It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

I cannot believe we are already here, the week of Christmas!  The time is flying by way too quickly!  I am not ready for Christmas to be here, simply because I don't want it to be over.  I love everything about the Season and it has been especially fun this year with Jensen around.  Here's a look at some of our Christmastime traditions and activities we've been enjoying...

We always kick off the Season with a trip to the Jubilee of Trees and a visit with Santa.  Pierce and Madi were both very excited to see him this year and Jensen was perfect!  It was a little miracle that I got this picture...

...all three children looking at the camera!  And very nearly all smiling!  (This was also a very sweet day, it was the day that Baby Sarah was born!)

Next up was our 4th Annual Gingerbread House night with The Woodburys!
Kathryn is so good to do this, she does all the work - making real gingerbread - and we just show up with some hyper kids and some candy.

Madi, Ryan and Pierce working hard on our gingerbread house, and Jack Jack working hard to get Pierce's attention!

It was all just too exhausting for Jensen.  He zonked out!

It's like I have 2 big boys!  They did a great job on our house!

This year Kathryn stepped it up a notch and did a more complicated house design for us.  It was very cute!  But unfortunately our gingerbread was a little too soft, (it was delicious, but too soft to hold up!) and this became the year of gingerbread house collapses!

Jack adding his trucks to the mix, Woodburys with their house before the inevitable cave in, and the poor house after the collapse!  Darn!  We had fun making them but we both missed having them on display all month long.  Our collapsed about 30 minutes after we got home.  We love this tradition and we all look forward to it each year!  I hope we can continue for years to come!

On the 9th we had Madi's Christmas Dance Recital.  She was very excited to perform, she loved her routine and especially loved that her song, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was the same song Brother was playing for his piano recital.  (More about Pierson's recital later.)

Annie & Madi, they love taking dance together!

That little gap got a little bit bigger that afternoon...while we were getting ready for her recital,  I tortured her and got the 2nd loose tooth out!  Yes there were screams of torture, and yes there was joy and excitement the second she realized what happened, again!

Madi, my beautiful dancer!  I was very proud of her, she is such a cute little performer and she did great.  It is so fun watching her! 

And I have to say that this has been my favorite thing about this Christmas Season...

Our little "Budgey Boo"  (his silly nickname we've all started calling him) has been very interested in the tree...

It's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  It seems like I'm just more in love with him each day!  He is such a joy in my life and in our home!  I am particularly enjoying his age right now, (I LOVE this stage!) he is so much fun, so happy and playful, and not a destruction crew.  yet.  Seriously, the funnest baby stage and so perfect for Christmas.  Love my sweet boy, so excited for his First Christmas!  Now I better get moving, still have all our gifts to wrap, treats to deliver, groceries to buy, laundry to do....

Baby Shower!

I have to start with a little background on this post.  This is a story I must write down...and it's not even about me.  So, if you've been around my blog for awhile you know my friend, Julianne.  I've had a link to her adoption profile on my blog for awhile (YAY for needing to take it off!)  and her boys, Joey and Tommy, have  made an appearance on the blog a few times, along with her hubby Joe, AKA Bishop Brooks.  Anyway, Joe and Julianne have been trying to adopt another baby for over a year now, and we have been praying and hoping along with them for another baby to come to their family.  On with the story...

One October afternoon I talked with Julianne and she and Joe were preparing to speak to a group of birth moms that evening.  She was nervous and excited and I was nervous and excited for her, thinking that maybe one of the girls attending would hear them speak and she would be the one meant to place her baby with them.  I wished her luck and said, "maybe tonight's the night".  I needed to pick something up from her so she left it on the porch for me to pick up while they were at the meeting.  I pulled up to their house and very nearly had a heart attack!  There were several people in her driveway who had put up a banner on her garage saying "It's a girl!"  I was entirely confused!  I knew they were at the meeting speaking at that very moment, how could this have happened?!  So I got out of my car and talked with one of the girls who was there, (whom I actually recognized from having previously lived in the ward!)  A birth mom had chosen them!  They didn't know it yet!  She was at the meeting listening to them speak!  And wanted to surprise them!  I was FREAKING out!!!  They were getting a baby, and they didn't know it yet!  I was trying not to hyperventilate and thinking about the situation.  Joey and Tommy were down the street at Samantha's, and I knew I needed to make sure Joey didn't come out and see the sign before they were home.  I ran down to Samantha's, trying to breath, and told her what was happening!  She said she'd make sure the boys stayed inside until they were home and I went on my way.  As the kids and I drove to Ryan's office, tears were running down my face as I explained to Pierce and Madi what was going on.  Of course they wondered why I was crying and asked, "well aren't you happy?"  One of these days they'll figure out the happy crying thing!  I got to Ryan's office, and ran inside.  He could hear me running down the hall way to his office and then appeared in his door with tears in my eyes.  Of course he was alarmed, and with our luck, thinking - who died?!
 I told him, "they're getting a baby!"
 He was confused, "What?!"
"Joe and Julianne are getting a baby!"  I cried.  Literally.
Ohhh, well that was a relief for him to hear!
The next few hours were very long.  I was about to burst knowing they had no idea what was happening, that they'd pull in their driveway any minute and find out their life was about to change.  Not to mention be confused, as this was not a typical surprise!  I waited a few hours, thinking I was giving them plenty of time to come home, see the sign, call their case worker, find out what was actually  happening, talk to the birth mom, and call their family.  I pulled up to their house and they had only been home 5 minutes!  They were standing in the driveway, taking it all in!  I hugged them, cried with them and then I started breathing normally again.  What an amazing night!

