Here is a little Merry Christmas video from each of the kids.
First we have Zoe. This isn't exactly a Christmas video, but that's okay. She is playing with the toy that my mom and dad gave her for Christmas. I am not sure if she is having lots of fun, or if she sees it as a threat and is attacking, but it is pretty funny either way.
And here is Robby's. I am so proud of how good he is getting at playing the piano. It has been fun to watch him dedicate himself to something and enjoy it so much. He has really improved over the last months. I am proud of him for not letting his little hand hold him back. He is even starting to adapt the music a little, either playing the melody with his left hand so he can play chords with his right hand, or playing extra notes with his right hand. He is an awesome kid.
I am so excited for Christmas. So I thought I had better start making Christmas posts now.
We took the kids yesterday to see Santa. Robby was so excited to tell him what he wanted. He cracks me up because every year when Santa asks him what he wants, Robby whispers the answer to him. I am not sure why, Santa can't hear him and always asks him a few times, and we always tell Robby to speak up, but he won't do it. He has to whisper. Zoe was just trying to figure out what in the world we were doing to her. She didn't seem to mind that she was sitting on Santa's lap, she just made the face she always makes when she sees I am trying to take a picture.
Here is a picture of some of our presents this year.
I love to wrap my presents in a different way each year. This year we went a little green. Robby wrapped almost all of his pictures in canvas bags. He colored all of them with fabric markers and then put the present inside. I think they turned out really cute. I wrapped my presents in some packing paper I got in a very large box with a very small present from Amazon.com. There was so much paper in the box, I couldn't stand to throw it away. The bows were made out of plastic shopping bags. I got the idea from this blog. I thought they turned out really cute.
And finally, I didn't send out Christmas cards this year. That is because I hope to be sending out sealing and blessing announcements in the next couple of weeks and I didn't want to send two cards that close together. So instead, I thought I would leave a little Christmas treat on my blog.
This is a video for a Christmas song by Jonathan Coulton. It is one of our family's favorites right now. I find Jonathan Coulton very entertaining. Most of his music is a little bit (or a lot bit) geeky, as you will see by this song. He offers a lot of free music on his site, which is nice. I should offer a little disclaimer though, some of his songs are not exactly clean, he does like to throw in a swear word or two (avoid the song First of May), but this one is perfectly okay and makes me smile. Enjoy.
I have had these pictures for a couple of weeks now, but keep forgetting to post them.
At 5 months, Zoe is sitting up pretty well, although she is still too stubborn to roll over. She is starting to play with toys more and even understand what they do. She will shake a rattle if you say "shake, shake, shake" no matter what else she is doing. She has moved to a big car seat, which she seems to like a little bit better than her infant one, but she still hates it. She loves food, absolutely any food, and will grab anything we are eating and put it in her mouth if we aren't paying attention. She has learned how to spit and is quite proud of herself.
Zoe is getting to be so much fun and we absolutely love having her.
She really wanted the rattle and was trying to figure out how to get it.
Here is one for the bad mother file. Just for your information, it was empty and I only let her have it for a minute. She had seen it on my desk and wanted it so bad. Once it was gone, I finally let her have it. The sad thing is, she knew exactly what to do with it and was unhappy when nothing came out. I guess maybe I should cut back a little.
This weekend we went to my parents house. We had to go a day late because the roads were closed from the snow, so we weren't there for very long. We had a great time though. We opened Christmas presents; the kids were absolutely spoiled, as usual, and enjoyed every minute of it. We also watched the BYU football game and ate blue cupcakes for movie night (although I think we might have been better off watching a movie instead.) We had a great weekend.
The most wonderful day in my life occurred exactly 9 years ago today. That was the day when I entered the temple and was joined forever as the wife of the greatest man in the world. On that day, we started together on an amazing adventure. Neither of us really knew what we were getting into, but honestly it didn't matter, as long as we were doing it together. We have made some mistakes and had some challenges over the last 9 years, but it has been wonderful and exciting and fun and I wouldn't want to go through it with any one else. I don't know what the future holds, but I am so grateful that I can go into whatever it is hand in hand with the man I love.
