Christmas Elves

Our two little delivery girls:


And don't they look so proud? These girls LOVE helping to take things around to the neighbors, and Christmas gifts are no exception. This year they decided that they were going to sing too. So they grabbed a goodie, bounced their way up to the door, handed over the gift, then Kenna put her arm around Allie and they sang "We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a happy new year!" It really was so darn cute to watch. Not bad having little runners to do all the deliveries! Someday I will learn how to hook up my video camera to the computer to download my little clips. Someday. But by then, video cameras will be obsolete and there will just be some microchip you can slip in your eye like a contact lens and it instantly copies itself to your computer which will be the size of a nickel. Ya, someday.

Kenna's Party

Blog neglect.

But for very good reason.

Last week for some crazy reason I got the cleaning bug. Perhaps my nesting instinct was oh- 6 months too late. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I'm not complaining. Every major closet and cupboard in my house got a serious makeover. We're talking garbage bags full. I figured a pretty good rule of thumb was that if we haven't used it in the 6 1/2 years we've been married, then we won't miss it. Crazy how we hang onto stuff just in case we might need it. I just hope someone doesn't pick it up at the DI simply to store at their house for another 6 1/2 years!

So, as promised, here are the highlights of Kenna's birthday party (and whatever else has been going on while I've been filling up the garbage can).

Kenna tends to be a bit of a socialite, so she was so very excited for friends to come over for her party.

To break us in, we started with a rousing round of "hot potato." Gotta be honest- these little ones have obviously never played hot potato. It was a bit more of entertainment for Jacob and I than anything, but after a few rounds they got into it a bit more. Of course the camera didn't make it to this game.

While we had the music going, we just threw in another little game where the kids danced around until the music stopped, then they froze into random positions. It was pretty cute. Once again, camera was MIA.

Next up we played "Don't Eat Pete." The game where one person goes out of the room while all the others designate a little character on a poster board as being "Pete." The person then comes back into the room and starts to pick candy off the poster one piece at a time. Hopefully they get as many little candies as they can until they reach for "Pete" and everyone yells "Don't eat Pete!" Petty cute, they really get into it. And yippy doo, I finally remembered to take a picture! This is minus one little friend who came late, and two friends who couldn't make it. Boo. But it turned out great.


Next up we decorated gingerbread houses. I had rushed to the store in the morning to make sure I had the decorating tips to use for putting the frosting on the houses, and of course I did something screwy with the bags and they really botched. So, I just put the frosting into bowls and let them use knives. I LOVE it when I make extra work for myself. Love it. But, it turned out great and the kids loved it.



Allie, with a plate full of candy sitting in front of her- It's as though she could hear heavenly hosts singing above her. I tried my darndest to make sure these little bodies didn't go home needing detox from sugar overload.


Next was time for gifts. Is there any question this little lady likes attention?






About halfway through the party, we decided to have Jacob go hook up the pony cart to take the kids home in. I'm so glad he did, they LOVED it! It was so cute to watch. What a fun daddy!




Hooray for surviving our first official birthday party!

Now if you haven't yet met your quota of cuteness for the day, get a load of this: (take note of the major DI pile behind Ty in the first picture- told you I was crazy).





Oh you just wait, there's one more. Love him!


My favorite part? The fuzz on his head. I can try to gel it, but within an hour it's straight back up. He's got me hook, line, and sinker.

Brumphey Explained

After I posted about Brumphey, I remembered that I was going to explain about how this silly little Santa creature was named.

First of all, Brumphey was a random ornament that my mom was getting rid of, so I threw it into our pile. When I was pulling out our Christmas stuff, I decided that he would be our little helper. I figured it wasn't worth all the extra effort to find an actual elf. That's my incredibly practical side coming through.

When I introduced the ladies to Brumphey, I told the girls to come up with a name for him. Kenna quickly chimed in with "Brumphey." I have absolutely no idea where it came from, but sure, we'll roll with it. It's not the easiest name in the world, and poor Allie usually ends up calling him "Grumpy."

Hmm. Who knew the 7 Dwarfs were part-time Santa helpers?

Don't know why we couldn't have scored Happy. Maybe next year.

Brumphey

Meet Brumphey:


Brumphey is Santa's little helper. He showed up at our house a few days ago. Brumphey watches over Kenna and Allie to see all the good things they do so he can report back to Santa. He is magic and moves all over the house. The girls never know where they will find him next. In this picture he is on top of the microwave. I would have never imagined how excited the girls get over this! Whenever they see that he has moved, they squeal and go crazy until they find him again. It is so fun to watch them.

BUT...

...the other night I was lying in bed and had a moment that I think is probably shared by other parents. I had a twinge of guilt. I told Jacob that essentially I'm lying to my children. You know, the whole Santa thing. The magic of Christmas is so fun and wonderful, and I really want my children to experience that, but at the same time.....

