PARTAY!

Ok, no more excuses. Blue Monday's over and it's back to the grind.

A couple of weekends ago Amber and Gary were out of town and we got to have Annie and Livie stay with us. To say the kids were excited would be an UNDERSTATEMENT! Today I found a "To Do List" Mason had made for that Friday when they spent the night. This is what it said;Wake up

Get dressed

Go to school

Get off the bus with Annie and Livie at our house after school

Have snacks

Play the Wii

Eat dinner

Pop popcorn

Play the Wii all night long

Stay up as late as we can

Go to bed about 1 or 1:30

Wake up

Eat breakfast

Play the Wii

They did play the Wii even more than his list suggested. For 8 straight hours Friday night (I know what kind of Mom that makes me but big deal, they were having fun). They all slept in the family room. The girls on the air mattress and Mason on the couch. They had me move all the couches in so they completely surrounded the mattress. They went to bed at midnight(because I made them. By that point I figured I should do something to act like the adult).

In the morning I left for a bridal shower and Mattie made the troops a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage and bacon.

I don't think our Wii has ever been played that much. They all got along really well and we had a blast with our overnight guest!

Blue Monday

Got the blues? Officially today is the most depressing day of the year. Not by my standards and opinion but seriously. It even has a name...Blue Monday. January leaves a bit to be desired and I guess by the 4th Monday of the month most of the planet is in agreement. Ask your local psychologist. It's for real. Nice to know there's a reason why I don't want anyone to touch me but I want to be swallowed in a giant hug, why it's taking me so long to get through the book I'm currently reading, why there's a very high chance that I won't even get out of my pj's today. Huh.

*To try to combat my blue mood I've decided to look at the bright side of life and make a list of some of the things I'm thankful for. Here goes:

Movies my kids will watch repeatedly

ponytails

fleece pj's

fleece blankets

drive-thru's

microwaves

kids who play together

junk food (just enough, not too much so you get sick)

Mattie

my kids

tomorrow (to give me a chance to start fresh)

*I'm giving myself a break today but tomorrow is no longer Blue Monday. I vow to get my tooshy out of my pj's, and get back to the rigamaroll (is that even a word?)!

Finished!

For quiet a while now this Barbie toilet is the only toilet Madden showed any interest in at all. Unfortunately it's much too small for his tail end. Our other kids have been 3 1/2 years old when they've finally potty trained so I was never concerned, just a bit tired of changing his bottom.But have no fear, this past week we crossed the last finish line in the Thompson Diaper Derby! So until Matt and I suffer from incontinence and take to adult diapers hopefully this household is done.

Each of the kids have been given an incentive/prize for their trek to diaper freedom. This is what Madden chose. It's being very well loved and smothered in attention. To steal the words from ol' Woody himself, "You are a COOL toy!"

Who needs a dog?

We aren't dog lovers at our house. We're not dog haters either, but if you have a dog it's better that it lives at your house. Especially since all 3 of our offspring are terrified of them. I'm pretty sure the younger ones learned it from the oldest one but no matter, we've taken matters into our own hands. Each morning as Mason and Mia head out the door to the bus stop Madden adorns his coat and whatever shoes happen to be on top of the shoe basket and goes about his morning duty: getting Daddy's paper.

This is his job and he's fairly protective of it. Only on special occasions, like a heavy snowfall during the night, will he allow anyone else to take his place. I mean really, just look at that face. You can see the joy he gets from doing such a kind deed for his Master. So I ask you, who needs a dog?

Fingernail Painter Girl

This is how she plays. Miss Mia sets her things up in a circle around her and plops right smack in the middle. I think it's cute. When she isn't setting up her play things like this, she's organizing them in color or size. I've mentioned before that I love to see her mind work. She loves patterns and order (although if you dropped by her room most days you'd beg to differ). I love patterns and order and matchy-matchy stuff so it's fun for me to watch.

Her newest love is doing her own nails. The more colors she can get on one hand the better. The other day when she finished these nails I told her what a great job she did.

"You know what I'm gonna be when I grow up, Mom? A Rockstar, a Store Worker at the Mall and a Fingernail Painter Girl!"

Maybe I should get her into Chinese language lessons then she can get a job at the nail salon in any local Wal-Mart.

New Years!!

We spent New Years up in Idaho Falls with Dana and Brent and their girls again this year. We've done it for several years in a row and it's become something we all look forward to.

When we arrived they had very little snow. We had been dumped on in Utah and I guess we brought it with us. They have a park behind their house and a perfect little hill right in the backyard for sledding.

Mattie helped out by shoveling off the deck. I hope one day he figures out which season shorts belong to. ;)

Snow and sledding are the perfect reason for hot chocolate.

Mason and Madden both got Sponge Bob PJ's for Christmas and brought them with us. Then Dana and I found the girl Sponge Bob PJ's on clearance for $5 and bought them to match. Because we spend so much time lounging around and not getting out of our pajamas, lets just say there was A LOT of yellow running around.

The Whiting's got a Wii for Christmas. Mason hauled up all he could of our Wii stuff and between he and Addie they kept it running most of the time.

