A Few of My Favorite Things

This is just a few of the things that I received for Christmas or got during the holiday season that I simply just love!


Now I'm not sure if I will love all these books since I haven't read them yet...but I love that I received a gift card from my MIL for Christmas and I got all these books with it! I love going to the bookstore and looking through all the books to pick just the right ones...hopefully I have chosen wisely.


Not sure what happened, but both my mixer and crockpot broke last month...and I use both a lot. I got a mixer from a relative for Christmas and my son Scott bought me the crockpot for Christmas..can you believe that! My cute son...what a great guy!


This diet is wonderful. I started the Monday after New Years. I really need to lose weight and get in shape. This isn't a new years resolution or anything...it's just survival. I want to live a full life and have fun with my kids...not be a slug that's too tired and out of shape to do anything. This diet is showing me healthy meals and ideas of what to eat. It's great. I'm eating things that I have never tried before and actually like them. Now I just need to get chocolate out of my brain and I will be fine!


This was Scott's idea. We already had a wood burning fireplace, but it just didn't heat very well. And I hated the smoke...not like it filled the house or anything. I think it looks really nice...better than our fireplace anyway. It is a pellet stove so we are constantly loading pellets into it, but I guess you have to keep loading wood in a wood burning stove too. Scott is not as impressed as he thought he would be. He doesn't think it heats as well as he thought it would. It definitely heats better than our fireplace did.


And last but not least...my all time fave. My friend has silhouettes of her kids hanging on her wall and I just love them! So I decided to do the silhouettes of my kids. I think they turned out great. I think it's a wonderful keepsake. And I think it's awesome how you can totally tell who is who. Love, love, love these!

Emma and Caleb both love to go on Paint and make pictures. They both made a cute snowman picture for me. Emma made the top one and Caleb made the other.

It's Christmas!

Christmas morning is always so exciting. The kids love coming out to see all the presents under the tree and their stockings full. We always start by opening the stuff in their stockings. Then we all take turns opening presents. Caleb and Emma got their Pillow Pets from Santa. I think everyone was happy with all their presents. It was a fun morning. We just spent a quiet day at home. Me busy in the kitchen, the boys watching football, Caleb putting together his Star Wars Lego space ship and Emma flitting around doing this and that. We had Grandpa over for a yummy dinner and dessert. It was a really nice day!


Caleb opening his present from Santa.


Dad having a turn.


Pictureka! Just what Josh wanted!


Scott opening his first present.


Emma got some Littlest Pet Shop stuff.


So exciting...Diary of a Wimpy Kid.


What a present!


Emma with her new pretty bag.


YAY! Scott got new underwear!


Joshua asked for a monkey for Christmas...this is as close to a monkey that he is getting!


Caleb got a cute cub bear. These Fur Real pets are so cute...they move and make sounds.


Emma got her Zhu Zhu Pet.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve came quickly. Usually I am frantically wrapping presents and trying to get stuff done. This time I had everything done before Christmas Eve so that it would be more enjoyable. We watched a the Nativity Story together and then read the story of Christ's birth in Luke 2. Afterward we did our tradition of the kids opening their one present which is always new Pj's...which they love doing. So each one took turns opening their jammies and then when they were done they hurried off to put them on.

Visit with Santa

Our ward Christmas party was pretty fun this year. They did a gingerbread making contest...which we did not participate in and I am so glad we didn't after getting there and seeing the awesome gingerbread house. The kids enjoyed walking around looking at all the different ones. Then we ate a yummy dinner. And of course there was a visit from Santa. Only Emma and Caleb would go in to see him...the boys are just too old and cool for that I guess.


They both told Santa that they wanted a Pillow Pet and a Zhu Zhu Pet for Christmas.

Holiday Performance

Right before Christmas break the kids had a performance. Both Caleb and Emma did really well with their songs. They both walked around the house weeks before their performance singing their songs, practicing. Joshua went for a speaking/narrative part, as well as stage crew. He did really well. He is so good at memorizing lines and such. It was a really good performance...much better than past years.


Emma in her pretty new Christmas dress from Grammy.


Emma singing away.


Joshua with his little crew of speakers...so handsome!


Cute Caleb.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

I love decorating the tree! The kids love it as well. We put on Christmas music and just take turns putting the ornaments on. Scott's aunt has made us ornaments almost every year since 1997. The kids love looking for their ornaments and putting them on the tree. I love it when the house is all decorated for Christmas!

The 1st Big Snow

The kids were so excited when they woke up one morning and there was tons of snow and it just kept falling. Of course they were most excited because it was a snow day! I think we got around 8-9". It was great. I love the snow and so do the kids. They played outside making snowmen and having snowball fights and of course shoveling snow again and again. The kids were disappointed that they had school the next day even though the roads were horribly icy.


Caleb with his little snowman.


Scott shoveling away.


Caleb being a big helper. Just look at that snow coming down.


That's a big load!


The snow piling up on the back porch.

Scott & Joshua and Basketball

Joshua wanted to play fall basketball and since the league is 6th thru 8th Scott wanted to play with him. So we signed them up on the same team hoping they would get along on the court. They actually did well playing together. I just have to say they were on the worst team ever! Not to say that my boys are star players or anything but really the team was bad! It really didn't help that the coach wasn't that good either! I don't think he had any idea what he was doing...but hey at least he volunteered to coach...I wouldn't be able to do it! Unfortuntely they lost every game. After a couple of games and an empty spot on the team, Scott recruited one of his school friends to play on the team. He helped a lot! It was a disappointing season, but the boys had fun.


Scott taking practice shots.


Joshua practicing his shooting.


Joshua bringing down the ball.


Scott shooting free throws.


The coach having a word with the boys.

Caleb and Basketball

I was signing up Joshua and Scott for basketball in the fall and saw that there was a league for K and 1st grades. Caleb loves basketball so I thought hey why not sign him up too. He was thrilled! It was so fun to watch these little kids playing. There was a lot of traveling...a lot! The kids would just get the ball and run with it...so great! By the end of the season they did a lot better. I have to say Caleb did very well. He had been practicing his dribble and shooting before I even signed him up. Their team was quite good and won most of their games...not that they keep score at this age...but the parents do and so do the kids.


Dribbling up the court.


He takes a shot.


'You're not getting past me!'


Taking another shot.


'Good game.'