gingerbread houses

Today we decorated gingerbread houses.  I think the kids all ate more candy then they put on their houses, but that's what makes it fun. 

busy day

We started the morning off with some fun activities for the kids inside. Then they all went outside to play in the snow. In the afternoon we had a party to celebrate Sam's birthday. It has been fun to be with everyone. The kids love playing with their cousins. And I love staying up late after the kids have all gone to bed with the adults. This week is going by way to fast.

snowmobiling

A huge storm rolled through and of course this is the day we pick to go snowmobiling.  There was TONS of snow but we had a great time.  Sam and I shared a snowmobile, Trevor and Kye were on one, Max and Devon on another and Mike and Claire shared one.  The kids all looked like bobble heads with their helmets on.  We all had a fun time.  After the ride we ate lunch and lots of hot chocolate in the lodge.  It was a fun day!

family reunion

The entire M. family is together this week.  Today we did pictures.

  Everyone is wearing their matching pajamas from Granny Nanny.   All the kids got Pillow Pets for Christmas and some of them got put on display for the picture.

great grandma

We went to visit Great Grandma W. today.  Max is officially taller than her now!  Hunter kept pushing her walker, while she was using it.  He thought it was a fun game.

fun with family

Today my sisters and I cooked  a huge "Christmas Dinner" together.  It was so much fun.  We cooked and laughed and had a great time.  The food was delicious and we just enjoyed being together.  Hunter tasted root beer for the first time, he liked it alot.

christmas morning

It wouldn't be Christmas at our house without Christmas Tree Roll, a tradition passed down Trevor's family. This is the once a year I actually make bread. I still can't figure out how to make it into a pretty tree shape like Nan does.

Santa came and brought some fun presents. We opened our presents, took the tree down, packed the car and headed to Utah today. We tried to stop and get dinner but nothing was open. I don't like traveling on Christmas Day and hopefully won't have to again. Thanks Elise for feeding us a late Christmas dinner.

christmas eve traditions

I started doing this last year, so it is a fairly new tradition.  But I have decided to have a nice dinner every Christmas Eve.  I bring out the chargers and the water goblets.  The kids love that they get to eat off glass plates and use glass glasses. 

Every year the kids get new pajamas.  I tried to find Hunter black pajamas, but they just don't make black baby pajamas.  When Sam opened her present and saw them she said, "I got boy jammies?!?"  Sorry Sam, but I don't think the boys would wear pink.

basketball camp

Max attended a basketball camp this week.  He is loving the game.

keeping it closed

Kye is loving the fact that his teeth are gone.  Tonight at dinner he said, "Look Mom!  I can eat macaroni and cheese without opening my mouth!"  Then he shoved a noodle into his mouth through the hole.   Silly Bear!

bath time

This morning I told the kids to go upstairs, start the bath and I would be up in a minute.  When I got upstairs I found Hunter in the tub with his clothes on.  He was having so much fun playing in the water.  Crazy baby!

swimming lessons

I put Kye and Sam in swimming lessons this week.  It was just something fun to do.  It is great because there is only 1 other kid in Kye's class and 2 others in Sam's.  It is almost like private lessons! 

lights

Sam found this necklace in the one of the Christmas boxes.  I am not sure where it came from, I think one of the boys bought it at school last year.  Anyway, it lights up and Sam thought it was the coolest thing ever.  She wanted to wear it to church today.  She had it turned on for the entire length of church, so when she got home most of the lights were burned out.  She had fun wearing it.

basketball

Basketball season has started and Max is playing for the Lakers, which is going to take some getting used to.  "Go Lakers" just doesn't sound right coming out of my mouth.    I thought we would get a little break from sports, but basketball practice started the week after soccer ended.  Today Max had his first game of the season.  They have a good team and his coach has been really great about teaching them the game.  They won today!

memorable day

Kye had his Christmas program today. He has been singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" non-stop for the last two weeks and driving us all crazy. Just to mix it up a bit he would sing "Happy Kwanza" or "I Have a Little Dreidel." He did a great job and he knew the songs really well.

