Getting Ready for Christmas

First up, decorating the tree. We are doing an advent calendar with activities every day. This was one of the first activities. One night while the kids were sleeping I decorated the house and put up the tree. When they woke up they ran around the house looking at everything. I'm really glad that I decorated at night becuase it was so much less stressful for me to get things out without all the extra "help" PLUS the kids were so excited to wake up, see the decorations, and decorate the tree...it was kind of magical for them.

Next (not Christmas related), but this is how I've been finding Makenna a lot lately. And not just in the morning or after naps. She has definitely reached the stage when she knows how to take her clothes off and she does it often. Like sometimes 3 times in a half hour. I usually give up at this point and she goes naked the rest of the day. She is extra sneaky about it and usually hides while taking off her clothes and then hides her clothes too. Luckily (and I am double crossing my fingers here) she does not take off her diaper, so we are safe on that front.

We went to the church Christmas breakfast and the kids got to visit with Santa. Considering that Kenna is the biggest momma's girl ever, it's not too surpising that she did not want to have anything to do with Santa. Alli was a little shy, but she tried to be brave and she told Santa she wants a scarf for dress-up. And Nick was himself and not afraid at all and told Santa he wants a remote control car.

Makenna...before the terrifying close encounter with Santa.

And finally, at Alli's preschool last week Alli and Nick got to decorate gingerbread houses. It was so nice of Courtney to let Nick come too. The kids loved this project, especially eating candy.

I am excited about this week. Brian has a few days off and other people will be working in our basement, so we should have some fun family time before Christmas. Plus Brian's mom is coming in to town for Christmas and we are all so excited to see her and to spend time with my parents too.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving this year with my parents and Courtney and Russ and their kids. We made the turkey and had dinner at our house. Alli and Nick were so excited to have everyone over. I think all of the food turned out really good, thanks Brian, mom, and Courtney for all your hard work!

Toy Story Birthday Party

We had the twin's birthday party a few days after their birthday when Brian, my parents, and all of their friends could make it. I talked them into a joint birthday this year. They both like Toy Story and when I told them they could dress up like Jesse and Woody, they were sold. First we made Mr. Potato Head party bags.Next, we hid army men in Alli and Nick's room and had them find them. They got a piece of candy for every army man they found (kind of like an Easter egg hunt). Then we played pin the tail on Bullseye. Here is what Bullseye looked like when we were done.

The final (and most popular game) was The Claw, where the kids used tongs to pick out toys from a slit in this box.

Then we had pizza and veggies for lunch. Our kitchen was packed.Next was opening presents.
Then we had cake After everyone was gone, Makenna tried on Alli's cowgirl hat. She is so cute.
And then we gave Alli and Nick their last present - big kid bikes!

Alli and Nick are so lucky to have so many friends! We're glad that almost everyone could make it to the party!

Alli and Nick's Birthday Lunch

The twins didn't have their birthday party on their birthday this year, so we celebrated by having lunch with Brian at Red Robin. It is our favorite place for birthday lunches. Alli and Nick both got to pick out whatever they wanted from the kids menu. Alli picked a corn dog and salad and Nick picked pizza and carrot sticks. I'm not sure why Alli picked a corn dog; we haven't had them at home in a long time and when we did have them she didn't like them, but whatever, it's her birthday. They also got ice cream for dessert.

Makenna was so funny. I shared lunch with her, but all she wanted to eat was ranch. She just kept dipping the same french fry over and over again in the ranch and when she got tired of that she tried to drink it out of the cup. Red Robin does have good ranch, but seriously? Good thing we don't take the kids out to eat often!

I can't believe that Alli and Nick are 4! Time flies. Alli is already plotting her next birthday. She says, "In a few days when I turn 5 I will have a butterfly birthday". I try to explain to her that it is a lot more than just a few days. Time (months, years, weeks, etc.) is such a hard thing for the twins to understand right now. We talk about it a lot and they are trying to figure it out, but it hasn't clicked yet. But, she is probably right, it will only seem like a few days and then it will be their next birthday.

Halloween

Halloween was very much anticipated at our house this year. After I put our decorations up during the first week of October there were many teary moments (mostly involving Nick) where someone (he) could not understand why Halloween wasn't today. The decorations were up, it must be Halloween, right? We had many talks about the calendar and how many days were left, but to no avail. It helped take the edge off when Nick and Alli got to wear their costumes at their school parties and when we went to the ward party. Then finally, Halloween came! (Side note, it is a definite possiblity that we will not have any Christmas decorations up at our house until the week of Chirstmas).

Like every other year, we went to Courtney and Russ's for dinner and then went trick-or-treating afterwards. Thanks Courtney and Russ for hosting us! The Jacobs fam also stopped by just as we were getting ready to leave so we got to go with them too. So fun!

A rare picture of all our kids together. Alli is Rapunzel, Makenna is a monkey, and Nick is a dragon.
The princesses - Alli and Lindsey

My little monkey. If you remember, Nick and Alli wore this costume for their first Halloween.

Nick the dragon, commonly confused with a dinosaur.

My beautiful princess. She was so excited to get to wear her costume and she always makes silly faces for the camera.

And the babies, Makenna and Taylor. They aren't really babies anymore, but it's hard not to call them that when they are the youngest.

Hope that you had a fun Halloween too!