Fast forward a couple of months... They have been greatly blessed with an amazing birth mom! Every thing went perfect with the birth and placement of baby Sarah into their family.  It has been amazing for me  just being a friend on the sidelines, to see this miracle come about.  Ryan and I had fasted and prayed together and with the kids for this blessing to come to the Brooks.  I have been grateful to have such a positive experience to talk with my kids about, an experience in which we have prayed for something wonderful to happen and it did! I have worried that the losses our family experienced last year have  felt like unanswered prayers to our kids, so this was something I was grateful we had talked with them and prayed with them about.  I have also realized what an amazing example of our Savior's atonement this situation is.  What a miracle it all is.

On to the baby shower...
I have never been so excited about a baby shower before!  I was just ecstatic for Julianne!  Samantha and I worked on organizing a shower for her and it turned out wonderfully!
Let's start with the food...

Look at this vegetable tray Samantha made...

Isn't it beautiful?!  Seriously, I was so impressed with her presentation!  And how darling to put the dip inside the peppers!  LOVE it!  

Kathryn mad these delicious mint brownies (a personal fav of mine!)  I love how she does pink frosting, so perfect for the occasion!  And did I mention they are delicious!

I decided to make cake bites since I wanted to make a "pretty" dessert for the event.  I tried a new one this time- coconut.  They were a hit!  So good and so cute, I did some dipped in chocolate and some in vanilla, they looked like little snowballs, I loved it!  I love making cake bites because they really are so easy, they look beautiful and everyone thinks you're fabulous!  You can't go wrong!  I also did some regular chocolate ones with pink drizzle on them, I had to have some pink in there.  

We also had delicious homemade cheeseballs, thanks again to Samantha and also sweet Roberta, and apples with caramel dip that Roberta also made.  We had so many great friends to help make the food, it was all fantastic!  Pretty and delish!  

Onto the decorations...

My sweet friend, Staci, provided us with the darling little banner.  Samantha did these cute little favors for the guest- mini star cookie cutters saying "a star is born" with a cute tag with Sarah's info on it.  So fun and so cute!  And since little Sarah was not going to be making an appearance at the shower (staying home to stay healthy) I put her pictures in frames and had them around the house.  

The Fabulous Guests...

I thought it would be fun to get a picture of everyone that came, this didn't happen, but I did get a few shot of some of our fun party comers!  I have such cute friends and neighbors!  

The guest of honor...

I love this picture of Julianne!  I made her pose for me with all of her gifts. So many sweet friends and neighbors came and brought so many fun and darling gifts for her.  It was fun to hang these cute outfits from my stocking hangers too.

And there you have it!  That's my recap of the big event!  I was so happy to be able to do this for Julianne.  I have just been beyond thrilled for her and her sweet family to bring this precious little girl into their family.  I don't know if it's because I'm in baby mode myself, but I was so emotional during her whole experience.  I kept thinking to myself- what is your problem, it's not your baby!  I was crying half the day on the day of their placement, overwhelmed with emotion thinking of this amazing birth mom handing her baby over to them, something I know I can not begin to imagine.  And also overwhelmed with such joy for Joe and Julianne!  I can't imagine going through either side.  I have thought a lot about how different our trials are from one another.  This has made me even more grateful for the friends who help and support me in my own trials and made me want to be there to help and support my friends even more. Friendship is such a great blessing in my life, I am grateful daily for the strong and beautiful women who are my dearest friends.  I am so thankful we can help each other in our trials and share in each other's joys!

