Winter Update...

Winter has never been my favorite time of year but with my kiddos it gets more fun every year.

This year I finally got Ben to go out on the roof to put up lights.  I can thank the late snow for that.

Careful! No net!

That is a long way up.

Totally worth it though, the house looked great.

Grey has been exploring the wonders of potty training.  Yep, he is in the kitchen.  Don't worry, he is using the bathroom now and doing a great job of it.

He has this funny way of calling his poo "guys" so as he is going potty he counts "one guy, two guys, oh man this is a big guy!"

The other weeked we went to Bellevue to get a DVD player put in our new mini van.  The kids and I spent the day at the Bellevue mall mostly at the play area.  Gerysen did a great job with telling me when he needed to go potty.  After we had been at the mall for 5 hours we were all pretty beat.  The mall was super crowded too.  I was watching Tate do a trick when a woman asked me if I was the mom of the little red headed boy.  I kindo of thought she was joking because that seemed obvious but I said yes.  She said well he doesn't have any pants on.  I look up and there he goes running naked with poo all over his bottom across the play area.  So I ran after him and picked him up.  He automatically spreads his legs to wrap them around my waist but he has poo on him so I keep him at arms length and hurry toward the bathroom.  Between us and the bathroom there is a cupcake stand and a little girl is having a princess birthday party.  I have to go through the party to get to the bathroom.  Once I get into the bathroom and clean him up I realize that I still don't have his clothes so I have to take my top shirt off and wrap it around him to go back out through the princess party to get to our diaper bag and a clean set of clothes.  Then I have to go search the play area for the dirty pants.  This has to be the most embarassing experience of my adult life!

Speaking of embarassing Zoe dressed Tate up in one of her dance costumes during our pre-Christmas purge.

Santa was kind to us this year.
Notice how dark it is...the kiddos woke up at 5am.

He even left us a chocolate message.

Here are my sweet boys in thier matching jams on the plasma car Grey got for Christmas.  This thing has to be the Christmas favorite.  We can all ride it and have been tossing around the idea of doing timed trials in our kitchen.  I am sure I look pretty hillarious riding it around with my bulging belly.

Zoe is such a helpful big sister!

Grey's second favorite present.

Zoe loved her new jams and hat.

My cute boys in thier matching jammies.

My favorite thing about Christmas break was lots of snuggle time.  This is how a mommy snuggles with all four of her sweet kiddos.

Zoe got a new scooter for Christmas and asked to ride it around the block.  She got a little ambitious and took a turn down hill too fast.  She is afraid to ride it now.

Ouch!

Love to see them sharing!

The snow finally came but not until mid January.  Here is Zoe demonstrating her big sister skills again.

Tate sledding.  This is the first time he actually enjoyed it

That is a happy face!

Face first!

Those are happy faces too!

Who knew snow could be so fun!

Happy Winter!

Zoe's Talents!

Zoe had a dance and a piano recital recently and we got a chance to see her talents.  She has been working so hard and we are so proud of the progress she has made.  She is growing up way too fast!

Sorry this one is a little blurry when it starts out.

Can you believe how old she looks?

Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We have been so blessed this year.  There are so many things to be grateful for here are some of the many:

1.  Zoe, Tate, Grey, and baby yet to be met.  Our kids are so sweet and special.  I love spending every second of my spare time with them.  They are so much fun.  They are so smart.  I cannot believe how blessed we have been.

2.  Ben...I could talk all day about this guy.  He is so patient and loving.  He is an amazing father.  He works so hard to make life great for our kids.

3.  The Gospel.  I would not be the person I am without it.  I can see the difference it makes in the lives of my children.  I feel so comforted knowing that I still have the room to learn and grow.

4.  Friends.  We have been so blessed in the friends we have made as we have made our moves and rebuilt our lives.  We have always felt so loved and supported.

5.  Education and learning opportunities.  We have all been able to learn from some great individuals.

There is so much more but I won't bore you further.

Let's get to the pictures...

Tate made a pioneer hat at school and he was so excited that he insisted I take a picture, so he put it on and this is what we got... 

Then he looked at the picture and said "Wait that's not right, let me fix it."

After the adjustment... "Wait not quite"

Perfect!  Love that chocolaty grin!

Now without further ado...The food!

The pies:  2 Chocolate, Apple, Cherry, and Lemon Meringue

(2 Cohcolates because I am pregnant and I am not very good at sharing!)

We had our good friends the Bastians over for dinner so for lunch we had appetizers so it was easier to eat while we played games. 

We made the turkey and I think it was the best one we have ever made!

Tina came up with the most adorable place setting ideas.

Look at that cute place setting turkey!

Here are the kids places.

Here we are getting ready to enjoy our meal.

Cute boys sat at the counter.

Oat's first Thanksgiving.  He likes turkey.

Tina and Grey played cars.

Tina is Grey's best friend!

Tina brought some crafts for the kids to do.  One of them was a turkey hat.  Grey made one and I tried to get a picture of it...

Clearly he ate too much sugar.

Still going...

This is as close as we got to a still shot.

Cute hat eh!

Family Pictures

So last year was so crazy around this time that we skipped family pictures.  This year I looked for a photographer for 6 moths.  Either they were unreasonable expensive or they couldn't come to Wenatchee.  It was so frustrating.  Finally I found a reasonable priced photographer that I liked who came to Wenatchee but I still had to wait 4 months for her to come out.  It was totally worth it!  Our session went by so fast and was so easy.  Greysen didn't even have time to get squirly.