Christmas Fun

This Christmas, we decided to go up north to visit family and then head home to be at our own house for Christmas morning.  It was a whirlwind few days, but so nice to be with family.  I took my camera with me...but didn't take a single picture...seriously...but thankfully my family took a few pictures and emailed them to me.  

Playing in the snow with cousins.  My mom went out with them and took ice cream buckets and they made an igloo.  They were outside playing THE ENTIRE DAY.

Inside the igloo

They wanted a picnic lunch...so we made hot chocolate and cheese quesadillas.  They made seats and a table to enjoy.

My dad built a little race track and got little cars that you pull back and let go, and the kids had a great time racing the cars.

We walked around the Layton City lights

Aunt Sara gave the girls all scarves, they LOVED them!

My parents with the grankids

 The cousins on Sunday, all dressed in their Christmas best

We got home Christmas Eve night, unpacked from our trip, got ready for Santa to come and opened up Christmas jammies.

After getting one decent picture, I told them to make silly faces.  They take that very seriously.

Christmas morning came...and luckily the kids all slept in until about 8, which was wonderful.  I only took a few pictures, but that will have to do.  

We enjoyed the quiet, lazy day with nowhere to be.  

It was a very nice Christmas!  I sure love our family!

Kid Funnies . . . again

I have many posts to catch up on, I know...but I seem to have lost some drive for blogging lately.  I kind of feel like my ability to put into words how I'm feeling has left me, so I start a post, get a few sentences in and give up thinking I'll come back to it.  And I don't.  Anyway, eventually I'll get around to updates for Christmas and what not.  But for now, enjoy some great kid funnies!

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I asked Brielle and Claire to clean their bedroom and enjoyed this gem of a conversation:
Brielle: I'm bored!
Claire: No you're not. Being bored means there is no one around to talk to or chat with, nobody to play with, no toys or anything.
Brielle: No it doesn't!
Claire: Yes it does. So would you rather be homeless, eat grass and dirt and pick up worms as pets or clean up a bedroom?
Brielle: *no response - but I imagine a dirty look to her sister*
Claire: That's what I thought.

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Claire:
At Costco, we passed two women and a boy who were speaking Spanish to each other.  Claire points and says, kind of loudly, "Hey look, they're Spanish!"  I quietly shushed her and told her it's not nice to point and say things about people - especially when we're that close to them.  She responded: "Why?  They can't understand me."

A little background to this one:  A boy at school said to Brielle, "Who is that midget?" while pointing at Claire.  When we explained to her what a midget was, she said "I am taller than TWO kids in my class!" OK...back to the story.  At Costco (again) we passed a boy that looked to be about 10 years old.  Claire points at him and says, "Mom, is he a midget?"  Uh.....I said "No.  Stop pointing and saying things about people, it's not nice."  She then said to me, "Well, it's just hard sometimes to tell if someone is a midget or just short...and so I thought he was a midget."

Claire likes to refer to people at school as "a brown skin" and "a white skin".  We've tried repeatedly to have her change the way she says that to, they HAVE brown skin or they HAVE white skin.  So far it isn't working.

*sings Skip to my Lou* What is so great about skip to my Lou? Why would you skip to the Lou? Why would you be so happy to go to the bathroom?  Apparently she lived in England in a previous life.

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Addison has been providing us with a LOT of material lately.  This kid cracks me up!

Addison:
Addison stopped one of the primary leaders and said, "Can I tell you something?" The leader said sure. Then Addison said, "Sometimes, when I'm tired, I rub my eyes and pick my nose with my hands." We just looked at each other and laughed.  Apparently she has yet to learn that some things are better kept secret.

We were at the grocery store and passed a polygamist woman (we see a lot of them around here).  Addison loudly said, "Look mom!  She looks like she's from a movie!"  The lady kind of looked at us and smiled politely.  I just smiled and kept walking, so embarrassing.  Of course we started to come down the same aisle as her again later, so rather than deal with Addison embarrassing me again, I quickly changed my path to a different aisle. :)

Earlier in December, Addison told me she wants a pretend meatball and a log toy for Christmas. Apparently I could have saved a lot of money on her gifts if I'd have known sooner.

Addison to my mom: Our car isn't a ME-kon, it's a YOU-kon. (Yukon)

The song "There is Sunshine in My Soul" came on and I asked Addison if she had sunshine in her soul. Without skipping a beat she said, "Nope, just dark". That explains lot.

