Snow Fun and a visit with Santa

We have had a lot of snow in our area lately. The kids have played in the snow more this year already than any other year in the past. They even canceled school one day. That day we made a snowman. Usually where we live there is not enough snow to actually make a snowman so they kids were excited. They also got to go see Santa at the school tree lighting. Ashlie was the brave one who sat on his lap, while the boys just told Santa what they wanted while they kept their distance. Don't you just love this time of year? I do.

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

Ashlie finally after a month of a wiggly tooth, lost her very first tooth. She was so excited to leave it in her new tooth pillow for the tooth fairy to find. The tooth fairy did not disappoint, she came and even left her a little something behind. I made the pillow, and I love the way it turned out. I got the idea here http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/02/tooth-pillow-revisited.html.

You can't see it very well in the picture, but she lost one of her bottom middle teeth.

Amy this post is for you

I tracked down a picture of our AWESOME costumes. Not really, pretty lame costumes, but here you go. I know the excitement is uncontainable.

Final Days of Halloween

I am really bad at taking pictures and posting our Halloween activities. Here are days 21-31.
Halloween Books, Ward Halloween Party, Mom and Dad went to a Halloween party, kids helped them dress as Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo. Power went out for most of the time we were home on the 24th day so we ate Halloween treats in the dark, we made chicken noodle soup in the witches cauldron, we made skeleton fingers, we decorated sugar cookies, we carved pumpkins, trick or treating, Happy Halloween.

Day 8-Day20

Wow I am really slow at posting these.
Day 8
Halloween Shaped sandwhiches. I just used cookies cutters to cut their sandwhiches into shapes.
Day 9
Halloween Bingo
Day 10
Halloween Movie
Day 11
Halloween Book
Day 12
Played the board game "Boo Who?" We just bought it at Seagull Book and had a blast playing it.
Day 13
Witch cupcakes (the first picture is what they were suppose to look like, the 2nd is of Cade putting his together. Nothing like sticking the knife right in your mouth. Who needs a cupcake when you can just eat the frosting?)

Day 14
Halloween Fizzy Jello We made orange and grape flavored jello, we used half water and half sprite in the jello (it makes it fizzy, my sis taught us this one and it is a family favorite).
Day 15
Caramel Puffs with Halloween M&M's while we watched Scooby Doo and Camp Scare


Day 16
Pumpkin Patch

Day 17
Skeleton Bone Breadsticks

Day 18
Scooby Doo and the curse of the lake monster. (Yes my kids really like scooby doo for some reason)
Day 19
Halloween Cookies
Day 20
Mummy Cupcakes

31 Days of Halloween

We have had so much fun so far doing our 31 days of Halloween. Last year I decided that we would do something fun and Halloween related for each day of October. We have carried the tradition on this year. Here is the first week. I am really slow at posting.
Days 1-7
Day1 Spooky Halloween Movie
(ok, not that scary, but fun, they watched Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween)
Day 2 Spooky Rice Krispie Ghosts

We gave each of them a mound of rice krispie treat and they molded into ghosts and added reeses pieces for the eyes. They had even more fun being able to do this activity with their cousins.
Day 3 Coloring in Halloween coloring books
Day 4 Spooky Shakes

Day 5 Balloon Bats

Day 6 Pumpkin Pizza

Day 7 Halloween Cupcakes

Watch Out First Grade, Here I Come!!!

Ashlie started the first grade today. We have a few traditions that we have started around our house. The first one we started last year. Each year the night before the first day of school we read the book "The Kissing Hand." It is a cute book about a raccoon that doesn't want to go to school, and his mom gives him a kissing hand. It almost makes me cry each time a read it. The first day of school I pack a hand shaped sugar cookie in her lunch with a Hershey kiss in the middle of it to remind her of the book and that I love her. This year we also started a new tradition. The night before school pedicure. She picked out new nail polish, and got to be pampered. She needed to look glamorous for her first day. She got to have the WHOLE family take her to school and walk her to her classroom. Neither Dan or I wanted to miss out on dropping her off, so we all went. We ended the day off with a special first day of school treat. Cream puffs. They were yummy!!!

Pedicures, don't I look relaxed, and don't you love my short hair?

