A great day at the park

We went to the big park in Anthem on Saturday and enjoyed the lovely weather. We even ran into some fun friends, the Hanchett's, there! We packed a lunch and ate out on the grass and then the kids (and Ben and I) played on the playground for a while. The girls really wanted to spend some time playing in the little splash pad that is there, so I changed them into swim suits... but it was not that hot outside and it was a bit windy, so they all played in the water for probably 5 minutes and then were done. oh well. :) It was a great afternoon!















This kid is missing a flip flop again! That drives me nuts

Jammies and Cupcakes

Last week we did a little friend birthday party for our now 6 year old Emma. :) Since we did a big sweet shop party for her last year, I wanted to keep it small and simple this year - we decided to simplify with FREE games that I wouldn't have to buy stuff for, and invite just a few friends... so she decided to invite the girls from her CTR 5 primary class. A while back, Emma and I thought it would be fun to do a pajama party - so we did a little 'night-time' theme with it and Emma really seemed to be pleased with it....






We had pizza and fruit for dinner when the girls arrived and then we played musical pillows (instead of musical chairs) - each of the girls conveniently took turns winning and everyone won glow bracelets. :) Afterwards, we ate cupcakes and opened presents. Then we made muddy buddies for a movie snack. Mmmm. That stuff is so delicious! All the girls then got comfy in the living room and watched Cinderella with their treat they helped make and some popcorn....






Our after-movie entertainment included making toilet paper "dresses" (but looked more like mummies), and then a quick round of princess memory. All the games were a hit and I didn't even have to prepare anything. :) The best part of the party was that Emma has the sweetest little friends - they are all so fun and polite - it was a treat to have some of them join in on Emma's birthday celebration.


On Saturday morning, we were thankful to get to go the temple again while the Lee's watched our little ones; afterwards we all met up to eat at Firehouse Subs. This was my first time there, and I really loved it... if you're looking for a new place to try out - there are bunch of locations in Utah too, for those of you in that neck of the woods. :) The girls were then super excited to get to have their cousin Adam come home with us to play and spend the night. They all kept busy playing together... including some Kinect... and playdoh....




And here's a random picture from this afternoon. It's not really 'Popsicle weather' yet, but in Arizona you can get away with backyard Popsicle parties pretty much all year round... Jake couldn't smile I guess, because his mouth was rather full :)

Snow Day!

Emma's Kindergarten had a snow day today at school! Snow doesn't ever come to Phoenix, unless you buy it and have it put there. haha. So, they had a big pile of snow delivered to the playground for the kids to all play in for a little while. I was amazed at how much fun a bunch of kindergarten kids can have on a little snow hill...






Happy January!

Christmas Tea Party

A few weeks ago, the girls wanted to have a tea party... they had been asking for a couple days, so after dinner one evening, Ben decided that we better do it - we pulled out the tea cups and our menu was dictated by what was in our pantry... so we had apple cider and toasted English muffins. As we enjoyed our spontaneous tea party, I said to the girls that it would be so fun to have a Christmas themed tea party. We got excited about the idea and decided that they each could invite one friend and we would plan out a fun Christmas Tea Party. Our tea party day arrived yesterday and it was oh so great! The girls were all so good and fun- makes me think that the next time we have a birthday party we'll just invite 2 or 3 friends - it's just so much more manageable - and with a small group we were able to have all sorts of funny conversations together. Thanks to our special friends, Eden and Sarah, for making our tea party so fun (and to Jake for napping so nicely during the whole thing)!

Our pretty peppermint tea table...






When our guests arrived we started by decorating some gingerbread cookies. The spinkles were everywhere...




Then we gathered at our tea table to eat our cookies and other little finger foods- holiday shaped pb&j sandwiches, grapes, and hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream.




I told the girls to use their candy canes to stir their hot chocolate. They were amazed when their candy canes disappeared into their hot drinks.... mmmm... minty hot chocolate...


Emma helped me make a Christmas conversation jar that morning... so while we ate our treats and sipped our drinks, we got to answer holiday questions of great importance - like "what color is the grinch?", and "how many reindeer can you name?", and "what do you think is Santa's favorite cookie?".


After tea time, we colored...


Then played Christmas Bingo...


And finally, what ended up being the girls favorite game- pin the carrot and buttons on the snowman...

Getting ready to play

We thought our snowman friend was so friendly looking :) The older girls were much too good at this game, and we all suspected they could see somehow through the blindfold... but Eden and Becca were all over the place trying to place the carrot and buttons on in the right place. At one point Becca was trying to put the carrot on the lamp - that's what was going on in one of the pics of her veering wildly off to the right. :)

Other Christmas happenings this month have included Advent each Sunday with Ben's family. This most recent time the kids were dressed in their Sunday best and so cute...