Addison: Yum, I love grapes! Now mom, say to me 'I thought you hated grapes.'
Me: Ok, I thought you hated grapes.
Addison: What?! No, that must have been just a dream you had. I love grapes now.

Addison: Mom, do you remember that ride we rode at Lagoon that we got wet and I was scared, you know, Rattlesnake Bunny?
Me: You mean Rattlesnake Rapids?
Addison: Oh yeah, Rattlesnake Rabbits. It was scary. 

I think we'll call it Rattlesnake Bunny from now on.

Happy Birthday Molly!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Miss Molly!  I can't believe she is 2 years old, the time has just flown by with her.  I have to admit, she has Marty and I completely smitten and wrapped around her finger.  Molly is sweet, loving, happy, funny and we just love her to pieces.

We had a very low key birthday celebration for Molly, just our little family.  A few of us are a little under the weather, so it was nice to just relax.

Enjoy some pictures from her special day.

(Please excuse her messy hair and shirt...this was at the end of the day and she had spilled some food at dinner.)

When the girls' first handed Molly a present, she excitedly sat on it...apparently she thought it was a cool new seat.  It took a minute to convince her to open it and see what was inside.

She kept standing in front of me yelling "Cheese!" and making me take pictures of her.  She is so funny.

Taking it all in

Showing me some of her presents

She got a baby doll and bottles, and kept trying to drink out of them.

Her very own slippers so she doesn't have to steal her sisters'

 Molly was very uncertain about the candles, and just kind of stared.

When Marty helped her blow them out (after she tried, unsuccessfully, many times) she was a little wary of the smoke.

So there we have it.  Another birthday down...these kids keep growing up too darn fast!

We love you Molly Molly!

Phone Pictures

It's been a while since I've posted pictures from my phone, so some of these date back to before Halloween...oh well. :)

Someone had some issues getting a box of cereal open.

Addison had left a flower on a shelf by the crib.  Apparently instead of sleeping, Molly decided to shred the leaves and play with them like confetti.

Perfecting Swig sugar cookies...just about have them perfected!

My mom came down for a visit...apparently we're too much of a party.

Molly likes to wear her food 

Once in a while my neighbor will bring a ton of bananas to us (long story short, someone gives them to him and he doesn't need them all).  I usually try to make a few loaves of banana bread and take him one.

 I was cleaning the living room and looked under the couch...there I found two pieces of celery.  Very random. 

Molly enjoying a Swig cookie...or at least the frosting. 

Merry Christmas to us!  Nothing like a bill saying, "Your insurance won't cover any of this..." :P

A "Thank You" note from Claire.

Cousins watching a movie while we were visiting for Thanksgiving

Claire helping me get the lights on our Christmas tree

Addison found some tinsel garland and ripped it up to decorate the cupboard handles.  It didn't last long as the little pieces were falling all over the place.

Had a bout of sickness going through the house the last week or so...Claire was obviously resting comfortably.

We got new couches!  Our sectional was ripped, cracked, sagging and a mess.  We hadn't had it that long, so we were super disappointed that it just was junk.  But these new couches are SUPER comfy.  We love them. 

Claire thought she was feeling better and went to school.  When she got home she laid down and fell asleep again.

I fell off a chair trying to hang up birthday decorations for Addison...it hurt.

We got a HUGE snow storm.  6" in one day!

That same day, Brielle and Claire had a performance for the singing group they are in.  It's basically a kid's show choir, they sing and do choreography.  They performed at a Christmas festival, and are performing at a retirement center next week.  They LOVE it and did a great job.

Leaving the performance, the snow was really coming down.

Molly wanted me to take her picture and Addison joined in on the fun.

Our elf on the shelf decided to copy Miley Cyrus...poor confused elf.

Had to make rolls for a Christmas party...learned the hard way that my convection setting on my oven doesn't work.  The first batch I did on regular for 12 1/2 minutes...second batch I decided to try the convection to see if it would more evenly bake them (the first got a little more done on the bottoms).  This was after 11 minutes.  I would say that the experiment was a failure.  Thankfully the party was cancelled because it was supposed to be outside and it's just too darn cold, so I don't have to immediately try and whip up another batch.

Addison caught the dreaded bug and kept falling asleep on the couch.  So over being sick!

And that is that...caught up a little more. :)