Christmas Festivities

Kenyon's Preschool Party complete with Santa

Gingerbread House Decorated

Visited the train park on a rainy, crowded night

The lines were super long and Jer had to get to work so the kids rode this little train instead of the big train and were completely fine with that - thank goodness!


Devin says, "Ho, Ho, Ho" now for anything Christmas. Here he is with his reindeer.

Only 2 more days and the big day is here!

Santa is Watching...

Although Kenyon prayed last night that he would not be on the naughty list, they sure don't act like they care that Santa is watching.

First, Maya cut off a braid. This has always been my worst fear and I thought at 5, almost 6, years old we were safe. Who knows what she was thinking! Thankfully it is in a spot that I can rebraid and you won't even notice.

Then, Kenyon was sent to bed early tonight for... I can't even remember what. We had sent him to time-out so many times that I finally sent him to bed instead. He was protesting, but fell quickly asleep in this position:

Christmas better come quick or there won't be any good kids left in this house. We pulled out the "Elf on the Shelf" book and elf today so we can remind them that the elf is watching and reporting back to Santa. Please let it work!

Our Little Angel

Today Kenyon opened up the present he made at preschool for us. I love the picture!

Good thing we have angelic shots of him to compensate for the rest of the time when he is on the naughty list!

Christmas Lights

Last week we went to look at Christmas lights with friends.

First, we hit the Temple Lights. We got there early enough that it wasn't crowded so we were able to get a family shot. (Notice the flip flops on my feet - swollen feet only feel good in flip flops... so glad we live in Sunny AZ!)


Thank goodness Kenzie was there to push Devin's stroller and attend to him - she takes such good care of him! :)

After the Temple we went to Cherry Street. It is a fun street where every house is very decorated. The kids had a blast walking/running through the neighborhood.

Love all of the Christmas festivities going on!

Performance

Maya's Winter Concert was tonight. She sang her little heart out. We were too far back to get some pictures of her in action, but picture her with her sassy attitude and lots of spunk doing actions to some Christmas songs - loved it!

She wanted to pose for some pictures afterwards...

Kenyon wanted in on it too.

After, we went for ice cream. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa came to support her which made up for Daddy not being there since he was working out of town. Oh and I might have needed the help controlling "the boys." :)

Kenyon always chooses the Cotton Candy ice cream - yum!

Child Labor

Our lemon tree is producing. The best part about freshly squeezed lemonade is that these two did all of the work.

Yummy!

Walking

He is almost there.



We practice walking back and forth and back and forth...

He always dives at the end.

Buddy, you have 2 1/2 months until this baby comes so you better get to mastering the art of walking before then!

The Church Christmas Party

Santa (Don't they all look thrilled?!)

Crafts

Mary and Joseph

Lots of fun!

Tired

Kenyon is in that phase where some days he naps and other days he doesn't. Regardless, he always has "rest time" in his room. After an hour of rest time yesterday with no nap, he wanted to run to the market with me. He was really quiet in the cart, but I assumed it was because he had his 2 Transformers with him, but suddenly I discovered this:

Fast asleep among the produce

Turkey Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving. The kids were in heaven with the Utah cousins to play with. Thankfully our hotel wasn't too full so they would run back and forth from room to room and didn't bother anyone. Despite the cold weather, we played at the park, went swimming and attended the Live Nativity at Tuacahn Amphitheater. I didn't take many pics, but here are a few.

There was this old man resembling Santa that came and got in the hot tub to read a book with all of the kids. Tricia and I were cracking up watching all of the kids staring with mouths wide open at "Santa."

On the way home we stopped at Jacob's Lake to let the kids play in the snow. These poor deprived kids only see snow about once a year so we thought we would live it up for a minute.

So nice to be back home in our own beds with warmer (although cold for AZ!) weather.

I wanted to type up a "thankful post," but time ran out and we are headed out of town to St George, Utah for the holiday. I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving. I know we will... if we don't freeze to death when we get there! I sure don't miss living in the cold :(.