Also, tonight he lost another tooth! It is now official that all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. He has the cutest toothless smile!

candy house

Sam made this gingerbread house at preschool today.  She loves candy and loaded her house with tons of it!  She keeps asking me when she can eat it.  I keep telling her it is a decoration and we don't eat decorations, but I don't think she believes me.

holiday hugs

Sam had a small dance recital today.  One of the songs they danced to was a Care Bear song called "Holiday Hugs."  We were all singing that song for the rest of the day, it got stuck in our heads.  Sam loves to perform and did a great job.  They were cute to watch.

christmas memories

The kids love these hats and these bears.  I have pictures of all the kids in these same Santa hats as babies.  And the bears we got from the German Santa when Trevor was in Iraq.  Awwww the memories!  I asked the boys to hold them nicely, but Max insisted on showing me his bears  bum.  Boys!

obsession

Hunter is obsessed with this seat.  He is constantly climbing on it and exploring it inside and out.  Maybe he will be a fighter pilot when he grows up!

hayride

Tonight our neighborhood HOA hosted hayrides for everyone.  We waited in line forever and it turned out we only got to go around the park.  But Max was picked to sit up front and he thought that was super cool.  Our group sang Christmas songs and had a fun ride.  Afterwards we walked over to get cookies and hot chocolate, but they were out of cookies.  Oh well!

he figured it out

I took Sam and Hunter to Smoothie King for a smoothie drink.  Hunter kept begging for some, but he hasn't figured out how to use a straw.  He was getting so frustrated, when it suddenly clicked and he got it.  He would take a sip and look at me with the biggest smile. 

a night out

Tonight was Trevor's work party.  It was a fun night.  They had good food, funny entertainment and great prizes (which we didn't win!)  It was fun to go out, be with friends and have a good laugh(see below)!

Kye's Award Assembly

Kye had his awards assembly today.  He earned the Citizenship Award and the Straight "A" Honor Roll award.  Great job Kye!

decorating the tree

We let the kids decorate the tree this year. Someday I will get my "beautiful tree". They love doing it and this is really who the Christmas season is for. Only the lower part of the tree is decorated, but I love to sit back and watch them. Hunter kept taking the ornaments off. He was having just as much fun.

Max's Award Assembly

It is the end of the first trimester already.  Max had his awards assembly today and received the Citizenship Award and the Straight "A" Honor Roll.  Great job Max!

searching for food

I walked into the kitchen and found Hunter like this.  He had pushed a chair across the kitchen and climbed up on it.  He had a banana in his hand and he was biting it with the peel on.  He put it back and gave me that innocent "I didn't do it look"  when I grabbed my camera for a picture.

feet feet and more feet

Yesterday I asked Heather to take some pictures of the kids feet. I love how these turned out!



family pictures

We had a friend take our family picture today. I never know how the kids are going to act so I tried to warn her in advance. She did a great job! Thanks Heather!

This picture made me laugh out loud when I saw it. The kids are doing everything I told them not to do. I told them to smile, Sam is talking. I told them not to grab the chain and keep their hands by their sides, Kye didn't hear me I guess. I told them not to put their hands up in their sweaters, Max missed that memo. Oh well, this is our family and I love them!

I love this one of us!

My Kiddos!

baby in box

Who needs toys when you have a box?  Trevor put Hunter in this box and pushed him all around the house.  Hunter loved it.  The other kids tried to get in, but Hunter didn't like that.

pirate preschool

It was my turn to teach preschool this week.  The theme was pirates.  This is one of my favorite themes.  Today we went on a pirate treasure hunt.  We took our ship to the deserted island (the park across the street) and followed our map to the treasure.  We saw mermaids, alligators, a lava pit, a sleeping bear, sharks  and lots of snakes.  But we were brave and found the treasure before the other pirates came.  They all had a great time.

What was he thinking?

