Christmas all wrapped up.

So this was Christmas.

The Cookie Plate. I missed baking cookies with my mom this year and I missed taste testing one of each of her cookies, so I had to just make batches and batches so I could get my fill. Plus, baking Christmas cookies is just a happy tradition I have and want to let Chloe have. Oh the butter. Lots and lots of butter.

The lineup: candy canes. Snowballs. Gingersnaps. Chocolate Crinkle (a new addition) fudge. Pretzel-Pecans (a new addition that Chloe and B-rad made). I also made several loaves of this amazing cranberry almond bread. So baking was a hit.

We only delivered cookies to our friends in the ward with small or no families. We wanted them to feel loved. Plus, this lady here is one of a kind. She is so sweet to our little family. I forgot my camera at the other houses.

Christmas Eve we did the Nelson tradition and went bowling. I was so happy and surprised when B-rad pulled out coins and gave us money for stikes and spares and wearing christmas colors. That's what my dad does.

She earned money so she bought some candy. My score was Uh-mazing. 153. 3 strikes in a row followed by 4 spares and another strike.

Always twirling.
Never meets a thing he is afraid of.

Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight then into Jammies to watch Christmas movies then hear the Luke 2.

Christmas morning. She ran downstairs as fast as could be and squeeled with delight. Santa came!
This little man was interested in the 3 oranges and nothing else.

We were SOOO spoiled. We have the best families in the world and SANTA really loved our family, too. Thank you , thank you, thank you. The Nelson's did a homemade christmas. Here are the gifts B-rad and I received. So cute.

Christmas day we played in our beautiful "white christmas". We sledded and just sat in the snow.

We loved Christmas. We hoped you loved Christmas, too.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is coming

We attended a little program at Chloe's preschool and then we stayed the morning while she made crafts and had a story.

We made gingerbread houses. Chloe sporting her candy cane jams from "our elf" Kennedy.
We drove to Peoria to see this awesome Christmas light display. For sure the whale was the coolest.
And here she is singing Rudolph. The school had us make them their own "winter wonderland" shirt. I think they all look so cute.

Say what?

We just finished watching Polar Express and she stands up and turns to me and says right to my face, "mom, I believe."

Today we're watching Frosty the Snowman and she says to me, "see, that little girl is wearing shortsleeves in the winter."

I told her the story of Goldilocks after we finished Little Red

I say, "Once upon a time there was a little girl who's nickname was Goldilocks." Chloe turns to me and says, "no, her REAL name is Goldilocks."

"When I get older I am going to marry my dad in the temple."

The hospital will always be "the hostipal".

"Princesses don't wear brown."

"Princesses don't wear boots."

"I'm thinking we should go to Steak and Shake."

We got to open a Christmas present early and she was shreiking with delight as she ran into the kitchen where I was standing, "dad, we don't want mom to miss out."

And the reason I wrote this post, dedicated to her, was because she is just saying and doing the cutest things lately. We just love our little Bluebird so much.

Christmas time

The first snow. Doesn't matter how cold it is. Doesn't matter how dark it is. We played in the snow and caught snowflakes on our tongue. The other day she ate ice off of the car.

On a side note: I was looking at her the other day and noticed she had bangs. I asked her, "did you cut your hair?" And she says, "oh, yeah, this part." Like no big deal mom. She actually did quite a fine job and she has some nice trendy side bangs. Good thing it wasn't Ezra's hair or the top of her head. I made her repeat to me: 'I will never cut my hair with scissors again.'

This is the house that we drive by for fun. Really. Rumor has it a guy used to live across the street who did the same thing and then he moved. I saw that these plastic guys sale for 34 bucks at the store.
Same house. Just the side. They are packed in about 4 or 5 deep. There is another house by us that has the same amount of teddy bears. The big question is where is he storing these things. It doesn't matter because it brings a little Christmas Joy to me everytime we pass by.
She loves to "decorate and undecorate" the tree. We had to "edit" our tree this year because of the wanderings of cute EZ. So try putting pipecleaners in circles of various sizes. They look really cute and colorful on your tree and your preschooler will have fun removing them and putting them in different spots. We also cut circles out of colorful construction paper for a little something extra.

I have 3 of my 5 homemade gifts done.

we have been receiving packages in the mail!

We have watched "Santa Comes to town" 5 or 6 times and Grinch about the same.

I love Christmas time.

It's December 1st!!!

We've been waiting for this day for awhile around here. Bring on Christmas!!!

I love the season.

I love the snow.

I love the coats and sweaters and hats.

I love walking around the mall and wishing.

I love the activities and the comings and goings.

I love the presents.

I love being with family.

I will miss being with family (sniff, sniff)

I love the Christmas music.

And I love the reason for the season-Christ!

And so much more that I haven't thought about yet because I was waiting for it to be

December 1st!!

We'll be filling our tummies with candies and cookies and doing some of these things.
And lots of loves for this little face and his cute sister. He's getting so big.
Happy December to everyone.

We love visits

We love visitors. We are so glad when people come see us and spend time in Illinois and see our life here. It's also so nice when people send us mail and email and gifts:)

Nancy was our most recent visitor. She came to see us for a week. And lets be honest, when I say "us" it's probably more the grandkids but we love the visits, too. Thanks again, Nancy.

