Christmas visit to Logan

After our Christmas morning at home we drove to Logan. We were spoiled by my family. Kendal recieved more American doll goodness and Lego's. Peter got cars / car mat, Lego's. (They received much more but those are their favorites.) Casey got a waffle maker, tools, a chia garden,  and other kitchen stuff. I got a temple bag, some books to read to the kids, and Kendal and I got a muffin tin/ craft package. The kids got to play with Campbell, Elliot, and enjoy their Christmas spoils for the rest of the day. My Nana came over and we enjoyed a Christmas dinner that evening.

  Saturday morning the big boys went to see Star Wars. Afterwards they took the kids sledding at the shop. The kids got to ride behind a four-wheeler on sleds, go down a giant hill of snow, and even drove a mini snow mobile. (Kendal did great, peter kept ending up in the side of the hill.) That night we got to go to the Loosle party at my uncle's home. It was great seeing family. Kendal got to run around and play with Emma.

 

 Sunday we joined my parents for church. Peter was under the weather so he and Casey stayed home. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed more time with Nana and my family.
Monday was a chill day at my parents. We put together Kendal and my gift of muffins, and made puppets and painted scenery for a puppet show that Katherine helped Kendal write. (Inspiration If You Give A Moose a Muffin : ) Monday night we went to Patty and Eric's to play games with my cousins. We learned a fun new dice game and enjoyed family time.

Tuesday morning my Dad treated us to bowling. Peter was all about the swivel chairs and Kendal danced the ball down the lane. We played a few arcade games after and then ate lunch back at my parents. We left to come home so Casey could hold some practices this week.

 Th last picture of Peter is when we were driving out of town Peter said "I think my eyes just want to close." He fought to keep them open for a minute till he gave in and slept.
Thanks for the visit, the memories, the gifts, and the love!

Christmas Eve / Morning

Christmas eve we wanted to do something fun with the kids. We gave them multiple options, and they chose bowling. We had a good time. Peter was disappointed when he got a strike because it ment he didn't get two turns ; ). Afterwards we went to Arctic Circle to have a treat and get extra wiggles out. After dinner that night we let the kids open their jammies and we read stories before bed.

Christmas morning the kids came in just after seven. We let them cuddle with us in bed and listen to the nativity story with us. Next was presents! Santa brought the kids Lego's!! They each recieved some individual sets \ pieces and then got a big box of pieces for both of them. Peter and Kendal both got some books, a shirt, and a new bin to hold special books by their beds. Peter got a Woody doll and cowboy hat. Kendal got food, matching headbands, purses, and fun little accessories for her American girl doll. We spent the morning building and enjoying stocking goodies.

3 1/2

At three and a half Peter is very imaginative. He comes up with different Lego builds each day and the stories he puts with his cars play and Lego's are funny and unique. Once in a while he'll even sing a  monologue of what he's doing / playing. Peter makes us laugh every day, and has a quick wit about him. He is smart in many ways, but learning comes on his terms. He's passed a couple of levels on ABC mouse, but it's only recently that I've gotten him to verbally name his letters and sounds. His favorite letter is P and he loves finding it and pointing it out that it's his letter. He's even learned to write it!
To put it plainly Peter is our stubborn child. When he doesn't want to finish two bites of breakfast to get his cartoon he won't.  He doesn't want to go somewhere, he'll park his butt firmly and make life difficult. If he gets his feelings hurt, he'll put on the best pout face you've ever seen. I can definitely say two's were a breeze with him and three's where he's coming out strong, attitude and all.
When he's in the mood, Peter can be so loving, caring, and affectionate. But when his stubborn side strikes he doesn't want to be talked to, and he will push anyone away.
Peter is way more into books these days. He has a pile of his favorites by his bed that he tries to coax me into reading all of the time. When we visit the library he likes to look for Thomas the Train, Little Critter, Clifford, and Pete the Cat.
Peter is so excited to become a sunbeam in a couple of weeks. They've been prepping him and the 20 other kids for a couple of months. He's got some songs down and loves to find Kendal to hug when his class joins singing time. His teachers love him (they've always sang praises for Peter). (Sometimes I just wonder if it's really my child their talking about. You mean he was sweet, and nice, and adorable the whole time? Well if only life were like nursery we'd have a Saint Peter on our hands. ; )

We love you sweet-Pete / sour-Pete!

Webb / Darrington weekend

We had our Annual Webb and Darrington Christmas parties this past weekend.
Saturday morning the kids and I drove out to Raft River (Casey had basketball games and joined us late that night.) The extended Webb family got together at the church house for some lunch and fun. The kids found the basketballs early on and were having fun playing with them. They don't know many second cousins so intermingling wasn't huge, but the adults all caught up. After lunch we had our traditional story and cereal passing. Peter opened his a bit premature and had a stubborn look the rest of the time, but he got lucky charms so he ended happy. We sang our usual slew of Christmas carols. The best is where we split up the twelve days of Christmas and go around singing and acting out the parts. We ended by caroling around to some Raft River friends. Kendal stayed back at the house with Becca, and Peter just gave a somber look through it all. That night we put the kids in jammies and sat them all in front of a movie so the adults could play games and hang out upstairs.

