My little Bro. . .

All my Mother wanted for Christmas was senior pictures of my brother...so I begged and pleaded him to let me take his picture!! He did not want me to....or anyone to! But after weeks of annoying the heck out of him, on December 23, he agreed to let me take only a few! It was dusk and FREEZING COLD out! But for a not so into it model and bad weather, I thought they turned out okay!

This little guy...well he's not so little any more, it my favorite teenager on the planet! He and I have always been close! He slept in my bed until I was married!! I am so proud of him and I CAN NOT believe he is so old...wow! I love this guy!!

Tree Hunting...

We go to the forest every year to get our Christmas tree!! And every year it makes for quit the adventure!! This year was no different!!

We went up a mountain, and Chris took us on some crazy hard hike to find...."our family tree"....it took almost an hour of walking to find the right one!!! Good thing Chris is so much fun and completely entertaining or this might not have been so much fun!! The kids had a blast! He let them help chop it down too! They also got little trees for their bedrooms!!

When we did make it back to the car, it was fun to play a little, and have a little hot coco! Chris got his Jeep this summer and this is it's first Christmas tree hunt with us! Chris was pretty excited to test it out in the snow...and even more excited after our handle gripping ride because it drives so well in the snow!! It really is and out doors guy kind of car...and that is why it fits my hunky husband so well!!

It was dark by time out tree hunting adventure of 09 was done!! It was lots of fun, I'm so grateful to live in such a beautiful place, were tree hunting is actually possible!!

Poor number 3....

Sometime the holidays can just be exhausting!!

Especially if your child #3!!!

ALWAYS napp'en on the fly! ALWAYS a spectator at the Beenz show or the Mase show! Well today while getting her dressed I left her shirt on the ironing board...went to get it and came back to her like this!! It's was only 9:45 in the morning too!!!

Snowflakes. . .

My little Beenz has become a pro snowflake maker! She got so into this this year! We have probably 100 snowflakes hanging ALL over the house! Plus we've given many to Nana, the neighbors, some friends, and her teacher at school! It was really fun!

Mase's were not ummm...as detailed. She tried to teach him how to fold the paper right, but it's pretty tricky!! So his were a little different than hers but...I told them, no two snowflakes are the same! After making their first 100 or so...they decided to spice them up with glitter! It makes the most beautiful snowflake, it what Beenz said...that is what I keep telling myself....since it's January and I'm still cleaning up glitter!!

But it did make our living room, and kitchen and bedrooms and bathrooms and playroom....all look so festive!!!

Gigner Bread Houses....

This year we had 2 Gingerbread House making parties!!

One with the little ones, and one with older girls!

First the little kids, Mase, Moosee and 3 other little boys! They were all really into it at first! The boys were really interested in opening, looking through and sampling, all the candy! Mase surprised me and spent about 25 minutes on decorating his house! The other boys were out of there pretty quick once the decorating began! Moosee stayed the longest adding all her candy...and once hers was all gone she just started using everyones left overs!

Once she was done, I found myself and the other Mom's all sitting around decorating the houses! We had lots of fun laughing as our houses leaned to one side and some even collapsing!!!

The next little party was with 5 little girls! Wow...what a difference!!!

These little girls were all about the decorations!! Once the construction of the houses were done, they went to town!!! Trading candies, getting ideas from each other, it was adorable! They spent almost 2 HOURS decorating and chatting away! I LOVED it!!! My camera died and I did not get any shots of the girls...big bummer!! But again, me and the other moms just could not help but get in on the action! We had fun decorating and fixing falling house!!

This was such a fun Christmas thing to do! It's a must do again next year!!!

Polar Express. . .

This year our family went on the Polar Express!!

Now, it was not quit like the movie...actually pretty far from it...but that did not stop us from having SO much fun! My children, my husband, myself, my nieces, and my older brother laughed so hard that I hard tears streaming down my cheeks, and my side hurt! I was really proud of us for....making it fun!! We could have been disappointed and thought the train ride was a little....maybe lame...but instead we were silly and made the night one of my greatest of all times!!!

I LOVED the Polar Express and with this group....would do it again in a heart beat!!!!!!!!!!

Santa...I want a BIG HOOJ (aka...huge) CHOO-WA-WA Goog (aka...dog) Then she puts her hand out...and waits...for the dog!

Oops! Should have explained this one a little better!

Mase...Can I please get some green army men...you know like on Toy Story the movie...and a race car track, thanks Santa!

