Clay's Birthday!

We celebrated Clay's birthday this month! Since his birthday was on a Sunday, it was kind of a birthday weekend!

Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids on Saturday afternoon so we could hit a matinee movie and then met up with some friends for dinner at Salt City Burger Co.  It was nice to get out without the kids for a bit and they had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa! 

Sunday we got up and had to get ready for church a bit early because we were heading to Payson for his cousins mission homecoming.  The kids were so excited to give him his presents though- so we let him open theirs before we left.  

Will gave him a Star Wars Lego set and Addie gave him a Darth Vader shirt that says, "Who's your Daddy?"  She thought it was hilarious (I'm not sure she really "gets" it).

 
They had to break open the lego's before we left and they all came in the car with us!  I think Addie and Will were playing with them more than Clay!

After the mission homecoming, we stopped by to see some of his family and then headed home for a scout meeting! Exciting! Once his meeting was over, he opened a few more presents (running clothes and camping stuff) and then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a birthday dinner with my side of the family. 

He was off work on Monday so we decided to take the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 3.  They both did pretty well through the whole movie and it wasn't too awful for us either. 

The following Sunday we celebrated with the Blackham side of the family.  They all came over to our house for dinner and Clay was such a good sport and made homemade maple bars and donuts!!! 

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and dad!!!  We love you and are so proud of you!!!  We hope 2012 is a great year for you!! 

 

Sick!

After having a two week break, Addie was so excited to be going back to school!!!  All was well when we put the kids to bed on Tuesday evening until I checked my facebook and saw that three of our nephews (who we had been with on Monday) had started throwing up!!!  I figured since we had managed to escape the last one, we were most likely going to get this one...

About 10:00, Will woke up crying saying he needed his diaper changed but it was hardly even wet.  I held him for a minute then put him back in bed.  Around 10:30, he woke up crying again so I went in to find he had thrown up in his bed and he was very upset and confused (this was the first time he'd thrown up).    He wanted "those things that came out of his mouth off his jammies" and a "new bed".   We cleaned him up, changed sheets and put him back to bed only to have him throw up again 30 min. later.  This continued for a little while till he finally wouldn't go back into his bed and he and I ended up on the couch watching movies at 12:30am in hopes he'd fall asleep and I could catch any more episodes in a bucket....he finally stopped throwing up around 3am and I convinced him to go back to bed at 4:30. 

I was sure Addie would be coming down with it so went and laid down a towel in her room by her bed and sure enough- about 2am she started in on it (thank goodness for the towel...it caught it all!) and continued till around 5am.  I was so glad Clay was here and he took care of Addie and slept on her floor while I was dealing with Will.    She was so upset that she had thrown up because she knew that meant she couldn't go to school!!!  Poor thing. 

The next day ended up being a lot of movie watching, relaxing, reading (for me) and gatorade/sprite drinking.  Thank goodness there was no more throwing up!!!!  Poor Will actually fell asleep on the couch mid-movie (this never happens with my kids by the way) because he was so tired and then slept for about 4 hours.  

Addie fights naps/daytime sleep like no other but she finally was so tired about 4 that she came and curled up with me and fell asleep for an hour. 

We were glad that it ended up being a quick bug for us...and Clay and I were lucky to escape it...7 people in the family ended up getting it that same night!

New Years

We had a pretty quiet week after Christmas.  Clay was off most of the week but we really didn't do a whole lot.  Addie spent three of the days and two nights up at Gaga's house with her cousins Maddie and Mia so it was quiet around here.

While Addie was up at Gaga's, the kids started passing around a stomach bug so we were pretty sure she was going to come down with it as soon as she came home.  So, for New Years Eve, we kept it low key and Grandma and Grandpa came over to our house.

We had a delicious dinner with garlic tri tip, shrimp and balsamic glazed asparagus.  Addie and Grandma made some pretzels in her Easy Bake Oven, and we played some games on the Wii.   The kids finally went to bed about 10 and then we played a few games of Ticket to Ride.  

We celebrated midnight with a little Martinelli's and some pictures and then off to bed!

New Years Day was kind of a quiet day since it was a Sunday.  We just stayed home after church and relaxed most of the day. 

Clay had Monday off so we headed up to Pammy's for her traditional New Year's Day Pastry Wreath.  It's delicious!!! 

We played games with the family and just hung out most of the day. 

A few days after Christmas, Addie's beloved Beta fish from Santa, went belly up.  It was so sad because she had just spent all of her Christmas money buying a "house" for it.   So, when she was finally back from her fun with Gaga, we took her to Walmart and got her a new fish.   We went with some fancy goldfish this time hoping we'd have better luck.  Will got one too.   Meet Sally (the calico with a black eye!) and Nemo (Will's fish).  

Happy New Year everyone!!!  Welcome 2012!!!!

CHRISTMAS!!!

We LOVE Christmas in this house!!!  I'm not sure if it's the kids or the parents that get the most excited here!  

It snuck up on us this year!!!  We enjoyed all the Christmas festivities and activities we were able to do but with no snow on the ground and moving some of the traditions around, it just didn't feel like Christmas to us!!!

BUT....Christmas came just the same!!!  So did Santa!!!

Christmas morning there were presents under the tree (they could not be put out prior to Christmas Eve because Mr. Will would have opened them ALL!), stockings filled, a big doll/barbie house for Addie and a Chuggington Train Track for Will (a very LOUD one- I guess Santa didn't read the reviews on that one!)

Santa also made sure that Addie got one of the many pets she requested...a fish. :)

Of course, Christmas morning, the kids slept in! Grandma and Grandpa were here at our house waiting for them to wake up by 7:30.  I think Addie finally rolled out of bed about 8:15 and went in and woke Will up.   He wasn't thrilled about how bright it was out in the entry way (hence the lovely facial expressions). 

The kids were excited about their Santa presents....Will didn't want to stop playing with his to look through his stocking!

Once he finally did look through his stocking, he was pretty excited about the candy canes, his Blue Chick Hick die-cast car, and the Sour Patch Kids!  

Addie was pretty excited to get some more duck tape and money!!

 

 

Clay and I each had a theme for our stockings!  I got a lot of kitchen/cooking stuff (I am cooking a lot more lately thanks to my Our Best Bites cookbook), and Clay got a lot of camping/outdoor stuff (he's running in the cold more often and camping more since he was put in scouts). 

Once we made it through the stockings, we opened the presents.   Addie got more barbie stuff and was pretty excited about all the crafting materials she got too.   She also had to get her fish ("Cinnamon") put into his bowl!

Will was thrilled to death with the bunches of die-cast Cars 2 cars he got for Christmas.  He couldn't wait to get them all in a "lion" (line)!

Addie was also pretty happy about the mini donut maker she got Clay for Christmas!

Once everything was opened and the kids played for a bit, we headed out the door to church.   We went to Grandpa and Grandma's church because it was a little later in the day.   It was nice to spend a little time focusing on the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas.

 

After church, we headed up to Gaga's house to spend the afternoon with the Blackham side of the family.   We ate some food, played some games and opened a few presents.  

Addie was SO happy that she finally got the Barbie Hair Extensions she'd been wanting!  We had to get it set up and make one right away! 

We finally came home and got the kids to bed so we could get started on one of my favorite Christmas traditions we started....a delicious, QUIET surf and turf dinner - just the two of us! 

 

What a wonderful Christmas!!!!  Can't believe how fast it comes and goes! Merry Christmas ALL!!

P.S. We were so busy we didn't send out a Christmas card this year...we'll be sure to get one out next year!