I couldn't have asked for a more amazing husband. Kirk is smart, hardworking, and loving. He is a great father. He loves our children and they adore him. He works hard every day to give us all the things we need. He then comes home and does more than his fair share. He gives 100% of himself to me and to this family and I love him for that. Kirk always makes makes me smile and laugh. He forgives me for my shortcomings and makes me a better person. I truly love him with all my heart.
After putting it off again and again, this morning I decided it was time to get a Christmas picture of the kids. Originally I had hoped to take family pictures too, while I was at it, but I decided this morning that there was no way I could expect Zoe to be good for that long. So, I just went for the kids and we will do the family thing another day.
Anyway, after over 100 pictures shot, here is the one I fell in love with.
Don't I have two very cute kids? The funny story about this picture is that it is the very first one I took. The other 99 or so, some of the kids together and some of each one individually, were really not very good at all. This one though is exactly what I pictured in my head. When I look at it, it just makes me smile. I love those kids more than anything.
Yesterday, we made carmel popcorn and pressed cookies for our neighbor gifts. Then we watched Horton Hears a Who for movie night. We made carmel popcorn clover balls. I didn't get very good pictures of them, but here they are. It was a fun movie and the treats were tasty. I love movie nights. We had a really good time.
Robby finally lost his first tooth last night. He has been claiming he had loose teeth for over a year now, so it was pretty exciting when he actually lost one. It has been close to coming out for a week, but last night I couldn't stand it anymore and finally just pulled it out. He was so excited that he lost it and even more excited this morning when he saw that the toothfairy had come. Being 6 is so much fun.
Now Robby and Zoe are having a race to see who can grow a front tooth the fastest. Any bets?
I was trying to get a good picture of the missing tooth last night, and I had to post a bunch of the pictures I took. That is definitely my goofy Robby.
Oh, and because I am behind, last Saturday, we watched Polar Express for movie night. Emily came and watched with us. We ate pizza and then train cupcakes. They were yummy.
My decorating skills aren't the best, but I should have lots of chances to improve. I get the feeling cupcakes will be the treat a lot. They are just really easy to decorate so that they can go along with any movie.
For the last couple of months, Robby has been playing basketball. The city has a league and since this is his first year, it is basically just run like a basketball camp, except they go twice a week for a couple of months.
Robby is really not an athlete, but we didn't ever expect he would be, not with his genes. I am so proud of him though. He improved so much in those couple of months. He listened to his coach, he learned a lot, and he had fun. He loved it and really, that is all that matters. Thursday was the last day and as soon as it was over he informed me that he can't wait until next year.
We have always thought that it would be fun to build a gingerbread house and so this year, we actually did it. We cheated and bought a kit with pre-made gingerbread, but we had a lot of fun. I think this might just be our newest holiday tradition. Maybe next year we will even try to make one from scratch, or maybe not.
Here is Kirk and Robby building the structure of the house.
Robby loved decorating it.
One of the few pictures you will see of me since I am always the one behind the camera.
And here it is, our finished work of art. I need to work on my piping skills just a little, but hey I've got lots of years ahead of me to master it.
Today is my mom's birthday. I am so thankful for her. She has taught me so much, been my greatest supporter through everything I have ever done, and honestly is the most wonderful mom (and grandma) in the world.
Wow, I am a little behind and have a lot to blog about.
Thanksgiving was great. I have so much to be thankful for right now: a wonderful husband who loves me and does more for me than I could ever expect, a son who makes me laugh and makes me proud every single day, a daughter that is the answer to prayers and truly brings so much joy to our home, parents who love me and are the absolute greatest, the best little sister who I am now able to spend so much more time with. wonderful in laws, a beautiful home, my husbands job which he loves and that allows us to have the things we need, great friends, and so much more. I am so blessed and thankful for so much.
Thanksgiving was great. We had it at our house. My family and Kirk's parents came. We had good food (well except for the stuffing, I am still on a quest for the perfect stuffing recipe), and a lot of fun. Then on Friday, I went Black Friday shopping with Emily. That has become a tradition for us and I love it. We are never too serious about it, we just go to have fun, but we were relatively successful this year, which is nice too.
Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving.
Robby and Zoe with Grandpa
Our turkey, which was honestly the best turkey I have ever eaten, yum!
Robby made these cute little buckets for everyone's napkins and silverware to go into. He worked so hard on them and they turned out so cute!
