Dancing Queen

Jenna had her dance recital tonight. She did a wonderful job and we loved watching her. She had a wonderful smile plastered on her face the whole time and looked like she was really enjoying herself. They danced to a song from the Nutcracker and though I can't remember the name of the song, I know that it was something about snowflakes because that is what all of the little girls are supposed to be-Snowflakes. For weeks Jenna has been coming home from class telling me that whe was going to be a snowflake for her recital. I must admit that she is the cutest snowflake that I have ever seen!

The best part for her though really was the costume. She brought it home last night and was literally itching all day long to wear it...and who could blame her? It is any little princesses dream to wear a sparkly tutu like this one! She looked beautiful in it...like a little ballerina should and I'm sure that I will have a hard time keeping her in regular clothes for the next few days!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

It's beginning to feel like it too! I LOVE this weather. It's COLD! It's cloudy! It's the kind of weather that makes you want to sip hot cocoa and eat homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. It FINALLY feels like Christmas! For the record, this is also the kind of weather that makes me feel a little lazy. I would happily curl up with a good book and comfy blanket and read on the couch all day.

But congratulate me...I didn't do that today no matter how much I wanted to. Today I worked on digging my way through the pile of various things piled on the kitchen counter (sounds like fun, huh?) Then I had fun wrapping some presents (I love to wrap presents).

For Family home evening we braved the cold and possibility of rain and went to see the temple lights. I hereby declare rainy days the best days for going to look at temple lights. It wasn't crowded AT ALL! There should be at least one rainy day every December-do you think there is a way I could request that??? All joking aside, it really was nice to not be bumping into people all night. The kids had a great time and didn't mind the cold at all!

Dang Technology!!!!!

Why did all of my electronic gadgets decide to break on the same day??? Hello-don't they know how much I rely on them? Don't think they care that they are causing some difficulties in my life right now.

Friday morning I woke up to find that our decoder box to our satellite would not turn on. Disappointing...Loren is out of town for the next two days...how will I entertain myself in the evenings? Not to mention the kids! Oh well, I decide, we'll just listen to lots and lots of Christmas music...LOTS of it! Not so. My CD player broke less that 2 hours into our music marathon. What to do??? Find a replacement of course!

So instead of my wonderful 5 disc CD changer with great speakers...

I have been forced to listen to this lovely piece of...junk, really.

Loren brought this home from work. He found it. Someone else had decided that it was worthless...It's all warped and cracked, and your wouldn't believe how hard you have to slam the CD lid down in order to close it... but it works in a pinch and I have actually been grateful for it the past few days :)!

As for the TV...well we watched a few movies and discovered that we actually can get a few channels...the picture is horrible, but we can at least catch the news. The best part was realizing that the kids can entertain themselves without it and that is a very good thing to know! Loren on the other hand has decided that he would rather starve than go permanently without a TV (he wants his ESPN!)

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that Jenna also dunked one of our phones in a sink full of water and it could not be saved. At least we have two others strung through out the house to use!

What will break next? Please don't let it be any of my major appliances...I don't want to pay to replace them right now!

11 months old!

Oh my gosh- I can't believe my baby boy is 11 months old. Where did the time go? And what can I do to turn back the clock and have a couple of the past months back again? Or can I possibly just freeze time right now and keep him a sweet, cuddly baby forever? I don't want him to grow up. He is quite possibly the sweetest thing ever -of course I said that about all of the kids at some time or another, but he is the sweetest thing in my life right now and I am not ready to let that go.

Any how- Devin has been a busy boy this month and is doing lots of fun new stuff. He is getting good at standing on his own-I even got a picture...

He got tooth #2. Still no picture of them. I am wondering exactly how long it is going to take him to get all of his teeth...all of his sisters had more than 2 teeth as they neared the one year mark.

He is liking to try new foods and his newest faves are pizza, instant oatmeal (cinnamon roll flavor or maple and brown sugar) and toast. He likes chocolate chip cookies too! (this is his cookie face)

He hasn't been at all interested in the Christmas tree, which makes me very happy. It's like he doesn't know that it even exists, so I don't have to drag him away from it a thousand times a day! When I took him in to see it after we had decorated it he reached out to touch it and decided he liked it about as much as he likes grass! Much to prickly!

He of course celebrated his first Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. At Thanksgiving he discovered pumpkin pie which he LOVED and devoured and then begged for more.

He LOVES to play with his sisters, loves to laugh, loves to splash like crazy in the tub, and loves it when Loren comes home from wherever he has been...he crawls towards him and begs to be picked up. He continues to have the most kissable cheeks I have ever encountered, and I recently discovered that he loves it when I whisper in his ear.

Tonight my house looks like this...

This is not something I would normally do (because I like to pretend my house is always clean!)...but here goes!

Tonight my house looks like this.....

Because I spent the morning at the park with Jenna and Devin. The afternoon at the doctor with Taylor. And after school I took the kids to see Santa at Fry's. Then we came home and had Little Ceasar's pizza for dinner (so healthy) and helped Loren get ready for a trip to the sand dunes with his brothers.

So while my house it a total wreck tonight, I don't feel a bit guilty. I spent my day doing something much more worthwhile than cleaning!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love Christmas. I always have. And while I miss feeling the magic of it all that I felt as a child, I enjoy making the magic for my kids. So here are a few pictures of some of my favorite Christmas decorations...(they help make the magic)

I love the tree. I love to sit in the room where the tree is and read a book, or wander around on the computer, or just stare at the lights. I love to watch my kids as they wander around the tree and look at all of the ornaments. I remember that I never posted the pics of the girls decorating the tree, so here are a few. And just in case you're wondering, YES, we added a string of lights to the top of the tree. It looked funny up there with no lights.

I love this Santa. I just do.

This is one of my favorite things. Sparkley red christmas trees...What's not to like? Also love the Santa and Snowman music boxes next to the trees. My kids love to listen to them...they are from my mom.

And of course, What's Christmas without a nativity scene? I love Nativity Scenes. If I had a huge house with tons of space I would collect them.

Some of my other favorites didn't make it out of the boxes this year as I felt the need to protect them from the little crawler in our house who loves to pull glass things off of shelves, tables, etc.

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours!