still here

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

We are still here. Just been super busy with all kinds of holiday visits and fun. I will have all kinds of posts after the new year to catch everyone up.

I always seem to fall behind on blogging during the holidays.

So, in case i missed you on our holiday card lists this year...

Here you go!!

Merry Christmas from us to you!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and the most Wonderful of New Years!!!

for my mom

we had our own little family christmas early because we don't like to travel around with gifts. anyways. i told my mom that their gifts this year were a hit. she asked if i had got pictures and i was sad to say that both my camera batteries were dead. i felt horrible. i only got one picture of briea. so here it is. They all really loved all the gifts from the grandparents. This was such a fun year. The kids were so excited. I wish we could  have been with everyone so that they all could have seen the fun expressions on the kids faces. 

sick

once again. sick. 

when i get sick, man i really get sick.

for some reason, once i get sick, i just can't stop. 

i got to the er around 8:00pm and did not leave until 2:00am. 

turns out that i had Gastroenteritis, and it kicked my rear end. 

luckily i was not admitted. but it did change our plans a little. 

i am feeling much better after getting re-hydrated and some medicine to calm my stomach. 

as we speak I'm sipping on my Gatorade and slowly munching on some toast. 

i have decided to just take things slowly. i am hoping that will help.

Tonight is the night!!!!

Tonight is a night that I look forward to all year. 

We have a tradition of going out to look at Christmas lights and picking the house that we feel is the best. Then we leave them a little treat in their mail box!

Not only is it fun to leave a surprise for a stranger, I think it is good to encourage people to be festive for the holidays. People seem so bah-humbug as the years go on. I always hear people say, "ah, what is the point", or "it is just to much work". Well it might be a lot of work, but for Christmas junkies like me, I really appreciate their effort. So this is a fun way to let them know!!

I will post pictures later of the winner!!

I can hardly wait for it to get dark outside!!!!

craft-tastic!!

so my friend showed me how to make these cute little Christmas tree ornaments. 

I really loved them. I thought they were simple and cute.

each year we buy or make ornaments for each person in the family, so this year I decided this would be the ornament for everyone.

 here are the ones that I made for everyone. mine was already on the tree.

 The girls have pink thread.

 The boys have blue.

They are not completely done. I still have to attach the ribbon on the top. But close enough to blog about. I also thought about adding a star. We will see. 

I had some left over felt and so i decided to do a reindeer. 

umm. ya. he turned out a little scary. 

garran and I had a good laugh.

i think it might be the green eyes. 

anyways, i really enjoy doing fun little stuff like this. I think it is one of the reasons i love Christmas so much. it brings out my crafty side!!

Winter Sing

The other night, Cullan had a winter concert at his school. 

He kept calling it his winter sing.

They were supposed to wear winter or Christmas gear. 

Here is my handsome little fella before we left the house.

He looks so festive and all ready to sing!!

Sadly all my videos got deleted, but luckily I  had posted this one on facebook. 

Hopefully it will work on here.

It was a very cute program. 

Cullan was really grooving in one. I am sad that it got deleted. 

We had a great time watching Cullan sing the cute songs he had worked so hard on.

Christmas Craft Party

well the ladies at our church put on a holiday craft party every year. the rules are on the invitation that everyone has to bring some sort of food to share and a craft. it can either be homemade or store bought, but you can not spend more that $10.00. 

This year I saw an idea on pinterest. Luckily i had everything i needed except for the vinyl, which luckily my friend becca had.

So my gift was basically free!

Woo Hoo for me!

Anyways, here it is. I think it turned out pretty cute. You can hang it somewhere. 

 I did not have anything to wrap it in, besides Dora wrapping paper. So i tried to get creative. That did not go over so well. I stuck it in this plastic bag with tissue paper and then made a flower to go on it. not my best work, but it worked none the less. 

This year I received a cute Christmas tree made of these white feathers. it is really pretty and I have to keep it up high from all the admiring little hands in our house. ;0)

i enjoy these party's each year. it is a fun time to get to just hang out with some really fun ladies. their are no children and no husbands. just the girls. we play games to see who will get what gift and so it makes for a fun night. This year was the best because i went with some good friends of mine. We had lots of laughter!!

fancy

this kid never stops making me laugh.

the other day we were sitting on the couch and cullan looked at me and said, 

"do you know what this is (see picture above)?"

I said no. He then said, "this is the fancy way to pick your nose!".

where he comes up with this stuff i will never know.

but it makes me laugh!

Who is this Rockstar?

Just my Husband!!

Garran's futures so bright....he has to wear shades!

(does anyone remember that song. LOL)

anyways, i am going to do some bragging for a minute. 

garran had his end of year critique with his professors. they liked the work that he has been doing so much that they asked him to make another set of prints to put in the school archive. then they also told him that next year he will be teaching the undergrad printmaking class!!!!!

Woo HOoo!!

All of his hard work is paying off!

I am so excited to see him do so well.

Here is his website if you are interested.

www.garrangillespie.com

Ginger Bread Houses 2011

well it is that time of year again.

during the holidays are family has a few traditions that we get really excited about, and this is one of them.

every year we make gingerbread houses and invite the missionaries from our church over to join us. 

we figure if they are not going to be home for Christmas, they should still get to do something fun.

 Here are the ladies from church. We were just getting started and so I took one before picture.

 This was my house when it was all said and done. My favorite part is the fire pit in the front. 

 Kael and his house. Sadly about two minutes after taking this picture it hit the floor. No fear. We will rebuild!!

 Cullan and his colorful house. He is not done and would like to continue on tomorrow. I am not exactly sure where else he might be able to add anything, but I am sure he will figure it out.

