Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve I spent the day at home with the little ones while Ian took the big boys downtown on the Front Runner train.  We opened our family gift early.  It was a year long membership to the Clark Planetarium!  Ian took the boys there.  They explored the exhibits, got popcorn, and went and saw the Hubble 3D movie. 

 

 

 

 

 That afternoon they took Trax over to Temple Square and visited the Tabernacle and saw the huge nativity.  They also went into the Visitor's Center and saw the Christus statue.  They had a lot of fun despite the cold and snow. 

 

 

I spent the day cooking, cleaning, and baking.  Getting everything ready for the big holiday.  The boys came home about an hour before dinner.  I was glad I didn't have to spend all day telling Weston and Davin "not yet."  :)  We had our traditional candle lit chicken scampi dinner.  It was delicious and I let the boys use china for the first time this year. 

After dinner and baths we read the Christmas story from Luke and sang a few Christmas hymns.  The kids left See's and a candy cane out for Santa then they each picked their favorite Christmas book from our book advent to read before bed. 

 

 

Mel and Brad were supposed to go up to Lewiston for Christmas with Brad's family, but on their way they hit a chunk of metal in the road that popped their tire and bent the rim of their wheel.  They decided not to try to drive the rest of the way in the snow on a spare tire.  I was really bummed for them, but super excited that they ended up spending Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day with us!  They came over after the kids were in bed and we watched It's A Wonderful Life, got the house all ready for the big day and then went to bed.

Merry Christmas!

Beckett-3 months

If you can't tell . . . I'm trying to get all caught up on my blogging before Christmas/the New Year.  I think this might be the last "catch up" post!

Beckett turned 3 months old on Friday!  I really cannot believe that he's already three whole months old.  He's barely still a newborn.  It has it's pros and cons. 
CONS:
-He no longer snuggles like a little lump. Just like all of my babies he will NOT lay his head down on my shoulder unless he is already dead asleep.  He wants to have his head up looking around.
-He is awake more often and consequently needs to be held and played with more often.  I debated putting this in the con list, but it does make it harder to get things done around the house.
PROS:
-He doesn't poop every 10 minutes!
-He smiles!
-He has started to sometimes take naps in his bassinet in his room.  I like this because I feel like we aren't working around him as much.
-He sort of giggles/snorts.
-He sleeps a little more consistently and even if he is up twice in the night he goes right back to sleep.
-He takes a bottle!
-He kicks and coos and is seriously getting cuter by the day. See for yourself!

We all adore Beckett.  I am so grateful that he is part of our family.  He makes us feel complete.  I'm looking forward to watching him continue to learn and grow each day.  I can't wait to see what kind of little personality he will have! 

Let It Snow!

Last weekend we got a lot of snow.  Saturday afternoon the boys wanted to go sledding so Ian took them over to Weston's school to play in the snow.  There had already been quite a few people there, so the snow was less than pristine, but they had a blast!

 

Davin wanted to make snow angels.  Ian said he just found himself a spot, laid down and started doing his thing. 

 

 

They both enjoyed sledding fast down the hill.  It's so fun now that they are old enough to go down by themselves and even better that Weston can carry the tube back up!

 

 

 

The other highlight was throwing snowballs!  Davin is still learning how to get his snowballs to stick together.  Weston loves to make giant snowballs.  Ian got some pretty great action shots.  Love my cute boys and their awesome daddy for taking them out in the snow because their mommy does not like to be cold and wet.  :)

Cookies & Christmas Programs

This last week was full of Christmas fun!  On Tuesday Weston's school put on a Jingle Jam program.  Each grade level sang two songs.  Lucky for me 1st grade went first, so we ducked out after Weston sang and made it home in time for Talia's nap.  I also amazingly picked the correct side to sit on and we had a perfect view of Weston singing!

Wednesday Melanie came over and we did some Christmas baking.  Grandma Olson's sugar cookies are a tradition that we just couldn't do without.  I am so glad that Mel was there though because they are a lot of work!  It took all day to bake and decorate a double batch.  It was so fun though and the cookies were amazing.  We just finished the last of them this morning.  Mmm.