Dana started a new tradition this year. She bought this vinyl tablecloth and each of us wrote on it with the date and year, how old we are and what the best part of the past year was for us. What a great idea! It will be so fun to look at in the years to come.

Thanks Whitings for a fun, relaxing end to the old and beginning of the new.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! WELCOME 2010!

Christmas Day part 2

After the gifts were open and the initial chaos had settled a bit, we decided to take Amber and Gary up on their offer of breakfast. We threw on our coats (over our PJ's of course) and took off to the Hill residence. Gary made crepes (I pronounce them "craypes" with a long "A" sound. But since Gary has actually lived in France and probably knows a bit more than my uncultured mind, he calls them "creps" with a short "e" sound, so I must pretend to oblige). THEY WERE HEAVEN!! Mia is still talking about them. Anything she can load up with powdered sugar, strawberries and whipped cream is enough to cheer about. It was fun to see everything Santa brought to their house. The kids were so excited to show each other their new goods.

My Mom and Dad came for breakfast too. We had a great time relaxing and of course eating. Amber and Gary had put Grace's stocking up and asked anyone who had a favorite memory of her to write it down and drop it in anytime through the holidays. After breakfast they took the stocking down and we sat around reading all the fun memories everyone added about Grace. It was a lot of fun and a little difficult. Wow we miss her! But what a fun morning.

After the Hill's we dropped by Celeste and Shaun's for a little bit to see what Santa dropped. We stayed for a bit but not too long and then headed home.It was so nice to be home and relax and let the kids play with all the new toys and gadgets. Later in the afternoon Amber and Gary came by our house to see all our goods and stayed for a little while. We sat on the couch and visited and just hung out. About 3:00 they left to go to Melanie & John's and we got ready to head to Matt's Dad & Cindy's house.It was nice to see his family and visit with them. We don't see them very often so it's always nice to catch up. Tamaria and Tyson were there with their darling diva Monroe. Mia and Madden couldn't get enough of her and thankfully she was a willing participant. They played and played.Nick's sporting some nice facial hair since the last time we saw him.We exchanged gifts and ate great food! Thanks Thompson's for all the nice presents. Aunt Dyllan always does a great job picking them all out. The kids love them!Dyllan and Tamaria...cute as ever!

After the Thompson's we made a quick stop and Grandma and Grandpa Elggren's. Kirsten and Matt and yummy Landon were there too. We saw what Santa left at their house then headed home to sink back into the comfortable mess that is Christmas Day. What a GREAT one!

Christmas Day part 1

The morning started off later than Matt and I figured it would. The kids were beyond excited going to bed on Christmas Eve so we braced ourselves for a 5 or 6am wake up call. The kids slept until quarter to 8! YAY!!!! Once they were up they went CRAZY! In my family growing up we took turns opening presents one gift at at time going from youngest to oldest. This made the morning last a lot longer and gave everyone a chance to see what everyone else got. We do the same in our family. Santa wraps ALL the gifts and we start out with Madden and each person takes a turn to open a gift. Then back to the youngest.

Madden only had one little meltdown trying to wait his turn. So hard. But it was really fun to have him really understand what was going on and get just as excited at the rest of us.

He wanted to rip into every toy he got and play with it right then. It was quite a challenge to get him to wait.

This is Matt's favorite gift. He's wanted a top coat to wear over his suits for so long. He looks pretty sharp in it.

Mia and Mason had so much fun! It was great to see them get excited about Madden's gifts and help him along.

Santa gave each of us an extra large supply of our favorite snacks. Each of them also had a note inside stating that they were to share (I don't think Santa wanted to have sick kids during the holiday break). Mason got these cheese balls, Mia got Sun Chips, Madden got Cheetos, Matt got beef jerky and I got tortilla chips with queso dip. YUM!

The kids all got club penguin plush toys in their stockings and they love them. Mason has taken it upon himself to keep track of all of them, but between you and me, he really wants them all to himself.

We had such a wonderful time with what Santa dumped at our house. He treated us very well as always. It really was a fun Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve @ Our House

Back at our house after Grandma and Grandpa's party Matt and I gave our kids a present. We've made it a tradition to get PJ's for everyone on Christmas Eve. This is something my parents have done for years and Matt and I have tried to carry it on with our little family.

The kids were very excited! They hurried and changed into them and we took some quick pictures.

Mason's a little too old for Sponge Bob but I liked how his and Madden's were almost the same.

After the photo opp, we sat around and read the Christmas story from the bible again and acted it out with the felt Nativity puppets we borrowed from Grandma (I promised myself I would make a set for our family this year, they are so cute and the kids love to play with them). Then we got ready for Santa.

Mia set cookies and eggnog out on one of our bar stools. She put it right by the stairs so he wouldn't miss it. He didn't disappoint. Lots of hugs and kisses and off to bed. What a fun day!

