Funny Kids!

My son received Captain Underpants books from my mom for Christmas and if you don't know about the series...basically, the author is making fun of all other superheros because they look like they are wearing underwear so, his hero really does. Anyway, he wears underwear and a cape and, will often times, shoot underwear at the bad guys to save the day. So last night my son, who does not like to play dress-up for anything, came downstairs in his underwear, church socks and a shirt tied around his neck as a cape. He said he was Captain Underpants and wanted to send a picture to show his grandma. I thought better of posting the picture but, it was funny and very out of character for him. At least he has found a super hero that inspires him.:) (note: the previous statement is drenched with sarcasm)

Christmas!!

What a wonderful time of year!

We spent much of Christmas week hanging out with the family and carrying on traditions from years past as well as, creating new ones! We love spending time together, playing games, watching movies, wrestling and whatever else we can come up with. Christmas Eve, we enjoyed our Chinese take-out (in honor of Ryan & Kris):), looked at Christmas lights, new books (my favorite present to give each year), and opened new PJ's which is a new tradition that we decided to start. On Christmas morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland and could hardly wait to get the day going so we could play in the snow!! I'm not sure why we didn't get any still shots of the playing but her are a few Christmas pics. The house was nothing compared

to the huge piles of snow we had

after the snowplow piled it up for us!:)

Kailey looks like a red marshmellow with her snow clothes that are way too big!! For some reason, the movie "A Christmas Story" comes to mind when I look at his pic.:)

The kids keep saying that this was the best Christmas ever! I love that because it wasn't really about the presents, as much as it was the time we had together as a family!:)

There were three Kings...

I am so grateful for this time of year and for the thoughts that come to my mind. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent his only Son to the earth to show us the way so that we might return to him again. I am grateful that he is mindful of each of us individually and is always there. He loves us and his Son was born on that first Christmas night in Bethlehem. I hope that if I had been there that I would have made the journey to welcome he Savior of the world. I love him, I reverence him and I am eternally grateful for my knowledge of him. He lived then and he lives today!!

For Chelise

I had to post another video of Kailey Chelise, so my sister, Chelise, could see how stinking cute, the one bearing her name is.:)

The Stranger

Okay, so I wanted that to be a catchy title for my very own Christmas story.

I was at The grocery store last night with all of my kids because Jason was working and there was a limited time sale going on. Well, if you can picture the scene of two kids running one direction exploring and touching everything, while one the baby is crying and the other is trying to help with her...+ everyone is getting hungry... well I think that is explanation enough. You can probably see where I am going with that.

After we got all our groceries and headed to the front to check out, I let a guy go in front of me who only had a few things. I was not paying much attention to what was going on around me because of the screaming baby who was flailing in my arms and the two kids who were lagging behind because of something interesting that had caught their eyes. Well, after the cashier rang up all my things, she took a 20$ off her register and said the guy in front of me had left it for me to go towards my order. I was so shocked and taken back, that, instantaneously, my eyes filled with tears. I, all of a sudden, in the middle of the grocery store, was filled with an overwhelming, Christlike love for this stranger who had taken an opportunity to be Christ's hands on earth. It may not seem like a big thing to many, but I can hardly express how much that small, charitable act meant to our family! I would feel ungrateful if I did not take the opportunity to share this special experience, if not just for myself. I love the Lord and I know that he is mindful of our needs.

Kailey's Walking!

Okay, so she has been walking for a month but this is the first good video I was able to get of her! I love it, though Jas says she looks like "Gollum". I had to tell him that she is just excited. Also, please ignore the little boogy I didn't notice before I shot the video.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a very nice weekend! My niece, Jessica, Marshall and their daughter Quincy came over. We always love to get together with our
family because we can't help but be silly!:) Okay, so we don't have any pictures to portray all the silliness, but it was there!:) The dinner was nice too. It was my first year to make, most of the Thanksgiving dinner myself, in fact, our turkey was 21lbs, (the same size as Kailey), and turned out fabulous! However, the best part of the dinner was the week's worth of leftovers!:)

After the yummy food, we enjoyed a long,

Thanksgiving walk with lots of fun picture stops.

BLACK FRIDAY:

On Black Friday, I woke up at 3:30am, to wait in line while my friend, Michelle shopped for her daughter. All we could say was how crazy all those people were for getting up so early...and of course, not putting ourselves in the same category with them.:) Okay, so I must confess, we went to Wal-mart too. We could not believe how, again, CRAZY everyone was. For example, people were pushing and shoving to get a 4$ pair of PJ's, that I must say, were priced at their worth. It was RIDICULOUS! The deal of the day was a 64ct box of Crayola crayons for 1$, which was something I was looking to buy already for 4$ more. It was kind of nice not to really need to buy much else. It opened my eyes, once again, to the reason for the season, and thank goodness that it's not shopping!