Christmas Joy!


This year has been a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my grandma Black's house. She is 97 years old and still going strong. My Grandma is so amazing, she even made treats, and cookies for us. We had an aw some dinner with my older brother and his family, my little brother and his fiance, my aunt and uncle, and their two sons. After dinner and visiting we all went to Dan's parents to visit. We exchanged gifts, and the kids acted out the nativity. The kids had fun. Kate was an adorable angel, and Kirk loved pretending to be a cow. Then we headed home to get the kids in bed before Santa came. Kate kept looking out the van window to watch for Rodolph's nose. When we got home we were kneeling in the living room for family prayer, when there was a loud knocking noise from the wind. We told the kids that Santa was trying to get in to leave their presents. I've never seen Kates eyes so wide. She ran up to her room and jumped into bed. Kirk slept on Kates floor. The next morning we were pleasantly surprised that the kids slept in until 8:00. They were so excited about Santa. The first thing they said was "did Santa eat his cookies". We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family to share this special time of year with. We are especially grateful to our Savior Jesus Christ. I love this time of year when everyone strives to be a little more giving, and a little bit better. May we always keep the spirit of our Savior in our hearts and homes.



Kate got a bike from Santa Kate and Kirk with their great Grandma Black

Kirk got a Darth Vader Costume he wears Kate and Kirk in front of the Christmas tree!

It all day everyday!

HO HO HO! Tis the season to be jolly!

I've enjoyed this season so much this year. The kids really get the whole Santa Clause thing, and are bouncing off the walls with excitement! Kate has been doing her count down till Christmas chain faithfully everyday. Here it is with only two days left before the big day. I feel like I'm pretty ready for it. I ventured to Walmart and Sam's club to do my last and final shopping for the Christmas festivities. Last night Kate had her Christmas dance recital. She looked adorable. At this young age they don't do alot of dancing, but she said that she had fun being on stage. Tonight we are having some of Dan's high school friends over, so I'm in a cleaning frenzy. I think it's good, because I would have taken a week off from cleaning. I think having people over is really good motivation for me to get into gear and pick up the house. Another Christmas miracle is that the kids have never played so well before. With only two days before Christmas I've reminded them that Santa knows when they fight. Well I'm so grateful for this time of year. I'm also so grateful for my wonderful family. I've been so blessed. Merry Christmas to all.



Kate in her Dance recital Costume! It's so darn cute!




Kirk shortly after devouring a chocolatey treat. He love's Chocolate, must take after his Mom

Christmas Cheer!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

This year Christmas seems to be coming at me full speed ahead. Last week I babysat my sister's kids for her, so I think being so busy just made the month seem so much shorterr. We've still been having a wonderful Christmas season. I absolutely love this time of year. I love the decorations, the music, and of course the shopping. Last week we decorated gingerbread houses. The kids really enjoyed that. We've also gone the the forgotten carols with Dan's family, and did the lights at the Layton park. Kate will be having her Christmas dance recital soon, and of course the many Christmas parties. I still have a ton of wrapping to get done, and also some toys to assemble. But other than that, I think we are just about ready. I hope that this season of the year finds everyone well and in good spirits. I am so grateful for the Savior. His birth was the greatest gift given to all men. May we all remember his life and goodness during this wonderful season. I know that through him we all may live again.

California Fun!

We just got back from Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. I've been dying to blog about our trip, it was so much fun! The kids loved Disneyland. It was so magical for them. We went to the magic kingdom the first night. We saw the parade which was awesome. All of the Disney characters from the most popular movies were in it. The kids were so excited. Then we did adventure land, and frontier land. I thought Kirk would love pirates of the Caribbean, but I was wrong! He usually isn't afraid of scary movies but the whole time he said, "I want to go home, I want to go home". I can't blame him though, it was alot scarier than I remembered it to be. The next day we did Fantasy land, and tomorrow land. We took kirk to the Jedi training academy. They pick out kids from the audience and let them fight with Darth Vader. He was to young to fight, but he loved watching. Darth Vader is Kirk's new hero. His cousin was Darth Vader for Halloween, and ever since he's been obsessed with Star Wars stuff. When Darth Vader left he bawled for five minutes. He wanted to meet him. So we went and bought him a light saber in one of the gift shops. He loved it. He had to take it with him every where we went, he even slept with it at night! I loves to fight Dan, and he always says to him " Da DA, you Luke, I Darth Vader". Kate's favorite part of Disney was of course the Princesses. We waited in line for 45 min. to see them. I was begining to wonder if it was going to be worth it, but it definitely was. She couldn't stop talking about them the rest of the day. We let her pick out a princess doll at the gift shop. They had an entire store totally devoted to princess stuff. Then we traveled down to San Diego to go to sea world, and to the zoo. It made for a nice change of pace. No crowds, and no lines to wait in. The kids loved seeing the whales. Kate said she wanted to get soaking wet at the shamu show. It was pretty amazing to see how the trainers could teach these wild massive animals to do those tricks. This was such a fun trip. We went with all of Dan's family. So this kids had a blast being with their cousins. I think Disneyland is the ideal vacation for a family. It was fun to relive the magic all over again with my kids.

