Anxiously Awaiting...

Christmas Eve at our house is always a big big day full of fun - breakfast to bedtime.

For breakfast we had breakfast pizza and parfaits. Yum yum.




Then we played the yarn game. Everyone gets their own ball of yarn and unravels it throughout the house - they hide a gift for their chosen person at the end of their strand. The house looks like a huge spider web when we are done. Crazy - but much anticipated.

We opened gifts from my side of the fam. My mom made me this cute blanket.

My brother and I gave my mom this picture. She has wanted it for a long time.

Miss Ariah in her new leapord print.

Josh got a homeade blanket too.

We always wrap a gift with several layers of boxes and duck tape. Whoever gets it open first - gets to keep it. A favorite at our home.

Mom won - $ is always the best gift - right :)

Dinner was pretty casual. Favorite appetizers was the menu.

After dinner is the famous nativity. Uncle Ethan got to be the donkey. Lucky guy.

Cole was Samuel the Lamanite. He enjoyed being "stoned" up there on that wall.

Then he doubled as Joseph with Ambra starring as Mary.

Miss Riah Bug was our Angel.

The sheep abiding in thier fields.

All ready for bed after leaving oatmeal and glitter on the driveway. The glitter sparkles in the moonlight and lights the way for the reindeer, and the oatmeal will keep them busy while Santa is leaving gifts. Cookies for Santa... and off to dream of sugar plums.

Can't wait for the big day.

It's Great to be 8!!

My beautiful baptism candidate turned 8! What a precious gift she is to our family. 8 years ago I recieved the best Christmas present EVER! December 23, Ambra was born to our family - we came home with her on Christmas Day and life has never been the same. She is such a sweet girl. She honors her mother and father and is the best listener. She is a nautural leader and we have loved enjoying her in our family.


We always start out bday mornings with BUST OUT!!



...and of course PRESENTS!! We let her open ours since she will get many more throughout the day. It's all about keeping it exciting ALL DAY LONG!!

After we hit TOYS R US for her birthday club gift card, she chose McDonalds for lunch.

Then home to prepare for her Pet Shop Birthday Party.

I opted to NOT make the cake this year. Much less stress in my expecting condition.

Ambra and her new pillow pet.

She got to invite 6 little friends this year (my compromise in my expecting condition - its usually like 15). When they got here, I painted their faces and they made little animal ear headbands. While they were waiting for thier turn, they decorated a dog house to play in.

One of the games we played was eating like a dog. The first to finish their "dog food" won a prize. Ambra won.

Then we played "dig, doggie, dig" We had dog bones hidden in the rice buckets and they had to dig with thier socked paws to get as many out as they could. Cole and Vanessa tied.

Presents are always the best.

Cake and icecream of course.

...and on to the family party.

Josh and my soon to be sister in law Becca.

Ethan

and my mom and Rod.

...ahhhhh a perfect end to a perfect day. Happy Birthday princess.

Thank goodness for CO2 alarms!

Our CO2 alarms started going off one Thursday and I chalked it up to the carpet cleaning guy had been cleaning...but they kept going off. I finally took the batteries out of one because it was really annoying and then thought I better call the fire department to check our levels - just in case. They came in full gear and their big truck. That was quite exciting.



They checked all our levels and we were all testing positive for high CO2 levels. HELLO! What in the world. They considered calling an ambulence since I'm expecting and I assured them I was fine. The lady that works for me was having a headache and her levels were high as well. My home was testing high - expecially in the children's rooms. GREAT! I'm poisoning my family! We had to evacuate the house. Jennifer went home for the day and the fireman were there for a few hours trying to get to the bottom of it all.

The home finally cleared for us to back in and our levels had dropped enough for no one to be worried anymore. We had to keep the house open for the rest of the day and called them back over that night to check levels before we went to bed. The next morning, they came again and all was fine.

What drama! We are all chalking it up to the carpet cleaners, since the Questar guy that came out cleared all our appliances. WOW! Pretty exciting day.

Decorating My Space

Halloween Part 2!

Ok, we need to finish this so we can move on.

This year we had Alice and the White Rabbit from Wonderland, and of course Superman. I tried to get him to be the Madhatter, but he wasn't into it.


The scary house! This house's yard is like rated R! We had to stop and trick or treat here. This house has got playground rumors about it. Apparently, when you ring the doorbell, the clowns come to life, push you inside and throw 3 nets on you! Scary I know!

Yes, we were out in the rain this year. Ugh. Good thing it only lasted about 1.5 hours.

Then a rainbow.

...and we ended the night at our neighbors for soup and rolls. Yummy.