Favorite Christmas Song

Trevor's favorite Christmas Song is Christmas Canon (a Christmas version of Pachelbel's canon).  We listen to it ALL.THE.TIME.  

You have to hear it.  It will not be Christmas without it.  You can watch it on youtube HERE

I just plug it into our phone or listen to it on Grooveshark.  So good. 

Christmas PJ's

We give the kids matching pj's for Christmas every year.  We wrap them and let the kids open them on Thanksgiving night so that they can wear them all throughout the Christmas season.  And then they can wear them on the Polar Express!

Opening Christmas Jammies

My own way

Corbin is my strong-headed child.  When he doesn't like something he usually gets a grumpy face and starts telling me why I am wrong and why he is right.  Rather than exacerbating the problem I usually (uh-hem, usually;)) let him talk through what he is thinking/feeling.  It just works for him and every child is different.  The other day I sent him to a time-out and he got frustrated so we talked it out and he said through tears,

"Mom,  I know how to do life. I know what to do and how life works." 

Haha!  He is 5-years-old.  I wish he could tell me how to do life since he is so sure and I could use some help!  Oh man, his pouty face gets me every time.  He was born the master of this face.  

Balloon Room

The Cleveland Art Museum had the most unique exhibit. They filled an 8 foot tall room with balloons...all the way to the top...and then let people go inside the room. Who thinks of stuff like that?!! My friend, Ivette, was the first to tell me about it and we jumped on the chance to go. It was so fun and different and the kids loved it. I left the room with my hair sticking straight up...as a 30-year-old woman that is not what I would call classy in an art museum.  At least the kids could still pull off cute with hair like that!!

love these girls!

Korynne

 Ashlyn

Corbin

Asher

Andrew

Me! My hair is already starting to fro and I've only been in for 2 minutes!

Kaiden

Trevor

Khaliel

Arianna and Kristi

Babysitting Gone Awry

This babysitting story will go down in history in our family.  We had Kaiden (12) and Trevor (9) babysit the younger kids while Dave, Andrew, Kristi and I went to watch a movie.  We coached the kids, telling them to call us if anything happens.  We wrote down all of our cell phone numbers and we told them not to answer the door if anyone comes to it.  We were set. When we got to the Movies we realized that:

a) I had left our house keys in the door lock---on the outside

b) None of us had left a cell phone for the kids to use to call us if there was an emergency and my home phone was out of batteries

We hopped back in the car to go home and fix our mess.  Then, went back to the movies and enjoyed it. After the movie, we came home to the PARTY OF ALL PARTIES!!!

Apparently when they heard, "watch the kids" that really meant "go crazy and have fun doing it."

This is what we found when we got home...

There actually were crushed pretzels all over my living room floor.  They had broken a vase playing hide-and-seek, and clothes, blankets and drinks were everywhere.  Is it just me or does this reek of high school party when the parents go out of town? :)  I was laughing so hard and then took pictures which probably didn't help. 

The kids decibel level had heightened 100 percent and they were laughing and running through the house. 

EVERYONE WAS STILL ALIVE AND WE WERE GRATEFUL.

Thanksgiving

My brother and his family to came to visit us for Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun to have them here.  We had many fun activities and even got a date night in with just the adults.  

We fed the ducks near the Art Museum

 Arianna ate the bread instead.

 Pictures outside the Art Museum

 Nature Center

 Life-sized board game

Preston Hope Park

 THANKSGIVING FEAST.  

THE FOOD WAS GREAT AND THE COMPANY WAS TOO!  WE WENT AROUND THE TABLE SAYING WHAT WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR.

 I love that the men cleaned up afterwards.  

After cooking all day, I didn't even feel guilty for not helping.   

Not one little bit

 I loved that the kids had to sleep all nuzzled together 

even though there were beds to sleep in! Cute!

Annual Nativities at the Kirtland Historic Site.

 I think they collected over 500 this year.

 Dress up Nativity!

Beauty and the Beast

I took Ashlyn to see the play, Beauty and the Beast, for a mom and daughter date.  It was so fun.  We had to go straight from music lessons to the play and we even had to run to get there on time, but it was so worth it!  We went with some friends.  After the play we stopped at Sweetie Fry (a local ice cream and fry shop) to eat and hang out.

Adorable girls!!

Ashlyn LOVED this play and she even got really emotional about it.  She said she had water in her eyes when the Beast almost died and when he came back to life and turned into a prince she shook her hands in the air and gasped!  She could not stop talking about how great the play was.