Christmas Eve Day

We had a great time this year in our own home for a change. We decided that we needed to start/continue on traditions and one of those is having Christmas at our home. All other Christmases but one we have woken up in somebody else's home and we decided that we wanted to be home for a change. :) Christmas Eve Day was a lot of fun. We played games, ate good food (we did our big Christmas dinner a day early with yummy ham and trimmings), Addison mailed her letter to Santa (I forgot to have her mail it early, good thing it's day delivery to the North Pole!). We also enjoyed the evening watching the First presidency Christmas Message that we missed earlier in the month. After that Addison dressed as "Mary" and her baby doll dressed as "Jesus" with Clark as the "shepherd" reenacted the manger scene as I read from the scriptures. I don't think I have ever seen Addison be so sweet and soft with her baby doll. It was so special. Clark got a sheep stuck on his foot... it was pretty funny. Addison and Clark then got to open a present from Mom and Dad (a tradition from Tyler's family that he wanted to carry on). They both got to open a present and both presents were for both of them... if that makes any sense... After that Addison sprinkled reindeer food outside and put a cookie and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. It took Addison a little while to calm down enough to finally fall asleep, but Clark was out fairly quick after a busy day. More on Christmas to come....

Happy Birthday Addison!

Our sweet little girl is now three years old! She is growing up so fast. Some of Addison's favorite things to do are pretending, reading, anything to do with art (coloring, painting, gluing, cutting, glitter, etc), going for walks and lots more. She is the cutest puppy or kitty you have ever seen and we just love having her as part of our forever family. She wanted a princess party this year so she got it! Grandma with red hair (my mom) made the beautiful Barbie princess cake for her party on the 17th and I made the boring :) 9X13 cake for her actual birthday on the 18th. We had a fun game of pin the crown on the princess which Tyler made and a lovely pinata compliments of Grandma again. We had lots of family come. Thank you for making it special and being there everyone that could! We love you all. Addison is also enjoying the many gifts and fun things she received. We love you Addison!!!

Kids having fun

Here are just some pictures I took of us at the park today! We love the park even when it's cold! Boy oh boy Clark sure has a cute personality! Addison is growing up so much too. She keeps telling me she is growing up. :( Sometimes I wish they could stay little forever then I realize that I love watching them learn new things and have new experiences and I am grateful that we have the Gospel so that we can be with them forever!

First Real Snow

I made the mistake of having Addison look out the window at 6:30 this morning right after she woke up because immediately she was asking me if she could go out and play in the snow... We made it to 8:30 I think before we finally went out and played. She absolutely loved it! Clark enjoyed it for about 20 minutes and then I think he was just frustrated he kept falling down and couldn't pick up anything with his hands covered. Tyler did a great job on the snowman. Addison had little to do with helping but she likes him! :) It makes me feel like Christmas is almost here! Happy Snowy Day Everyone!!!

Fall Fun Part 3- Halloween activities

We did way more this year to celebrate Halloween then we have ever done. I think it's because we actually have a child old enough to enjoy it.

The Friday before Halloween we went to the library for story time and the kids were allowed to dress up and go "trick-or-treating" around the library.

Then on Saturday we went to Boo at the Zoo. Oh my it was so crowded and crazy. Addison was so excited but by the time we were actually in the zoo she just seemed overwhelmed and didn't want to look at the animals or go to the booths and get candy. About half an hour into it was found the Trumoo booth and got chocolate milk and that's when she finally wanted to start seeing the animals and started enjoying it all a little bit. Thank goodness for chocolate milk! :) Clark however enjoyed the music and was dancing in the stroller and seemed to be quite interested in all these weirdly dressed people. Oh if you can't tell by the pictures Addison was a Kitten for the library and zoo, but turned into a ladybug for Halloween. The ladybug costume was from 2 years ago and I was very surprised it fit still! Clark was a peapod who was not so thrilled about it either.

We carved pumpkins on Sunday the 30th. Addison only had a little nap after Church and was grumpy until the very end when she said that she wanted a silly face for her pumpkin. So we made a silly oval mouth just like she made on her face! After that she had a blast helping me carve the pumpkin... She wanted to do it all by herself but I didn't think it was such a good idea so she settled on helping me instead.

Ok so I think we have finally made it to Halloween... My Mom was down for a doctor appointment so we had a good time with her. It was so nice to have her here to help with the kids so I could make dinner without Clark under my feet plus the kids just love having her here to play! I made pumpkin shaped pizza maybe next year I will try to do a "spooky supper" like the Whitworths do. It is always so fun! Addison could hardly stand it she was so excited for when we left to go trick-or-treating. She remembered to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" (with some encouragement:) She kept saying. "Let's go to another house!" Clark rode in the stroller eating one of his peas happily. :0 Then we headed back home to watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." It was a very fun Halloween. Oh Tyler even sort of dressed up to take Addison to the door. He was going for detective.... I think... :) Happy Halloween everyone!

Fall Fun Part 2- Playing in the leaves

So we had been having a lot of fun playing in the leaves again this year. In one of the pictures you can see Tyler with the leaf blower (from DI only like $15.00!) but instead of blowing leaves he is balancing a ball on the air. :) Addison thought it was pretty cool. She sure does love her Daddy and the silly things he does. The kids had fun stomping in the pile of leaves we made and of course throwing them into the air. Our street is lined with maples and they are so gorgeous right now with all the different fall colors.

Clark has a blast pushing his toy up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. We have to be careful not to let him have too much of a head start because he is sure fast.

We are enjoying life and are trying to count our blessings often.

Fall Fun Part 1 -- Black Island Farm

So this year we have been having a lot of fun with Fall. I put part one because we seem to do a lot during the Fall and since the kids are awake right now I don't know how much I will get posted. This year we got free tickets to go to The Black Island Farm. Addison had a blast on all the huge slides made out of hay bales and slick plastic. I think she spent about an hour total climbing and sliding. Kevin, Hallie and Mom Whitworth came with us as well. It was a lot of fun. The Farm had animals that the kids could feed and sort of pet (if the animals came close enough), a barrel train to ride in behind a tracker. We ran out of time the night we went so the following saturday we went back and took a "hay ride" aka uncomfortable bench seats on a trailer pulled behind a tracker to get our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. Addison picked a super skinny tall pumpkin and was convinced that was the one she wanted so that's what she got. Tyler did a great job carving it which you will see in later pictures... We had a blast! I think we may even pay to go next year... There were way more things to do then I even listed and we didn't get to spend time at everything that I would have liked to do.