Christmas 2014

On Christmas

Wow, did she get what she wants?

 Eve, we spent the whole day cleaning the house so that it would be clean for Christmas. We were going to go out caroling and then to a friends house for a big dinner. Unfortunately, one of our friends got sick so we had to move the dinner to our house. :-(  
While we were caroling, there was an elderly lady who was creeping out most of the kids with us, so we left that room pretty quickly. As we walked down the halls, I noticed that the doors had signs on them that asked you to make sure that you had no elderly people trying to escape with you. We went to the lower floor and finished caroling.
When we all arrived at our house, the fun began. immediately, all the toys were pulled out and strewn across the floor. Our clean house was a mess by the time dinner was ready. Everyone sat and ate, but halfway through the meal, the little kids were back to the toys. There was some very fun clean up afterward.

Everyone was up at 6 in the morning ready for presents.

In the night Owen and Guss had migrated from Phineas' room to sleep in their own bed. Phineas was still asleep, but he got a cool tower to race cars down that was taller than him! Lucas got a Ninjago LEGO set that had a four-headed dragon, a giant snake and a prison tower. Chloe got a drawing kit and a quilt making set. Owen got a LEGO AT-TE set that he was building all day. Guss got a LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean set that he finished in an hour and almost fell asleep. (He claims to have woken up at 3:42) We waited for Phineas to wake up to open presents. Then everyone migrated into the kitchen for breakfast and ate. We then went and opened presents. Owen and Guss got Kindle Fire HD 6s and books for them. Chloe got more art stuff including an art desk to go in her room. Lucas got a dinosaur book, and Phineas got a bouncy blue ball. As a family we got a Settlers of Catan Expansion, Ticket to Ride, Bean-Boozled, Wreck-it-Ralph and a grill to name a few gifts. The rest of the day was spent playing with their new toys.

We watched the Guinness World Records largest nativity many times (Watch Here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg



Yes, We know you are good at taking pictures Guss

Is there a common theme here?



Phineas loves to crawl over here to look at the Christmas Tree.



Such Excitement For Stockings

The Big 35

This year I turned 35!  For the first time in 3 years Ben was home for my birthday.  He took the day off and let me sleep in while he got the kids off to school.  Then we went and did some window shopping and had lunch.  We got home and opened presents then we were off to the Olive Garden for dinner.  We ended the night we a yummy chocolate raspberry cake and ice cream.  It was a great day and I am so grateful for a fun family to celebrate with.

Six Months Old

On March 10 Phineas had his half birthday.  We love having this happy, easy-going boy around.

 

Showing off his two teeth.

"Cheese."

All Smiles.

We love you, Finn!!!

Girls Gala

Chloe and Dad went to their first Daddy Daughter Dance.  It was called the Girls Gala, it was 70's themed and it was sponsored by the PTO at the elementary school.  Chloe was so excited for it.  She talked about it for weeks in advance.  The night before she told me that she hoped that Dad would hold out his arms and she would run and jump into them and then he would hold up straight in the air and spin her around.  But she was also nervous that when this happened that he would spin her so much that she would get sick and throw up.  I told her that maybe Dad would only spin her once an she wouldn't get sick.  After they got home from the dance I asked her how it was.  She replied, "It was awesome!"  I asked if Dad had spun her in the air and she said, "No, but I got two bags of Cheetos and one bag of Pirates Booty."  (In Dad's defense, he did flip her a few times but there was no dramatic spinning in the air.)

Halloween 2013

This year it rained on Halloween but it didn't stop our fun.  Ben took Guss, Owen, Chloe and Lucas Trick or Treating around the neighborhood.  Phineas and I stayed home to hand out candy.  Because of the rain I was extra generous with the candy and the rest of our neighbors must have been doing the same thing because the kids came back with over-flowing buckets and they didn't even go around the entire loop.

 

 Owen is a Zombie Ninja, Chloe is a Skeleton, Finn is a Jack-o-Lantern, Lucas is a Paleontologist and Guss is  Ghost.  They wanted new costumes but we had plenty from years past and so they just picked from what we had.

 



He was going to be Bob the Builder until I mentioned to Guss that he could be a paleontologist and then Lucas decided that he wanted to be the paleontologist.  He actually knew what one was thanks to Dinosaur Train.

Finn's first Halloween.

