2010 Holiday Season

Where does the time go? And why haven't I been finding any to catch up on blogging?

We had a fun holiday season this year. I love it when my family comes home and we get to spend time with each other. We sorely missed Amber and Steve and family again this year, but look forward to this coming year when we will get to see them more often. I can't wait.

Since I didn't ever post about Thanksgiving I thought I would include the only 2 pictures I took the whole weekend. (I need to get pics from Michele and Tif.) We had a great Thanksgiving with all of my family (minus Amber ;( ), and a bunch of the Ivins crew too. Great food, great company, great day! Thanks everyone.

We had some good help from the guys this year. Dave looks great in his apron.


All the grandkids that were present. Ryan was not happy to get a picture taken.


We started off our Christmas season with decorating the tree. Ethan designated himself as the only one that could put ornaments at the top of the tree. The kids were really good helpers this year with the decorations. And they were so excited to begin the countdown to Christmas.


Ethan and Ally on Santa's lap. There was no way we were going to get Ryan in there with them, even with the offer of a candy cane.


Ally performed at the annual Tree-For-All. She did such a good job. She actually danced this year instead of standing and watching the other girls. Good job Ally!


While I decorated inside, Javan decorated outside.


Ethan climbed up in the tree to help him string the lights.


We went to the Christmas play put on by the High School and Ryan decided that he would sit on Santa's lap this time, but only if Ally was there too, and there was no talking to him, and he made sure not to take his eye off him. This time Santa was handing out popcorn, which Ryan is still talking about today.


The kids were super excited when we finally got some snow. Ethan and Ryan suited up to go play outside.


This is one of my least favorite things about winter. Wet, soggy, messy snow clothes all over. Oh well, tis the season.


The first grade put on a cute Christmas program that they worked on for weeks. I got down right in the front so I could get some pictures. Every time Ethan looked in my direction he got all embarrassed and couldn't sing. I finally had to move so he could concentrate.


An early Christmas present for me. A sweet, chubby little boy.


Opening the traditional Christmas eve gift . . .


. . . new jammies.


And on to bed. They kids were so excited for Santa to come, they went right to sleep without a fight. This is Christmas before:


Christmas During:
Ethan on his new bike. He was glad we didn't have a white Christmas so he could test drive his new bike.


Ally checking out her new Barbie Dreamhouse. She was pretty excited that it was taller that she is.


Javan helping Ryan open his toys. All the kids were really fun this year, but Ryan was hilarious. He was so excited about each present, and loved taking his time opening and playing with each gift.


This is Christmas After: (and it stayed like this for probably a week)


Christmas night. Sleeping with their new pillow pets.


Looking good in their new Christmas outfits.


On New Year's Eve day we went up to the cabin with Mike and Shan's family. The road to the cabin isn't plowed all the way so Grandpa Mike had to shuttle everyone down to the cabin in the Rhino with trax on it.

The kids spent lots of time playing in the snow.




Ethan, Jane, Ally, Javan, and Harper playing in the snow.


Ryan and Lincoln riding in the back of the Rhino. They didn't care that they were freezing, or that their boogers where frozen on their face.


There trees looked so beautiful covered in snow.


A fun day with the family.


I've saved the best for last. The Christmas sweaters. Javan actually forgot this year and at the last minute ran over to Shan's and she helped him create this beauty of a shirt for me. Are you serious? It has curling ribbon on the sleeves. I think this was cheating, because he didn't buy/obtain it himself. But it does open up a whole new world of opportunities, homemade shirts! He better get prepared for next year.

Hope everyone had a
MERRY CHRISTMAS
and a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ally's 5th Birthday!

On November 22, Ally turned 5 years old. I can't believe she is already 5. She will go to kindergarten in the fall. She is just so little that it doesn't seem like she's "big" enough to be this old. She was so happy to be turning five and she was so excited for her birthday, and especially excited to have her first "friends" birthday party. She decided to do a My Little Pony theme.

Ally with her My Little Pony cake.


Playing pin the beauty mark on the pony.


Opening presents. This portion of the party is always so chaotic, I need to get better control here. Ally got lots of fun presents from her friends, thank you everyone for being so generous.


