It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Instead of shopping on Black Friday, we always decorate for Christmas. We got all of our decorations up inside and outside and it makes me pretty excited for the month of December. I am very excited for Christmas this year. This year I feel like I can enjoy the season without worrying about where the family is going to be living or where Darin is going to be working. We may not have a lot of money for gifts (we have enough), but I am just excited to feel secure and spend the holidays with my little family.

 

After decorating, we headed over to the mall cause the kids had some very important things to tell santa. They have been keeping a Christmas wish list for about 3 months now and it was quite long when they turned it in to Santa. I told them, that santa would have to choose a couple of things off of their lists cause their "wishes" would fill his entire sleigh if he honored them all.

Emily

Abigail

Elizabeth

Love These 3 Girls

Santa Baby

My heart just feels warm and fuzzy looking at these children.Who couldn't love those faces?

Goodbye Hostess

Upon hearing of the Hostess company's decision to declare bankruptcy, our family had to go in search of some twinkies. My kids have never eaten a twinkie or a hostess cupcake, so I thought they should be apart of this American experience before they never had the opportunity to. We searched all over town with the shelves completly cleared out of twinkies. We finally headed over to the Bakery Outlet store and grabbed the last box of vanilla twinkies, chocolate twinkies, and cupcakes. Too bad the unions had to force this company into bankruptcy. Sad day in American Junk Food History.

 

Enjoying their first and last Hostess treats.

Thanksgiving

Abigail had some very specific requests for Thanksgiving this year. She wanted sparkling cider, a veggie tray, and a strawberry cheesecake.

 

 I don't think I have ever made a cheesecake, this one was a strawberry cheesecake with strawberries on top and strawberry-currant syrup. It was very yummy and I would definitely make it again, but I would put the syrup on the side for people to put on top as they wish cause it was a little to syrupie for me. The girls had fun helping me make it and really enjoyed munching on strawberries as we went along.

 

Briona came up to Pocatello from BYU for Thanksgiving. She got to meet Carson for the first time and the girls had fun playing with her while Darin and I went on a date. Thanks Briona!

Dancers of the Week

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I was downstairs doing laundry at about 2:00 and I hear the twins squealing that Mrs. Whitney (their dance teacher) was in the yard. I ran upstairs to see what they were talking about and saw the sign in the yard: DSDS DANCER OF THE WEEK.

 

The twins were so excited they could hardly contain themselves.

 

Abigail went on a field trip with school and got home late, but she was excited when she found the sign too.

 

Then came the discussion of who was the dancer of the week. Each of the girls thought the sign was meant for only them and I had to explain to them that Mrs. Whitney wanted all three of them to be the dancer of the week. They were okay with it. Congrats girls.

Preschool Pictures

I hired a photographer to take my preschool's pictures this year. I am so happy with the results. Alyona Oborn did such an awesome job. What cuties I have in my class.

Emily

Elizabeth

Abigail's First Concert

Abigail auditioned for the ISU Children's Chorus last spring and she has been rehearsing with them every Wednesday since the beginning of the school year. Well her hard work finally paid off and we enjoyed watching her at her first concert. She seems so grown up now. The did well and we look forward to hearing these little angels sing more often.

Carson's First Smile

Carson has smiled a few times randomly in the last week, but today he was all smiles and would actually respond to my smile. It must have been the Dallas Cowboys onesie that he was wearing. I was pretty happy that I was able to catch a smile on camera. I think this is one of my favorite milestones that a baby reaches now on to "coos" and babbles.

Kindred Spirits

Abigail has been dying to have a sleepover for a while now. I finally was able to bring myself to let her have a sleepover and I am so glad I did. Abigail was so excited and she had a blast with her friend Kassidy. Abigail knows Kassidy from dance and school and her family recently moved into our neighborhood area. These girls had so much fun together; they are definately kindred spirits. The girls just clicked and it made my heart happy for Abigail to have such a fun time with a friend. Both of them woke up at 6:00 a.m. and they spent the entire morning singing and dancing and having a blast. They were also very good at including the twins with their play. Kassidy was sweet and polite. I would be glad to have her over anytime.

Who looks like who?

I was curious as to which one of my girls Carson looks most like so I found pictures of all of the girls when they were 1 month old. Comment if you have a guess.

 

Abigail - 1 month

Emily - 1 month

Elizabeth - 1 month

Carson - 1 month

Watch Me Grow!

I have seen some friends with those onesie stickers that you stick on a onesie and take your baby's picture to watch them grow. I found these cute tie onesie stickers on Amazon and I thought that it would be a good idea to watch Carson grow and document each month of his life and see the changes he makes (sniff!). I can't believe my newborn is a month old already.

Of course wherever the baby is, Elizabeth is there also. She LOVES her brother.

Carson's Blessing Day

Today was a very special day in our family. Our little Carson was blessed and we were honored to have my dad, Heather and Shane, and Darin's brother Mark attend. What a special little guy we have in our family.

Uncle Mark & Carson

Heather and Shane & Baby Carson

Darin with his sweet son. Darin gave a beautiful blessing for our little boy.

Family Photo. My, has life changed in the past 10 years. Darin and I met in May of 2002 and we are a family of six now 10 1/2 years later. I have decided that it is next to impossible to get a good picture of all six of us. This was the best we could do.

Emily with Carson

Abigail and Carson

Elizabeth and Carson

Papa Carl met Carson for the first time this weekend and it is so sweet to see the two guys together. We are so glad he came to help Darin bless the baby.

Momma Misty with her little boy.

I can only hope that this sweet boy lives up to be a worthy righteous priesthood holder like these men: Shane Booth, Darin Ralphs, Carl Stocker.

Halloween Happenings

We started off the Halloween season with pumpkin carving.

 

Our first family outing as a family of six was to the ward Halloween party.

Carson AKA Buzzy Bee

Emily as a Lady Bug

Abigail the Rock Star

 

Elizabeth as Spider GIRL (not spider woman) shooting her web.

Spider Girl's Creepy Hair

One of these days I will be something more interesting than a witch.

Darin went as his favorite food, pizza.

It's not fall unless you can play in a pile of leaves.

Carson and mommy passed out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters, clearly he enjoyed his job.