Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Birthday Week

Hunter and I share a birthday week, so we celebrated all week long!
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 Steve (and the kids) made my breakfast of choice, let me sleep in, and I got some really thoughtful gifts - so the morning was perfect!

Then...the day fell apart (I got hurt at the gym...the car got a flat tire...etc.). But. Then Steve was home from work and the evening was great!

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Pistachio dessert for my "cake" - so yummy!

Two days later, it was Hunter's birthday! We had a blast preparing for Hunter to turn 4!
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 A Paw Patrol birthday. Hunter was surprised to wake up with four balloons at the foot of his bed,  each with a Paw Patrol character's name written on them.

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What a lucky kid!

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 Most of Hunter's presents were Paw Patrol toys - he was super thrilled!

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 And then there was this gem - a Batman costume! Hunter asked Santa for this. Luckily, Santa must have known that Nana and Papa already had this wrapped up for Hunter's birthday!

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 He loves it so much!

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He has worn it every day since. I don't see that changing any time soon.

We invited a few friends to meet up with us at open gym at the gym where Ellie takes gymnastics. Several people came - the kids all ran around having a blast!

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Everyone was all over that gym! I never even got a picture of the other kids.

Finally, after Hunter's dinner choice (spaghetti and garlic bread), it was time for cake and ice cream!
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The Paw Patrol cake he requested,  complete  with Rubble on top.

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He loved his cake so much! It makes it all worth it when my kids are so thrilled with a cake creation.

So fun to celebrate all week long!

Monday, January 16, 2017

Here's to 2017

With New Year's Day falling on Sunday, our minds were blown to find two of our kids in Junior primary!

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A new Sunbeam!

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CTR 5

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Hunter wore his special "king crown" that he got in Sunbeams the entire day :)

And in other new year's news...
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We have Superman living at our house.

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We finally had another snow day! The kids played out in the yard for three days in a row of snow and freezing temperatures. They were in heaven!

These two are simply adorable. Dallas asks to hold Spencer multiple times each day. How can I deny that??
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The year is off to a great start!

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Christmas 2016

We spent Spencer's first Christmas at my parent's house.

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I just adore this sweet picture of our four little ones!

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 Coral and Spencer enjoying time on "Santa's" lap.

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Snuggled on Nana's lap.

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Sweet Spencer and me on his first Christmas

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Steve on baby duty

Over the Christmas holidays, we did many fun things with Nana, Papa, Uncle Jake, and our cousins.

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 Decorating sugar cookies to leave for Santa

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Ellie made sure she used plenty of toppings :)

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 Playing Christmas BINGO

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Watching Christmas movies

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Matching Christmas jammies from Nana and Papa!

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Such cute little elves

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 Baby's first Christmas

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Papa and Spencer

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Our nativity - eight children age 6 and under

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 We sure love living near cousins for fun holidays!

A Grinch Christmas Party

This year our ward Christmas party had a Grinch theme. I ended up taking  Ellie and Hunter while Steve was at home getting the babies to bed. It was such a fun night!

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 Grinch photo op

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 Eating who-hash and other Grinchy foods for dinner

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 My favorite part of the night was when the primary kids were invited up to sing two verses of Silent Night; the audience joined in for an A Capella third verse that gave me chills. I was super proud of Ellie. For as outgoing and brave as she is, she does not like to sing and speak in front of people. But she walked right up and sang so beautifully. The whole thing just melted my heart.

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 On our way out, we wrote on a Grinch heart the ways we can keep Christ in our hearts.