Brad's brother interviewed for med school at Kville so he drove over and spent a couple nights. On Saturday we rented a van (oh sweet van, we miss miss miss you and loved our day together:) and went to Chicago. The day was cool and crisp. we started out at the Field Museum where we had a pass to get 4 of us in for free and then the nice museum lady let the other 2 in for free. (39 dollar value=free. Bam!) Then we just walked and walked and took in the amazing city. I love Chicago.

Gotta love the bean. People do strange poses at the bean.

Chloe fell asleep on the bus ride. She was pooped. Ezra fell asleep at 5 and woke the next morning at 800.
A Chloe update. One day (literally, it was like overnight) she decided that she could only wear shortsleeve shirts and twirl skirts. Luckily, I have made her several so she has some options. Seriously, just in time for winter, too. we drive home from school and before we get in the house she has her jacket off and she is carrying her shoes in her hands. Then she starts taking her hair out and heads upstairs. What she comes down wearing is anyone's guess. Sometimes it's her princess "slippers" and crown. Or her princess dress. Or her twirl skirts and her "dancing" shoes. She dislikes all things black, brown, longsleeve, tight, white, non matching.
She is oh so cute to see twirl. And she has some sweet dance moves.

We play princess pretty much all day. Why is that I always have to be the evil Milificent or the cackling old hag? She also loves books. Do your kids? We read 3-4 books before nap and bed and some throughout the day.
Right now...I'm lovin' peanut butter twix. A cup with a straw built in. The show Chopped. My Confrence Ensign. Soft shirts. My slippers. The salad from Cosi. Running. The Children's museum at 1 o'clock or later. Christmas music. and being a mom.

You're 1.

You melt our hearts.

Your dimpled grin.

Your sparkling hazzle eyes.

Your blonde blonde hair.

Your black eyes, bruised head, scratched nose.

Your little "proud" stand.

You LOVE your sister.

You let us cuddle you and rock you to sleep.

You love trucks.

You are so easy going.

You eat like a champ.

You bring a smile to everyone's face.

You stole our hearts.

You are one.

Good morning birthday boy!

We had a little dinner and cake fest for his birthday last night.

I made him a super yummy banana cake.
Guess he liked it:)

I wanted to try and represent his first year with the cake and I thought of lots of things but just kept coming back to smiles. He has such a big happy perfect grin and I wanted that to be his 1 year old cake.

Nature vs. Nurture. Seriously, I could've lined up a thousand trucks and Chloe could've cared less but this kids loves them. he really really loves to push trucks and cars around the house. If trucks and cars aren't available he'll push a pan lid around. He got so many fun trucks and cars for his birthday and Grandma packed a little wagon! in her suitcase. He was a lucky little boy. Thanks everyone.

Are you kidding me? Look at that face!
Just another cake picture. I was so so so "strict" about what Chloe ate. By the time she was one she had never eaten sweets and she'd eat every vegetable out there and all foods. When she turned 2 she decided that she would be picky...so, with Ezra I am still vigilent with the veggies at every meal and hearty nurtious selections, however, this kids gets the treats and stuff and life is just so much easier and happier and I know he isn't going to die and he will still grow and be the way he is going to be.

We love this little guy more than words can say. I thank my Heavenly Father every single day for every moment we have with this little man. Happy Happy Birthday EZ

Arrr....me matey!

He didn't like this.

He did like this. (I also love the pirate in the background:)
She loved her sword and her patch. I made the other stuff and what we wore. Pirates are the new go-to costume. I totally forgot to put EZ in his cute pirate shirt we bought him for 99 cents.

Lots of candy. Parties. Halloween fun. Till next year.

This really happened!!

Poor Chloe! Tuesday night Brad took Chloe to a cub scouts thing and so Ezra and I were on our own. Wednesday night I had YW so I took Ezra and Brad and Chloe were on their own. Thursday night I had RS so Brad kept both kids and I was on my own! After about 1.5 hours of RS fun and service I came home to have Brad meet me at the back door with a look of disbelief and concern on his face. I figured he was cooked after 3 nights of playing Mr. Mom.

"Are both kids in bed?"

Brad says, "umm...Ezra is actually and Chloe is still sitting on the couch where you left her."

Then he started to tell the tale that every girl learns at one point or another. The tale of the 25 cent comb and the tragic part of the tale where every girls learns that you can never, ever twist or curl those combs in your hair cuz...they get stuck!
So Poor Brad. This is what he had to deal with the entire time I was gone. Kiddingly, he said to me," I'll bet you'll never leave the kids home with me again!" Actually, he did get EZ to sleep without me nursing him so that was awesome and he spent 1.5 hours actually making progress on getting this comb out so that was awesome, too. He had the big chunks in front freed by my arrival. The first thing they did was a have a prayer to stay calm and figure things out. He is a fantastic Dad.
I will admit, I laughed pretty hard. It was funny to see. By the time I got home Brad had the little scissors waiting for me to just "do the job" and cut her hair. I wasn't about to leave my sweet 3 year old with a hole of missing hair atop her head so I laughed a little more. Hugged her. Appreciated B-rad. And then got some tweazers and started removing one strand of hair at a time and then I'd stop and just be stumped and think I really should cut this because it isn't going anywhere, but then it finally did go somewhere...like out!

And now, aside from a wad of loose hairs that fell out after the comb came out, our beautiful Bluebird is back "comb free". And if you ask her about it she'll say, "I was just trying to look like a princess and curl my hair. I will never do that again." We asked her where she did this and she showed us over behind the curtain on the stair window. Apparently this is her thinking place and a place she gets herself looking like a princess.

So, the next day we dressed her up as a pirate!