Sunday morning we went to church. The kids went back and forth between rows and enjoyed each others company. We added quite a few kids to primary and nursery, and they all loved being together. We enjoyed a lunch of soups after church. A bit later we did our gift exchange. Kendal and Peter got look and find books from Sarah's boys, and new scooters from Grandma and Grandpa! (Kendal's been wanting a two wheeled scooter and Peter's been wanting a scooter of his own so it was a win win!) Casey and I got an AMAZING fire pit from Nicole and Jordan. It has the USU logo, mountains, and a deer cut out on the sides. (I'm mad at myself for not snapping a picture, but I will and i'll add it later.) It's my dream to have a fire pit for our backyard so we love the gift. (Just need a house, cough cough Casey cough ; ) They also gave us smore stuff and matches to lead up to the gift! Casey's parents gifted us money that we used to get new (very much needed) phones. (THANK YOU THANK YOU!) We lingered a while longer and headed home close to the kids bed time. We hit a wicked storm on the way home, but I muttered constant prayers, white knuckled it, and we both made it home. 

Family time is my favorite time during the holidays. I'm so grateful for the wonderful families we're apart of!

Birthday boy / Dec. beginings

To my eternal hand holder - This is a Birthday shout out to you, my awesome hubby! Casey we're so lucky to have you as our father, and husband. You are the head of our household, the glue that keeps our crazy going. The kids adore you and you are such a great father! You work so hard for us. As a teacher / coach you inspire, share your knowledge, and care about your students/ players. Thank you for upholding your priesthood responsibilities and serving those around you.

We love you so very much!


We're into our typical December happenings. Daddy has two to three games a week so the kids and I try to keep busy (while missing him). Casey's team have won eight out of their last nine games. He's working hard and had had some late nights and a varying practice schedule. (He even had a late night from games last night and had to go to practice early this morning on his birthday.)
Last week we hit up the annual nativity display at our church house. Kendal liked everything we saw, and Peter liked the "little" nativities. We walked around for a while, had a cookie and enjoyed some Christmas music from a wards choir. On one of Casey's away game days I took the kids to Arctic Circle to get a holiday shake and let out some energy. We ended up going into an nearby neighborhood to see the holiday lights when we found a house that had an awesome display set to music. (We loved it so much we brought daddy back the next night to share in the holiday fun.) We had our ward Christmas party last night. Both kids had fun finding buddies to play with and Kendal got to sing a couple of songs with the primary for the program. Santa came at the end of the party. Both kids were so excited to see "Santa's brother" (They believe the real Santa is at the North Pole). We waited a while in line and finally got up to him and of course my kids both clammed up. Peter uttered a couple of quiet sentences and Kendal only got out a few words in response to questions. They were sweet and loved the experience though. Peter was a bit disappointed Rodolph didn't come in too; he was convinced Santa needed Rodolph last night. Kendal's had fun at school doing holiday crafts and singing holiday songs in music class.

It's easy to get caught up in Santa mode especially when the kids are perfect ages to believe and love Santa. The quote below came at a perfect time for me because I wanted more Christ in our Christmas. So we've found ways to serve those around us and keep Christ in our thoughts and home this year. We had the kids pick a toy to give to toys for tots, we gave to a family in need, and added more gospel tunes to our usual jingle bells and Rodolph Christmas music.
Christmas is what we make of it despite all of the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is the center of our celebration. If we have not done so, we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and for our families which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christmas. - Pres. Monson
I love the Christmas season. I love celebrating the reason for the season. I love holiday traditions of countdowns, giving, reading Christmas stories every night, seeing Christmas lights and being with family!  Happy Holidays!

Movember take two

Casey grew a Movember mustache again this year. He ended up being the only teacher to do it, (and truthfully he probably won't do it again). He had many comments from teachers and students this month. Some thought it made him look tougher, others funny, some didn't even notice for a while because it's so light in color. He spent the last week growing out his beard as well. So a couple of students yesterday wondered if he spent the whole month on such a tiny beard. He put the kids to bed last night and went right in to shave. So the picture is mid shave; most of the mustache is gone, and the beard is trimmed. : /
While I'm the first to say I'm happy to have my smooth guy back, it's always interesting seeing Casey channel his inner Tom Selleck (Yep, that's the kind of mustache he had till he trimmed it for the picture).
Good job supporting Movember hon! Love you!!