It’s Christmas!

The Christmas season is so fun. We baked cookies and delivered them to others, participated in many of the #lighttheworld ideas, decorated with lights and nativities and books, sang holiday carols, hung Christmas cards all over our pantry doors (we LOVE getting Christmas cards!), read Christmas stories and finally all got to stay home from work and school together! We have had the best month and especially the last few days home together and with family.

my littlest reindeer this year…

Christmas Eve dinner at my mom’s house with the Andersons, changing it up this year

My uncle is Santa in his free time, and he must be AMAZING.

We sang Christmas carols, and my cousin Dallin accompanied. I can’t believe he’s a junior in high school.

We loved that we got to attend church Christmas morning. Then we had brunch at Mom’s house, and it was delicious!

We sure love hanging out with these guys! They’re pretty awesome.

December

Winter Break is super late this year. We are trying to hang tight for four more days of school. A late Winter Break didn’t keep us from breaking out the decorations the day after Thanksgiving though!

At 15 months old, Charlotte is getting around on her own easily, moving quickly, grabbing anything within reach, climbing stairs, etc. She waves, blows kisses, claps, dances, stomps her foot, and high-fives when she’s not being shy. She says hi, go, bye, up, ba-ba (bottle), Daddy, Aiden, Papa, and dog. I am trying not to be bummed about what she doesn’t say… She has eight front teeth and just recently acquired two bottom molars, which made for a temporarily miserable little girl, but she seems to be back to normal now.

Charlotte’s saying “hi” here

Mandy and Emma came to visit! I took almost no pictures. We saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We visited Cripps Place together, and the kids had a blast looking for characters they recognized. Aiden loved this one this year:

My mom took a few pictures for us. See! New blog header!

Now, THAT is sibling love.

Thanksgiving Break Part 2

We took advantage of the season passes we got this summer and left before dawn to drive down to Universal Studios. We saw the animal show, took the tour, enjoyed some rides, and spent lots of time in Hogsmeade. We shared a cup of butter beer, and the boys had lots of fun “doing magic” as we walked up and down the street. We did everything we’d hoped to and then drove back home. It was a long day, but it was totally worth it.

There were 30 family members gathered for Thanksgiving at my mom’s house this year, and it was quite a fun party.

The next day, we decorated for the holidays. I love this season and try to maximize it every year! My family members are such good sports about it and got right into helping.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’ve sure been enjoying our week off!

We visited Universal Studios, spent time outside, visited with family for Thanksgiving, and decorated our house for Christmas.

Here’s the turkey Aiden and I decorated for his first grade classroom. He wanted it to be camouflaged.

Landon’s THREE!

Landon is three! Most of the time, he’ll tell you that… but sometimes he says six.

We enjoyed his favorite foods for dinner… meat, fruit, and soft pretzels. Actually, he really liked the orange bell peppers on the kebabs.

He loves balloons and cupcakes, so his birthday celebration was pretty exciting.

At three, Landon is somewhat precocious, very attentive to what’s going on around him and anxious to keep up with everyone. He hardly realizes he’s so much younger and smaller than his brother and works hard to run fast, talk (loudly) and be involved in every conversation and activity. He would really love to give up naps because he doesn’t want to miss anything, but once we get him in bed, he’s usually good about sleeping.

He loves cars, Chuggington, Five Little Monkeys, being the center of attention, eating pretty much anything, and playing with his siblings.

Sometimes he’s great about sharing, and other times he’s not… it’s tough being the middle child. He can be a great helper. He has a warm, contagious smile… and he also has a dead-pan expression that could stop a deer in its tracks.

He is getting better about using the potty, he speaks pretty clearly most of the time, and he’s so much less clumsy than he was six months ago. He is definitely growing up quickly!