Some things to remember

Typically I only write about things that I have pictures of, but I've been keeping a little list of some random things that I'd like to remember.
1) A couple weeks ago, Ezra was playing on his own when he began to sound frustrated. I asked what was wrong and he said, "Ugh... it stinks! I tooted and I just hate the quiet ones! The quiet ones are the worst!"
2) On a foggy day, Nolan walked outside waving his arms saying, "Dissipate!" I didn't know he knew that word.
3) Last month we hosted a fun caroling Family Home Evening with some good friends. We had the Funaki and the Packer families over. Well, we thought we were going to go caroling but it turned out to be about 15 degrees outside and foggy. So we stayed in, had the kids play songs on the piano, watched a couple short clips on lds.org, sang a few Christmas songs together, and then enjoyed hot cocoa and donuts. It was a fun time with friends and a good way to do a little Christmas singing!
4) Also in December, we had dinner with the Morreys at their new home in Farmington. We made delicious pizzas and let the kids run wild. They had a great time. Jen had her baby boy 7 weeks earlier so it was fun to hold the little cutie while taking a tour of their beautiful home.
5) I love the movie A Christmas Story and I bought it this year to show the kids. I was so excited... I just knew they'd love it. Well, they did love it, but Justin and I couldn't believe the profanity in that movie! And I don't mean the "Ooooohhh.... Fuuuudge" part either. I guess we've been watching the edited version that is shown on TV all this time. Luckily the kids were oblivious, but that won't last long. Whenever the boys were stinkers during the next few days we would say, "If you aren't a good boy then we'll get you pink bunny pajamas for Christmas!" I think they started to worry that we'd actually do it.
6) Ezra recently said, "When I grow up, will I get to cuddle with Dad every night?" Yes, of course. That's not weird at all.
7) Ezra also keeps saying (over and over), "Do you know who I'm going to marry? Lucy!!!" I'll tell him that he needs to find a girl that is his best friend to marry and that Lucy is already his sister. He says, "But I love her so much... I just want to marry her." Yeah buddy, that's not weird either. The boys really love their sister!

Christmas Joy

We started our Christmas morning around 7 a.m. We made the kids drink their orange juice. Ezra was not happy about it. He kept saying, "I don't even like orange juice!" 

The kids were pretty happy about what Santa brought. Nolan loves his new rockboard scooter. There were a couple things that Ez didn't love. He would say, "I didn't really want this" or "I don't even know what this is." He has moods where he is tough to please. But everything was okay when he opened his present from Grandpa Corey and Kathy: Legos! It was just the set he wanted. And luckily Nolan was happy to build them while Ezra looked on. Nolan loved all the science stuff he got. He was excited to use his new beakers. We got several games that have been fun to play as a family, too. Lucy likes her giraffe that sings "Pat-a-cake" but she mostly loved the wrapping paper. What a fun time she had! 

Justin was excited to receive a Camelbak from his Dad and a DS game. I was super excited about my new Bosch. Now I can learn to make bread. 

 Cute kids in their jammies. What a wonderful Christmas Day! The only trouble was that Lucy started wheezing and coughing that afternoon. Poor girl had croup.

First Christmas at Home

Since being married, Justin and I have always spent Christmas with parents. This year, we decided to have our own little quiet Christmas at home. We hurried home from Logan (where we had Grandma Moulton's Christmas party) to enjoy the holiday. We did the traditional gingerbread decorating. 

For dinner, Lacey and her family came over. We got take-out Chinese food instead of going to the work of making egg rolls and chop suey from scratch. The cousins were ready to open their Christmas Eve presents soon after eating. We made them do a treasure hunt in order to find them. Justin made a a good hunt, with at least 14 or 15 clues! The kids look like they are taking it very seriously as they listen to the first clue! 

Ezra was so happy starting to open his present. When he realized it was pajamas, he was so upset. He threw a major tantrum! It was pretty funny. This picture doesn't do it justice. Lucy slept through the entire evening. Later we knew why... she was coming down with croup. Poor girl. It was a fun evening and the boys were so cooperative when it came time to go to bed!

Christmas Baby

I posted some of these photos already, but I think they deserve a post of their own because Lucy is such a cute Christmas baby!

December

The month of December always flies by. This year was no different. We started the month with a visit to Santa at our local grocery store. Not the friendliest Santa, but he did the job! The boys were ready with their lists. Ezra wanted 5 surprises and a Lego "bad guy" house, and Nolan wanted some magic dust, a time machine, and a shrink ray. Yeah, I love it when kids ask for that kind of stuff. Oh brother!

Ezra did so well at his preschool program. He was the star... literally. He got to play a Christmas tree during one part, and then later he held a star over another tree. It was a big deal to hear him sing and see him participate happily. He usually decides to pout during these types of things. We were so proud! Miss Susan is really a fantastic teacher. She has done wonders for his confidence this year.

We had a huge snow storm that the kids were thrilled about! It must have snowed about 8 to 10 inches in 24 hours. Nolan and Ezra had lots of fun playing outside with Clairice.

For our upcoming 10th Anniversary, Justin decided he'd get our rings buffed up and cleaned, and get my wedding rings sautered together. So we drove to Provo to the jeweler. The boys were so excited that we stopped in at Krispy Kreme Donuts. They had never seen "the donut factory" before. It was hard to get them to leave! The next morning, we found that our elf had sneaked into the donuts and eaten half of Mom's donut! The rest of the morning was spent playing donut factory. They built a conveyor belt and then spent time packaging each donut in individual wrap (from a previous Amazon order). They were so creative and had fun delivering donut orders to Justin and me.

The weekend before Christmas was pretty special because my brother, Grady, came for a visit. My parents drove him up and stayed two nights. I haven't seen him since he moved to Austin, TX nearly 3 years ago. He looks so great and is starting an exciting new life there. Darian came to stay also. It was so good to catch up with one another! Darian gave Grady a photo album of funny old pictures that we enjoyed looking through. I only wish we could have had more time together. Hopefully it won't be so long before we see him again.

Lucy started baby food at 5 and a half months. She doesn't love the oatmeal, but she was willing to give a little smile for the camera!

We also went to Logan for Grandma Moulton's big family Christmas party. It was held at the clubhouse in her retirement community. It was quite the place! The kids loved the theatre room. And I even enjoyed the theatre room too, as a quick place to hide when they started the line dancing. I discovered that I'm not the only adult with braces. Kathi has braces on her front teeth to hold them in place after a motorcycle accident. The catered meal was so yummy and it was nice to visit with family that we haven't seen for a long time. The boys were glad that we could sleep at Grandma K.'s house that night. We exchanged presents with her that evening and had a delicious breakfast together on Christmas Eve morning. Nolan even convinced Grandma K. to go sledding before we headed home. She was late for work, but she couldn't resist the time to play!