Christmas is Coming!

This month has been really fun and festive!

We started off with decorating the house. Elsie really enjoys helping me put ornaments on the tree.
Notice how they are all bunched at the bottom of the tree. My friend and I hosted a cookie exchange, so Elsie and I made some sugar cookies for all the kids to decorate.

We got together with some friends to decorate graham cracker houses.

We've had the Christmas music playing, and Elsie is learning the words to all the songs. We're all super fans of good ol' Bing Crosby stuff thanks to Aaron. Elsie has been opening the doors on her advent, and loves getting a little something every morning. I've got most of the my shopping done, but I can't figure out what to get Aaron. It always stresses me out...I am not a good gift giver. I think it's the perfectionist in me. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

Snow Day

We got a bunch of snow a couple of weeks ago. It was more snow than we've had in a long time. Elsie and I bundled up and went down to our friends house to play. I had to carry Elsie all the way down the road because the snow was too deep for her to walk in.

We made some snowmen. Our friend, Ellie, made this one all by herself.

Pam and I thought it would be fun to make BSU and BYU snowmen, so I made the trek back to my house to gather up some BYU gear. We thought it turned out pretty cute! When I showed Aaron the picture when he got home, he just said, "You guys are weird." I guess he didn't appreciate our talents!

Elsie got round two of playing when Daddy got home from work.

I'm so grateful I got to enjoy the day with Elsie and didn't have to go anywhere. I'm so grateful for a husband who gets out and shovels snow right away, so we can get around easier. I'm so grateful we don't have this much snow all the time!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had such a great Thanksgiving! We went up to Jared/Lindsay's house and spend the weekend with all my siblings. Ang and Q came down from ML, and Mitch came in from New York.

It really was just the perfect weekend. The kids played and played...I hardly saw Elsie at all. We stayed up late, played lots of games, ate TONS of food, went out to eat without the kiddos, watched football, danced, visited, and went to the movie.

All the ladies went to see "Tangled" while the boys watched football. Elsie had been looking forward to it so much. Grandma and Grandpa Wise bought her this Rapunzel doll when we were down there last, and she sleeps with it every night. She brought it to the theatre and held it for most of the movie. The girls having a water and popcorn "tea" party.

There was a lot of climbing, playing, wrestling, and horse-riding. Carson is a good sport!

And, of course, staying up late and having sleepovers.

We had a great Thanksgiving meal. I made some rolls (my first time ever...they were pretty good and kept the kids fed for the next 4 days!). We had a great turkey, lots of yummy side dished made by Mitch and Lindsay, and yummy desserts...pumpkin cheesecake and cupcakes. Dessert is always my favorite part!

The whole gang!

November

I took Elsie and couple friends to a movie. They had a good time. I'll admit, I was a little nervous taking three girls all by mself, but they were so good. They sat in their seats and ate their treats. I snuck a few treats in for myself as well! Just some cute pictures of Elsie running. I just love the faces she makes when she's working hard and concentrating.

Rockin' Robin

We went out to Red Robin while they were here. So delicious and so fun!

We laughed all weekend about how different Q and Elsie are when it comes to personal space. Elsie needs her space and Q loves to be in your space. I think Q won this time!

My Halloween Post...very late

Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving is just next week. Where does the time go?!

We asked Elsie what she wanted to be for Halloween, and she was determined to be Sleeping Beauty. I'll admit...not my favorite princess. But she was not budging. So I figured we would buy her an awesome costume from the Disney Store when we were in Utah. She reminded me that she already had the costume in her dress-up box from Christmas and we didn't need to buy another one. (So practical...it was taking the fun out of it for me!!) Those weren't fancy enough for me, so we bought the nice dress from the store anyway. But it was too itchy, so we returned it. When we got home and were getting her costume ready for her preschool party, I suggested switching to the Cinderella dress-up because it came with more accessories (and I had the right clothes to wear under it to stay warm). She went for it and LOVED it!!

Ang and Q came down for Halloween weekend. What a blast! The first night we had Alysha and Myca (and families) over for dinner. The next night we went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. Here's Elsie and Q modeling their costumes.

Q, Hailey, and Elsie

Elsie and Q loved getting candy from everyone. Am I the only one that thinks Trunk-or-Treat is pretty lame?

Then it was time to carve a pumpkin. Aaron usually gets pretty into it, but he was not feeling it this year. He agreed to do one pumpkin, so I could take pictures. I was trying to catch his concentration face, so he tried extra hard to just keep smiling.

A little bit of concentration...not as good as it usually is.

Elsie, on the other hand, was doing some major concentrating!!

Good job, Dad!

While Aaron was carving, Ang was keeping the girls happy with a little dancing. The hit of the evening was "Time Warp".

Q also found a nice comfy spot under the table.

We loved having them here to visit and hang out. Ang and I made some delicious peanut butter, chocolate, and pretzel cupcakes, Aaron watched the girls while Ang and I went out to a movie, we did a little shopping, handed out candy to trick-or-treaters, and had lots of playtime!

Elsie played on Angie's iphone. She loved the memory game.

We handed out candy both Saturday and Sunday night. The girls loved it. In fact, they didn't even care to go out and trick-or-treat. I didn't mind staying in, but it does concern me just a tad that my child doesn't care to collect crazy amounts of candy. Where did she come from?!

Here's to a great Thanksgiving and Christmas!!