Reese's 4th Birthday

So these ended up way out of order but oh well. Yesterday was Reese's 4th birthday. She came running into our bedroom bright and early and the first thing she said, "It's my birthday!" All day long she kept asking when will her "guests" arrive. I thought it was funny she kept saying guests, it sounds so grown up! I suppose she is getting quite grown up. We had a few tears throughout the day too... for some reason at various times she decided she didn't want to be 4 yet and still wanted to be 3. I'm not sure what that was all about. Hopefully soon she'll decide it's ok to be 4.
We had a lot of friends and family there to celebrate.
Reese loves her cousin Brooklyn soo much. She was so excited to have her at her party. They are only 10 months apart so they get along quite well. She even got to spend the night - which was probably her favorite gift from the whole day.
Up until about a week ago we were planning on a Rapunzel Party but she changed her mind at the last minute to a Lalaloopsy party instead. The menu consisted of: Baked Potato soup, breadsticks, fruit and dip, sugar cookies shaped like buttons, watermelon popcorn and raspberry smoothie drink. We had to improvise with most of the decorations since no body has any Lalaloopsy decor anywhere. Her favorite Lalaloopsy is Jewel Sparkles (pictured above in the middle) so we just did everything pink and girly, since that is what Jewel is all about.



Hugs for Grandma Nan, thanking her for her princess dolls.


A new Lalaloopsy! Thanks Dylan!
This is the first year I've bought a cake from the bakery. This one was just too cute and it was one less thing to stress over.
Reese and all her loot. We're thinking about maybe celebrating her birthday in the summer, to help spread out her gift receiving.
It was a fun party and we're grateful to all those who came! We're grateful to all those who couldn't be there and sent gifts (Ava and Sadie).

Christmas Day

After we opened presents at home we got ready and went down to Downey to go to church with Todd's parents and open even more presents. After we spent some time there we spent the rest of Christmas Day in Preston with my family. We had a yummy ham dinner, opened more presents and even broke open a pinata!

Christmas Morning

Right after Santa went to bed, I mean back up the chimney.
Reese's Santa stuff.
Boston's Santa stuff.
Boston and his new CARS.
Reese and her new Mittens Lalaloopsy.
After we opened all the presents we found one under the tree we had "forgotten." Inside the box was a picture of the playroom (a clue). Reese ran down the stairs to see what could be down there and this is what they found.Boston's Loot.
Reese's loot. What spoiled rotten kids.
Reese and her other favorite Pillow Featherbed.
Boston playing with his new Little Wheelies set. He loved putting anything and everything down the slides.
Us - pretty glamorous at 7 A.M.

Mom got a new purse, Dad a new shirt and some movie tickets/Texas Roadhouse gift certificate to share. Santa didn't leave much for mom and dad since he dropped a few things off for them in Novemeber like a new TV for dad and a new rug for mom. Mom got did get some cute slippers (which I wear everywhere) and Dad got a new bronco shirt from our family in Colorado. Also thanks for the Mickey Mouse from Ava, and the playhouse from Annagrace.

Christmas Eve

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house for the 2nd year in a row. This is the day we spend with Todd's family. We've found it much easier doing it this way with the kids - so they can just go right to bed and do Christmas morning at their own house. We enjoyed a lot of treats and simple pizza dinner. Above: New Christmas jammies and slippers.
These are out of order. We let the kids open up one present this night - which contained all of the games we were going to play. Hot Potato was a big hit - especially with Boston! We also played Hello Kitty dominos and Scene it Comedy movies.

After all the games we read Luke 2 and the kids put on the pieces to the Nativity. We were happy to spend the evening with Grandma, Papa, Thomas and Tim.

Tis the Season...

The other night we hosted a little Christmas party at our house with a few of our best friends. No, not all of our best friends (for those that might be reading this and later leave me a comment saying "but I wasn't there"). We just chatted and chewed. Lots of yummy food! The kids ran around like wild barbarians but it fun.
I took a few pics of the kids the other morning. It had to be quick since it was freezing cold and because of course they're 3 and 1. We had to play a few games of Peek-a-Boo to keep them cute and not complaining.
Little Miss Boss tried to get her little brother to pose and apparently he didn't like that.

Finally, a cute pic! Happy Holidays! We didn't send out a card so this is as good as it gets (I don't think we've sent out a card in our 5 years of marriage). Maybe next year....

Dancing Queen

Reese had her first dancer performance today. It wasn't an actual recital just a Christmas program to show what they've been learning so far. She did so great. She has a lot of stage presence - which is no surprise given her personality. She did really good at trying to follow her teachers - we look forward to many more performances in her future. I was so proud of her! Todd missed the performance but watched the recording with her when he got home from work. We're grateful for the 3 grandmas and 1 grandpa that showed up to support her too!
All ready to go - showing us her twirls. Look at that footwork!
Quite the little poser!

Turkey Day

We were in Downey this year for Thanksgiving. Todd's brother Tyler who lives in Georgia was here with his family visiting. Reese and Boston loved having their cousins Annagrace and Emmalee there to play with. They are really close in age so it's especially fun for them. Reese had been counting down for weeks until it was time for her to be with Annagrace. They loved to play together.
Cheers! Ready to get our turkey on!
This year Todd got together with a few friends before the feast to play a little Foosball. It was rather entertaining seeing some of these older gentlemen try and relive their glory days of high school football. They were a bit out of shape.


Todd's team was victorious!
The team!

Halloween

So these pictures are not in order what-so-ever! Halloween was full of grandma visits. We started off fairly early and made our way down to Brigham City to see Todd's Grandma and had a nice visit and enjoyed some delish grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. It had been a while since Grandma Roxcy had seen Reese and Boston. I was kind of worried they would be really shy, especially Boston. Quite the opposite - Boston was very social. I guess he figured since her name was Grandma she must be ok. After we left Brigham we headed north and stopped in Preston to see my mom and Grandma Nan. While we were there we got the kids in their costumes. Reese even went trick-or-treating next door to a friends house. We left just in time to make it to Downey for their Trunk-or-Treat.
2 cute wiches - Reese and Addie.
I just think this picture is too cute with their two little witch hats! Check out Boston's loot!

Getting some goodies from Uncle Thomas and Grandpa. The kids weren't too thrilled with Grandpa's mask.
After trunk-or-treating we enjoyed some Little Ceaser's Pizza (Reese's request).
We found another friend while we were getting goodies. Reese's good friend Brody.

All ready to go - at Grandma Nans.
The cutest witch and puppy. By the way I made Reese's costume this year. I was quite proud of myself, considering last year I couldn't even read a pattern and had to have my mom make it.
Boston getting some goodies!