Gingerbread houses

In case I haven't mentioned it, Nathan and I nicknamed Grandma's and Grandpa's a little while after he turned 3. I've tried to change the names, but I haven't succeeded in doing it yet. Jeff's parents are Disneyland Grandma and Grandpa, because right around the time we nicknamed them to keep them straight, Grandma had worked extra hard and as a Christmas gift gave the whole family a trip to Disneyland (with Jeff's Grandma's help). So, they've been Disneyland Grandma and Grandpa since. As for my parents, I was being silly and asked Nathan if we should call them Silly Grandma and Grandpa. He wanted to, and it's stuck though I've tried to change it. Jeff's Grandma is Super Grandma instead of great-grandma since it's cooler and she really is super.

Anyhow, the weekend after Thanksgiving Disneyland Grandma wanted to have all the grandkids over to make gingerbread houses and the kids had a blast. Nathan really got into decorating his and put a satellite on the house so they could watch TV (we don't have that at our house- at least not hooked up!) and a ramp so that they could drive their motorcycles. He was very creative. Zach is my junk food man and was more interested in eating the candy than putting it on his house. He ate pretty much all of his candy and then put lifesavers that were individually wrapped into his pocket to save for later! Nathan wanted everyone to see his house, so they were displayed for the Christmas season. I hope this is a tradition we do every year!

There's a picture of Zach:



and here's a picture of Nate working on his house:



Grandma helping out:



And finally all of the kids together:

Thanksgiving

AAHHHH!!!! I'm so far behind!!!! Things have been so crazy that my blog has really suffered, so I'm going to try to update it bit by bit. I'll start with Thanksgiving, though it seems so long ago. When Jeff and I got married, he said that Thanksgiving had to always be at his Grandma's house. That was tradition and he just couldn't do a Thanksgiving that wasn't at Grandma's house. He said he'd let me do whatever with Christmas, but I just couldn't totally give up Thanksgiving with my family. As a result, we've done double Thanksgivings every year for the last eight years. We get TOTALLY stuffed by the end and Jeff said this is the last year he could handle it. We'll see about that though.....

So, to start out, we did Thanksgiving at my parents house at 1:00 p.m. We showed up a early to help out, and the boys got to play for a while.



Here's a picture of my family (notice my brother Jason's cheesy grin)



And a better picture of the other side of the table



An adoreable picture of Jeff enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner (thankfully Nathan isn't copying him!)



And Zach playing with Grandpa (my Dad)



And Jeff tossing Zach up in the air (the boys just love this, I'm still not thrilled about it, but they think it's great)


So that was all at my parents. We ate,we laughed, we ran out the door for a 45 minute drive to Grandma's house where we got to eat again. We all cram into Grandma's little house, but they seem to love it. She had broken a piece of her pelvis a few weeks before and had been in a nursing home up until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so it was a real blessing to be able to be with her and have Thanksgiving at her house. Thankfully, she let us use paper plates to save on cleanup and make things go smoother. By this point, the boys weren't that interested in eating, but they still did pretty good and had a great time.



A picture of Jeff's family (sorry about the lighting, it's that window)



Jeff's sweet Grandma (really the only Grandma I've ever known:



And then, after dinner, some of us headed outside for some football and stuff. Look at Jared (who just joined us for pie) pinned on the ground (hee hee)....



And Nathan as a future football star



And finally, a picture of Jeff and the boys....



Ok, so one day, down many many to go. I hope to get it updated soon!

Our Secret Christmas Angel

This year, a had a secret Christmas Angel who did the 12 days of Christmas for our family. It's been so much for my entire family to see what our Angel would leave for us. This person/family definitely knows our family since the gifts have been perfect for us. It's been so much fun. On the second day, Nathan opened the door, saw the two cars, and said "what the?". They were both so excited! This is a list of what has been left on our doorstep:

1st day- one jumbo candy cane
2nd day- two cars
3rd day- a pack of three dog toys
4th day- four tangerines with cloves
5th day- don't remember!
6th day- six packs of hot chocolate
7th day- a pack of seven chocolate Santa's
8th day- don't remember!
9th day- nine delicious cookies and some mint melt aways for me!
10th day- a pack of 10 sheets of "build your own monster" stickers
11th day- 11 chocolate presents
12th day- 12 homemade caramels and a calendar.

We found out, by accident, who did the 12 days of Christmas for us when, coming home Christmas Eve night, we saw the person on our doorstep. It's a sweet family who lives just a couple of houses down from us. When I asked this person, and earlier her mom, if they were my Christmas Angel, the reply was "I don't know what you're talking about". I told her how much it meant to our family this year and how sweet it was. I'm so grateful for the neighborhood we live in and the quality of people we get to associate with on a daily basis.

Ideas for Christmas presents?

As Jeff told me once, I'm not a creative person, I'm logical! Anyhow, I need some help and wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Nathan Zach have made Christmas presents for their Grandma's and Grandpa's in the past, and I just can't think of what to do this year. In the past, we've made, or painted, picture frames. I'd kind of like to do something else this year and wondering if anyone has any suggestions. Nathan loves to create things and it's been a fun tradition for us. Right now he's creating astronauts, but I'm not sure if that will be a Christmas present. PLEASE let me know if you have any cute ideas. Thanks!

I will post a real article soon, but I'm trying to get caught up from Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, and Christmas shopping. Maybe I'll get caught up one day. One cute thing though, Zach likes to postpone bedtime as long as possible. The other day, he was laying on the couch when I told him, for the 5th time, that we were going to get pj's on for bedtime. He told me, "sleep on the couch". In case you were wondering, he slept in his bed.

My thoughtful little boy

Nathan can be a very rambunctious little 4 year old, but he can also be a very sweet little boy. If he ever thinks I'm sad, he'll come up and give me a hug and a kiss to make me feel better. It's very sweet. Yesterday in church, a girl in our ward sang a solo. I wasn't even sure if he was listening, but at the end of the song, Nathan turned to me and said, that was beautiful. We ran into the girl at the end of church and he told her that her song was beautiful. On Halloween, we went trick or treating in the neighborhood and at one of the houses, the mom opened the door and she was dressed for Halloween in a pink dress. Nathan, all on his own, told her that she looked beautiful. She was touched, and so was I. He can be a very crazy boy, but he can also be very thoughtful and sweet.

Zach can also be sweet, and crazy. He likes to prolong bedtime by asking if he can give everyone a hug and a kiss, even though we've already done them. I can't even count the times he's been in bed, and asked to give Daddy a kiss. He's a silly goose.