Christmas Village

We went to Christmas Village on Friday night with my parents, Joe and Steph, and Shannon and Jed and their boys. Everything Christmasy this year is magical for me with my kids, especially Claire. We had so much fun! Maggie was super excited to see the reindeer. All the kids enjoyed the train, even if I had to make Corbin get on it to "ride with Claire." He thinks he is getting to old for all the little kid stuff, but I am not ready to let him grow up yet. Van did really good tucked into Matt's little kangaroo pouch in his sweatshirt. Joe took a few turns with him tucked inside his coat too. He actually looked super snuggly. 

I have hardly any pictures of our whole family. I was determined that we had to take at least one and one is definitely all I could get, but it was a great one! I absolutely love this family of mine!

We didn't realize what the hidden object was until towards the end, so we just enjoyed looking at the lights and houses. The best lights were a huge tree with red lights and twinkle lights too. It looked super cool. Kent got separated from us and called me on his gizmo to come back to the twinkle light tree. 

 Afterwards we all headed to Dylans for a late night snack. It was a great night.

When I got the two little in bed that night, I headed back out to Walmart with Corbin, Maggie, and Kent. They had been working on chores for the past two weeks to earn money to buy socks and underwear and canned food to donate for our ward Christmas party. I was super proud of them, they each were able to buy a big package and cans to donate. The best part though was the week after they announced in church that we would be doing this project, Kent came home from school with a pair of socks. He had used his class dollars to buy a pair from the treasure box! I didn't even know he had heard about the donations, he totally did it on his own. Seriously so sweet!

Dipping Pretzels

Last week my Grandpa and Grandma Davis had me and Steph over to dip pretzels with our kids. It was so much fun and it totally reminded me of Christmas with them. It was only for an hour and it was perfect. Van couldn't have lasted very much longer. Claire and Van were eating the pretzels as fast as they could dip them. Maggie took it very serious and did an excellent job. Corbin and Kent really enjoyed themselves too. My favorite was the milk chocolate rice krispie squares. Corbin found out he loves white chocolate pretzels. I love that my Grandparents gave my kids the fun opportunity to do something with them!

North Pole Express

Malcolm and Ellie wanted Claire to go on the Heber Railroad North Pole Express. I didn't really want to pay for my whole family to go so I just sent Claire with Michelle and Adam. She had so much fun! She got to ride a train for the first time. See Santa, dance with Santa's daughters and the elves, and drink hot chocolate. She is at the very best age and it was just magical for her! I was actually really sad hearing her tell me about it because I wish I would have gone with her. Kent was super sad he didn't get to go too. Luckily he has the best aunts and uncles that brought him a mug and a bell. When he shook the bell the next morning he said, "Yes! I knew I truly believed!"

Van's First Birthday

 Van turned one on Saturday, November 20th. One is a big party in our family! I started out with a barnyard theme because I thought it would be cute, but because Van loves dogs and can even say the word dog, I had to switch. We partied with all of our family the night of his birthday. We got takeout from Bella's, which Van loved. We played a few dog theme games. The kids had to drink out of a bowl like a dog, carry a dog bone on a spoon across the room to a bowl, and guess who barked (I had recorded five different people barking and they had to guess who was who.) I made a dog pinata, that ended up being a little too sturdy. It provided plenty of hits and fun for everyone, including a few adults. The pinata was my favorite part, but it took forever! I cut it out of cardboard and duct taped it. Then did three layers of paper mache, and then did the crepe paper. Van thought hitting the pinata was hilarious! It was darling. He got his own smash cake. He didn't do much damage to it. Then he got some super fun presents. I love having all of our families together to celebrate.

Van is 22.13 lbs (74%) and 30.3 inches (69%). He has had a rough couple months sleeping, but he is starting to learn how again. He got totally thrown off because he was sick for like two months straight. He has eight teeth and can take a few steps. He was actually walking more and better about a month ago, but would much rather crawl anywhere he needs to go. He can say "dog" and loves them! He thinks most animals are dogs and says it a lot throughout the day. My favorite is when he hears a dog bark and stops what he is doing to listen and say dog. He loves his daddy more than anyone else, but me and Grandpa Davis are a close second. 

Halloween

 We had a super fun Halloween this year! There was no school the Friday before Halloween so the kids dressed up on Thursday. Maggie and Claire were cave girls. Kent was a fur trapper, or Davy Crockett, and Corbin was a bear. They had little parties in their classrooms, and this year they got to have a costume parade through the school. I wanted to go, but Van fell asleep taking Claire to school. Maggie didn't even have a costume on Monday, I ended up making this one for her. She even sewed a little of it. Kent actually bought a different costume, but didn't like it for school because he couldn't wear the mask. So he picked out an old one of Corbin's.

We celebrated Halloween on Saturday. We had dinner at Marianne's and did a little trick or treating to the uncles in Plain City. Van wore his fox costume for maybe an hour the whole night. He looked really cute though. Since both of my girls were cave girls I decided I would be one too. We didn't stay together throughout the night, but it made for one cute picture. 

Corbin and Maggie both went trick or treating with friends this year. Kent was pretty sad about that. When Corbin left Kent started to cry because he wanted to go with them. Then later in the night Matt and Kent were out together and saw the boys. Matt told them to have a fun night and Kent said, "When do I get to have a fun night?" He always wants to be with Corbin. 

Sunday I took down all of my decorations and did nothing at all for Halloween. The morning after trick or treating I am checked out of Halloween. Bryce and Erin did have a spook alley in their garage that we walked through at Sunday dinner. My kids really liked that.

Corbin's Haunted House

Corbin made this haunted house for school. It turned out awesome, and he did it all by himself!

Black Island Farms

 Claire had her first preschool fieldtrip a few weeks ago. We went to Black Island Farms in Syracuse. It was about 40 minutes to get there, so pretty far away, I thought. She enjoyed it though. Van didn't really like it until the end, but he was still good. Claire really enjoyed seeing her friends.

They had slides, a little train ride, corn pit, swings, and a tunnel that Van liked. We didn't even go into the maze.

She really loved when Ms. Megan took her down the big slide! I had gone with her a few times, but with Van on my lap and just holding her hand. 

After almost an hour Van was getting super bored so I tried putting him in the corn pit. He tried to eat it at first, but then he enjoyed just playing in it. 

School Pictures 2021

 I love that school pictures come digitally every year now. I sure love these kiddos!

Gymnastics

Claire started gymnastics this fall. She has loved it. She goes for 50 minutes twice a week. I am not sure exactly how much she is learning or improving necessarily, but she totally loves it and is always so excited to go. Kent is in ninja parkour at the same time on Wednesdays and he had enjoyed that so far too.

School Carnival

 Green Acres had the school carnival tonight put on by the PTO. It is definitely a carnival lacking some things, but my kids enjoyed it. Claire waited in line from the second we got there for an hour to get her face painted. She was very happy with it!

Van had to wait in line with Claire for the first half hour, but luckily Matt ended up coming and took him to the playground and bought him a snow cone.

Maggie loves pretty much anything that she can wander around and socialize. I didn't really see her the entire time we were there.

Kent actually enjoyed the games. I think he played everything at least once.

Corbin is a peer leader this year so he was in charge of running booths all night. 

Hair Cut

 Van got his first official hair cut! I actually really liked Van's long hair. I also thought it made his head look a little smaller. But I am obsessed with his short hair! He looks so handsome.