Today at church Lizzie was so so sweet all snuggled up. She is starting to have a much more difficult time napping at church and I've found that a blanket seems to really help. Part of the other problem is, neither Sean or I can hold still long enough to let her sleep. I have always got something to do with Relief Society and Sean is busy with Gospel Principles (he was called as Ward Mission leader today), then plays piano for Priesthood and Choir. Poor Lizzie just runs along for the ride. Oh well, every Sunday feels like a marathon, but at least we feel needed.
Yesterday we hosted a Gingerbread House party for Sean's coworkers. We provided the graham crackers, frosting, hot cocoa, and venue. Sean's colleagues brought so so so much candy! I don't think we have ever had that much candy under a roof we have lived under. It was so yummy and so delicious. We also let Brett and Alana eat as much candy as they wanted and they just had so so much fun. Seans house looked like the Burrow from Harry Potter, mine was a little cottage, Brett had a flat roofed house with a hole in the top, a slide coming out, and tons of candy inside. Alana made a giant house and ate the marshmallows and mike and ikes before they could dry as decorations. Lizzie slept through most of the party.
In the morning yesterday, we went to see Uncle Brett and Great Grandma and Grandpa Webb at the cemetary. Visiting cemetaries is one of my favorite Christmas Traditions but we can't go next week when everyone else is going so we went on our own. We took some candy canes and had a prayer. It was bitterly cold so we opted to have donuts at Grandma and Grandpa's house later. It was Lizzie's first time with this tradition =)
The kids were painting these fun wooden things I got at Target and they wanted me to take some pictures. We are making service snowflakes to emphasize service this month to go along with the 25 Ways in 25 Days that our church is putting on. We are also doing some fun activity advent calendars that are a lot of fun, chocolate count down calendars, our bucilla one my mom made, and a nativity one from one of Sean's neighbors from Los Alamos.
We got our stockings all hung, we opted to put them up a little higher so Lizzie couldn't reach them as easily. Lizzie and Alana's have names on them but we still need to get names on Sean's, mine, and Brett's. They look so pretty and it makes me so proud that Sean and I have spent countless hours working on them.
We were waiting for Brett at school one day and taking funny pictures to take up time.
So Sean bought me a new macbook air! I am so excited! I have been thinking about how nice it would be to have a laptop since we left Albuquerque. Our computer was in the Dining room in New Mexico so it was easy to get things done on the computer while I was with Brett and Alana. Then when we moved to my parents house, our computer went up to our junk room where it was hard to work on. Its in our bedroom right now which is nice for a lot of things, but the kids want to be with me and they want to be downstairs so now I can blog, or budget, or edit pictures while I am with them coloring at the table or watching shows on the couch. I've also been trying to do more photo shoots lately too so this will be so nice because it is SOOOO much faster than our 2009 IMac. My new photography blog is jzpphotography.blogspot.com if you are interested.
Brett is so into art. He made this train and wanted a picture with it.
The girls were excited to share Sean's breakfast with him one morning.
Brett has been so snuggly lately
Here is our thankful tree from November. We up leaves everyday with things we were grateful for. It was really nice to see what things the kids would come up with to put on the tree.
Alana got a Princess Jasmin dress up for her birthday and she tried it on and we watched some of the movie together one day while Brett was at school. She looked so darling!
Lizzie had her first pony tail!
I sweep, mop and/or vacuum every single day, because this little lady loves to pick up whatever she can find that her brother and sister dropped under the table.
We put up the Christmas tree and decorations on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Brett was so excited to help Sean shape the branches and put on the lights.
Alana got some fun bows in a card from Papa and Mimi!
We had Alana's birthday on the day after Thanksgiving this year. We had Sam, Jared, and Kaity, Neil, Rebecca, Kaden, and Lexi, Mom and Dad Z, Grandma Z, and our family. It was fun! Next year I should really do a friend party for her =)
We made this cake all together from recipes for How To Cake it. The cake and frosting were seriously so so amazing! We marbled the inside of the cake and then alternated the layers to make it super colorful. And of course our little lion girl needed a Lion Cake!
She got so many fun gifts!
We did a pinata in our front room which was a little horrifying! I didn't really think through how we should tell kids to swing a big stick right next to Great Grandma and the TV. Oh well, no one got hurt and it was very exciting.
Brett gave Alana Lion King decals for around her bed. I made her a new blanket with horses on it and she now says she sleeps in the lion den
More pictures of us decorating Alana's cake:
Our heater has been causing all kinds of problems lately and going out a lot. We were just trying to stay warm one morning when it was 56 in our house. Our landlord likes to fix things himself which is very economical but sometimes very frustrating. One day when it was out Brett looked and me and said Mom we just need to say a prayer. He asked if I would say it and I was so floored at his ability to understand the true way to start fixing any problem. It's gone out once since then, but we got it back going and we pray often that it will stay on and keep us warm. I am grateful for the opportunity to recognize what a blessing the heater is. It's something I truly take for granted most of the time!
Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's after Thanksgiving diner:
Sean eating his slice of chocolate peanut butter pie:
We had 21 people at Thanksgiving at my Mom's house this year. I woke up feeling quite sick with a cold and there was just a lot of work to be done. Luckily, Sean, me, Jared, my dad, Sam and my mom all pitched in to make a beautiful meal. My mom especially put so much planning and work into planning such a lovely dinner! It was served buffet style (here is the food table)
Sean, me, Brett and Alana at our feast (Lizzie was napping)
Jared, Sam, and Kaity.
Long Long table
I printed off tons of coloring and activities to help the kids have fun while the adults had to be doing so much work.
Lizzie had just learned to pull herself to a stand and was loving laughing at me through the railing.
Lizzie had her feast before she went down for her nap.
The kids haveing a picnic of mac and cheese around 12, our Thanksgiving dinner was at 2.
Lizzie finds Lily and Elroy to be so fascinating!
I was in charge of the rolls and the vegetables
The day before Thanksgiving was Alana's birthday. We went to the curiosity museum in the morning and played then we went to my parents house to help prep the turkey, then we went to Pizza Pie cafe. They gave Alana a free ice cream cookie thing that was amazing and she was so excited about all the whipped cream on the top!
Alana let me curl her hair and she got this Lion Guard shirt for her birthday.
Brett loves climbing on the geometry playground.
Lizzie's first time actually playing at the museum.
We had a picnic in the car before we went into the museum:
Lizzie moved over to Alana's old carseat because our infant one expires this month.
Alana got a new carseat for her birthday:
We had pancakes with frosting and whipped cream for breakfast
Alana got a little dog with veterinary tools
Lizzie pulling herself up on everything!
Alana trying on Brett's Halloween Helmit
A birthday card Brett wrote to his friend in Kindergarten
I was trying different settings on my camera, I thought the coloring in this picture looked really nice!
We had our ward party on Friday night and Santa Clause came! Brett asked for a blanket and Alana was too scared to meet Santa.
Other fun first for Lizzie is that she clapped for the first time yesterday and she got a new tooth yesterday and she took the sacrament for the first time today =)
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