The girl's begin piano lessons!

Brother Weyman at church is also the kids music teacher at school, so we decided to get the girl's signed up to take lessons from him for part of their Christmas present. They got a full sized keyboard for a present, and then my super sweet Papa sent 2 months worth of lesson $ for them! Mr. Weyman is honestly one of the greatest teachers I have ever known and the girls are super excited to start learning!

Chelsea and the twins come for a few visits...

These were taken on 2 seperate occasions when Chelsea and the twins came to visit! The one on the couch was last month (or end of Nov?) and the one of them in the bathroom "cleaning" the mirror with soap was a few days ago! I love you Chelsea and thanks for coming to hang out!

Grace lost her first tooth!

Well it happened! Miss Gracie pants lost her first tooth the other night when she was at Sister Green's house! The tooth fairy even found her over there and happily left 4 quarters under her pillow!

Kindness comes in all shapes and sizes...

This morning after doing doublers, I was getting ready to load Roman and my stuff into the van when a guy around my age walked over to me and said, "Can I help you with your groceries?" I said, "Oh, no, thank you, I got them." Next he said, "That's ok, let me help you" Once again I said, "Oh, that's ok, I'm fine." I started getting Roman into the van and told him, "thanks, but I'll be ok." He said, "I'm just waiting for my friend to change a tire- I insist." I saw his friend working on the truck a few stalls away and said, "Ok, thank you." He said he had kids too as he loaded my things into the trunk. He finished and said, "Have a great day and a Happy New year!" I got in the van and instantly repented. He was just being a nice guy and doing a random act of kindness, but I had been so fearful and rejected his generosity. I couldn't help it though- the city girl in me came out and I first thought: Heck no, I don't need your help, you're probably going to steal my keys, my purse, my baby, or me and drive off to a deserted place and do the unthinkable. I made sure Roman was in the van and next was my purse. I couldn't help my thoughts though in the beginning. It wasn't like he was scary looking, or hitting on me in a creepy way- it was just a guy trying to do something nice and it caught me off gaurd. When he walked away, I thanked Heavenly Father for the postive outcome and the reminder that I need to let others help me too. My mother -in-law told me years ago that when I deny the help from other people- I am really denying them the blessings they would have recieved. I think about that a lot as I struggle to let people help me in life. It's kind of a fine line though too- as trustuing as we want to be, we also have to be careful, and sadly, my first thoughts were not very kind towards him as I envisioned myself dead in the trunk surrounded by groceries and clearanced down Cranberry Febreze.  Today I was thankful for the nice man and the reminder that kindness really does come in all shapes and sizes.

The New Year...

I picked up DeArley from the airport Sunday at midnight and was so glad she was home safe. She naturally wanted to take the girl's for New Year's Eve for us, so I said, "ok, and thak you."  The girl's were so glad to have another sleep over and I was kind of thankful for 24 hours to clean, organize and work on coupons. Yup, that's how I spent my New Years- pretty eventful. Trav & Tristin played games for a few hours and then we watched a movie. We had pizza and I worked on laundry. We are pretty amazing over here folks! Welcome 2013!

It's Batman...

I had to buy these little jammies the other day. They were $3.00 and worth every penny when you see him in them! He looks so grown up! (He's sitting up with help now. He still falls over so you have to watch him!)

A Party...

My Visiting Teacher, Lori, is awesome. Her husband's b-day was on Saturday and we were invited to his party. It was freezing cold, but we had a blast.  They rented a bouncy house for the kids and another contraption for the adults. Lori made tons of amazing mexican food, had super cute decorations, made a pinata, had donuts and hot chocolate and even fire pits to keep warm. It was a great couple of hours. And yes, she even bought amazing mustashes that we all had to wear! Awesome job Lori, and Happy birthday Kevin.

Rice cereal!

I knew I was a few weeks early in presenting rice cereal, but I didn't care! I needed something more than Mama milk to feed this guy! This was his first experience- he wasn't happy to begin with and then having a weird spoon and mushy stuff thrown in his mouth didn't help!

Christmas Eve...

The past 2 years now we have spent Christmas Eve at Todd and Andrea's. We just hang out for hours and let the kids play while we eat and visit until it's too late and we have to drive home and put the kids down. Andrea gave me the coolest zebra watch and fuzzy blanket this year. We had a blast and love them them with all our heart! Thanks for a super fun night guys!

A very spoiled Christmas...

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. We were up at 5:13 and opening presents by 5:30AM. Gotta love having kids! We went over to G-ma & G-pa's later around noon and stayed until 7:30.They were actually spoiled this year, something I hardly ever do. But thanks to my Dad and G-ma sending a few dollars this year, they recieved a few things they had been wanting for years. They got a Wii this year and they are in Heaven. Tristin saved $ 100.00 and helped pay for his Nintendo 3DS. He was beyond shocked that I bought it since he was saving and still needed more $ to make up the difference. It was great to surprise him and show him we were proud of him saving for so long. He quickly ran to get his wallet to turn over his portion and has been glued to it ever since. The girls got a keyboard and piano lessons ( we will hopefully pick up my Great G-ma's piano this Summer back home!) There was alot of Angry Bird stuff, and Justin Bieber things flying around. Willow loved her play doh, Dora stuff and other toys. Grace has been singing her heart out on her kareoke machine and plunking away on her keyboard. I was spoiled too. I bought myself a few things this year that I needed- like a coat, socks and under things. The kids bought me a scarf, leporard gloves, slippers and yummy treats. Trav got me gift cards to a few of my favorite places- Target, Craft Warehouse & Panda Express! Mom sent a few dollars and Sonic cards for the kids, and G-ma sewed aprons & church bags for the kiddos. DeArley bought me my elephant pj's from JCP that I wanted and my favorite lotion & bath stuff, Ang bought my favorite skirt- and my brother Jesse sent the coolest package this year with a cookie monster pinata filled with toys and treats- plus a Discovery Center family pass! We are so grateful, spoiled and happy for this wonderful time of year. We were able to take cookies to the firemen this year and that was fun to do with the kids. We will be staying in and organizing closets! Yeah for us!