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.