Merry Christmas!!

Hope you all had a great Christmas!  We had so much fun together.  Our kids got way too much stuff, but they loved it all.  Our floor was covered in wrapping paper, boxes and toys.  Here are the few pictures I took of the last few days.

Bret took the boys shopping and Jenna and I needed something to do, so we made little bean bags for Jenna to play with.

 I made the kids each a pair or two of new PJ pants.

Carson and Brandon got dressed exactly the same when it was time for PJs on Christmas Eve.  They didn't even realize it until we took the first picture. :)

We pulled out the stockings and Jenna thought that hers belonged on her head.

Then Jenna serenaded us with one of the many Christmas songs she has learned the past weeks.

Then Brandon wanted some attention and video time, so he sang us a song with his stocking on his head, too.  Not as cute as an almost two yr old, but we can't stay young forever!

Sunday we got to listen to one of the best Christmas sacraments meetings I can remember.  The kids were great...or maybe it was because I was sitting on the end and Bret was wrestling with kids, but it was great!  I had to get a picture of these little cuties before they changed out of their Sunday clothes.  They looked so good!  Plus I wanted a picture of the floor cushions I made for them, too.

 Jenna refused to get off of her cushion to squeeze in with the boys.  What handsome kiddos!

King Carson -- arranged the floor pillows into his own personal throne.

Cute little Eric on his cute little cushion.

Together

I love my kids!  And I love it  when they have fun together.  Look at that--smiles all around, not a tear or frown in sight :)

coming soon...

Where is Eric?

Yesterday as I was finishing up dinner and trying to get Brandon to set the table and everyone else to wash their hands, I hear Eric yelling from upstairs.  He's not coming down for dinner and his yelling is really insistent, although we were not sure what he was saying (there was a lot going on in the kitchen).  Bret went up to see what he was up to and found Eric had climbed into the shelves and could not get out on his own.  He wasn't crying or upset, but he did need help.  Silly boy!

Halloween fun

The kids didn't have school on Halloween.  After cleaning the house (which we hadn't done on Saturday) we had a little more fun.

 We made slime!!

 3 different colors.  They all had fun with it despite Carson's frown and Jenna's sad face.

 Then we got to go Trunk-or Treating:

Brandon was a Power Ranger.  He was going to be a dinosaur, but by the time we were ready to get costumes on, half of Brandon's costume had disappeared.  The kids had been playing with them all day and I didn't know where they were anymore.

 Eric was a dog and Jenna was a pig

 What cute little tails!

 Carson was a vampire!

 So mysterious!

And here are our fun pumpkins hanging out on our front steps.  Can you guess who designed each one?

Pumpkin Patch

Carson keeps bugging me to post more pictures, so here are some from October that I never got up here.


I went with Eric's preschool class to a pumpkin patch.  We had a lot of fun, even though it was COLD!

 I found some extra jackets laying around in the van, so I Eric and Jenna are both wearing a couple jackets and look a little silly with sweatshirts that are way to big.  Oh, well.  It helped keep them warm.

 It is really hard to get this many preschoolers to sit still for a picture.

 REALLY hard!

I also went with Brandon's 1st grade class to a different pumpkin patch.  I was in charge of 4 kids, including Brandon.  We had a blast!  I forgot my camera that time.  Later we took the family to the same pumpkin patch and had so much fun!  Forgot my camera that time, too.  Oh, well....

When Eric woke up this morning, one side of his face and half of his upper lip was swollen.  We have no idea why.  He didn't get hurt yesterday (that I can think of).  There are no red marks or puncture marks to indicate a bug bite.  If it's an allergic reaction, I don't know what it could possibly be from, plus he usually breaks out in a rash and gets red, watery eyes before he starts swelling (which has only happened once!) and none of that has happened.  It doesn't hurt and he is acting completely normal, so I'm not super concerned, but it is really weird.  We'll watch him and if swelling doesn't go down, we'll call the doc.

This picture really doesn't show how funny Eric looked this morning.  It's the right side of his face that is swollen.

Since I was taking pictures, Brandon and Jenna had to jump in on the action.

This picture shows the swelling a little better, but Eric is smiling so hard, it's hard to tell.  His smile is  a little lopsided, though and his right cheek is bigger than the left.

I'm a...

Fairy??

The kids rediscovered the box full of dress-up clothes.  Carson put this costume together on Jenna and told her to tell Bret and I that "I'm a fairy!"

Eric's Birthday!

 Eric turned four on September 10th.  I can't believe he is four already.  He is still so small.  He wears 2T clothes, still!  We had a fun day on Eric's birthday.  When he woke up there were lots of balloons in the living room to play with.  All the kids have enjoyed them.

Here's the birthday boy!  Eric 4 years old.

The loot

Eric and Alphie have become good friends.  He is already in need of new batteries!

Eric loving the bouncing ball from Grandma and Grandpa Miller

After presents we went swimming at a swimming hole at a river close by.  The kids had a blast.  Sadly I forgot my camera, but the kids could have stayed there all day.  We'll have to go more often next summer when it warms up again.

 Since Eric does not like cake, we decided to make a marshmallow dinosaur "cake" for him.  Bret is working on Eric's "cake"

Everyone got toothpicks and marshmallows to make their own dinosaur.

 I think Brandon just put marshmallows on because it was fun, I don't think he tried to make a dinosaur.

Jenna kept busy licking marshmallows and then handing them to Daddy.

Eric even tried poking a few marshmallows with the toothpicks.

 I made a T-Rex.  Come on... It's not THAT bad.  Use your imagination!!

A work in progress...

Brandon's completed creation:

Carson's completed creation.  He made a pterodactyl.

There is the beautiful Brontosaurus marshmallow cake and Eric.

Look!  He's even smiling!

 I also made some cookies and made a letter 'E' on Eric's for him.

We made raspberry sorbet for Eric so he could have something similar to ice cream, but safe for him to eat.  It was delicious! Eric didn't even try one bite

A few days later Eric got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Lyman with these fun things in it.  A Lightning McQueen sleeping bag and a matching camping chair

Eric and Jenna played so nicely together when these were opened.  Eric played in the sleeping bag while Jenna sat in the chair and then they switched.  And then switched again.  And again.

Happy Birthday Eric!!  We love you so much!

Some things about Eric:

He likes to sleep with "My friend Rabbit"

He is almost potty trained!  Hurray!

He loves playing with his friends.

He mixes up his 'sp' sounds.  psot=spot, psider=spider, etc.

His favorite color is yellow.

His favorite food is hot dogs.  If I won't let him have hot dogs, he'll have a sun butter (sunflower butter) sandwich.

His favorite animal is dogs (even though he is allergic to them!)