December twelveth

Christmas sure is getting close now! Less than two weeks, hurray! With the rain outside it even seems a little Christmasy here in Vegas, at least it's a good reason to crank the Christmas music up a little higher.
The past couple days my back has been pretty sore and I've been pretty much bed ridden. Which means we haven't done the christmas activities like we had planned, the live nativity, baking cookies and taking them to friends, a Christmas concert, or shopping for cousins. Bah humbug!
But with Kirk in Chicago the girls and I made a girlie night out of it with tangled and nail polish (apparently Kirsten associates nail polish with chelsey because even though I have painted her nails dozens of times she looked at the nail polish tonight and said "oh thank you chelsey!"). Kirst has pink nails and Audrey blue, but you can't really expect anything else out of those two!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had such a fabulous thanksgivings this year, one of my favorite to date. It was so nice just to stay at home and cook our own turkey. Kirk got off of work at about noon the Monday beforehand and didn't go back until the following Monday at noon, I was beyond spoiled. We stuck around the house and did a couple projects (potty training Audrey, moving the playroom downstairs, moving the guest room into Audrey's old room, and moving the office into the loft!). We really love having the playroom downstairs, I wish I would have done it long ago.
Wednesday afternoon on a spur of the moment decision my sister Camille and her kids decided to come down for the holiday! We were ecstatic and had Dynelle cookies (no bakes) waiting for them when they arrived. They were such a delight to have in our home, her kids are all so sweet and kind and Camille is one of my very favorite people so they made our weekend magical. I was a little worried about Kirk being in a house with 7 women and only one boy but it turns out he has a knack with women. Guess that means he won't need a son after all, ha ha.
Thursday we started cooking (got our turkey started waaaay too late) and pretty much didn't stop. The kids played hard and then we sent Kirk to the park with them while Camille and I stayed and cooked. It was so fun to work with my sister in the kitchen. Cooking turned out to be a blast and thanks to her we had super delicious stuffing. Our menu was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, celery with cheese, cranberry sauce (which it turns out camille actually likes), corn, and asparagus, with Razzleberry pie for dessert. Mmmm delicious, makes me hungry thinking about it! Everyone said what they were thankful for Kirsten said "applesauce," Allie said "Audrey," and Audrey said "Allie" it was so darling.

That night I made Camille go black Friday shopping with me. We only hit up Walmart and Target but I thought it was super fun. I used to go with my mom when I was a teenager and have loved it ever since...except the Walmart in Vernal, seriously never again!. We didn't get anything too big just towels, games, and movies. We got home at 2:00 in the morning and had hot chocolate with Kirk who had stayed up reading The Hunger Games.
So when the kids woke up at 5:30 it was WAY to early. We just relaxed Friday, filled our tummys with left over turkey and stuffing. Kirk and I took Jacob, Abby, Allie, and Kirsten out shopping. A couple weeks ago we saw a Christmas tree train that we fell in love with at Home Depot, but it was $45 so we decided to risk it and wait until black Friday. We totally scored the train for $25! I was sooo excited. It was so fun to be out shopping with Camille's kids. Abby and Allie held my hands walking in and out of the parking lot while Kirk carried Kirsten and Jacob walked with them. It was so fun having such well behaved darling children. We came home set up the tree and the train and watched Elf. We also spent a lot of time at the park and had as many tea parties as there were females in our house. Seriously good times. We were sad to see them leave on Saturday 2 days didn't seem enough, but we sure loved having them in our home. We LOVE the Cooper family.

We relaxed the rest of the weekend, dreading when Kirk would fly to New Jersey on Monday. But luckily we all survived. Anyway it was a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. We are so blessed in so many ways.

December Tenth

Today was sorta crazy. Kirk found a really great deal on a little commuter car! I am so relieved to have him in a car instead of on a motorcycle. I know he will miss his motorcycle but he is excited to have a car for the really hot or really cold days that are no fun on a motorcycle. He got a Chevy aveo in bright yellow...just like his 55 ford truck from high school (which he still has at his parents house btw). The whole family is excited except now Kirsten keeps calling our sonata yucky?
Tonight we went to our ward party. Terrific food and awesome music, as well as the service project for the women's shelter. We have a fabulous ward and love getting together with our friends there. Obviously Audrey ate the greenest cupcake she could find, we called her the grinch which she proudly accepted, ha ha.