We were having spaghetti for dinner and  I look over at Hunter to see him leaning down really close to his plate.  He looked like he was trying to exam it.  Then he just put his forehead in the middle of his plate and rested it there.  I started laughing and he sat straight up. 

story time

I took Hunter to story time at the library a couple weeks ago.  The craft was making turkey from your hand.  I used to take the older three to story time fairly regularly.  I feel kind of bad because this is the first time I have taken Hunter.  He liked the music part and just wanted to explore while the lady was reading the book.

our thanksgiving

Because we weren't together on Thanksgiving we decided to have our turkey dinner tonight.  Trevor was bummed we didn't have the "Thanksgiving leftovers."  So I cooked a HUGE meal and plan to eat it for the next week.  We had lots of leftovers!

old shoes

I was going through some bins in the back of the closet and I found these shoes.  I got these shoes at a baby shower for Max over 8 1/2 years ago.  He never wore them because by the time I started putting shoes on him he wore a size 5 and these are size 4.  I forgot about them with Kye and Sam, so Hunter is the lucky recipient.  He won't be wearing them long because they barely fit. 

party time

Today we celebrated Claire's 4th birthday with a birthday party at Granny Nanny's.  We only stayed for a little while because a huge storm was going to hit and I wanted to hit the road while they were still clear.  Sam was sad to leave her favorite cousin, but we will see them again in a few weeks. (I took this picture off Mike's facebook since I didn't take any pictures at the party.  I hope they don't mind.)

black friday

Elise and I decided to shop Black Friday. Neither of us were looking for anything in particular. We just wanted to see what it was all about.


We were amateurs at the first store. The store opened at 10pm (11/25) and we arrived at 9:55. We didn't bring jackets, thinking we would just be running from the car to the warm store. Oh boy were we wrong. When we got there the line was wrapped around two sides of the building outside. They were only letting a few people in the store at a time so the line wasn't moving very quickly. When we couldn't find the end of the line we bailed. So off we went back home to bundle up. We didn't want to wait in the line so we went to the next store.

The next store was packed and we made another rookie mistake of grabbing a cart. We couldn't even move through the crowd. So we split, one stayed with the cart while the other grabbed the goods. We only got a couple things and stood in line FOREVER waiting to check out. But we were having a good time and headed to the next store.

The next store didn't open until 4 am. It was 1 am, but we were prepared. We brought chairs, blankets, hand warmers and feet warmers. We set up camp and made friends with our neighbors in line. We were all having a good time. IHOP even came and sold us hot chocolate. So yes we spent 3 hours waiting in line to shop. I sent Trevor a text since he was getting off work from the swing shift telling him what we were up to and he thought I was joking. He didn't believe I was sitting in a parking lot waiting for a store to open, hence the beautiful self portrait.  We got what we came for and were home in our beds by 5:30am.

I don't know if I will ever do it again. But it was fun to spend the night with my sister being silly.

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a little odd this year. There were no men at our Thanksgiving feast. It was my mom, my sister, me and my kids. My mom had this idea to make a Thanksgiving Tree. We were supposed to trace and cut out our hands, then write something we were thankful for on them. We would then attach the hands to a "tree" and that would be our centerpiece. The only one who would do it was Kye, so our tree looked a little pathetic. But we all had something else on our minds, this morning we got a call that Noah (my other sisters baby) was born. We were trying to get everything done so we could get to the hospital!

We have so much to be thankful for!

couldn't wait

The kids and I drove to Utah today, Trevor had to work.  I had to get all the snow clothes together and realized Max didn't have any boots.  So I told him I would get him a pair in Utah, because I was having no luck finding a pair here in Vegas.  As soon as we pulled in the driveway of my sister's house he was asking when we could go to the store and get some boots.  Even though it was freezing and dark outside he still played in the snow when we got back from the store.  Crazy kid!

microphones

Hunter loves this microphone.  He will always dig through the basket and find it.  It is funny with all the toys we have in the house this is his favorite. 

thirty-three

Today was my birthday.  We celebrated yesterday because Trevor was working late tonight.  Trevor and the kids cooked dinner and bought  a pie from Marie Calendars, since I prefer pie over cake.  It was nice just to spend the day together.