 Briea is my minimalist. However if you could see inside her house. You would see it is full of candy ;0)

 My house again!

 Group shot...minus Ayla. She was working her way around the table looking cute and then being handed candy. I think this was even better for her than her birthday.

 Garran with his house. I have no idea what this face was about. I think he was trying to be a mobster.

 See his snowman met an untimely end. 

I thought she did a pretty good job for her first time.

 Same with Sister O. They both had a fun time and did not even mind the insane mess that this activity makes of our kitchen ;0)

 Last but not least! My little sneaky baby. When Kael's house feel apart, Ayla snagged this piece before any of us could get to it. She was so proud of herself. She is such a little stinker!

my girls

let me say i love my boys just as much as my girls. 

but i just loved this picture. 

She's a little bit of sunshine,

She's a smile to light your days, 

She will steal your heart and keep it with her warm endearing ways,

She's your precious little daughter,

With a sweetness from above

Who will fill your years with laughter

and your lives with lots of love

christmas helper

ayla got in the christmas spirit and decided to help me decorate! 

no posts.

i have not posted much lately because since thanksgiving we have been doing a lot of sickness at our house. when we have sickness, we also do a lot of sleeping. 

here is the proof!

 oh wait, this is just Ayla being cute!

back to sleeping.

here's hoping the sickness leaves us soon so we can be well for the holidays. 

This time of year, I always need to hear this.

this is one of my favorite messages.

Thanksgiving

this year our thanksgiving was pretty laid back. my dad came to celebrate with us, however most of us were sick. So Thanksgiving include PJ's, yummy food and sleeping on the couch. Our two little ladies did not even make it to the table. They were sound asleep!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front teeth!

First tooth lost. November 21st.

Second tooth lost. November 25th. 

The first tooth, there were some tears shed. Some blood but great surprise when the tooth fairy showed up the next morning. 

The Second tooth, no tears, hardly any blood. So much excitement about the tooth fairy coming. 

Why do I feel so old. 

Loosing teeth happens to kids, but for some reason it makes it seem real that mine are growing up!!

Friends ;0)

on our way back from meeting Victoria we stopped to see our friends the Palmers. Unfortunately Oliver is not doing well and we really wanted to see him and let the kids play together for a while. 

It was so sweet. Everyone was so excited about seeing each other... including the adults.

The Palmers have a pet that my kids were fascinated with. 

Meet Hermione!

 My kids thought she was really cool. Well Kael and Briea did. Cullan was indifferent. Ayla would look but that was about it. 

 She is a strong little turtle. She would try and pull herself out of the box and stretch her neck out so long. I always thought it was funny. 

 These two were like two peas in a pod. They had so much fun. I love Jarens face in this picture. 

 Stacy showing Hermione to the littler kids of our group. 

 Finny really loved Briea's pink boots. He stomped all around in them. I just love this picture. I think he is such a cutie!

 Someone had let the palmers borrow a game that Oliver really liked. He had convinced Ed to play with him, even though Ed assured him that Oliver would beat him. It was fun to watch him have so much fun. 

 Briea was LOVIN all of Eden's baby dolls and Barbies. I think she could have stayed much longer to play and love on her dolls. Not to mention she thinks older girls are pretty cool, so there was that as well. ;0)

 Poor Garran was not feeling well at all and was super tired. He feel asleep like this on their couch. I could not resist snapping a picture of him.

 Who is that cute thing sporting a mustache? 

Ayla saw the older kids playing with these. She brought it over and I put it on  her. Of course I had to snap quickly because she proceeded to rip it off. But it sure was cute. 

 I told Ollie that I need some pictures of he and his family to update our wall. I had not seen them in a while and so I needed some new ones. Ollie is such a funny kid. He started hamming it up. The top one  makes me want to sing that Rico Suave song. 

 These to pictures just make me smile. Oliver has an awesome laugh. It is most definitely contagious. When I look at these I can just hear it in my head. 

 Of course we took a group shot of all our littles together. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like so I always like to take a group shot when we get together. 

Thanks for letting us drop in Palmer Family!!

It was so much fun to chat and catch up!

we are family

so i have had a secret. 

in august i found out that i had an older sister. my mom decided that it was a good time to let me know about her. she had been looking for her for a long time but had not had any luck finding her. 

so when my mom told me about her, i told her that i was going to start searching for her too. one month later we found her. This past weekend was the first time we got to meet in person. We had all spoke with her on the phone, but this was what we were really looking forward to. 

Here is a picture of my mom and my older sister Victoria.

here is a picture of my mom and my two sisters. 

(L-R, Victoria, Mom, Sara)

Along with Victoria coming we had some family come in as well. We met late Friday night and then spend all day Saturday and part of Sunday together. I took a bunch of random snap shots while we were together. It was so great to meet Victoria. She is just AWESOME!! 

I am so happy that we found her and that we get to have her as part of our family. 

 Here is Miss. B sitting at the table chatting with everyone.

 Ayla cheesing it up for me. 

 This is my moms sister, My Aunt Sue.

 My brother in law Jeremy, and Kael. They were hanging out under the bar, just having a chat. 

 Victoria chatting with everyone.

 Well this is my grandmothers head, and my mom and sister chatting. 

 This is just a group shot of everyone sitting around chatting. It was a very laid back weekend. We just enjoyed our time getting to know each other and visiting. It was a lot of fun. 

and of course, ready or not...she was loved on by my group. they were so excited to meet her. they chatted with her any chance they got and loved every minute they got to spend with their new aunt!

I am really grateful that we got to spend the weekend with Victoria and I hope we get together again soon!