Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve eve

We made paper snowflakes,

baked,

and drove around to check out Christmas lights. When we had ventured about 30 minutes away from home, both boys announced that they had to go to the bathroom. Now. They were in their pajamas, so we made a mad dash home and called it a night.

Christmas Eve

We wrapped presents, baked more, and prepared for Nanay & Papa's Christmas Eve extravaganza.

They put together a scrumptious antipasto spread. Then, Papa read The Night before Christmas, and we played games and exchanged gifts. We had a blast! I was too busy stuffing my face and holding sweet Cami to take any pictures.

Once everyone left, the kids opened their Christmas pajamas. They went to bed, then Scott and I finished wrapping, set out presents, and gave each other our gifts. That's a tradition we both treasure.

Christmas

At 5:30 in the morning, we awoke to chatter coming from the boys' room. We all stumbled out of bed to see if Santa came.

After opening presents, we ate our traditional panettone breakfast and got ready for church.

I envisioned the children smiling in front of the tree for Christmas pictures. This is the closest we got:

Our church service was beautiful: lovely music and moving words.

The rest of the day, we rested, played, watched movies, and ate... followed by an early bedtime. We had a very merry Christmas!

Highlights of the last week+

In chronological order...

1) Visiting Santa.

2) Pulling out a loose tooth.

3) Awaiting Baby See's arrival with crafts and "sugar, spice, and everything nice" cake.

4) Making graham cracker houses with the Leavitts.

5) Meeting Miss Camryn. What a perfect little doll!

Libby turns two

Miss Libby is two today.

We celebrated last night with cake and gifts. She loved everything, especially the bags.

At two, Libby...

-Adores babies, kitties, balloons, horses, elephants, chocolate, dresses, and shoes.
-Loves reading, dancing, chasing her brothers, tackling Daddy, swinging in the air, and climbing as high as she can.
-Eats three bowls of cereal for breakfast every morning.
-Weighs 22 pounds (shrimpy girl!).
-Is working on her 2-year molars.
-Walks/sashays with attitude.

Happy birthday, Libby Jean! We sure love you.

They make me laugh

Each day, the kids crack me up. Sometimes I stop laughing long enough to snap a picture.

BYU played Hawaii on Saturday evening. Jamin rounded up some stuffed animals, grabbed his crayons, and set up a cheer section on our couch.

On Sunday, Travis ran out of his room shouting, "I'm ready for church!" He wore a backwards sweater, mismatched shoes, and shorts... on a 20-degree morning.

When Libby saw Travis, she decided to "get ready" by herself, too. She didn't understand why she couldn't get in the car right away.

A visit to Dr. Higer

Yesterday, the kids and I visited the dentist.

Jamin went first. He loves the dentist and was a great example for Travis, who got his first checkup. Travis sat still and listened as well as any 3-year-old boy can.

Libby was fascinated. She climbed on the exam chair to watch. Then she ran to empty stations, sat back on the chairs, and opened her mouth wide. Silly girl.

Afterward, Jamin led Travis to the goody drawer for stickers and toys.

No cavities for either of them! Wahoo!

Tucanos & turkey

This year, the family decided to handle Thanksgiving a little differently. In lieu of the high-stress big dinner, we all headed out to lunch at Tucanos. Scrumptious, simple, and fun!

Afterward, we came home to pies and finger foods. We munched, chatted, and lazed around through the afternoon.

Scott smoked a delicious turkey for our leftover-style sandwich dinner.

We have enough extra meat for three batches of turkey noodle soup. That's what I'm talking about!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Travis + Christmas music = laughter/head scratching

Example #1
Last week, we asked our kids about their favorite Christmas songs.

Libby: (blank stare)

Jamin: Jingle Bells!

Travis: Quesadilla Grizzlybear!


Example #2
Travis marches around singing/shouting, "Hail to the mistletoe!" on a daily basis.


Example #3
On Sunday, he sang (to the tune of "Jingle Bells"), "Christmas tree! Trick-or-treat! Jingle all the way! Old MacDonald had a farm, jingle all the way!"

We're probably in for more hilarious renditions as the season approaches. Travis cracks us up!

So pretty

Discovery of the week: Libby will let me do her hair when I ask if she wants it "so pretty." Hurray for clips and piggies... and no more wrestling matches!

Sum Ants R Red

We had Jamin's parent-teacher conference last week.

He is doing great! He listens, follows the class rules, and is eager to answer questions. During assessments, he scored exceptionally high in every subject. The first time Jamin spoke to Mrs. Atkins, he used Spanish, so she thought he was an ESL student for a moment. Smart little stinker!

Jamin has made some good friends, and they play together every recess. They especially love playing "Doggy Trouble," an invented Simon-Says type game where the leader picks bad commands for the other little "dogs" to follow. A few girls chase Jamin and his friends around the playground: gotta love Kindergarten crushes!

School has fueled Jamin's love of math, reading, writing, and art. He writes his own books each day. Yesterday's creations included "Sum Ants R Red."


It's amazing to see his intelligence and creativity blossom. We just adore this little man.

While building blocks with Travis this afternoon...

Travis: Mama, you're not a princess.

Me: I'm not?!

Travis: No. You're a queen.

Halloweekend 2011

Friday
Jamin's class had their Halloween party. The toddlers and I brought his costume and stayed to play for a little while.

Saturday
We brought in our pumpkin harvest: 15 total.
They're all pretty small, though, so we opted to paint them with supplies we had on hand.

Scott and I went for a collegiate theme.
The kids each got a plate of finger paints and went to town.
When they were finished, they picked jack-o-lantern faces for me to draw.
Our painted pumpkins:
Scott's other pumpkin ("Wiiiiilson!"):

Sunday
We cooked a few treats to get ready for the big day.

Monday
Jamin had no school on Halloween, so we spent the morning playing and coloring spooky pictures. That afternoon, Charlotte, Brock, Joey, Brandon, and Rylee came over. Despite the cold wind, the kids had a blast running around outside. We had a fun time catching up and looking through Joey's lovely creations.

In the evening, Joey and company headed out with some other friends (we hope you had a great time!). We had dinner and got the kids ready for a night of candy and trick-or-treating.

Crunch!

We had our first autumn freeze two nights ago. Yesterday, the leaves began falling fast. Travis, Libby, and I crunched around in the backyard all afternoon.
When Jamin got home from school, he joined in the fun.