Christmas

Christmas Eve we spent at the Batty's house. We had a yummy dinner and then the kids put on the nativity for us. It was cute, but they soon had all their clothes shed off cause they were "so hot!" You can tell Lily is less than thrilled to be Mary, but it was still cute.

Santa brought Lily a new kitchen which she loves

Presents!

Lily's baby that brushes her teeth, and goes "pee pee in the potty!" without the "real" mess. Thank goodness!

Ashton loves jets, so santa brought him an aircraft carrier and lots of jets to go on it! ;)

I cooked Christmas dinner. And yes I was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen cooking, but I was so thankful when the guys did the clean up!

Santa brought the family the Wii this year. We've had fun playing with it. Here's uncle Derek playing.

Dad and the boys playing, sorry Ashton is in his underwear.

Overall it was a good quiet christmas at home. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as well!

Straight No Chaser

Is a men's a-cappella group. They are really good! My brother posted about them on his blog. Check out this link and watch other videos if you have time, be patient and let the video load, then push play, they'll bring a smile to your face!

More Christmas Pictures

When my kids are dressed and ready for church I can't resist taking pictures of them.

I knew this was the last time they'd be dressed up before Christmas, so I took a few more shots of them!

Here is my cute girl Lily

3 munchkins

Ashton, with his yellow bruise on his right cheek. (he ran into the back of the couch a few days ago.

Ethan, eyes a little puffy. He just fell down the stairs moments earlier!

My favorite little girl

My favorite 3 kids on the planet

Lily crashed on the couch after church

While on the phone with my brother, I kept getting the "feeling" to check on Lily. I didn't listen the first few times, then went to see and she had Darren's tabsco sauce from the fridge and was shaking it all over the kitchen floor. This is only the first half of the floor, imagine this mess doubled. But the floor could always use a good mopping, just not what I wanted to do on Sunday evening! ;)

Happy Birthday Darren!

Well, the hubby hit the big 30 today! I'll be following him shortly in the summer. I can't believe that it's been almost 11 years since we first met as teenagers and shortly after eloped and got married. Time flies! I still love him just as much, if not more. He is my rock and my everything. He is the best hubby and father. And he has given me 3 almost 4 of the best kiddo's around.


We cooked him breakfast in bed this morning. (His favorite, is a fried egg, yolk still runny, on toasted bread with mayo, bacon, and tomato, weird huh? It's pretty good). Then we gave him his presents. He got new cologne (Tim Mcgraw, smells sooooo good), and a paint ball gun, and his favorite candy which is airheads.


Ethan made him this sign and taped it to the wall.



Here he is admiring his chocolate cake!



Blow them out!



Fork?? Who needs one?

Happy Birthday Darren! We love you!

Ward Party and Odd's and Ends

Here are some shots from our ward Christmas Party last night. Overall the kids had fun. Lily enjoyed herself till it came time to sit on Santa's lap.



Me and Debi. We were being a little too silly last night. Maybe we
were turkey drunk. We took pictures and my classic long tongue
came out. I'm not including my shot of my tongue cause I have
the longest tongue ever, if you want to see it, go to Debi's page,
thankfully my tongue isn't sticking out as long on her blog.
Kate! Where were you? ;)



Ethan on Santa

Ashton on Santa

Poor Lily


Here is Ethan's school party. I actually made it to one of his

party's this year. It's hard making it when you have 3 other

kiddo's and pregnant. this is the tree he made.

