Christmas with Kailee and Ava

I thought I'd try and capture a little of our winter/Christmas celebrations for the grandparents and family out there who we won't be able to be with for the Holidays. We love you all and can't wait till next year when Beau will be done with school and we can see you much more often!

Our First Snow lasted a couple days but we got in some good fun. Poor Beau had to try and make a snowman for Kailee with very un-packable powder and Ava enjoyed her first winter being able to play in the snow.

We also enjoyed making our traditional Christmas Cookies! Kailee and Ava are always ready to help mommy in the kitchen. They love to eat all of the yummy ingredients like chocolate chips, nuts, and cookie dough. Ava even samples the cinnamon and baking powder. I never know quite how much of the ingredients they've stolen out of the bowl though so it's always a miracle when the cookies turn out ok.

Finally, we decorated our Tree. Once the girls had about 3 ornaments on every low branch, Daddy had to lift them up to finish off the top of the tree. They did a great job!

I hope you all have as wonderful of a Christmas as we are already having! We love you all and I will try to get Christmas morning pics up asap too!

Less Than 2 Months To Go!

Sorry it took me so long to get a pic of my tummy! I've heard the camera is supposed to add some weight so lets just say that mine adds 45 lbs. (and for those of you here in PA that have seen me in person, please just go along with the camera explination). Ashley, I hope this public humiliation brings you a little more holiday joy!

Home can be a Heaven on Earth!

Ava's not a huge cuddler so we have to take our opportunities when she gives them. Yesterday morning both she and Kailee were cuddling me on the couch as we watched "My Friends Tigger and Pooh." Even though I didn't want to get up and miss the moment, we only had 20 more minutes till I had to get Kailee to school, so I ran upstairs to get clothes for her. When I came back down, this is what I saw....I just love that they love each other so much!

Disappointment!

I know movies are never as good as books, and I tried not to get my hopes up but I was soooo disappointed! I have heard from a few people who loved it but I don't get it! Even the critics said it was better than the books! Better than the books?? The only reason it was somewhat entertaining was because of the books. As a Twilight fan I was able to enjoy parts of the movie but here are my reasons for not liking it:
1. It was so cheesey! I think the characters were good actors but it almost seemed to me like the director was making fun of it!
2. It didn't develop characters, or explain things well enough. I think that people who haven't read the books would be lost and confused and think the whole story is just dumb. I don't think anyone will be reading the books as a result of seeing the movie. (which is sad because they would love the books).
3. It seemed way too much like a low-budget movie. Tip: if you aren't going to spend the money to make special effects look somewhat real, then don't put them in (especially if they are not even in the book-like with the hopping from tree to tree sceene.) Which leads me to my last complaint...
4. "You better hold on spider monkey." Like Edward would ever say anything as dumb as that!

Let me know what you all thought!

I have a 4 year old!?

So it appears I'm going to be blogging about once a month now. Is that because I'm so busy or because I'm so boring that I only have things to blog about every once in a while? Anyways, this past week was a big one! Beau's mom was here which was really fun! We can't wait until he's done with school and we can see family a lot more often even if we don't get to come right back to Utah. The day after she left was Thanksgiving. Thankfully, we have some awesome friends who agreed to have Thanksgiving with us so we wouldn't be alone. Our kids play together perfectly since they have a son Kailee's age, a daughter Ava's age and a 6 year old daughter who keeps them all playing nice. So, we were able to play wii all night. Aside from Beau busting his finger open on a beam,that runs long our cieling as he was executing a very enthusiastic tennis serve, we had a great night!

Then, on Saturday I got to throw my first birthday party! I can't believe Kailee is 4! She just seems to be growing up so fast! And I can already tell Ava will be even worse because she tries so hard to keep up with her big sister. I guess thats why I've been craving a baby so bad! Anyways, up until now we have always just celebrated Kailee's birthday as a family with maybe one or two family friends, but this year we have been going to Chuck E. Cheese alot and she has seen the birthday parties there and I know she would love to have one of her own. She listed about 15 friends she wanted to be there so needless to say with our being so poor, we couldn't give her the REAL Chuk E. Cheese party, but they were sooooo nice and accomodating. I brought my own cake, ice cream,and goodie bags and bought tokens for all of the kids with half off coupons. They still offered to help me set up, kept my ice cream in their freezer, told me not to worry about cleaning up, and made sure Chuck E. Cheese came out to see Kailee while he was out for antoher party. All-in-all, it was a success! Kailee didn't even expect to get presents, she was just so excited to have all of her firends in the same place! And when I asked her what her favorite part of the party was, she told me it was the cake! Which was the right answer since I stayed up till 3am the night before to make it. Although I think she just meant eating it, in which case I could have just done cupcakes!