Annual Trip to Yuma

Last week we took our Annual Trip to Yuma to visit my snowbirding grandparents. Grandma Bev had driven them down from Wyoming so we needed to pick her up and bring her home. The kids prefer to go in the Spring when they can pick citrus off of the trees, but I know they still had a great time.

Kenyon was able to dig in the dirt





Maya got to strike some poses

Devin got into everything and occasionally just happily played with toys

The group shot

Kenyon called Grandpa "The Grumpy Grandpa" the whole time which cracked us all up. Grandpa can't hear too well so Kenyon thinks he is just ignoring him when really Grandpa can't hear Kenyon talking. Grandma makes up for it because as we were pulling in he asked what kind of candy Grandma would have. He knows she never lets his sweet tooth down!

See you for Christmas, Grandpa and Grandma!

Picnic Lunch

This week we had an extra kiddo staying with us. She was 4 years old and the kids had a blast with her. I, however, forgot how much different it is to be back to 4 kids (How did I do 5 kids all summer?!) so one day I announced we were having a picnic at the park and we were off. I kept them there for 2 hours. They exclaimed it was the best day ever and I think it was a good 2 hour break for Mama too.

Kenyon's Thoughts on How the Baby will Come Out...

"When are we going to open it [my belly]? Do we have to get a magician to bring his wand and "poof" it open? Then he will "poof" it closed. Mommy, the sparkle won't hurt you."

Another day:

"Is your tummy ready to crack open yet?"

Someone got his 1st haircut...

and he is still the cutest stinker around!

Sighting

Have you ever seen a scorpion? If not, check out this link. I couldn't bear to post a pic of the ugly creature that we found in our garage on this here blog.

I know scorpions exist in Arizona.

I know scorpions exist in our neighborhood.

I know that scorpions do NOT exist on my street, in my yard or in my house...

until tonight!

I was pulling in the garage and I saw it on the wall in front of me. I immediately called Jeremy (who was inside the house) and told him to come to the garage right now. He later informed me that he thought someone had died. By the time he came down, the little rascal was gone. I told him he must find it...

He found a cricket and thought for sure I had mistaken the cricket for a scorpion. I knew I had seen a scorpion all right. We go scorpion hunting in my parents' neck of the woods so I have seen plenty of them to know that I can't mistake that eery creature for a cricket.

So he kept searching and searching and finally he found it. It was hiding under a box right down from the wall I had seen him on. The box was recently put in our garage by Jeremy. He brought the box home from a job site. It is full of miscellaneous work stuff. I am 100% confident that the box also contained the scorpion. He was a transport. We are not raising scorpions here on Kiva Avenue and if I find out we are, I will be out of here faster than you can google pics of scorpions.

Enough said.

Look Who Turns 1 Today!

Today is Devin's day. I can't believe a year ago we were in Georgia meeting this little guy and spending time with his birthfamily. It seems like just yesterday.

Devin has such a calm, easy going demeanour. He has been such a good eater, sleeper and just all round good baby. He needed to be, with baby J only 10 months older and that monster big brother of his.

Things I love about Devin right now:

-The way he waves his arm out of control to say "bye-bye"

-How he holds up one finger when we ask him how hold he is

-The wet juicy kisses he gives me

-His crazy, curly hair

-When he signs "more" or "all done" at mealtime

-He sleeps 12+ hours a night

-That we call him "Diddy" because Kenyon started calling him that and when we had foster brother D, their names were too close to the same... D left, but Diddy's name remains

-How he laughs constantly, even when I just look at him with a silly face

-How he says "uh-uh" and looks right at me when he is getting into something he knows he is not supposed to

-Those dark brown eyes and never-ending lashes

-His soft cheeks that I kiss over and over

We had a small family party to celebrate. He was too busy flirting with the camera to care about his presents...

So these 3 opened/fought over the presents

Then it was time for cupcakes


We love you Devin!