Christmas Eve and Christmas 2009

The kids in their new Christmas pajamas

For Christmas Eve we were expecting to be in our new house, but it hadn't happened, so we made the best of it! All of our decorations were packed away, so we just used our little tree and luckily, a friend of Josh's had made us some stockings so we had some to use since ours were packed away. Everything turned out just right! :) On Christmas Eve morning Josh had to go help at the new house, so the kids and I made some cookies together for Santa. This year we made some caramel filled chocolate cookies with chocolate on top and Christmas sprinkles. They turned out really yummy! That afternoon we met Josh's sister Melissa, her kids and her boyfriend Chris at the theater and saw the movie "The Princess and the Frog". It was a cute movie! Afterward we went and got some frozen yogurt. We headed home to do our Christmas Eve activities. For our Christmas Eve dinner we made a tradition out of last years dinner and had a cheese, fruit, and cracker tray with lots of exotic type cheeses. It was lots of fun and really yummy! After dinner we sat down together and read the Christmas story from the bible. We didn't have our nativity, unfortunately, but we did have a picture of the nativity that we were able to use to illustrate the story. Afterward, we each opened a Christmas Eve gift (pajamas). We set out cookies and milk for Santa and the kids went to bed! We had a really fun day!

Our Christmas tree with presents on Christmas eve.

We had a fun Christmas this year! It was fun to just spend the whole day at home together as a family - house or no house. Christmas morning we woke up and saw that Santa had come!

We had fun exchanging gifts. It was fun to see the kids get so excited about exchanging gifts with each other. They loved picking out their gifts this year. This year the family got a Wii from Santa! Everyone was excited about that. Santa also brought a play kitchen set for the kids. Isaac got a Star Wars Lego set, Star Wars figures, Operation, a microscope and some other things. Parker got a Geotrax Airport, a microphone, some toy tractors, Mousetrap, and some other things. Bryce got a Little People train, some Mickey Mouse books and a Mickey stuffed animal, Memory, and more! Josh got some massage therapy/disability books that he had been wanting, a massage gift certificate, a Geogami set, and some hot sauces from around the world. I got some curlformers, a pocket knife, a deep-fryer/steamer. We got lots of games and movies this year. It was fun!

After presents we had our traditional breakfast casserole. The kids were having so much fun I could hardly get them to eat anything. For Christmas dinner we had beer-battered coconut shrimp (YUM!), my Grandma's seafood pasta salad, and a green greek type salad.

Christmas Dinner

All the gifts set out by the tree.

Happy 7th Birthday Isaac!

On December 22, Isaac turned 7! Wow! I felt SO bad because a few days before his birthday we LOST our camera! So we had to use Josh's phone to take birthday pictures, and they just didn't turn out very good. A few days after Christmas we finally found it, so I took a couple of pictures of Isaac with his gifts. Anyway, on his birthday, we woke up and he opened his gifts! He got a bike with a helmet, a bakugan, and a light up sword. A couple days before his birthday he got some gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Bell. They gave him a Star Wars Legos set & some Star Wars books. Aunt Cammie gave him a Star Wars Guess Who game. Also, a while after his birthday he got a cooking set and a journal from Grandma & Grandpa Chappell.

After school we had Isaac's birthday dinner. Traditionally I make the kids a dinner of their choice for their birthday. This year Isaac picked......... a Hot 'n' Ready from L

ittle Caesars! LOL. So I didn't cook anything for him this year. It was funny how excited he was to have the pizza though. His cake this year..... ugh. Josh's parents had

moved out a week before and we had been living in their empty house with our few things and just a few kitchen things that they left behind for us to use. Bare necessities. So his cake didn't turn out the greatest. :( He was happy with it though. It ended up being a simple cake with some Star Wars figures on top.

We planned on having a birthday party for Isaac this year, but since we were still not in our house, we decided to wait until we were to have his party. He was fine with that. All in all I think he had a fun day!

Happy 4th Birthday Bryce!

On December 9th, we celebrated Bryce's 4th Birthday!! That morning we woke up and Bryce opened his presents. He got a tricycle which he LOVES! He also got a toy Elmo phone. Later he got a soccer ball from Grandma & Grandpa Chappell and from Grandma & Grandpa Bell he got a big Mickey Mouse pillow, a magic screen palm learner that teaches abcs and also a Mickey hat and mittens. Aunt Cammie gave him a Mickey Mouse CD. Can you tell which character Bryce LOVES?? :) I don't have pictures of all the gifts - just the ones he got on his actual birthday.


