Playtime

Love that Kate will play with Legos as much as the boys. 

Love that Kate and Finn play together. 

Love that they look like each other. 

Especially since these two have been giving me a run for my money lately!

It's Santa!

Kate REFUSED to get near this guy.

We had a big morning! 

Brandon's mom works at BYU 

and invited us to join her and B's dad at a Christmas Party 

that BYU put on for their faculty and staff. 

The best part? We got to meet Santa.

For these two little boys, it was very exciting.

They thought hard about what they wanted to ask him,

and when their turn finally came...they were star struck.

I say "finally", because it was a long wait in line.

But Santa is ALWAYS worth it.

And donuts and juice made it easier to stand for so long.

So did Grandma. :)

Of course we couldn't leave until we made a "quick" stop at the BYU store

and took a picture with our favorite mascot.

And Liam represented the Texas Longhorns.

GO COUGS!

GO SANTA!

First Snowman

It snowed last week. 

The boys begged me to let them go play. We never got around to it. 

It snowed again yesterday and this morning I caved. 

We finished our morning chores, put everyone in their snow gear, 

and headed out the back door. 

The children and I made our first snowman. 

He's just a little guy, but complete with a carrot nose! 

(The boys were ecstatic when I brought that out. It's the little things, right?)

Let's go!

What I see when I utter the words "Let's get ready to go!":

1. No shoes.
2. Missing shoes.
3. Shoes covered in mud, and thus unavailable for use.
4. Lounging children.
5. Children uninterested in the words I speak
6. Children moving s..l..o..w..l..y...

*****

Tried something new with Kate's hair today.

And just because she's cute.

17 months

Kate is 17 months today. 

She talks a TON. 

A lot more than my boys did at her age. 

Even more than my boys did at age 2. 

She is, however, NOT walking. Still.

We have Kids on the Move coming once a month

to work with her and teach us exercises.

But, she refuses. And, ya know what?

I'm okay with it.

She may be the only kid in nursery still crawling,

but we like to shake up the norm.

No round hole for this square peg!

Also, Miss Kate loves bath time.

If you couldn't tell. :)

Setting up Christmas

The children have been talking about this day for MONTHS. 

Christmas? No. Setting up Christmas! 

They woke up, ran into our room, and asked 

"Mom, it's after Thanksgiving! Can we set up Christmas decorations?" 

I remember getting so excited when my mom got out the Christmas decorations.

She would let us help her decorate the tree and hand her ornaments.

My favorites were her dainty little glass figurines.

 She always had the most beautiful tree.

I don't know how our tree compares to my mom's works of art.

We basically threw every ornament we have at it.

But it was made with love by excited little hands.

I love it.

And these goofy critters.

Thanksgiving 2016

We spent Thanksgiving dinner with the Johnson Family this year. 

Lots of laughter, wrestling with cousins, and making forts.

Lots of food and fun with people we love.

So much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Lego Mornings

Some mornings are for getting dressed, morning chores, and online preschool.
And some mornings are for staying in pajamas and playing with Legos.
Guess which morning we chose today.

Pie Making Tuesday

It's become a tradition to make pies 

with Grandma Shaw a couple days before Thanksgiving. 

This year, I brought the children. 

They enjoyed playing with the scraps of dough 

and Aunt Dee Dee even made them some pie crust cookies, which they loved! 

But the real highlight of the day was 

listening to my grandmother play the piano. 

She even allowed Liam and Finn to sit beside her and "play" as she did. 

I constantly urged them to play a little more quietly so we could hear Grandma, 

but she got a chuckle out of watching their intensity and vigor. 

After getting everyone packed up in the van, 

I half-jokingly apologized for the 

Johnson Family Circus I brought through her door! 

To which Grandma replied 

"You have made my Thanksgiving. 

No matter how much anyone enjoyed their holiday, 

it will never compare to the fun I've had today."

Another day not to be forgotten. 

