The Week Before Christmas = Parties & Puking

The week before Christmas was full of parties... preschool, kindergarten, and an adult only white elephant exchange. Unfortunately, Ben came down with a stomach bug the day of his party and had to come home from school. He was sad to miss it, but thanks to a sweet neighbor who stopped by his classroom for me, he was able to enjoy his goodies once he was feeling better. Luckily, John was able to come home for lunch and hang out with the sicko so I could go party with Matt Mo at preschool...

We made this graham cracker (gingerbread) house together. Well, truthfully, I did most of the work while he ate the candy. They also got to make another shirt like they did at Thanksgiving... so cute!

The next night was the annual white elephant party hosted by some friends in our ward. We ate yummy food and laughed the whole night long. This year I made a redneck "brief"case to give away...

And I filled it with all your redneck essentials...

A Slim Jim, "Totally Ripped Abs" body spray, Cheese Whiz, duct tape, sunflower seeds, a bandana, and a wife-beater.

And the lucky recipient...

Here are a couple other favorites that night...

Curt and Shandi's sweet Christmas's past photo album. It came with the stipulation that whoever got it has to add their old pictures and re-gift it next year!

Brianna got a hilarious CTR, ahem, "slingshot".  Enough said.

Good thing we got to live it up that night because the next day, John and I were both hit with whatever bug Ben had and we were pretty miserable. At least we weren't sick on Christmas day though!

Dickens of a Christmas

The weekend after Thanksgiving we took the kids to the old downtown square for the "Dickens of a Christmas" celebration...

They had so much fun with all the different activities. They won some treats on the "cake walk", rode the carousel, and took a train ride around the square...

I think their favorite part was the petting zoo...

The goats were the friendliest, but there was a little baby piglet that was so cute I wanted to take it home. It didn't compare to my own cute little piglet though...

Dinosaurs!

We had some gorgeous weather at the beginning of fall break, so we decided to go see the dinosaurs again at the Heard Museum...

The boys were really into it this year, although they're still a little wary because they look pretty real...

Since it was Sadie's first time, we thought she should get a real good look at the huge T-Rex...

Our attempt to offer her as a sacrifice didn't phase her one bit, but the boys sure got a big kick out of it!

Thanksgiving

Both the boys got to have "Thanksgiving Feasts" at their schools before fall break. Matt Mo's was first and Miss Janette fed us well with all the traditional fares...the kiddos even helped her make some pumpkin pie!

They made the cutest little turkey t-shirts out of their hand prints too...

His teacher kept telling him that when he put his painted hand down onto the shirt it would turn into a turkey. He was really excited, but when he lifted his hand up he looked over at her like she was crazy and said, "that's not a turkey, that's my hand." Haha! I guess he was expecting some kind of fancy magic to happen, but I think he was satisfied after they painted on the face and feet.

Later that afternoon, I headed up to Ben's kindergarten feast and program. They sang some cute songs dressed up like little Indians and the teachers were dressed like pilgrims...

Afterward they got to sit with their class and parents to have their feast (just a snack they brought from home)...

I might be a tad biased, but I think Ben made the cutest little Indian there!

We had a fun week off from school and were lucky enough spend our Thanksgiving with my family. We are so blessed and thankful for all that we have!

Happy Halloween 2010

This week has been full of all things Halloween.  First was pumpkin carving with Dan and Bree for FHE...

Wednesday night was our ward Trunk or Treat. The boys were so excited to get dressed up in all their pirate gear. They've definitely got the "pirattitude" down...Aargh!

I have no idea what got into me, but I felt the need to turn their wagon into a pirate ship!

Maybe I was just in a crafty kind of mood after making little Sadie Bug's costume...

If you can't tell, I'm supposed to be a flower for the ladybug to land on. 

I didn't even realize until we got home that I completely forgot her ladybug wings, so we had an extra little photo shoot a couple days later after we got dressed up again for Matt Mo's preschool party...

I had to use the pumpkin to help her sit up. She was loving it...practically making out with the thing :)

And no Halloween season would be complete without a trip to the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm! Ben got to go with his kindergarten class, so I took Matt Mo and Sadie another day this week...

I just love this time of year...the cooler weather, the fun things to do, and of course...the candy! Thanks to my little pirates for letting me steal some of their loot!