Christmas Eve @ the Elggren's

Christmas Eve continues to be one of my favorite days of the year. I know it's become Matt's too and my kids are young so they love it! There's nothing better than the excitement and anticipation of that night and what's to come in the morningWe gathered with all of my family at my Mom and Dad's early that afternoon. Everyone was there except Dan and Staci and boy did we miss them (hey made up for not being there by sending a message written on the back of a puzzle, once the puzzle was put together it was turned over and announced that they would be expecting their first baby in July....YEA!)!! I loved watching the kids run to the tree as soon as we got there to scope out which gift belonged to them so they could keep close tabs on it throughout the afternoon. I remember doing that like it was just last year....ok, maybe it was :). Anyway, we had some great food and then gathered together for a little program and talent show. Any of the kids (or adults) who had something they wanted to do got a chance to get up and impress us all. Joe did a great job doing his Michael Jackson Billy Jean dance (it was just as great as his Napoleon Dynamite from last year) and all the kids did a fabulous job.

Then we moved on to the reading of the Bible and the account of Christ's birth. There were so many cute kids willing to participate that we did 2 different casts. Mia was Mary in cast #2 and took her role VERY seriously, stroking the baby Jesus' hair and rocking him while we sang Silent Night. She was deep in character. Mason played a shepherd in both casts and did a great job! Madden was happy being a spectator with Matt and I. It was lots of fun.

Of course then we have a family prayer and move on to opening presents. I remember when I was young and my Grandpa would give that prayer. I tried so hard to be patient and reverent but I knew what was coming next and I had waited for it for WEEKS!!! Each of us were given a box of our favorite cereal from Grandma and Grandpa to start with. That's turned into such a fun tradition. The kids were given a gift from one of their cousins and boy did our cousins do a great job!! Everyone was so happy.

Then the adults exchanged gifts to each other and to Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad in turn gave each of the kids and us couples a very nice gift.

We always come away so spoiled! Thanks Celeste and Shaun for the Macaroni Grill GC, Mom and Dad for the basket full of amazing gifts, for all the cute things my kids got and most of all for everyone in our family who makes life so GREAT!!

Busy December

As you can tell, I'm trying to catch up on all our December activities on the blog. Like I've mentioned before, I don't scrapbook and I've gotten pretty relaxed about journal keeping so this blog will be printed up and kept for years to come as our family's 2009 scrapbook. Hence the catching up! December was as it always is, busy, busy, busy. We had several visits from great friends and family and we did our share of visiting as well. We sent and received lots of cute cards, shopped til we dropped, ate WAY more than was necessary, watched lots and lots of Christmas movies. and generally just tried to enjoy the season. My kids favorite movies this year were; Phineas & Ferb's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone (1&2), Elf, The Polar Express, A Christmas Story (ok, that is one of mine and Mattie's favs, not so much the kids yet). I was so excited to catch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special this year since I've missed it for the last 12 years or so. My kids weren't too fond of it. So sad.

Of course there was gift exchanging from family & a few friends. Mason and Jaden have exchanged gifts to each other the past few years. It's fun to see them stay such great friends. We love having Jaden over here and Mason jumps at any chance to go play at the Bailey's. Matt took a quick snap shot while they were exchanging gifts.

There was a good amount of snow and the kids played in it a lot. It's been nice to have Mason big enough to shovel walks. He's so anxious to do it and it helps Matt out a lot.

We took the kids to the lights in Ogden on a Saturday evening and then to Temple Square the Sunday following.

We went to the city Cemetery Luminary on the 18th and saw all the gorgeous candles on each of the headstones. I wish I would have brought my camera, it was breathtaking!

We took a drive around to see the lights on people's houses. There's a street in Syracuse (2300 South I think) where most of the houses go all out with lights and decorations. We're lucky enough to have some great friends move onto that street this year so it made driving up and down it even better.
As a whole December was a fun and full month for our family. Can't wait until next year.

West Point City Lighting

On December 7th I took the kids down to the city building for the lighting ceremony and to see Santa. We had yummy hot chocolate (which you can see is nicely adorning the front of Mia's coat) and listened to some talented kids sing Christmas carols. The crowd joining in here and there.

We met the Hills down there and my Mom and Dad came along to join in the fun.

Santa arrived on a firetruck along with our very own Miss West Point, Ashley Bailey! So of course the Bailey's were there along with Ashley's friend Cade. Any excuse to spend time with the Bailey's we gladly snatch up.

Mrs Clause arrived before Santa and made her way around the crowd. She had a book with all the children's names and would look them up one by one and show them if they were on the naughty or nice list. My kids were all relieved to see their names on the nice list.

Soon Santa and Ashley arrived on the fire truck as we all sang Here Comes Santa Clause. The kids were so excited!

Did I mention it was FREEZING??!!!! Because it was!!! Poor Ashley, she wore her beautiful formal on top of the fire truck in the bitter cold. She looked beautiful and was such a great sport. We love the Bailey girls!

After Santa arrived we all stood in line to have our chance to tell him what we hoped would be under the tree. Mia was WAY ahead of us in line with the Hills so I didn't get a picture of her with Santa but Amber did and I'll be sure to add it to my file. Madden was so excited to see Santa. He told him he wanted a Sponge Bob toy and a Sponge Bob chair.

Mason told him he wanted lots of Club Penguin toys and New Super Mario Bros Wii. Ashley sat by Santa and handed out candy canes to each kid as they sat on his lap. What a fun night!