 

 

Christmas 2012

This year we spent Christmas the same way we have for the last few years.  On Christmas Eve we went caroling at the Newton Center, which is a nursing and rehabilitation center, with a few other families from the ward.  Then we had dinner at the VanGieson's with all of the carolers.  On the way home we stopped and looked at Christmas lights.  When we got home we acted out the Nativity Story with our Playmobile set and then it was time for bed.  The older boys woke up early the next morning and everyone else quickly followed.  After looking at what Santa brought we opened all the presents under the tree and then spent the rest of the day eating and playing with our new toys.  We had the missionaries and Bro. Moss over for brunch and to hang out.  It was a great day and we even got snow on Christmas for our very own White Christmas.

Gingerbread Houses

The kids love to make gingerbread houses but a lot of years we get so busy around Christmas that I don't get the stuff in time.  This year I found a kit on sale when I was out shopping on Black Friday and got it.  Finding the time to put them together was still a little hard but we did it.  The kids all got to make their own little house and Ben and I helped as needed.  Everyone had a good time.

Reindeer antlers instead of bunny ears.

Handsome Helper Boy

Lucas loves when Dad calls him Helper Boy.

When we talk about nicknames that is the only one he will claim. 

 

Giving himself bunny ears.

 

8 is Great!!!

On November 3, Owen turned 8 years old!!!  It was a very special day because he also got to be baptized that day.  I had a big Relief Society activity that I had accidentally planned for the same day and so I was gone for most of the day but we got everybody up to celebrate before I left.

Owen wanted a cherry Jello poke cake for his birthday. 

Guss was attempting to give him bunny ears.

 

He got scriptures and lots of Legos.

 

He got baptized and confirmed by his dad that evening.  We had lots of friends from church come and support him. 

 

 

One week later he got to have an official birthday party with friends.  We went to the movie theater and saw Wreck-It Ralph.  It was a fun afternoon.

 

We are so blessed to have Owen in our family.  He is almost always happy.  He loves to laugh, play games, play with friends, play outside and eat good food.  He is a big tease, especially to Chloe.  He is kind to everyone and makes lots of friends. 

WE LOVE YOU, OWEN!!!!

 

 

Halloween 2012

This year Halloween came on a Wednesday, two days after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast.  Luckily, we didn't sustain much damage, just two shingles blew off the roof.  When the Hurricane hit Ben was back in Hawaii for work and fighting his own natural disaster.  A tsunami hit while he was there and he couldn't get to his hotel and so he had to ride it out in the mountains in his rental car.  Fortunately, it wasn't too serious and it didn't cause any damage.  So, with all of the craziness going on, Halloween seemed to sneak up on me.  I had a lot of candy because I had heard that our new neighborhood was a pretty hot spot for trick or treaters but I didn't really have costumes ready for the kids.  Luckily, we have plenty of dress-ups and friends with plenty of dress-ups and so the kids were able to find costumes that made them happy. 

Cindrella/Princess Chloe

Unfortunately, she lost her crown while we were trick or treating but we didn't notice until we were going home.

Skeleton Ninja, minus the mask because he didn't like wearing it.

The Mad Hatter, who freaked out way too many small children on purpose.

Batman. 

He would only respond to Batman that night. 

It was a great night.  The kids all got lots of candy and the seven bags of candy that I bought was all given out. 

Cakes of the Year

Here are some of the random cakes I did this past year.

This is my birthday cake.  It was Almond Joy.

Raspberry Truffle Cake

Cupcakes for Stake Women's Conference

I hand made each of the flowers.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

 

This is the first wedding cake I have done.  The bride didn't know she was getting a cake and her mom said that the groom was proud of his Irish heritage.  I found ribbon that closely matched the tartan for his family and used that as the border.  The father of the bride insisted on a bride and groom on top and it was harder to find one that fit on the top of the cake than I thought it would be.  In the end I thought it turned out okay. 

 

Purple Ribbon Cake

 

This is by far the biggest cake I have ever made.  It was made to feed 90.  It was so heavy that I couldn't lift it.

It had to spend the night in our fridge.  Luckily, it was emptied out for our vacation the next day.

 

Lego Birthday Cake for a brother and sister.  It ended up looking a little more Seussical than I had hoped for but I think it still looked good.

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

 

Rose Cake