Eating a yummy donut

Boy gift exchange

Ethan's homemade Santa beard

Gingerbread house

I am known at times for being a perfectionist when it comes to certain things. When you have children, you learn that this can be harmful and sometimes hurtful to children to always have to have things just so. Last year, my mom was visiting for Christmas and we bought the gingerbread house kit at the store. The kids were excited to do it, but of course I think it needs to be done "just so", so I'm like a control freak, making the kids take turns and telling them where to place the candy on the house. Now that I can look back, I think that is absolutely ridiculous and stupid of me to be so controlling on something so silly. This is their childhood memories, not mine, and I don't want them to remember such a controlled atmosphere to something as silly as decorating a gingerbread house. My sister in-law Jen did a similar post recently with their gingerbread house and she let the kids completely do it from start to finish and the pics were hilarious but great, and it really helped me see that things don't have to be perfect. So this year, I was determined to do it again, and not say a peep! They did ask me to slather on the icing, so I did, but I let them put candy wherever they wanted. The house actually looked pretty good, the experience was night and day from last year, they had fun and enjoyed themselves. On a sad note, you can already see the perfectionism coming through in my oldest, it was hard for him to relax and let it go as is, he wanted it to be perfect and that is my fault. You'll see he did the "path to the house". So my new year resolution will be one thing this year:

"To chill the freak out!" No more perfect anything. Does it really matter? Okay, so this post turned into a novel and a preaching sermon on how I've been a "born again" non perfectionist, but it really does make a difference in every experience you have with your children. I'm sure most of you are not like me, but I still had to post about it! ;) Have a good weekend all!

Thanks again Jen! Seriously! You inspire me! ;)

Check out Jen's Post on the similar topic click here

(hope you don't mind Jen!)

You are going to laugh so hard at her kids creations! It's awesome!

Yummy!

I am not one for making holiday treats that are pre-packaged, but this one really is yummy and quick so I thought I'd share!

Maple-Cinnamon-Pecan Pull-Aparts

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon maple flavor or vanilla
1 can (17.5 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Supreme refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8x4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix all ingredients except cinnamon rolls with icing.
2.Separate dough into 5 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into quarters; add to pecan mixture, tossing gently to coat. Spoon roll mixture into pan.
3.Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate or platter. Spread with icing. Serve warm.

Conner Elves

We cracked up turning ourselves into elves. Enjoy the two clips to the right, they are both different! Pretty funny! Turn up your volume! ;)
~You'll have to turn off my music at the bottom of the page~

Wiping Santa?

A couple years ago Grandpa Steve got our family the "mooning santa". Of course my kids think it's hilarious and love it. I walked in on Lily using wipeys and wiping his behind. I had to grab the camera for that one.

Geee, where's Lily? Good hiding spot!

Cheesy Girl. See how she is playing with G.I Joes? I guess that's what having 2 brothers does to a little girl, but she also loves girly stuff too. So maybe the upcoming baby boy will be really well rounded????

Deck the Halls....

We put up our tree tonight. It was fun watching the "magic" in our kids eyes. It's fun to see how excited kids get this time of year. It brings back lots of fun memories and it's fun to re-create those moments with your own kids. I knew it was time to wrap it up when Ashton started throwing the decorations into the tree cause he grew impatient trying to hang them! This is by far our smallest tree ever, but hey, it makes for easier decorating! The kids didn't seem to notice! ;)

Lily Decorating

Ashton Decorating

Ethan Decorating

Fuzzy, but cool pic

Our grand finale

The tree skirt I made and there has to be at least a cup of

my blood in that tree skirt from all the needle pricks! :)

J/K, that would be a lot of blood, but my fingers did suffer.

Thanksgiving in Kentucky

Well we're back and trying to get back to normal. The drive there was about 11 hours. It was long but the kids did really well. Thank goodness for the dvd player in the van. The last couple of days there Lily and Ashton got sick, so the ride home wasn't as pleasant but we arrived in one piece. I now caught whatever it was they had, and it's not fun, but "tis the season!" Here are several shots from the trip.



Darren driving.


Kiddo's chillin in the back


Dog sleeping


Lily with Grandpa in front yard


Boys playing in backyard with Grandpa


Lily on tire swing


Ashton and lily Exploring


The Feast


The Gang


Darren's sister Dawn and her hubby Curtis



Darren and his "little" brother Derek



Darren's sister Deirdre and her husband Clint and daughter Dakota


Our gang


Me and Lily


The boys out searching for "bears"


Lily and Daddy


At Conner's Baptism.


Grandparents with grand kids



The "men"



5 of the 7 siblings. Darren, Dawn, Deirdre, Debbie, and Derek

Over all it was a fun trip and worth the long drive. The only ones missing was Darren's brothers Dan and Doug.
Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! ;)