December Flew By...

As always, December goes by way too fast.  Here's a few of the things that happened in our family....

All five ready for church.  Alyssa has started making weird faces

Andrew turns 11

Getting some new camping gear for scouts.

Andrew is my science fan.  He's excavating a mummy.

Annual Gingerbread houses-Chris and the three littles.

Team two-the two big boys and me 

Andrew had a pian recital at Kori's house.  He memorized his two songs and is really enjoying piano.

We had our annual Christmas Eve celebration and Alyssa was the angel (with ladybug wings).   We work with what we have.

The "Three Wise Guys" as Chris' family refers to them.  

I LOVE this picture because of Hailey's expression.  Kind of like, "Not sure you're up for the job."  Hailey as Mary and Zach as Joseph.

Making reindeer food before bed on Christmas Eve.

New pajamas for everyone.

Christmas morning-Santa brought her the suitcase that she wanted.

The 3DS was a big hit

Her next American Girl

An IPOD touch.

Another IPOD touch.  I miss the days when he asked for a frisbee!

Playing his new toy with his backpack and robe on.  He was too funny walking around like this.

My eye was twitching, but these 3 boys were in this position most of Christmas Day.

Playing a game together

For more fun, my sister and her family flew out to our house on Christmas night to stay for 10 days.  We loved having them and the cousins were in heaven.  Paul showing Hailey a game that he can play on the IPAD.

Sweet Lily

This old teeter totter was a big hit over the break.  It provided hours of entertainment and the kids would flip each other over.

The girls watching something as their legs are all tangled up together.

Hailey flipping Sammi.

Winter gear

I have a lot of catching up to do with my blog, but I just love this picture and thought I would put it up before thinking about all the other ones I need to do.  Funny girl.

Bathroom Remodel

We decided to update our 2 upstairs bathrooms and my parents wanted to see the result.  Here it goes:  This is the old view of the kids bathroom.

New view: Same vanity, but different granite, mirrors, lights, faucets, etc.  And new paint!!

Old kids bathroom

New bathroom with new tile, new shower, etc.

Old master bath

New master: new tile, new vanity, curtains, paint, chandelier, etc.

Old

New shower, etc

Old vanity, etc.

New

Thanksgiving

We were lucky this year to have my parents with us during Thanksgiving.  It was low key, but fun to have them here.  They left this afternoon and we are missing them already!

Hailey was in charge of the decorations and had a great time creating the turkey centerpiece, name places and napkin rings.  We love her creativity.

 Apparently, Andrew loves mashed potatoes!

 An extremely familiar sight...my Dad cleaning.  :)

 Our "thankful tree"...the kids were writing down what they were thankful for.

 Fun and games...arm wrestling.

 My dad was a sport and wrestled with the kids for a long time.  He and Hailey kept trading insults, but she quickly backed down when the "big bear" took down the "little mosquito" (a scene that is reminiscent of my own childhood).

He even took Carter to the mat. 

Showing her tough attitude.

Cruise 2012

One of our favorite activities is going on cruises especially with family.  This November, we were able to go on a cruise with some of Chris' family.  His sister Janene and her husband Curtis, his brother Ben and his wife Shani, and his brother Spencer and his wife Bonnie all went with us.  We had such a wonderful time just hanging out with them and had the added bonus of going to Honduras, Mexico and Belize.  We had a great time with activities like zip lining, cave tubing, ATV riding, snorkeling, creating our own scavenger hunt, learning napkin folding, hip hop dancing, various circus tricks, shuffle board, playing multiple games and most of all talking excessively about everything.  We are ready to go again with them any time.  Thanks to Shani, we have hundreds of pictures to remind us of our fabulous time, but I'll only post a couple.

 The three brothers.  Can you see the resemblance??

 Chris and his sister, Janene, the only sister on the trip.

 The back of the ship.  The water was SO blue!

 The boy table at lunch.  What a great group.

The girls