SUGAR COOKIE DECORATING!!

The boys did an awesome job this year decorating our sugar cookies ... Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a little bit of sugar cookie decorating!! This year I decided to keep it simple and did only candy cane's & christmas tree's!! We finished this project up on the evening that daddy was coming home from work ... so the boys each picked their very favorite work of art and we left them out on a plate with a note for daddy when he got home!!

Rilyn's version of helping decorate .... eat the cookies ... oh and smear frosting all over the table too!!!

Mom's famous last words ... "STOP LICKING YOUR FINGERS"!!!

CHRISTMAS @ AUNT BETH'S

This year Aunt Beth & Uncle Todd had a little christmas gathering at their house with drinks and snacks and snacks and more snacks!!! The kids got to color and make their very own christmas cups and decorate sugar cookies. It was a fun time and I am still in awe of all the cute ideas Beth did ... in which I have informed her that the next party I host I'm calling her for ideas!!

They have an upside down Christmas tree which was REALLY AWESOME!! I totally want one!!

Decorating cookies with Aunt Beth!!

"TANGLED"

Rilyn's outlook on the day!!!

Grammy and I wanted to take the boys to see the movie Tangled, as well as see it ourselves, so we picked a day and strategically picked a time that we thought maybe just maybe if we were lucky Rilyn would nap thru most if not all of the movie. So we get to the theatre without Rilyn falling asleep in the truck and I'm thinkin, heck yes we are good at this point we'll get in there get our seats give her a bottle and she'll be done .... well needless to say I was WRONG!!! Despite Rilyn not napping she did pretty well (switching back and forth btw. my lap & grammy's lap) and I was able to see probably about 3 quarters of the movie before having to exit the theatre!! Once we were out in the lobby Rilyn did a very good job of entertaining every and anyone who walked by with her funny faces, dancing, spinning, etc ...!! With as much fun as she had in the lobby I'm afraid we will never get her to sit thru a movie now!!

These giant ornaments were out in front of the movie theatre so of course mom had to get a picture although the sunshine was in a very bad spot for picture taking!!

HOMEMADE ORNAMENTS

One of our little family traditions has been that every year since the kids were born I buy each one of them a new "special" ornament to hang on their tree .. usually something to reflect the year, either something they have accomplished or something special they have done. We have a smaller tree that we put up for them that they all get to decorate together with all of these special ornaments they have received over the years. However this year ... I decided that we were going to make their ornaments out of salt dough ... so I made the dough and gave each one of them a chunck and turned them loose to make it into anything they wanted ... we then had to bake them in the oven ... and lastly we painted them!! Once they were dry we "FINALLY" (those are the kids words) got to hang them on the tree!! Along with letting them make their own creation, I had each one of them do a hand print as well which I got to hang on the big tree!!! I was very impressed with our end results, they did a great job, although I do have to admit I'm kinda wishin' I would have ordered them each one as well!!

The boys painting ... Rhett made a "SNOWMAN" and Trey a "MONSTER TRUCK"

Rilyn painting .. not only her ornament but her tray, her hands & arms, her belly & by the end of the whole ordeal even her forehead and hair!!!

CHRISTMAS @ GREAT GRANDPA & GRANDMA INGRAM'S

Every year on the Sunday before Christmas we go up to Prescott to Grandpa & Grandma Ingram's and enjoy Grandma's AMAZING cooking along with presents for all their great grandkids, plus all the cousins draw names at Thanksgiving and exchange their gifts to each other, and a white elephant exchange for the adults!! This year was a blast like always and we left with stuffed bellies (to the point of miserable) between dinner, or supper as Grandma calls it, and the desserts!!! As well as lots of new fun toys and puzzles!!

Rilyn with her "big headed" Pooh Bear (thanks cousin Aly)!! She literally has to run with Pooh when she is carrying it around to keep herself counter balanced!!! LOL

Charlotte Rae!!

A portion of the kiddos ... Trey, Rilyn, Aly, Ashlynn & Cory & Rhett in the back!!

Best Buds ... Corey & Rhett playin Corey's Nintendo DS

CHRISTMAS @ GRANDMA & GRANDPA NORMY'S

What an awesome evening we had at Mom & Norm's to celebrate xmas!! For dinner everyone got to make their own personal size pizza ... Mom had all the fixins you could imagine pre-cut and ready to rock and roll along with homemade dough and sauce ... mmm mmm mmmmm delicous!! After dinner we had a toast, duck farts for the adults and sparkling cider for the kiddos and then did our gift exchanges ... we let the kids go first and then the adults for which we decided to go with a "couples" theme this year so each couple brought a gift and we picked and stole as couples!! It was pretty cool except next year we are makin' a new rule " you are not allowed to pick your own gift the first round of play"!! All the kiddos also got to open their gifts from Grandpa & Grandma and Aunt Lacey & Cody!! Like I said it was a great night I didnt' want it to end!!!

All the kiddos showin' off their new jammies & slippers from Aunt Lacey!!

Bradley & Lorie, Norm & Momma, Cody & Lay, Me & Clayton

Rilyn and her candy cane's ... she is obsessed!!

Transformers with swords ... look out!!!

Rilyn opening her presents inside another presents box ... only Rilyn!! hahahhaa

Grandpa & Grandma with all the grandkids!!