Well, I decided that as fun as Brumphey is and whatnot, I am really trying to emphasize that Christmas is about Jesus. We can have fun finding Brumphey, but essentially we are making good choices because who we really are trying to please is Jesus and our Heavenly Father. The magic of Christmas is feeling the Spirit. Trying to be a little more nice, finding ways to serve and give to others. At the heart of those things is charity, the pure love of Christ. THAT is what Christmas is about, and why this time of year is so special. Hopefully that is what I can teach my sweet little children. And perhaps give myself a good reminder too.

The Big 5

That right there is the portrait of perfection. My beautiful first-born little baby. Now fast forward five years:


Yes, that again is my sweet little first-born so excited to open her birthday present that she absolutely insisted she couldn't possibly eat even one solitary bite of dinner (lasagna, by request- thank you Stouffer's) until she opened it. The excitement is just oozing!

What could it possibly be?


My oh my!

A Dora the Explorer Snuggie! Hooray! Much to the dismay of their father who loves picking up blankets from all over the house, my children LOVE their blankies. Or, "rankies" as Allie calls them. So I figured Kenna would love a blanket that she could wear. I was right. It was a hit. And of course she had to wear it while eating the birthday lasagna.

While up in Logan for Thanksgiving, we had a little birthday celebration for Kenna. Grandma Shelly made a darling snowman cake with long black licorice eyelashes and a red colored coconut scarf. Notice there are no pictures? My camera didn't make the trip with us for Thanksgiving. Oh well, at least I remembered to take all my children up. So, since we recently had a big cake, we opted for birthday donuts. But, alas, the birthday has not ended. Saturday will be Kenna's birthday party with 5 of her cute little friends which will include another cake. Stay tuned for that!

Kenna has really been anticipating her 5th birthday. On the morning of her birthday I could hear her in her bedroom talking to Allie. "Allie, I'm 5! But I still feel like I'm 4." All day long it seemed she was waiting for lightning to strike to initiate her into her next year of life. But, she loved the extra attention and it ended up being a great day. Oh and I can't forget lunch at McDonalds. When I asked where she wanted to go to lunch I was definitely not surprised at the response. We just over-utilize the hand sanitizer dispenser while we're there.

Happy Happy Birthday Miss Kenna D Dolly! We love you! Thanks for adding such a beautiful little spirit to our home.

OH- speaking of Thanksgiving, we had such a great weekend! It was so fun to spend time with family. The girls were in heaven playing with their aunts and uncles and cousins. We ended up coming home on Saturday instead of Sunday because of the storm (which proved to be a VERY wise decision) and Kenna was so upset to lose another day of playing. Another wonderful weekend of great memories with no pictures. Maybe we'll make up for pictures at Christmas. Hopefully the batteries are all charged...

Money Well Spent

I honestly can't remember who was the gracious donor of this baby gift from my first ever baby shower before I had Kenna. But this little bouncer toy has made it through 3 babies, almost 5 years, and is still in great shape! Maybe when this thing bites the dust, we'll know it's time to quit having kids. He he. I'm totally kidding. Really. This thing will definitely outlast my uterus.

Round 1: Miss Kenna D




Round 2: Miss Allie Gal (who, thanks to her sister, is sporting Mr. Potato Head's glasses- this picture is classic)




Round 3: Ty Guy


It's nice to know that out of all the you-MUST-have-this-or-die baby paraphernalia out on the market, at least one is worth the investment, huh?

So on Saturday morning while Kenna was eating her breakfast, she wheeled around in her chair to look at me, held her piece of bacon up in the air and shouted, "Hey mom! I made a Lamanite!"

Here is said Lamanite:

Not sure if I should consider this a parenting success or not....

Perhaps she should have been a Lamanite for Halloween.

Instead, she opted for the fairy princess she was last year. With whiskers and kitty ears, of course. What fairy princess is seen without them? And of course her little sister needed some whiskers too. After all, only the best ladybugs have whiskers. This year party-pooper mom decided we were going to dig through the dress-up bin to find our Halloween costumes, and we pretty much just did a repeat of last year. But these little spooks sure looked cute!



Lest we forget the cutest pumpkin in the patch, here is our little Ty man.


Let the fun begin!


The sugarfest started with a round of trunk-or-treating at the church which, many thanks to the cold, wind, and rain, was held in the cultural hall. But no matter, as long as the treats keep coming life is good! Later on the wind died down, and Kenna was determined to hit the neighborhood as well, so we headed around the block to top it all off. A giant diabetic nightmare. Now I get to be the treat referee. Those silly girls have organized and reorganized their treats a million times. I remember doing the same thing when I was a little girl, it's so fun to see their excitement.

Oh, we can't forget the pumkin carve. What is better than carving pumpkins in your jammies? Hmm, I guess the only thing that tops it off is carving pumpkins in your mismatched jammies!



Another Halloween goes down for the record books.

Now, on to Thanksgiving!