Madi's Big News

I was so not ready for this! Even though Madi is in Kindergarten now, it still just seems like she's my little girl. I was shocked when I realized her two bottom front teeth were loose! Pierce didn't loose his first tooth until the summer after Kindergarten, so this seemed very early to me. I was holding back tears, thinking this makes her seem so grown up! Loosing their first tooth, it's such a milestone for them.

She was excited to have a loose tooth and very excited about the Tooth Fairy, but she was terrified to have it actually come out. After 2 nights in a row of her having a major meltdown when we brushed teeth - it was hanging by a thread so brushing her teeth was making it bleed and she was FREAKING out- I decided I'd had enough... I held her tight and all it took was a little flick of my finger and it popped right out. You would have thought I was torturing her if you'd heard the screams. But once she realized it was out - me calmly telling her to spit as the tooth was in her mouth, she spit it out- and wow! Talk about a mood swing. Tortured child to giddy little girl in a fraction of a second. She was thrilled! Hoping she will trust me the second time around, not likely, but here's to hoping.  Awkward teeth stage her we come.  She sure looks cute toothless, I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

BREAKING DAWN!!!

My Husband is awesome.  The best.  Have I mentioned that before?  Well he is, seriously.  So, of course, I was excited about the opening of the latest movie in the Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn...we always go opening night as couples with our great group of friends.  And, if you'll recall, my fellow Twilight Junkie and dearest friend, Kathryn, and I have always worn matching t-shirts to the movies on opening night.   We started just the two of us with Twilight,  and then convinced Mel and Lynds to join with us for New Moon.  We also made them for Eclipse, but they were a bit of a flop, so that night after Eclipse I decided- no messing around with iron ons anymore!  We are getting serious for Breaking Dawn! Ryan even came up with a saying that very night.  So a year and a half later, here they are...

Couples who watch Twilight together stay together!
Fan or not, you have to admit, it's funny.  Ryan designed the shirts and we had them printed at Extreme Graphics.  It was even more fun to have our husbands match us!  We had 10 couples in our groups, with 6 of us in matching shirts.  We got lots of compliments on our shirts and started thinking we could sell these babies!

Here's all the girls:  Lynds, Jana, Mel, Kathryn, Tonya,
Annette, Ashley, Staci, Kendra and Me.  I love all these girls!  I always say it, but I have the greatest friends!  They make waiting in line for Twilight movies, wearing silly awesome t shirts and having a thing for vampires so much fun!

Me & Kathryn - it's a tradition!

Lynds, Mel and Me.

Now, about the movie... I loved it!  It's funny, I've decided that out of the 4 books, my two least favorite books - New Moon and Breaking Dawn, are my favorite of the movies.  I was a bit worried about how they were going to play this movie out, but I thought over all they did a fantastic job.  LOVED the wedding, it was gorgeous!  And I thought they did an amazing job of making Bella look terribly sick.  And I have ALWAYS been ticked and disappointed at how they have portrayed Edward, but I thought it was improved this time.  Still not as good as book Edward, but a major improvement.  So there's my spill.

Love Ryan. Love Twilight.  Love my friends.  Love group dates.  Loved the movie.
Anyone want to go again?

Toes

When sucking on your toes is completely adorable and irresistible...

My Little Trick or Treaters

What is it about babies and their first holidays? They have no clue what's going on and us Moms go goo goo over them.  Well, I guess we just can't help it,  they are too adorable.  Here is my little pumpkin on his first Halloween...

I am a sucker for cute Halloween shirts, I love them!  I couldn't resist this one for Jensen, it says - Take me to my Mummy.  It was especially fitting for him, he has become SUCH a Mommy's boy.  Which you wont here me complain about,  I love it. 

Like I said, just so adorable! 

Here is my Darth Vader....Are you kidding me Mom,  DARTH VADER does not take off his mask and smile for his Mom!

My little witch and her best friend Rapunzel! 

Sweet little Tiger

Wow, sometimes I can't believe I have three kids!  Here they are all ready for Trick or Treating

Even though this is not the best picture of Madi I  had to include it.  As soon as picture taking was over, Madi put these stickers on her face and told everyone she was a "Pluto Witch"  the rest of the night.  Friends and neighbors were asking me- what's a pluto witch?  And all I could say was "your guess is as good as mine."  Whatever it was she sure had fun being a Pluto Witch.  (There were even more stickers on her forehead.) You can also see the pumpkin ring she was sporting.  Daddy brought it home for her and it was a priceless treasure!  Funny girl!

