Playgroup Christmas

We always have so much fun with our playgroup and our Christmas party was no exception.
Left to Right - Eva, Lucas, Emrie, Riley with Samantha, Logan, Ellie with Collin, Ryker, Lydia, Camden, Gavin, Garrett and Embrie
Our Playgroup
Back Row - Emily, Shannon and Sheena
Front Row - Sandy, Shamie and Randi
The moms in the playgroup, with a few kids thrown in for good measure.
The kids had so much fun doing a foam craft and making sugar cone Christmas trees. The girls had fun just eating the M&Ms. We also had a potluck with soup, rolls, fruit and yummy desserts. At the end we all exchanged small Christmas gifts.

I love our playgroup. We have the best moms and kids. I am really sad that our playgroup days may be coming to an end in August. I am strongly considering putting Lucas in afternoon Kindergarten. I think that it may be the best option for our family, however all the other kids are going to go in the morning. It is not set in stone, but will be a really sad ending to a wonderful 4 years.

Eating Pancakes with Santa

We went to Breakfast with Santa up at the Davis Conference Center in Layton for the second year.
My sister, Stacie, works at the Davis Conference Center and it is attached to the Hilton Garden Inn. She was able to get us an employee rate for the night before. It was wonderful! The breakfast starts at 9:00. It was nice to not have to wake up at 6:30 to get everyone ready and drive up there. The kids had a lot of fun riding on the luggage cart. That evening we went to dinner at Roosters, which is in the parking lot. My brother-in-law, Mike, came with us. He was staying at the hotel while Stacie and my niece, Angelina, were down in SLC for a girls night with his family. The food was yummy, but we should have gone earlier. The wait was horrible.The morning of the breakfast, we met Ron's sister, Lisa, and her family, Scott, Josh and Brady. We went to the breakfast with Santa. It was fun! The food was yummy and the entertainment was great. They have a little area in the back with a candy booth, write a letter to Santa, decorate sugar cookies, face painting and spray on tattoo's. Lucas was so excited for his tattoo. He was so good at following the instructions of keeping his eyes closed while they sprayed. Stacie was working the event, but got to slip away a few times to see us.
The girls absolutely hated Santa. Ron had to be in the picture to make sure they didn't fall off his lap. Poor Santa! Lucas was so excited to read his letter to Santa.

I love this tradition! I am so excited to go again and again.

Ugly Sweater Party

A group of my friends decided to have an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was pretty much just an excuse to get together and hang out. We always have so much fun.
Back Row - Kari, Jamie, Jamie, Alison, Brandii, Alyssa, Shamie, Brianna, Emily, Jennifer, Nichole, Ashley, Staci, Suzanne and Rachel
Front Row - Angie, Adrienne, Simone and Jessica
The whole group
The ones who actually dared to wear ugly sweaters and boy were they UGLY!

We had such a fun party. There was a ton of yummy food that we all brought and shared. We then played a fun white elephant game. There were some pretty funny ones. I ended up with some naughty dice. Ooo La La! We had also drawn names through Elfster for a gift exchange. It was so much fun. You can secretly ask your person things they like and they can also add want items.

We ended up talking the night away. The party was in Spanish Fork. By the time I got home from the party, it was almost 5:30 am. Ron was actually waking up and getting ready for work. I can't tell you the last time I stayed up that late. It was probably in my early 20's. It was so much fun though and all worth the missed sleep. Thanks to my parents for taking my kiddos for most of the day so that I could catch up on some of those missed Zzzz's.

Happy 5th Birthday Lucas

Our little boy is 5! Time flies!
Here are a few photos from a photo shoot for his 5 year pictures. These pictures really do show that he is growing up.

Here is the invitation for the family party. The theme was Cars.
That morning he got to open his gifts from his little family. He got a new Buzz Lightyear bike and the game "Pop the Pig". He was so excited!
The family party was a success and he got a lot of nice gifts. We ate Baked Ziti, salad and garlic bread for dinner. After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes. Once again this year, I made his cake. I thought that it turned out pretty cute. Thanks Karlee, for coming to our annual tradition of cake making and helping me mix frosting.
We didn't actually serve the cake. I forgot to buy the No Taste Red food coloring and the frosting was yucky. After the party, the kids had a fun time digging into the cake and eating it.

Lucas was so excited to turn 5 and told us about 100 times that day that he was now 5 and no longer 4. It was so cute. Happy Happy Birthday to our big 5 year old Lucas!