December Eighth

Our stake is collecting various items for the Las Vegas women's shelter. They provided a list of items needed and encouraged ward members to donate. So we took the girls to Walmart last night and picked up a few things on the list and then had each girl pick out a toy to donate. Audrey picked out mater and Kirsten a mermaid Barbie. They pulled out the toys and looked at them all night saying "for friend with no toy". I really hope my girls grow up knowing the joy that comes from serving and giving to others.

December seventh

Today Audrey and I started the day with babysitting our friends sweet baby boy. Audrey immediately fell in love with him and catered to him the entire time. She managed the binky, bottle, blankets, entertainment, and diapers. No the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, my mom loves babies, I LOVE babies and now Audrey will carry on the love. Also she will be a great help someday when you know we decide to have another baby girl.
We also received a gorgeous flower arrangement with a piece to a Christmas village from Kirks parents. Karen started the tradition to send one each year. It's so beautiful and the girls love it, especially since the lights in the houses turn on and it plays music!
This afternoon we talked Kirk into working from home which means we talked Kirk into playing hooky for about an hour and taking us to beligio gardens. We thought it would be smart to go earlier in the day since it has been so cold. I didn't think it would be very crowded on a Wednesday in the early afternoon but I forgot about the NFR (national finals rodeo) and man alive was that place ever hoping with belt buckles. The gardens were of course amazing. Penguins, a Thomas Kinkade picture made out of flowers, the 42' real Christmas tree that smelled like heaven, but I was bummed that their wasn't even a small nativity. Ever since becoming a mom I have become really sensitive about the true meaning of Christmas and hate to see it left out. We enjoyed the fountains as well or as the girls call it "dancing water." Call me crazy but I was expecting Christmas music but instead it was the star Spangled Banner which was wonderful and very patriotic...but just not Christmas music. It was a fun afternoon and gave us our full of the strip for at least six months.
Now we are cuddled up to watch Smurfs because Kirk talks about it every day and we are going to end up watching it someday anyway, ha ha.

December Sixth

Today was a sick day at our house. Kirsten had an upset stomach and Audrey has a nasty cold. We stayed in our pajamas all day and read books, played with blocks, took nice warm baths and slept right through dance class. It was the perfect cold day to stay inside and snuggle with my girls.
Tonight after we cleaned up dinner we sent the girls on a scavenger hunt for the cartoon Grinch who Stole Christmas. The girls hadn't ever done a scavenger hunt before but they caught on very quickly and raced from room to room gathering clues. They ran up and down the stairs from beds to toilets to the Christmas tree etc. Kirsten was a perfectionist about getting all the tape from the clue off while Audrey would just grab whatever came off when she ripped it, ha ha. At the end of the treasure hunt they found the movie. They were super excited. Kirk blew up the air mattress, I made muddy buddies, and we all put our (clean) pjs on for our slumber party. The movie of course was fun and the girls kept saying the grinch was grumpy, fun times. I think we need to do more scavenger hunts :)
This evening Kirk and I watched It's a Wonderful Life snuggled up on the air mattress. It's my favorite Christmas movie and always makes me so grateful for the life I am so blessed with.

December Fourth

Today we took the girls to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Kirk had never actually been to one and I can't remember going to one since high school. Because it was our third trip to the church building in one day (church and later tithing settlement) we thought about watching it online but decided it would be worth it to be there in person. We were both really glad we went. The girls weren't exactly perfect but for how exhausted and restless they were they did great. Every time someone stood up to speak Audrey would yell "prophet", she got it right at least once. :) The messages were great and the music awesome. During President Eyrings talk they showed a short video about birth of Christ, if you didn't see it I would recommend going to lds.org to see it. Half through President Monsons talk Audrey had had it so we spent the rest of the meeting in the foyer watching Audrey dance. The girls were in bed by 7, apparently 3 trips to church in a day will do you in!