Beenz...Hi Santa!!! So...this year I was really really really hoping to get a Rebecca American Girl doll. She's the new America Girl doll, she replaced Samantha because they put Samantha in the American Girl vault, but that's okay cause I have her...but anyway...I would also really really really like a pink DSI, now if I only get one or the other that's okay too, but I've been good this year! ...she says all this with a such animation, you'd think she was on a television show!!!!

Best Buds...

These two are so cute! They are the best of buds! When Mase is at school Moosee will say...Mom we get Ma from school nooooow???...it's pretty cute!

Make Up. . .

Last week Joy invited me to a "make up" party, and oh my gosh it was so fun!! I NEVER wear this much make up! But it was fun, to try new stuff and learn new ways of wearing make up!! Fun girls day!!

Halloween. . .

This year for Halloween our family was the Peter Pan Crew! This was all Beenz idea because Moosee loves Tinker Bell so much! It turned out pretty cute and we all had fun with it!!I was Wendy. . . My goodness...that Captain Hook is handsome!!
aka...Christopher!
Beenz was Tiger Lily!
Mase was Peter Pan!!
and Mo was Tinker Bell!!!!
Playing games at the Ward Party!!

Trick-or-Treating with all the cousins!
We had a great Halloween, I can't believe it has already come and gone!!

Pumpkin Patch. . .

Playing with the pumpkin sling shot! Funny thing is...right after I took this picture Chris stood up and the two little ones went flying on their bums!!

Moosee's is a Daddy's girls!!!!!

When Moosee's would get scared of something she would close her eyes like this!! So funny!!

Leave it to Beenz to find some kind of animal....this time it was a frog! He was her best friend all day and she was sad to leave it!!

So because of 2 soccer games a Saturday, a school carnival, a church activity, pta training and work....we had not made it to the pumpkin patch as a family yet...so on Halloween day, we decided to go! It was so much fun!! I am so glad we braved the foggy...almost raining weather! The kids had a blast!! Almost no one was there and everything was 1/2 price!

Slumber Party. . .

Just recently Chris's sister and her husband and their little guy...who we call Bear...moved here and my kids love having them around!

Our husbands were both out of town Friday so we had a movie night, slumber party!! The kids had so much fun jumping on the air matress and Beenz!!

It's was great fun!!

Oh My Moose. . .

Last week I was cleaning my bathroom...which was way over due for a cleaning...and Moose was playing in the playroom...or so I thought!!!

I come out to find her and this beautiful sight!

She is such a big girl, she got the paint out, got out a paper plate, poured the paint on the plate, got out a paper and a paint brush, put them all on the counter and then decided after her paper was all full she would jsut pain herself!!!!

Talk about Miss. Independent!!!

It's that time again. . .

That time again...for crazyness!!

SOCCER SEASON!!!

But we love it!!

This is Mase's first year playing and Daddy is the coach! Mase loves that! We have the youngest most timid team out there but they are having fun!!

This is Beenz first year in U-10!

Holy competitive!!

Wow don't know that I was ready for it!

But again, she loves it! She has a the greatest U-10 coach, Uncle Joel and her 2 cousins are on her team so it's been a fun season!!

They have had a good season and it's fun to watch her play with the same girls and watch them all move up together!

All this soccer makes for a busy week!!

Mase's Turn. . .

So 2 weeks after Beenz started school it was Mase's turn! Mase goes to such an awesome pre-school! He went to the same one last year, and it was a little painful! He was shy all year and I stayed with him most days but...this year...SO different!

He was like see ya Mom! I know what to do!

I was a little shocked...as were his pre-school teachers! Moose if course cried when we left...she wants to go to school so bad!!

When I went to pick him up he was as happy as can be! This year has been a dream compared to last year!

I am so grateful!!

(and I only cried a little)

Our Little...3 Grader...WHAT?!?

This was the outfit she wore on her 2nd day of school! Nana took the girls shopping and they all 3 bought this matching outfit!!! They looked adorable!!!

Beenz was so super excited for her first day of 3rd grade!! I on the other hand can't seem to face the fact that she is really in 3rd grade!! I must have told 10 people that she was in 2nd! It just sounds so old...a 3rd grader...!!!!!!!

She was thrilled and picked out her outfit all by herself! I love her teacher this year, she was my 5th grade teacher...funny! But I loved her then!

Beenz was most excited that she got her own desk that actually opens!! I didn't cry at school and made it almost all the way home, when Chris said just think, next year Beenz will be in 4th grade, Mase in Kindergarten, and Moosee will be in preschool! Well that did it, the tears then started!!