Halloween fun

A couple of weeks ago we all went to the pumpkin patch with Kates preschool. The kids loved it! Kirk went out to the patch and found the tiniest pumpkin, he called it his "baby pumpkin". He also loved the field corn, he wanted to eat it. I love Halloween, picking out pumpkins, raking leaves, and dressing up in costumes. The kids were so excited for Halloween. The morning started with Kates preschool classes Halloween party. She was so excited to see all of her friends dressed up. Then Kirk and I headed to the store to get some candy. I wanted to get it at last minute, otherwise I'd probably eat a good portion of it before Halloween. Later after a good nap we headed to Dan's work. Lifetime puts on a great party, with candy games, and prizes the kids really enjoyed it. Then Dan took the kids out trick or treating. They actually went for a whole hour. About halfway Kirk plopped down on his knees, and just couldn't go any further. Dan carried him home on his shoulders. It's been fun to see the kids get into the holiday so much. Today both of them came upstairs with a empty garbage sack. They said they were catching ghosts in it. Kate was sure to tell me they were just pretend ghosts. Another fabulous Halloween surprise is that were having a little boy! I went into the doctors yesterday. He said that they are 95% sure. I'm thrilled I think it will be great for Kirk to have a little buddy. Kate took it pretty well. She was hoping for a sister. I think since her cousin Alexandra is having a little baby brother it's helped her with the idea of another brother. Well were off to my parents house to do some more trick or treating.

What will these kids think of next!

Okay,

I'm feeling a little bad about my last post. Especially since I love being a mom, and since I have two of the cutest kids on the face of the earth (of course that is a completely un-biased opinion)! But really they do come up with some of the funniest ideas at times. The other day Kirk came upstairs with my camera in his hands. I must have left it out because he managed to turn it on, and was walking around the house taking pictures. Here is what our home looks like from his two year old perspective! He took about twenty similar pictures! Then last night I was on my way out to go visiting teaching. The kids had been upstairs for quite awhile (we all know what that means). I told them I was going to leaving them with Dan, when they said "okay mommy we have a really big surprise for you when you get home!" That made me very nervous. I came back home and Kate and Kirk were so excited. They said close your eyes mommy. They then continued to lead me upstairs into my room. There on the floor was every single pillow, blanket, sheet, and couch cushion that exisits in our home. They were so proud of themselves. I had to take a picture! I couldn't believe it, they even stripped all of the blankets off of the beds. They then spent the rest of the evening jumping off my bed onto the "boat" that's what they call it. It keeps them safe from the crocodiles! Yes our children have very vivid imaginations!

Dinner no good? Get out the cold cereal!

Hey everybody. I just have to release some frustration with the challenges of being a mother. I'm not trying to complain, but hopefully some of you will relate to my evening. I spent 45 min. today making an edible dinner so that our family could sit down together and eat, only have the kids complain that they don't like it, and that they'd rather eat chicken nuggets for dinner! Then Dan rushed off to a meeting. I decided to tackle the dishes, meanwhile the kids fought over a balloon, each of them ended up crying about every 5 seconds. Then I herded them up to the bathtub. Kate refused to wash her hair, and cried the whole time like she was being tortured. I got the kids in their clean P.J's. Five minutes later kate spills milk down hers, and kirk poops in his diaper. I change Kate, and Kirk, then head downstairs. Promptly they both say "I'm hungry". I thought to myself, why in the heck do I even make dinner? So we go downstairs and all enjoy a bowl of cereal. Yes I ate one too! I needed some comfort food for my nerves. I actually took a picture to prove to the kids someday that they grew up on Kix's and rice krispies. I try to be a good mom, but I swear sometimes I feel like the things I do get undone if 5 seconds or less. Well I feel better now, I think I'll go tackle sweeping up the kitchen floor!

P.S. I hope I don't sound whiny in this blog, just needed to vent!