The Kissing Hand Cookie

First day of School

Cream Puffs, YUMMY

24 Hours in the car, 2 Family Reunions, a Wedding and a Hospital Stay

Yes, all these things happened to us in the last 2 weeks. First we took the family to Star Valley Wyoming to my family reunion. It was awesome to be with family and to see family that we hadn't seen in a LONG time.
We got home Sunday and on Tuesday noticed bruising all over little Isaac's body. I took him to the doctor and the blood tests showed he had a blood disease called ITP. His platelet count was so low, that we took him to the hospital to receive 2 IVIG treatments. We stayed over night and most of the next day, but by Wed. night we were given the clearance to come home and even given the clearance to leave the next day for the Jones Family Reunion and Wedding of the year.

We got back in the car drove to the wedding and had sooooooooooo much fun spending time with the Joneses. Heather (Dan's sister) looked so beautiful in her wedding dress, and we ARE SO excited to have Jared as part of the family. Ashlie also loved getting a new dress, and had to make sure we took pictures of just her in her new red ruffle dress. The wedding ended way to fast and we then drove to Smithfield to spend some time there and let Dan go golfing. We got back in the car to finish out the 24 hours in the car and drove home. What an eventful couple of weeks, but so much fun. Just an update on Issac. It looks like he is going to be fine. His blood platelet level is back well above normal, but now we just hope the IVIG lasts longer than the disease.

Prima Ballerina

Ok, so I am really late posting this, but Ashlie had her final ballet recital a few weeks ago. She has LOVED ballet and tells us she is going to be a ballet teacher one day. She loved to wear make-up for her recital and thought her costume made her look like a princess. She did such a good job. She even had Grandpa and Grandma Jones, and Aunt Rebekah make it for the big show. What a treat.

How's your Driving

Does the fact that the boys wanted to wear their bike helmets in the car the other day say anything about my driving?

Disneyland!!

Boy, did we LOVE Disneyland!! We had so much fun riding rides, meeting characters, spending time with the Texas Joneses, and we even fit in a day of swimming and the beach. We will say we need a vacation to recoup from our vacation, but it was well worth it. If you ask Cade what his favorite thing was he will tell you the Buzz Lightyear ride. Ashlie had many favorites, but I think she may have been most excited about meeting some of the princesses, and almost filling her autograph book. Isaac, well, he can't talk, but he even got to go on the roller coaster in Toon town and LOVED it. The kids got to see the ocean for the first time, and Ashlie spent most of her time on the beach looking for sea shells. We had fun seeing family on our way to California. Our kids loved spending the night at Grandpa and Grandma's cool house (since they have never spent the night there). Anyway, to sum it up, we had SO MUCH FUN!!

Why Aren't You Sleeping?

So, Isaac is at that stage that all my kids find WAY too early. He fights his naps each day. He still needs a nap, but if it were up to him, he would not take one. Today I put him down, and an hour later I could still hear him. Since we have to take Ashlie to Ballet in less than an hour I went in to get him because he was not going to get a good enough nap to make it worth it. I found him sitting on the little pink stool that goes to Ashlie's play vanity talking to himself, and playing with his cars. I guess I left it too close to the crib, but there he was having a good old time. I still am not sure how he got it into his crib with him, that kid never ceases to surprise me.

Happy Birthday CADE!!!

It is hard to believe that they were once this small.

Ok, so I am a few days late, but Cade had his 4th birthday on Sunday (March 28), and boy was it a bash. He woke up to streamers, and a dinosaur birthday sign. He ate his favorite chocolate muffins and chocolate milk for breakfast. He went to church where he got special treatment for being the birthday boy (he got an extra piece of candy from his primary teacher). We were lucky enough to get a visit from the Chaffin family, which meant he actually got to see cousins on his birthday. He asked for a dino cake, so that is what he got. He got an awesome BYU apron from Grandpa and Grandma C. and an awesome cape from Grandpa and Grandma J. He even got to sleep in his new Lightning McQueen sleeping bag that night. It was a day of NON-STOP fun, and if you know Cade, at all, he is a bundle of non-stop fun himself. He is a sweet little boy, who ALWAYS gives me morning hugs. He calls his dad his best buddy, and he loves to play with his sister and brother. He makes us laugh on a daily basis, and the thing that may make his Dad the most happy is, he cheers for BYU. The first letter he learned in the alphabet was not C for Cade, but Y for BYU.