"Hot Hair"

The boys aren't all that into getting dressed up but boy is my little Hallie Kate. She was so excited to wear her new dress to church on Sunday. I think she is the cutest little girl ever of course, but it made her eyes look so amazing! My kidos all have some pretty blues :) The boys looked cute as ever too (sorry boys I mean handsome ). Hallie is getting to the age where she likes me to do her hair how she wants it. I think because it is cold out she wants it hot. Let me translate. This means she wants it blow dried for sure and sometimes a few curls put in it and since both of those must be hot to work she requests, "hot hair". Anyways these are some pics of my cute kids and some, "hot hair".

Gingerbread House Center Piece!

This year we are having Christmas dinner at our house. We are lucky to have Nana and Tata coming in from Arizona to spend Christmas with us. Moama and Pops will also be joining us for Christmas dinner. I am so excited and a little nervous for my first holiday meal gathering at my house. I know I will have a lot of help though. My kids have always wanted to do a real gingerbread house (we always do the foam ones). So we braved one last night with them. It turned out pretty cute and so we have decided that it will be the center piece for our Christmas dinner.

Deck The Halls!

Love to deck them. It is the undecking that is a agonizing. So last year I threw away the old bows for the tree that I had made years ago because they were falling apart. My crafty friend Sole came to my rescue and helped me out in making some new ones. I must say the bows look good with the new paint on my walls and that would be thanks to Sole's husband Chance for doing such a great paint job ( if you are looking for a good painter I would highly recommend him).
The kids had been anticipating getting the Christmas decorations up since Halloween (okay so let me be honest so was I). Anyways it was the boys job to set the tree up and get it going and I unpacked all the other decorations. The ornaments are so much fun to go through. Thanks to Robert's mom (Moema) who is very big on the yearly ornaments we have one to remind us of all the past years. Each one having a special meaning behind them. We have all of the ones that she bought for Robert growing up and now she has helped us start them for our kids. Don't get me wrong I love the designer looking trees but I love looking back on the ornaments each year and remembering what the kids were into or what we did that year. We put a twist on our tree we do the ornaments from past years and then to put a touch of "design" to it we put the matching bows and garland.
Now the decorations are up we can sit back and enjoy them.

Bringing in the holiday excitement!

Every year Rob's work sponsor's Opportunity Village and so we get to go in and experience it before it opens to the public. We actually went before Thanksgiving so yes, this is another belated blog post. It is always so much fun because it gets us excited for the Christmas season. The Christmas lights are always fantastic. The kids look forward to this every year. Their favorite thing is the train ride through the Magical Forest, and of course the goody bag.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love getting to spend time with family that we do not see very often. I love ironically enough the chaos of it all. The kids running around with their cousins and the rushing around in the kitchen to get the food prepared and the noise of everyone chatting and of course TV with the football game blaring in the background. It all just creates that memorable Thanksgiving atmosphere for me, to which I am so very grateful for.

I am thankful for the beautiful family that I have been blessed with! I am thankful for....

Robert...

that heart melting smile,

being the most amazing father to our children,

making me laugh,

loving me,

being my rock,

etc.

Mackay...

being the best big brother,

sweet smile,

our fellow discovery channel enthusiast,

for helping me cook,

for making us smile,

ect.

Jonah...

being the entertainer of the group,

for his big bear hugs,

sweet smile,

for making us smile,

ect.

Hallie...

sweet smile,

infectious giggle,

her love for her big brothers,

for making us smile,

ect.

I am so thankful for all of my family and friends we are truly blessed.

Trick Or Treat But.........

"Mommy I don't wanna smell my feet!" This is what Hallie replied every time I asked her if she was ready to go trick or treating. I guess she had heard her brothers say the phrase "trick or treat smell my feet" one too many times and she had interpreted it wrong. Well needless to say she did end up going after all and had a great time. We went across the street for a Halloween party at our neighbors house and then we all went out trick or treating together. They had tons of fun. This year we had Jonah as GI Jonah and Mackay went as the Unknown Phantom and Hallie went has the beautiful Snow White, or as she called herself No White.

On Halloween night 5 years ago........

at 3:03 a.m. to be exact Jonah was born. I can't believe our little Jonsey is 5 years old. This year GI Jonah and a few of his other GI friends rendezvoused for a top secret mission which was located at the military base other wise known as the bowling alley. Jonah always likes to have a very themed and sort of costume party. This year we had all of the kids bowling in little army helmets it was pretty cute. Here is
Jonah's 5 year old interview :

Favorite color: green
Favorite food: pepperoni pizza
What do you want to be when you grow up? A garbage man (Say what?)
Favorite thing to play? With his new Bat Cave
Favorite show to watch? Spiderman Spectacular
What sports do you like? Soccer
What things do you like to do around the house? Play in the backyard
What do you like to wear? Anything with Super hero’s on it and his Sketcher z strap shoes
Where are some of your favorite places to go? “To my friends”
What things make you happy? “When I get tickled”

We are so glad to have Jonah in our family he such a blessing to have around. Happy Birthday and we love you!