 

After lunch on Wednesday Davin and I went to his preschool's Christmas program.  It was held in a conference room at the back of Cabela's.  I don't think I have ever taken Davin to Cabela's before.  We went a little early so we had time to feed the fish and pick up some fudge before the show.  It was so fun to be out just with Davin.  Ian was able to meet us there for the program too.  It was short and sweet and Davin did awesome.  He sang so loud!  There were four songs.  My favorite was when he sang the wrong words really loud all by himself during "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."  :)

 

 

 

Thursday night Brad and Mel came over for dinner and to celebrate Christmas with us since they will be with Brad's family for the holiday.  We had chicken scampi, roasted broccoli, and salad.  Mel brought Martinelli's too.  It was delicious!  We also happened to have each other in the Christmas gift rotation this year so we exchanged gifts too.  It was a very fun night.  Love those Curnow's!

Other Stuff We've Been Up To

A couple of weeks ago we went to Thanksgiving Point deli to celebrate Weston's excellent report card with some ice cream.  It was a fun evening at the ice cream parlor.  The boys loved their ice cream and sitting at the counter.  I got an amazing hot chocolate float.  However, I had to share with Talia and she ended up drinking most of it.  I need to go back and get another one that I don't have to share.

 

 

We also went out to dinner with Brad and Mel at the Johnny Rockets that just opened at the outlets near our house.  It was super fun and the jukebox was free so the boys each picked a song.  :)  It was crowded and there were no big tables available so the boys sat at their own table next to us.  I think they felt grown up and I got compliments on their good behavior and general adorableness from another table near them at the end of our meal.  I'm so lucky to have such great kids!

Beckett is getting cuter by the day.  I can't help taking pictures of him when he's smiling at me, which is often.

Talia had a blast doing her Crayola Colorwonder finger paints the other day and I loved that it didn't make a colorful mess of my daughter and my kitchen table.  What a fun birthday present!  She also loves her bubble baths.  She always wants bubbles.  She also is finally letting me do fun things with her hair.  This was pigtails.  We also started braiding last weekend and she has wanted a braid every day since.  It's fun getting to do girl hair, but I'm glad that I only have to do one girl's hair every morning.  I don't know how my mother ever got anywhere on time having to do all 4 of us girls' hair every day!

 

 

We have been enjoying the Christmas season.  Davin loves to help me bake.  He tried cocoa powder while I was making chocolate bread.  He deemed it gross, but licking the beater at the end made up for it.

 

Weston is super into wrapping gifts with computer paper and masking tape.  This one is our favorite.

 

And finally, I have been working on getting my body back now that I'm done having kids.  It's been so great having my elliptical in the basement.  I go workout a few mornings a week while Beckett naps and the kids either play in the basement with me or watch a movie.  If they are in the basement then I will have Davin be my helper and sit on my feet while I do sit ups or my hands while I do leg lifts.  He loves it and it actually does help me out.  One day after my workout Talia and Davin were being too cute.  I had to get a little video.

Visiting Santa

Back at the beginning of the month we took the kiddos to visit Santa at Thanksgiving Point.  It was a bit of a wait, but turned out pretty fun.  I wasn't too sure how Talia would react to Santa, but when she saw him from the back of the line she started yelling his name and trying to get closer.  When we actually got to the front and it was her turn she was a little shy, but she sat on his lap and seemed pretty fascinated.  Davin gave Santa his list of toys he wanted that he had written earlier that day.  Weston forgot his list, but managed to remember to ask for 3 of the 4 things on it. 

 

 

 

The very next day I was out shopping at the outlets with Mel and Talia and we had to make a bathroom stop.  I had no idea they had a Santa, but in the lobby area where the bathrooms and customer service are they had a beautiful Santa!  There was no line and Talia walked right up to him, turned around, and backed her little booty right up to Santa to sit in his lap.  She didn't talk to him.  She just looked at him and hung out on his lap and picked her nose.  Classy.  I just thought it was so cute that she likes him and just wanted to be with him.  I snapped a few phone pics of the scene.  Merry Christmas!

Family Photos

Back at the end of November we had family photos taken at a studio called Fotofly.  They did a great job and we LOVE our new family pics.  Here are a few (or like 20) of my favorites. :)

THE FAMILY 2012

THE KIDS

TALIA-age 2

BECKETT-age 2 months

DAVIN-age 4

WESTON-age 6

MOM & DAD