Letters to Santa

The children asked me to help them write letters to Santa this afternoon. We went to the Dollar Store and picked out some fun stickers and tape they could use to decorate their letters. I helped them spell out "Dear Santa" with stickers and then asked them what they wanted to write and/or ask Santa for.

Liam asked for glue and a Paw Patrol truck. 

Finn asked for Legos. 

Kate said "I love you!" 

We put the letters in envelopes, wrote out Mr Claus' address, put a stamp on each letter, and drove up to the mailbox to deliver them. It was magical to talk about where Santa lives, how the letters get to him, how he delivers presents to every person, and pretending to be Santa's little helper elves.

The boys made Pilgrim hats at preschool. Liam insisted on wearing his all day.

Lazy Daisy

Lazy Saturday mornings are the best. 

And so is Kate's bedhead.

Got curls?

Almost 8 months old, angel baby girl. Seriously, how did we get you? 

You eat great. 

You sleep great. 

You sit and entertain yourself great. 

You really are Kate the Great. 

And you've got the sweetest, cutest little curls in the world. 

When I was younger, I HATED my curly hair. 

But I will fiercely persuade you to embrace yours. Irony. 

A Late Snow Day

The children received new snow gear for Christmas and we didn't take the opportunity to get out and play in the snow while it was fresh and new.  So...we did it when it was packed down, icy, and dirty. Parent fail. It's still January, so hopefully we get new snowfall and take advantage when it comes!

Finn

Liam

B made a snow cave for the boys, which they were too scared to crawl through. 

He also taught the boys how to throw snowballs.

At me.

Love you, snow bears. 

Christmas 2015

This year, after getting the idea from some friends, B and I decided to make an advent calendar for December filled with things we wanted to do with the children. Activities included: Setting up the Christmas tree, putting lights on the house, getting a holiday ice cream treat (Cookie butter shake from AC is pretty amazing.), watching a Christmas movie, driving around the neighborhood to see the lights, getting out the Nativity set and talking about the birth of our Savior, building a gingerbread train, and some fun, festive activities with Grandparents...whatever they decided that would be. The children even got to meet Santa before he came to our house!

It was magical. 

After setting up the Nativity and having a simple discussion on why we celebrate Christmas and talking about the Savior's birth, we asked the boys "Can you tell mommy and daddy why we celebrate Christmas?" Liam piped up "Jesus gets on His race car and drives to Costco for us. He does that for us. He is so good!" There you go.

Grammy set aside a whole afternoon and evening to do Christmas crafts, make Christmas cookies, and read Christmas stories with the children. She was even prepared with the proper accessories for each kid- Kate included.

B's mom had a work Christmas party and we were invited to attend. Highlight of the night? Santa came to visit! He had a gift in his bag for each of us. Finn was a little hesitant at first, but when he saw that jolly man give Liam a gift, he had no problem going right up and sitting on Santa's lap. It's all about getting the present, folks.

The Monday before Christmas, we had the Shaw Family Christmas party. My aunt and uncle hosted this year and the boys were in heaven the minute Auntie Amy opened her box of cars, trucks, and motorcycles she had kept from when her kiddies were little. She made it clear her house was made for running, laughing, and playing- music to any mama's ears, am I right? We came. We ate. We played. And there were sleeping babies in the back seat all the way home from Ogden to Saratoga Springs. :)

Other highlights? Marcus and Mia recipients of Shaw Perpetual Education Fund and grandkids trying to "teach" Grandma how to use her new iPhone.

Christmas Eve, we headed to the Johnson's and ate Cafe Rio, read Luke 2 and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, wrote down our "gift" to the Savior for the coming year, opened presents, and had some yummy treats to end the night!

Christmas morning, we opened our gifts from Santa and ate some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Afterwards, we got ready and headed to my parents for some Christmas brunch and presents. The day ended with Papa helping us put up some big boy beds for Liam and Finn. We were all so exhausted, it was lights out pretty soon after!

Are you tired yet? 

What a wonderful Christmas season we had!

Bring on 2016...

Wishing all our loved ones a 

Happy New Year!