For Bryce's cake this year, I decided to do cupcakes because he just loves them. I think he must get them at school sometimes (probably for other kids' birthdays), but whenever he sees one he gets so excited and yells "CU-cay!!". I didn't have any of my cake making stuff here, but I went and bought a cheapy frosting thing and they didn't turn out too bad. Bryce had fun blowing out candles and tasting the cake. I think he had a really fun day!

Our Christmas Tree... Stand-in

A week into December, we were being told that we would be able to move into our new house within a week or two. We were really hoping that we would get to move in and have time to put our tree up and have a couple of weeks before Christmas. My gut feeling told me that we should not count on it and should prepare to celebrate Christmas in Josh's parents house. Josh's parents had recently decided to move to St. George and had found a house there that they liked and was available right away. So they were in the process of a very quick move and so did not have a tree. It just didn't feel the SAME without a tree and because of our situation and that gut feeling, we decided to go and buy a little *gasp* FAKE tree to use *just in case*. Meanwhile, our poor REAL tree that we had cut down sat in a bucket of water waiting at the new house.


So on that first Monday of December we had a little family night and decorated our little tree. It was one of those fiber optic ones, and it actually turned out pretty cute for a fake tree. The kids had fun decorating it and we ended up finding a little place for it out of the way of the packing and moving.

Santa Clause!

The first weekend in December I took the boys to see Santa Clause at the mall. Josh had to work, so he couldn't make it. We tried to get there early in hopes that it wouldn't be too busy, and I was excited to see that the line wasn't TOO huge. Only about 4 or 5 groups ahead of us. We waited in line and just as we got to the front, and were next to see Santa.... Parker decided he needed to use the restroom and it couldn't wait. So we got out of line, took all of 5 minutes to take him to the restroom, hurried back... to a BIG line. :) So we waited again and eventually made it to see Ol' Saint Nick. The boys were a little nervous to ask Santa for what they wanted for Christmas, but they had fun and were excited to get to see him.

A November in Limbo

Parker with a turkey that he made in preschool for Thanksgiving.

So originally we were supposed to be in our house by Halloween. We figured it would take longer, and sure enough they weren't ready. All through November they kept giving us "2 weeks" over and over. So our two to three weeks at Josh's parents continued all through November. We adjusted to taking the kids to school an extra 20 minutes further. Luckily, Josh's parents were able to help us by taking Isaac as all three kids are in different schools.

For Thanksgiving it was our year to spend it with Josh's family, but they ended up having the Chappell Family Reunion on Thanksgiving down in Lyman! So we did that instead and headed down south for Thanksgiving. It was a nice reunion, and I think Josh enjoyed seeing all his relatives that came.

We stayed with my parents, and the next day Josh and I went to Richfield on Black Friday just for fun. We had most of our Christmas shopping done, but were able to find a few little things that we needed and it was fun to get out and spend some time together while my mom watched the kids.

That Saturday we went out to the mountain to get our Christmas trees. Josh and I were excited because we we have a really tall ceiling in our living room at the new house and we wanted to get a nice tall tree. At this point we again thought we would be in within two weeks. Anyway, we got a nice tree, and headed back home. I totally forgot my camera, so had no pictures of the weekend or tree hunting at all! :(

So our November was spent in Elk Ridge living out of boxes, basically waiting for our house to be finished!

We're Baaaack.... and Halloween

No, we're not in our house yet. *rolling eyes* BUT, I did finally find my camera cord!! Yay! So now I finally have been able to upload all the pictures that have been trapped in my camera and update our blog. :) I'll be starting waaaaay back on Halloween. :)

Halloween weekend was the weekend we moved out of the house we were renting. At the time, we thought our house would be finished within a few weeks, so we decided to go stay at Josh's parents house meanwhile. So on Halloween we were busy working, cleaning and moving things out of the house. I feel kinda bad, because our kids didn't quite get the whole affect of Halloween this year. No decorations, no Halloween Party... But we made sure to take time to take them trick-or-treating for a bit despite our busyness. They did all get to participate in their school Halloween parties though, so that was good. This year Isaac was Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, Parker was a Vampire, and Bryce was Mickey Mouse. :)