Ward Party

Our ward had their party the first Friday in December.  They had a yummy dinner and then lots of fun activities for the kids, Santa and Mrs. Claus even came.  As much as I tried to keep my kids with me at all times it seemed like I was always missing at least one of them.  At one point Demzi came up to me holding a brownie and said, "I see kids with a candy cane, where can I get one of those?"  Which is why she has chocolate all over her face here.  It's funny she hadn't realized that Santa was there before that.

My kids were all really excited to see Santa, Demzi was probably the most sure in what she was asking for though.  She has been pretty set on asking for Monster High dolls since Addie got some for her birthday in July.

Addie was excited to see Santa but she kept telling me she didn't know what she was asking for.  She is kind of hard because all she wants to play every day is school which really doesn't require anything but a big stack of paper.  In the end she said Lego Friends but told me she would write him a letter when she decided what she really wanted.

I have no idea what, if anything, Liam said to Santa. It made his night though, so that's all that matters. My kids are all so shy I had to tell them if they wanted to ask Santa for something they had to talk to him.  Usually he asks what they want and they look at me to tell him.

What a difference a year makes.  Last year Santa was a very traumatic experience for Tad, he wanted nothing to do with him.  But after seeing the older three sitting with him, Tad walked right up and let Santa hold him.

The kids also got to color, do a word search, and make an ornament.  It was a super fun night.

Liam's 4th Birthday

Liam turned 4 on December 3rd.  For his birthday he got to have "cake" for breakfast (monkey bread) and pick his favorite dinner, (soup in bread bowls).  He was feels like he has had a three week long birthday since he first started celebrating two weeks before with the Thompsons.

Liam's 4 year check:
Weight: 31.8 lbs (14%)
Height: 39.4 in (30%)

• This year Liam developed a fear of the dark.  He was always afraid his smoke detector was going to go off in the middle of the night, it happened once because of the humidifier, and he was terrified of it.  We tried different night lights and stars on his ceiling, everything worked for a couple of nights then he would insist again on sleeping with the light on.  Finally we figured it out, between moving Tad in his room and the flashlight friend he got for his birthday he will sleep with the light off.
• He is going to preschool here in the neighborhood and loves it.  He is so social and is always telling me about who he played with at school.  Although usually when I ask what he did at school that day he says, "I don't want to tell you."

Tad Turns 2

Tad's birthday was November 24th.  Since he had the Thompson party the week before I just made brownies for him that day.  He is my one kid who seems to prefer the brownie over the ice cream.

2 year stats:

Weight: 25.2 lbs (15%)

Height: 34.9 in. (70%)

Tad has made tons of progress in the last six months, here are just few things.

• Walking and running
• Talking a ton!  He tries to repeat anything that he hears.  My favorite is a couple of months ago he randomly said dinosaur and it was clear.  I just thought, of all the things we have tried to teach him to say he can say dinosaur. 
• He shares a room with Liam, sleeping on the bottom bunk.

Tad and Liam's Thompson Birthday Party

The Sunday before Tad's birthday we turned the regular Thompson family dinner into a combined birthday for Tad and Liam.  

 I kept asking Liam what kind of cake he wanted and he wasn't very helpful so in the end I found this cute tractor cake I could make.  Tad loves playing with trucks so I knew he would be excited.

Halloween Day-the Parade and Parties

I love being able to go to the Halloween parade at the girls' school.  They get so excited, which is funny since they are walking by so fast they barely stop to notice me.  This year I was helping out in Demzi's class after so I wasn't able to bring Liam and Tad.  Liam was a little disappointed that he couldn't go to the kids school but it was kind of nice for me since I wasn't sure Tad would have sat there anyway.

 Addie's teacher taught them a few Halloween songs and poems and put on a short program for the parents immediately following the parade.  It was super cute.  Addie had been singing little snippets for me all week.

The rest of the day was just getting ready for trick or treating.  It was my turn to take the kids around.  We used to be able to get away with just doing our little loop but the last couple of years we've started hitting a few more houses.  This year was nice because Tad was so into being independent I didn't have to cart him around he wanted to run to each house by himself.  Addie was even brave enough to trick or treat the bishop's Tunnel of Terror.

That ends our month long Halloween celebration.

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins the day before Halloween. There might actually be only one reason I ever feel the need to carve pumpkins as opposed to just coloring or painting them and that is for the roasted pumpkin seeds. While I was cooking dinner I had the kids start gutting the pumpkins.  I think at one point they actually didn't mind this part but Addie really was not happy about how slimy it was.  

Tad was more interested in watching me cook then doing anything with the pumpkins which was fine with me.  I didn't really want it strewn throughout the kitchen.

 

 This year it was all on the kids what they wanted to carve.  We gave them each a washable marker and had them draw the design then we helped carve it out.  I really liked what they each came up with.

Addie went for a vampire pumpkin.

 Liam colored all over his pumpkin, he was making a monster.  In the end we just picked which ones we were going to cut out.

 Demzi's funny face.

 Tad got the light bright pumpkin.

Benson Family Halloween Party

Holly and Steph tag teamed and came up with a super fun Halloween party this year.  My kids get so excited, and love to do this with their cousins.  We started out with the mummy sack race.  

 Balloon Popping.

 Then some pumpkin bowling.

 Lastly we did the mummy wrap.  We were give two rolls of toilet paper to create our mummies.

After that we ate some mummy dogs and hung out while the kids played.  So much fun!

Cornbelly's

Also over fall break my parents took all of the kids to Cornbelly's.  My kids have looked forward to this since they had so much fun last year.  This happened to fall on a night when Kris had a work party so spent a couple of hours there with them, then my dad dropped me off at Frontrunner so I could meet Kris, and they watched my kids the rest of the time.  

Knowing that I didn't want to make my parents haul around my camera, and I didn't want to take it to the party with me, I asked Alicia if she wouldn't mind taking pictures of my kids too.

Addie and Zoe picked these shirts out when my mom took them shopping for a back to school shirt.  The first thing that Addie did when she saw Zoe was unzip her jacket and show her what she was wearing.  It was a happy coincidence when Zoe was wearing the same thing.

 I've said before, but will say again, Tad LOVES my dad.  The next morning when my parents dropped the kids off (we got home super late so they got to have a sleep over) I asked how it went.  My mom told me Tad didn't want anything to do with her the whole night.  Even when he woke up in the middle of the night he called for "pop" (papa).

The kids had so much fun playing, so grateful to my mom and dad for having such fun traditions.