Our WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!

Our best Christmas gift this year was being able to go to the Bountiful Temple two days after Christmas and have Jonah and Sammy sealed to our family forever. We are so grateful to all of our family and friends who could come share this special day with us.

Emma has been telling people since we adopted Jonah and Sam that they are her "step brothers." When I heard her say this the first time I corrected her and told her they were her real brothers even though they were adopted. She corrected me by saying "No Mom, we havent' been sealed in the temple yet, they can't be with us forever until we are sealed." It was very sweet, but I still wanted her to call them her brothers. I thought we had resolved this until we went to parent teacher conferences and she had written a story about her "step brothers" from Ethiopia. I guess now that we are sealed, we won't have this problem anymore!





A huge thanks to Grammy for making Emma and Gracie's dresses. What a huge undertaking, but they turned out beautiful! Also, aunt Char made the girls special bracelets they could wear with an eternity band. You guys are too thoughtful!

I didn't pull out my camera at the luncheon we had afterwards at the church and now I'm pretty sad about it. The kids were so darling. All of the cousins decided to put on a play of mostly Christmas songs on the stage in the cultural hall. They gave performances to anyone who would listen. I think Aunt Angela took a few pictures so maybe I can get them for the scrapbook. It was seriously so cute!

It was really cold and bright at the temple that morning so we didn't get a lot of pictures. Aunt Char was nice enough to take a few pictures of the kids on Sunday before church in their temple clothes (of course Sam was sleeping).


Don't they look like little angels! We are so blessed.

Christmas 2008

It seems kind of lame to be posting about Christmas in January but I wanted to hit a few highlights because we had an amazing Christmas this year! We really enjoyed having the Stewart side of the family (and Jonah's Kindergarten teacher, Miss Patten) over on Christmas Eve. We had a yummy dinner and played games until late. Christmas day was filled with family as well. Our celebrating continued for another week or so as Derek, Char and Easton came up from Oregon to celebrate after Christmas. We love to party, Party, PARTY!!!!!!

About a week before Christmas all of the kids got to go to Grammy and Grandpa's for the 1st annual Polar Express party! It all started with a special delivery a few weeks before Christmas. Each child got their own "golden" polar express ticket and instructions on what to bring. The night was filled with hot hot chocolate, the first gift of Christmas, bell ringing, train building, popcorn and of course watching The Polar Express! The kids absolutely loved sleeping over with their cousins-without Mom and Dad! I hope this will be a tradition for years to come!




Santa was good to us this year! With FIVE kids now, we really had to limit our gifts this year. Our favorite part was when the kids bought and exchanged gifts from the dollar store. They were so thoughtful and grateful. It was so sweet to see them hugging each other and ohhing and ahhing over their gifts. I think it is so important for them to know what it feels like to GIVE. Emma's favorite gift was her chocolate fountain and Easy bake oven.

Jonah's favorite was his MP3 player and his "real" binoculars so he could see "far away". He was so excited to see all of the presents Christmas morning, I couldn't help wonder what he thought of all the craziness! For some reason, I was the most worried about his Christmas. With all of the anticipation and commercials, I thought he might be disappointed. However, he was so sweet and happy.

Hudson's favorite was his "real" camera and MP3 player. He was cracking us up because he carried all of his stuff around in a plastic sack for a few days. He didn't want it mixed up with everyone else's. Then, after his sack ripped he moved them over to a box. A few days ago, I went to put a blanket away in the big chest in the family room. To my surprise there at the bottom was Hudson's "Christmas box". When I asked him about it, he told me he just wanted to keep his stuff "safe".


Gracie, well I think her favorite was the cheddar Pringles, but she has also enjoyed her dress up shoes. She ate the whole can of Pringles on Christmas Day, and we let her because hey-it was Christmas!

Sammy decided to sleep in...and we decided to let him. Just as we were finishing our gift opening, he woke up and the kids loved helping him open his presents. He loved his new peek a block toy and all the boxes and wrapping paper!


I am excited about the new Scrapbook program I got and Boyd, well, I think he was most excited about the family gift from Santa, a Wii game system! And Uncle Chuck and Scott must have been in touch with Santa because they sent guitar hero, it has been so fun!


We really enjoyed having the Stewart side of the family (and Jonah's Kindergarten teacher, Miss Patten) over on Christmas Eve. We had a yummy dinner and played games until late. Christmas day was filled with family as well. Our celebrating continued for another week or so as Derek, Char and Easton came up from Oregon to celebrate after Christmas. We love to party, Party, PARTY!!!!!!

My sweet Jonah

Jonah just ran up to me threw his arms around my neck and told me, "Mom, I love you more than anything...even more than food!" That means a lot coming from him, because he absolutely LOVES food! It's moments like this that keep me going.

Fred, our elf on the shelf

This is Fred, our elf on the shelf. He shows up every year on the day after Thanksgiving. He watches the kids all day from a place in the house where they cannot touch him. Every night after the kids go to bed, Fred flies up to the North Pole and tells Santa whether the kids are being good or bad. The kids can also tell Fred what they want for Christmas and he passes the message on to Santa. In the morning, when he returns, he finds a new place to sit in our home and the kids have fun trying to find him. Christmas Eve is always bitter sweet for the kids, because on that night Fred leaves, not to return until the next year on the day after Thanksgiving.
Here is the last of Nana and Papa's puppies. The others have all found homes. This little guy came to visit us last week and will be going to his new home on Christmas Eve.
Sammy loves his Papa!

Finally! Snow!
Okay, so Jonah puked up three quarters of a Little Caesars Pizza last night. It was awesome because for the first time one of our kids actually had the where with all to make it to the toilet. We held him on the couch for a while and then Shelly tucked him into bed. While in the room she covered a sleeping Hudson with his blanket and did the same for our sleeping Sammy. Jonah observed this and asked Shelly if she fixes his blanket at night when he sleeps. "Every night." Shelly replied. "Oh," said Jonah "I thought that my Jesus did it for me at night." What a sweet boy.
On a side note: Jonah was so excited to tell the kids, this morning, that he puked out of his mouth and nose at the same time. They were impressed.

Our Little Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I Really Enjoy Beating My Kids...

...with our giant stuffed snowman.
Sammy is getting so big. This week he took his first steps.

He has been using the walker on and off for a few days. We kept making fun of him pushing around the girl's pink stroller, so he picked up the Star Wars toys, and started walking.He hasn't quite mastered it, but he's getting better.




A couple weeks ago, Emma asked if she could get an American Girl doll if she saved her own money. Shelly said that it would be fine but that they are almost $100. Emma instantly asked how much was in her bank (she already knew because she had made a deposit at the bank the week before). Shelly told her the amount (which was more than $100). Emma then said that she had saved enough money and wanted to order it. Well, she was right, so we ordered the doll and it came this week. She has been carrying it all over and is so proud of the fact that she bought it with her own money.
Last week we broke out the power tools in order to make a new stable for our front yard nativity. The old one was really moldy (we stored it under the deck) and even though mold probably added to the realism of what the actual stable was like, it was time for an upgrade. Hudson and Jonah really helped. They stayed in the garage for hours and helped me measure, cut and attach all the parts. They even came out the next day and helped me paint.