Becca continues to make progress on her reading skills, using the same family reading program that Emma used. She recently completed her first set of 5 books and she was rewarded with cupcakes (which I lazily bought from Walmart)...


This week we also visited the park... in December! Arizona is a crazy place! And notice that Jake climbs all over the place - he climbs up on the big kid playground and slides all by himself... he makes me nervous, but I love that he can enjoy the park so much now.

Sneaky gingerbread men

We've been having a great weekend and loving all the Christmas activities. December is crazy with lots of events and things to keep us busy, but I sure do enjoy it! We started up Advent with Ben's family this past Sunday, and then we had friends over on Monday for more Advent as our FHE. Throughout the week we've also been making Christmas lists and trying to make good choices regarding the gifts we want to get our kids. We got off to a good start on Black Friday and I'm happy to say I've already wrapped those gifts! Probably the most on top of things I've ever been. :) On Saturday we went out as a family to do some more shopping. I keep thinking I should just get a babysitter for an evening so Ben and I can go out Christmas shopping together without the kids... that would be great! But even though we had all the kids with us, we were still able to be a bit sneaky and get some great stuff without the kids knowing... and with Jake, we can shop right in front of his nose, and he has no idea what is going on. :)

On Friday, we went to our ward's Elder's Quorum Christmas party... spouses included :). It was a big turnout and a really fun night. There was delicious food, a hilarious white elephant gift exchange (we brought a big nerf gun and came home with a Smurf Snuggie! haha!), and a wonderful little mini concert from our very own ward celebrity, William Schwartz. I'm always in awe of how talented and fun our ward is!


We also made and decorated Gingerbread cookies this weekend. I'd never made gingerbread before, but it turned out yummy and wasn't very difficult. I used THIS recipe... and I liked that the cookies stayed soft. We really enjoyed this activity and laughed a lot as we tried to decorate little gingerbread men. We thought that one of Ben's ended up looking a lot like Colonel Sanders. So, before we decorated them, we had to let the cookies cool a bit after coming out of the oven... so while they rested on cooling racks, we read The Gingerbread Man story to the girls. Well, what a surprise we had when we came to the kitchen after reading our story to find that 2 of our gingerbread men were missing! Apparently they had teamed up and scampered off into the pantry to hide. We tried to convince the girls that they really had run away, but they were more than suspicious and immediately blamed daddy for moving them. Why would they think such a thing?! :)


I also wanted to add on here a picture I took of Becca and Jake hanging out on her bed. :) Emma is at school 5 days a week, while Becca only has school for 3, so on Becca's no-school days, her and Jake become cute little buddies. They also have started fighting a bit (which is hilarious, because it's usually because Jake takes something from Becca and she is incapable of getting it back because Jake is practically as big as her and apparently stronger... we laugh and laugh about this). But most of the time, they happily follow each other around and Becca tries to get Jake to be involved in her funny games. I love these two...

Lions and Tin Mans and Scarecrows... Oh My!

I'm not going to lie... I'm pretty glad that Halloween is OVER. I usually LOVE Halloween time, but it's been oh so difficult this year with the morning sickness. In past pregnancies I've been due earlier in the spring, so by the time Halloween rolls around I'm past the ickiness and feeling better. But since I'm not due till late May, everything is shifted and I've been mostly just dragging myself through the holiday. I most definitely anticipate a full recovery by Thanksgiving, so this makes me even more excited for turkey day! :)

Anyway, despite my grumbling insides, we really did create some wonderful Halloween memories... particularly with our costumes... they turned out great! Anything that required sewing was done by Carol, otherwise this would have never been pulled off. We did Wizard of Oz this year, so the cast includes: Dorothy (Emma), Tin Man (Adam), Scarecrow (Ben D), Lion (Ben L), Wicked Witch of the West (me!), Wicked Witch of the East (Carol), Glinda (Emily), a flying monkey (Becca), a Lolipop Munchkin (Jake), a palace guard (Peter), and the Wizard of Oz (Clyde)... you can't see it in the picture very well, but Clyde is wearing a great green jacket. :)



Ben's family drove up to our place on Saturday evening and we had a fall dinner together, and then got in our costumes and headed to our ward's trunk or treat. Since Halloween was a Sunday this year, we opted not to trick or treat door to door on the holiday, so this trunk or treat was the kids only hope for collecting candy... thank goodness it was such a great turnout - the kids got plenty!















After collecting candy, we headed back to our place and Ben served up his pumpkin pie ice cream that he made. He's an ice cream genious, btw. :)

To backtrack, Emma had a little pumpkin party at school on Friday...

Emma and her favorite school friend, Sarah




And earlier in the week we carved pumpkins and made yummy caramel apples...





And now I say hip hip hooray for November! Here's to Harry Potter 7, cooler weather, and turkey and mashed potatoes! :)