Chick Fil A Party

Lucas had his friend party this year at Chick-Fil-A. He was able to invite some friends and cousins.
The Chick-Fil-A cow made an appearance at the party for quite a while. The kids loved her.
I made cow cupcakes to go along with the Chick-Fil-A Theme. Lucas wanted his cupcake to have blue eyes like him.
Bottom Picture - Back Row - Lucas, Ellie, Anna and Josh
Middle Row - Brady, Colton, Aubrey, Ethan and Camden
Bottom Row - Riley, Ryker and Garrett
Here are all the party kids. They had so much fun. They loved playing in the play place after eating.
It was decorated so cute when we got there. They had a table set up for his gifts and there was a birthday card signed by all of the Chick-Fil-A staff. Each chair had a balloon for the kids and a place mat on the table. Each kid got a breakfast kids meal. It came with chicken mini's, tater tots and juice or milk. The prize was a cow watch.
Top picture - Left to Right - Bret, Shannon, Sheena, Emily and Collin
Bottom picture - Bottom then clockwise - Lindsey, Sheri, Todd, Lisa, Scott, Andy and Ron
The adults and siblings had fun hanging out and waiting for the party to end.

What a fun party. Lucas thoroughly enjoyed himself and loved all of the fun gifts that he got. Thanks friends, for helping celebrate.

Fotofly Santa

I was so excited for my kids to get their picture taken with Santa this year. I was very nervous, because I already knew that Emrie hated Santa from sitting on his lap at the mall. Fotofly was having pictures where the parent would dress up as Santa. I thought it was the perfect idea. There was no way she could resist Daddy in a Santa suit. Boy was I wrong! She must just hate Santa's style.
This is my favorite. It totally shows all of their personalities to a tee.
This one is cute too. Eva makes this face when she says "Cheese!" I am pretty sure Lucas was talking also. Emrie was so mad and tried to just get away the whole time. Maybe we will have better luck next year.

Shops at Riverwoods

We met some of our friends at The Shops at Riverwoods in Provo. It is an outdoor shopping area with restaurants mixed in.
We first went to Malawi's Pizza for dinner. It was yummy, yummy.
It wasn't extremely cold that night, but still cold enough for coats.
The lights were amazing.
They were offering free carriage rides. It was definitely worth the wait. The kids loved the horse. This is the best picture that we could get on the carriage. It was pretty dark.

What a fun evening. We will for sure go again next year.

Photo Shoot - Oh My!

I was so excited to have another photo shoot with Butterfly Love Photography. She is amazing. I had won a photo shoot earlier in the year and had saved it for our family pictures and Christmas shots. Little did we know, it would be horrible.
We started at the Temple Quarry Trail at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon. It wasn't really cold that day, but when we got up closer to the mountains and in the shade, it was terribly cold. We were only able to get a few shots and then had to stop. The girls just kept crying and would not hold still.
Jana was so nice to take us to her house to try and finish up some shots that I was hoping to get. The girls continued to be little pills. This is the only cute one that we were able to capture in their Christmas outfits.
She was definitely more successful with the PJ shots. The head shots are adorable.
While Emrie was being a little stinker, she was able to get this adorable shot of Eva and Lucas.

Jana is amazing and was able to get way more pictures than I thought she did. I left the photo session nearly in tears, because I thought it turned out so bad. I am really glad that I didn't have to pay for it, but was happy with the results that she got.

Ogden Christmas Village

We kept up with our annual tradition and went up to Ogden to the Christmas Village. I love that place. It never gets old. We first went to my niece, Angelina's, championship volleyball game. They ended up losing, which was really sad, since their team was favored. After the game, we headed over to the Village.
Back Row - Ron, Dad, Mom, Stacie, Kelby, Angelina and Shamie
Front Row - Emrie, Eva and Lucas
Our group.
It was pretty cold, so we were all bundled up. Lucas absolutely loves the houses. Emrie and Eva were so bundled in the stroller, but they loved looking around. Angelina was talking to her boyfriend almost the whole time. Ahhh....Young love!
At the end, Lucas got to go in and see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Santa said, "What do you want for Christmas?" Lucas replied, "I want a dinosaur. Like I already told you! And my sisters want baby dolls." It was so hilarious. He had already sat on Santa's lap at the mall and really had an attitude that he had to tell him again. We laughed and laughed about it.

After the Village we headed to dinner to eat some yummy food and pie. I love this tradition and can't wait to go every year.

No Cup Sucking - Lesson Learned

I was sitting in the kitchen feeding the girls when I looked at Lucas and he had this purple ring around his mouth. At first I said, "What's on your face?" and I tried to wipe it off. After further inspection, it was a bruise. It took me a minute to figure it out, but then I realized he had been sucking on a cup, with the rim around his mouth, earlier in the day. It had caused a bruise all around his mouth. If I hadn't done the exact same thing as a child, I would never have figured it out. Like Mom, like son.
Lesson learned... Don't suck on cups.
When I was taking the picture of Lucas, the girls wanted me to take their picture also. Emrie's expression makes me laugh. Excuse their dirty jammies that have some breakfast on them.