Dad and cookies....

I saved too much stuff for the last minute before Christmas, so Dad stepped in to help the girls make sugar cookies for Santa. The girls had a fun time making cookies with their daddy.

Hot chocolate anyone????

It is VERY dangerous to make hot chocolate with a 2 year old hanging around.

I love hot chocolate from the blender. It is frothy and yummy. I was mixing some up one day. I had just added some more hot chocolate mix and turned to throw the bag away. Just as I turned back from the garbage can my 2 year old turned on the blender. Hot chocolate flew everywhere!!! It covered my entire kitchen....my dish washer, my oven, my fridge. It completely cleared the island. A ten foot diameter circle of hot chocolate spread all over the kitchen. I spent 30 minutes just cleaning up. And today, I noticed I missed a cabinet. We were all standing around it when it happened. My 6 year old was the only one who didn't have to change all of her clothing. What a mess!

Sniffin' spices....

My girls love to get into my spices and smell all the different kinds. One day little K got into them when I was making something else. She opened the cream of tartar and instead of smelled I think she blew into it and a puff of powder covered her nose. I don't know what she was eating for lunch that day, but it must have been messy!

Family dress up time...

My girls love to play dress up. They especially love to dress up their daddy.

He is a pretty good sport!

What started out as dressing up dad, turned into dressing up the whole family.

We got these crazy wigs on clearance after Halloween. They are insanely messy. We have hair everywhere!

M was taking all the pictures. We were all laughing our heads off at our fabulousness!

Dad and his trains....

My hubby has a 1983 A-Team train set. Once every 5 years or so he breaks it out to play with the kids. The girls always have fun playing with it and listening to their daddy tell stories about playing with it when he was a boy.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

First Dad and the girls set up the tree. The girls help fluff all the branches and dad puts on the lights. Then Mom steps in to do the decorating. This arrangement works out really well. I hate putting the lights on. I added the ribbon.

Then the girls helped put on all the ornaments.

It is fun to watch it get prettier and prettier.
And of course, by the time it is all done I am too exhausted and forget to take a picture of the finished tree. It has been pretty much the same for the last few years. We decided that next year we are going to do something different on the tree.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had my hubby's whole family over for Thanksgiving this year. 34 people! We were packed in pretty tight, but we had lots of fun.

Here is Grandma R helping out in the kitchen.

We had lots of yummy food. Especially the pies! I could just skip all the other stuff and go straight for the pies! I made a chocolate pecan, 2 pumpkins, an apple, a cheesecake, and a chocolate cream this year.

We played the spray bottle game:

Poor hubby always gets stuck in the corner ever year removing the meat off the turkey.
I think everyone had a good time and enjoyed the delicious food.

FHE fun...

We sometimes do this for our family home evening activity. It is super fun unless you happen to suck instead of blow. YUCK!

Big girl bed...

Our little H started climbing out of her crib, so we decided it was time for a big girl bed. She was so excited for her new bed (probably so she could be just like her big sister who has one just like it.) She has never had a problem sleeping in it. She absolutely loves it.

A new hairdo for me...

BEFORE:

I went and got my hair dyed professionally for the first time ever. It didn't turn out exactly as I wanted. It was BURGUNDY! She said she had to add a little red in so my ends wouldn't turn green. Well burgundy was not exactly the color I was going for.

AFTER:

Luckily, she fixed it for free, but I didn't get a picture of it after she did. It looked 100 times better after she fixed it. Now I am trying to figure out if I want to stay a brunette!?!

What do you do for fun?

We like to dance on tables around here.

Winner!

Our little M won the reflections contest....twice! She won for photography and a water color painting she did. We just got invited to another awards ceremony in January. I don't know what she will be getting that night. It is fun to see your child work hard on a project and get an award for it. I didn't get pictures of her projects, and they have gone on to the council level. When we get them back I will have to post a few pictures of them.

Baby boy gift...

I love making little boy gifts. It must be because I don't have any girls. It is just fun to make something that is blue instead of pink. I made this for my neighbor who recently had a little boy.

Halloween pictures....finally!

I am a little behind on the blog here, so I thought I would catch up before Christmas slips by as well. This year for halloween....

H was a bumble bee:

K was a princess:

A was a witch:

And M was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz:

I was an indian, but we never got a picture of that. Dad took the girls trick-or-treating this year while I stayed home and passed out candy. We don't get too many kids at our house. Probably because the houses are too spread out. It was a fun evening, and the girls got lots of candy....which is all gone now! It was yummy while it lasted. Someone gave them handfuls of Reeses peanut butter cups. YUM! What am I going to do when they actually start noticing I steal all the yummy treats from their buckets????

Carving Pumpkins...

This year I was completely pooped by the time we got to halloween. So lucky Dad did all the pumpkin carving with all the girls while I stayed inside and took a nap. I love that man! We had a few pumpkins that didn't ripen in time, so this year we have a green jack-o-lantern.

Pumpkin Soup Bowls...

A local store sells pumpkin soup bowls. I thought they were so cute, but wasn't about to buy them when I could make my own. They turned out really cute. The kids loved them. I don't think they actually put soup in them though.

A lucky find....

I went to the thrift store to find some shoes to make into Dorothy's ruby slippers. I found this cute bird house thingy. It's top was broken off and it was a little banged up, but nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix. It is a nice new addition to my kitchen. Now I just need to get up there and dust.

Trick or Treat Pail

I have wanted a Trick or Treat pail for a long time. The ones I found at the store were HUGE....who gives out that much candy????? I found this one in the dollar spot at Target. Only problem...it was red. So I spray painted it black and added some orange vinyl. Perfect.

Dorothy costume...

I whipped out this costume for my daughter one night. I didn't have a pattern. It was really easy to make. I wish I would have done the front waist part a bit different, but I was in a time crunch! I couldn't find the blue gingham I wanted either. I guess that is what I get for waiting until the night before the school costume parade to make a costume. I also made her shoes. I found some tap shoes at a thrift store, spray painted them red and then glued glitter all over them. My intent was to tie them in cute little bows, but I cut the ribbon too short and didn't have any more.

Do you want to see my husband in his Birthday suit?

We figured that since D is wearing a suit 2-3 times a week now that he might need a new one. His old one he has worn since his mission. His new suit looks really nice on him. Especially when he is wearing his sunglasses. He still can make me swoon! :)

Happy Birthday Lover!

We have definately had some fun birthday stuff going on around here. Besides my two daughters, we also had my grandpa's birthday, my mom's birthday, and my husband's birthday too.

Here he is with all his girls. They were so excited to help him open his presents.

He recently got a new calling and needed some new things for church. He got a new bag to put his church things in. We had tucked fun things into the pockets....mints to keep his breath fresh, tissues, granola bars for when he has to stay at church for hours and hours, and hand sanitizer for after he shakes all those hands!

See A sitting behind him to the left with a little yellow package? She wanted to give her daddy a present, so she colored him a picture and gave him a candy bar. She is so sweet on her daddy. And her daddy is pretty sweet on her too. She was born at the same time he was going through cancer. He couldn't do much after his surgery and while he was doing chemotherapy so he spent hours and hours just holding her. They have always had a special bond because of it.

M is always asking to take pictures with my camera. She does a pretty good job too. Here is a picture she took of me. (To prove that I was actually at the party!)

Last year I was so burned out by the time my hubby's birthday rolled around that he only got a plate of cookies with a candle in the middle. I thought I would redeem myself this year and make him a fresh apple pie. It was definately worth the time it took to make it. We love pie!

Happy Birthday sweetheart. Here is to another year with the man I love!