After the Trick or Treating...

Pierce with his goods

Madi immediately had to start counting out her candy. This makes me laugh because I can remember loving to sort out my candy and divide it into piles and count how many of each kind of candy I got. I loved that!

They had a great time Trick or Treating and had fun going along with Grant and Annie and Joey. We also enjoyed stopping in to see our Hall cousins that night. We had a great Halloween! And now it's 7 days later and I still haven't gotten my Halloween decorations down. I told Ryan today that I think I might have to start getting out the Christmas decor as I put Halloween away. At the rate I'm moving these days that may be the only way I can get Christmas decorations up in time!

Halloween Party 2011

Last weekend Ryan and I hosted our 4th annual Halloween Party. I can't believe we've been in our house for over 3 years, that we've done the party for 4 years, and especially that we have friends who keep coming back! Seriously, we have the funnest friends and I LOVE hosting the Halloween party. Really all I do is provide the place, everyone else provides the fun. It is so fun to have everyone let loose and bring out their wild side. You know how wild we are around here. My favorite part is seeing what everyone comes up with for costumes! They were FANTASTIC this year!
(side note: I thought with my new flash I could do the pics outside, but it's still not enough to appreciate the dark wigs, I'm bummed about that, they were fabulous! I'll be having a new photo op spot for next year!)

Here are all of the party comers decked out along with the costume contest results - and even though we only awarded 1st and some 2nd place winners, I thought it would be fun to record what everyone was voted for...

Jon & April - Neo & Trinity from the Matrix

1st Place Scariest, Tied for 2nd Place Best Couple, and 4th Place Most Creative


Shane & Laura - The 80's Rock, enough said.

3rd Place Scariest and an Honorable Mention for Funniest and Best Couple


Mike & Samantha - The Hollywood M&M's

2nd Place Funniest, 3rd Place Best Couple, 3rd Place Best Over All and an Honorable Mention for Most Creative


Derrick & Andrea - Papa Smurf & Smurfett
1st Place Best Couple, 1st Place Most Creative, 1st Place Best All Around and 3rd Place Funniest

Curtis & Mel - Hagrid & Professor McGonogall from Harry Potter

2nd Place Most Creative and Scariest, and an Honorable Mention for Best All Around

I have to mention, Curt was also dubbed as "Brian David Mitchell" that night and even received two votes for the scariest costume! And I hadn't laughed that hard in a while. Seriously, if he was grey?! The resemblance was a bit frightening!

Angie & Brooke - Jona chose hunting over the party (I know, how could he, right?!) and Daron was conveniently sick a few hours before so the girls came together. What a couple!
Tied for 2nd Place Funniest, 3rd Place Scariest, 4th Place Best Couple

Nate & Ashley - no explanation needed

1st Place Funniest, 4th Place Best Couple


Dustin & Kathryn - Santa & Mrs. Claus, I think they've found a great job for themselves when they retire!

2nd Place Best Couple, 2nd Place Best All Around and an Honorable Mention for Funniest


Lynds & Darrin - June & Johnny Cash

Honorable Mention for Best Couple and Best All Around


Dustin & Staci - The Bun Maker and the Bun in the Oven

3rd Place Best Couple, Most Creative and Funniest and an Honorable Mention for Best All Around


And since Ryan currently has his bum foot, we had to roll with that for our costumes, Dr. Robison and my patient.

We all enjoyed a delicious soup and salad dinner and scrumptious desserts and then on to the games! I didn't get as many pics as I wanted of the evening, since I had my little sidekick with me this year. But here are a few highlights...

Andrea taking the victory! Contestants had to stack 7 cookies on their forehead and hold it for 3 seconds. It was a close competition!

Candy corns and chopsticks...contestants had to move as many candy corns as they could from one bowl to the other with chopsticks in one minute. Mike was a pro, he kicked everyone's trash.


Moving marshmallows from one bowl to the other by sucking them with a straw... Dustin was victorious!


Pretty intense competition with the dice stacking...and doesn't Brian David look scary?


Attempting to blow the deck of cards of the bottle leaving only the bottom card on the top, it proved to be too difficult but they gave it their best!


And the championship round...all the winners competing to see who can move the most cotton balls with their nose and a little vaseline! Dustin Schofield took the victory this year! Way to go Dustin!
Thanks to all of our fun and fabulous friends! Great food and great laughs, we had the best time!