TOAST TO AN AMAZING FAMILY AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TO MOMMA & NORMY FINALLY MOVING HERE!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

Trey Mo and Uncle Bradley!

Rilyn tryin' to help daddy load the truck to go to grandma's!!

Rilyn with cousins Alyson & Ashlynn!!

"A SPECIAL THANK YOU & MERRY CHRISTMAS"

Yesterday me and the boys made some almond & peanut clusters, pretzels dipped in white chocolate with sprinkles & decorated some sugar cookies then we packaged them all up pretty and headed down to our local Fire Station to say "Merry Christmas" to the fireman!! My mom joined us along with my two neices Alyson & Cortney. I have to admit that on the way there while I was driving I started to feel a little stupid (especially after everyone I talked to was like "sure you're just taking the kids to see the fireman and say merry christmas"!!) hahahahaha, but once we were there I was very glad that we went. I cant even begin to explain how good they were with the kids ... they gave them a complete tour of the trucks and the station including sounding the alarms, showing them their rooms, letting them put all the headphones on and talk to each other in the trucks, I could go on and on!!! Such a wonderful experience .. the boys are still talking about it!!

Rilyn even kept her "fire chief" hat on!! Very surprising being that she is not a fan of hats!!

The smile on Rhett's face says it all (wish I could figure out how to rotate this pic)!!! He was probably the happiest little boy in the world!!

Cortney and Alyson!!

Dippin and dippin and dippin and dippin ..... pretzels!!!

"SCHOOL SPELLING BEE"

We are sooooo proud of Charlotte Rae who made it all the way to her school spelling bee after winning her class. Grammy and I went and watched and she did an awesome job!!! She got put out by the word "penguin" however the guy who was pronouncing the words for the kids to spell, in my opinion, completely said the word weird and thats what threw her off ... all in all she did a great job and we are very proud of her!! Goooo Charlotte!!!

"A CHRISTMAS SHOOT"

My cousin and her family came to visit us for a long weekend which turned out to be one of the most amazing weekends filled with baking, a little early christmas, ranger ride to look at christmas lights and lots of hang time with the kiddos!! While they were here and we had Rilyn & Colton together (with a little extra time for once) we decided to get some pics of them together!!

A CLOWN .. A FIREMAN .. & A WITTLE WABBIT!!

Trick or Treating was a blast this year .. the boy's finally didn't get all shy and go mute as soon as the door opened .. hahahaha .. we got a "trick or treat" and even a "thank you" out of them at pretty much every house .. Rilyn was waayyy to cute, she was a very determined little wabbit who refused much help dragging her trick or treat bag behind her .. lol .. although her hat (ears) didn't last long which daddy ended up wearing (a sight to see in itself)!! We hit the spot this year in Clay's bosses neighborhood ... the whole entire hood was DECKED out with deco. and almost everyone was home passing out candy and in costume which made for an aweome atmosphere!!

Bozo The Clown, aka Trey Mo. Bozo was very worried about his face paint all evening and continued to ask if it was still on and if it still looked ok!!! Mr. Perfection!!! The painted on smile along with his natural big ol' smile made for a GINORMOUS smile for us all to enjoy!!

Mr. Fireman, aka Rhett Man. I have never seen a more proud fireman, he kept saying "they'we pwobably gonna think I'm a weal fireman guys"(with the famous Rhett big serious eyes and eyebrows)!! He wanted a cardboard fire truck to carry along with him so bad but thank goodness we talked him our of it cause we didn't even make it home with his hat or his water pack, the last thing in the world we needed was one more thing to carry!!!

The Wittle Wabbit, aka Rilyn Awnry. So as you can see the attempt for a pink nose and whiskers ... failed (there was nooooo waaayyyyy little miss thang was accepting that) and although we were able to ditch blanky & bear bear for the night, we had no such luck with binkie who tagged along with us all evening!!!

Trey, Aiden & Rhett trick or treating!!

Everyone is already talking about next year's costumes and I keep telling them ... lets get through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Birthdays, etc etc .... then we'll start planning next years costume ideas!!! LOL!!!

RILYN'S PAINTING DEBUT!!

For anyone who hangs around us or who has read my blog .. its pretty obvious how much my kids love to paint .. hahaha .. they are pretty much painting fanatics!! Well Rilyn finally got a chance to join in on the madness and painted momma my very first picture which of course I dated and will display in her scrapbook, after it comes down from the fridge of course!!! She loved every second of it ... of course!!!

ANNUAL PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY

This years pumpkin carving party was awesome and we ended up with some pretty rockin' jackolantern's!! All the kids did a great job on their pumpkins as well as the adults who participated!! Although I am still finding random pumpkin seed's around the house, LOL!! All the food turned out amazing as well ... we had "mummy" meatloaf, mashed taters, veggie casserole & some homemade pumpkin bread along with many other snacks and goody's!!

Hangin' out by the fire after the pumpkin carving festivities!!

The line up: Corey, Riley, Charlotte, Alyson, Kaia, Trey, Rhett, Ashlynn & Cortney!!

Trey hard at work, who refused ANY help!!

Grandma & Aunt Lacey!!

Rhett man did an awesome job and also required very little help!!