We even had some real ponies come to the party for the girls to ride. It was so much fun, all the girls loved it. Thank you Keri and Skyler for bringing them up.


Time for cake. Getting ready to blow out the candles.

Mmm..mmm.. everybody loves cake!

Pony Pinata. This is a ribbon pull pinata, great for indoors. Each girl pulled out a ribbon from the bottom of the pinata and the candy slowly started falling out.

All the girls: Paris, Kamron, Tenli, Keira, Ally, Gwen, McKinley, Ashlynn, and Ella. They got little bubbles in their party sack and I couldn't divert their attention away from them to get a picture.

Ally had a great birthday. While I can't believe she is growing up so quickly, she is such a good girl (most of the time), and so fun to have around. She loves to help me with whatever I'm doing. She loves girly things like make-up and fingernail polish, but loves riding motorcycles, and 4-wheelers, and playing in the dirt with the boys too. We're glad she's part of our family. We love you!

Happy Birthday Ally!

Halloween 2010

While I haven't been overly excited for the cold weather to roll in, the kids are making the best of it. They piled a bunch of blankets on the tramp and had a good time jumping and playing with them and then settled in to get warmed up.



Ryan actually fell asleep for real. It was a rare moment that Ethan was actually nice to him and laid quietly by him so he could fall asleep instead of pestering and making him scream.


We had a pretty fun Halloween this year. I didn't know if the kids were going to be able to hold out long enough for Javan to be home to carve pumpkins with them. They about drove me nuts, but they didn't want to do it without him. Our neighbors J.J. and Paris came over to help with the carving. (I actually ended up taking Ryan to the doctor so we weren't even there.)


Ethan pulling out the guts.


Ally wanted to color her little pumpkin all black first.


Ethan and Javan made this fancy Redd Mechanical worker pumpkin climbing up a ladder.


Ethan, Ryan, and Ally with their pumpkins.


Ally was a witch this year. She was super excited to have her hair painted green, and anything she touched after that.


Ryan was a cowboy. He was so proud of his hat and loved wearing it. He thought trick-or-treating was the greatest thing in the world. We walked around to people's houses, knocked on their door, and they gave us candy. It was awesome. After each house he would say "More canny in my basket." I'm pretty sure it was his best day.


Ethan was a motorcycle rider. That was easy cause he already has all the gear. He didn't want to wear his boots trick-or-treating though, he said they were too hard to walk in.


They had a costume parade and party at school. I had to work, but Grandma Shan went and watched. Thanks Grandma Shan for the pictures.



By the time we got home from visiting all the grandparents and trick-or-treating in our neighborhood the kids baskets were completely full and they were worn out, even asking to go to bed. So I guess it was a success.

Happy Halloween!

A Missing Tooth, Finally!

I can't believe what little blogging I have been doing. I used to be so diligent. Anyway, seems like we've been so busy and with Javan being gone to Moab, and me a single mother I just haven't found the time.

But, on September 19, Ethan lost his first tooth. He has been waiting soooo long. Even in Kindergarten when other kids in his class were losing teeth he was wondering when it would be his turn. Finally his first tooth got loose and he couldn't leave it alone. He asked me to help him pull it out. I tried a few times holding it with a tissue be couldn't get it and then he wouldn't let me touch it again. So a few days later I told him I just wanted to wiggle it and he let me, then I told him "On the count of 5 I'm going to flick it." So I counted 1, 2, 3,....flick. Out it came. He was kind of laying back so the tooth shot back into his mouth, I grabbed his head and flinged him forward so he wouldn't swallow the tooth. He was a little mad that I tricked him but super happy and proud that his tooth was finally out. That night he put his tooth under his pillow and was beyond happy in the morning to find that the Tooth Fairy left him $5! (The Tooth Fairy knows his mom likes teeth!) His next tooth is getting loose now so it won't be far behind.




Ethan also played flag football this fall. He really enjoyed it but was a little intimidated cause he was the smallest guy on his team. He had a good time though, and did a great job. (I could never remember to bring my camera so the pictures aren't very good.)