to.

- I am thankful for family. I think I have been really lucky to have the parents, siblings, in laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, and nieces that I have been given. My family is full of such smart, loving, caring, and selfless people and I am so grateful that they are a part of my life.

- I am thankful to have my basic needs met. I have seen a lot of families suffer during the last year due to tough economic times. I am so grateful to have a home, food, and income. I know I have complained a lot about being "poor" financially, but right now I can't feel anything but grateful that all of my families basic physical needs are being met.

- I am thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so happy that I can live at a time when the fullness of the Gospel is on the earth. I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for Eternal families.

-I am thankful for 9 year olds. I was given the calling to teach the 9 year olds in Primary a few months ago. At first I was really overwhelmed because my class can be a bit of a handful at times. But these kids have taught me so much. They have taught be about faith and believing in miracles, they have taught be about obedience and the joy that the gospel can bring to our lives, and they have taught me about service and love. I realised last Sunday as I was lying in bed thinking about all my Primary kids that I love these 9 year olds so much and I am going to be really sad when January rolls around and I am no longer their teacher.

-I am thankful for Ella. I love that she is so uniquely Ella. She is so full of joy. She can be sweet as can be but she is also very sassy. She is cute and fun and I love that she is my daughter.

- I am thankful for Tori. I took Tori to the dentist a few weeks ago and one of the dental assistance asked if she was always this calm. Calm is a good word to describe Tori (well most of the time). Tori is such a quite, cautious, calm girl. She is so sweet but also very guarded. She is girly and fun, and I love her so much!-I am thankful for Landon. Landon is such a sweet boy. He is my child that will come up to me and tell me he loves me for no reason. Out of the blue he will thank me for things that I did for him weeks ago. He loves people and is very kind. He is a great big brother (though bossy) and he is a great help to me and Jared. I love my boy!

-I am thankful for Jared. I married a good man. I am constantly impressed with his good attitude and his desire to serve. In a lot of ways I wish I were more like him. He keeps me sane, he makes me laugh, and he is my best friend. I have truly been blessed to have such a wonderful husband!

There is so much more in my life that I am thankful for, but I think that this list really covers the the blessings in my life that I have truly been grateful for lately. I hope that all of you have a great Thanksgiving!

Deal of the Day

Some of you bargain hunting moms might already know about this deal but I figured I'd share it just in case. Here is a link to print off a coupon for $10 off the UP Blu-Ray/ DVD combo pack. The movie is on sale right now at Wal-mart for $20 so with the coupon you will only have to pay $10. We don't have a Blu-Ray player but with the coupon it ended up being about $5 cheaper to get the Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital version bundle then it would have been to get just the DVD.

P.S. UP is a great movie, I LOVED it! (and so did Landon)

Fall Leaves!

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. I think once Fall hits things just start to slow down and we really don't have a lot going on. I did take these cute pictures of the kids playing in the leaves a few weeks ago and I figured I'd better post them before Fall is over and Winter is here. We decided we would throw Landon away with the leaves this year :). Actually Jared has informed me that Landon has been a great help raking this year. I love that Landon is figuring out how to be truly helpful, this is why we have kids right?;)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Halloween

Halloween this year was a lot of fun. Landon and Tori were super excited about all the festivities and I think when kids are excited about things it makes it exciting for their parents. This last week was filled with Halloween activities. On Wednesday we had our ward's trunk or treat which was a ton of fun. I think the kids got more candy from trunk or treating then from trick or treating last night. On Thursday the Library held a harvest festival for the kids so Tori, Landon, and I went to that. Friday was Landon's school party. Landon goes to Preschool at a Career Center that is part of the High School by our house. Landon got to go Trick-or- Treating around to the different programs at the Career Center and boy did he make out like a bandit. He brought home tons of candy, coloring books, toys, pencils, and a bunch of other stuff. Fun times!
Last night Tori, Landon , and I went trick-or-treating while Ella stayed home with Jared to handout candy (Ella was very sad that she didn't get to come with us). I took the kids out with Landon's best friend Matthew and his parents. The kids had a blast, despite the cold weather and have been excited about their candy ever since. I can't believe that Halloween is already over, I guess it is time to start getting ready for Thanksgiving!
I was a complete slacker this year and did not get a lot of Halloween pictures, but here are some cute ones I got . This year I went with a theme for the kids costumes.
Landon was Jeremy Jacob from the book How I Became a Pirate

Tori was Pinkalicious from the book Pinkalicious

For those of you who have read Pinkalicious you know that Pinkalicious actually turns pink in the story. The original plan with Tori's costume was to spray dye her hair pink and put pink make-up all over her face. Well I got the pink hair dye and directions said it should not be used on blond hair because the dye might not wash out of blond hair, so we decided to pass on the temporary hair dye. At the ward trunk or treat I used some pink blush to color Tori's face pink but everyone just thought she had a weird rash so we also passed on the make-up last night. She still made a darling Pinkalicious, if I do say so myself.
Ella was Olivia from the Olivia books. I was going to make her a red tutu to go with her costume but I got lazy.

I love this picture of all 3 kids!