A whole Decade Old

I can NOT believe my baby is 10 years old already. It seems like just yesterday my little 3lb preemie was fighting with all his might just to be able to stay on this earth. Looking at him now you would never be able to tell he was such a teeny tiny little guy. What a complete joy Kyle has been to Ryan and I and our family. He is the perfect big brother. He loves his siblings, is kind to ALL even those who are not kind to him and is just an all around good kid.

We decided to have an Indiana Jones party this year. I printed a map with all the party details on a cut up paper grocery bag.

we rolled them up like scrolls and tied them with twine and Kyle hand delievered them to all of his little friends.

We were so lucky to have my sisters family in town. To say that my nephew Jefferson LOVES Indiana Jones would be an understatement. That boy is an Indy expert and a big kid at heart so I was thrilled when he agreed to help me plan and put together Kyle's party. Christy and I both LOVE to throw parties and it was a dream come true to have her with me to pull it all off. I could NOT have done it with out them.

We played a couple of games Indy style and then Indy himself took them on a BIG adventure. It was supposed to be an outdoor party but wouldn't ya know it, it rained ALL day and we had to move a lot of it inside.

That didn't stop us though, it just added to the adventure. Christy brought a lot of her Halloween decore. She has a ton and Jefferson used it all in a really cool cave that he made for the kids. They had to crawl through some fridge boxes and ended in the shed. It was awesome, Jeff rigged a trap so when they found and took their treasure it caused them to get trapped. Us adults beat on the shed to add to the effect. Then they had to pull a string to try and find how to open the wall. When they pulled on it Ryand and Uncle Kendall sprayed them with silly string and the wall opened as they climbed out while still being sprayed. It was AWESOME!!!!

Jeff set up blue tarps for water and they got to literally swing across the water on Indy's whip. The boys LOVED this. When they came inside they found a big treasure chest full of presents and we opend gifts had Cake and ice cream. The cake was just cupcakes with a white chocolate chrystal skull on it. Christy brought the mold for those and made them and they were a HUGE hit. They turned out AWESOME.

This party would not have been nearly as fun or as great without the Clements. I think we should make it a tradition that they come and help me with all our parties. :) it sure was wonderful to have them here.

Happy Birthday, Kyle! You make your dad and I so very happy.

Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas my sister Christy and her family came to town. It was SO.MUCH.FUN! Boy have we missed having them live here. Christy played with any and everything that Becca asked her too. Jefferson had a tea party with Becca and Uncle Kendall was just his awesome silly self. Mitchell too was a lot of fun to play with and be around. They also brought there new dog Daisy. Becca instantly fell in love. It was so fun to have them here and it went by way to fast.

Christmas Day

This Christmas was just so exciting even magical and pure joy. I love the ages of my kids. It's still just so much fun. The kids were adorable and so excited and grateful for everything they got. We had fun watching them discover all of their treasures from Santa which were left unwrapped next to their stocking. Then we opened presents. The rest of the day was spent playing with everything and just being together. There were no chores or rules other than have FUN and NO fighting. It was a lot of fun.

Becca's big gift from Santa was a dress up box full of tutu's, dresses, jewlery, feather boa's and anything else dress up. She especially LOVED her Princess Belle dress from Grandma Kiki and wore it most of the day. She has discovered Littlest Pet Shop and spent a good chunk of time playing with the new set Mom and Dad gave her along with the adorable little play house and family that from Grandma/pa Mitchell. She LOVES the doorbell on that thing and pushed it over and over. :) Later we went on a bike ride so Jaden could try out his new bike. When we had gone about half way Becca stopped to get something out of the back compartment of her bike. It was then that I discovered she had put her new baby in her bike and was taking it for a ride. She has named her new baby Cambree (her best friend) and the blonde baby that she got is named Becca. :)

Here is Jaden trying out his new bike. He sure is a good rider and loves to go fast and do tricks. What a cutie he is. I realized I didn't get pictures of Kyle with his main gifts. Probablly because a string on his guitar broke in like the first 15 minutes when he was trying to tune it. I told him to wait and I'd help him, but he had other plans I guess. :) Ryan got a PS2 for Christmas and Kyle ended up taking over that. We set up the small tv in there room and he was in heaven. He also loved the new Wii and Xbox games we got from Grandma Kiki and Aunt Mandy/Uncle Dave.

Ryan had to go to work at 2:oo on Christmas Day but we were so glad to get him for as long as we did. Our "toys" kept us plenty busy. Although it is so very hard to be away from our family it was sure nice to be together and feel the Spirit of Christmas. We sure have a lot of fun with each other. I just love my little family.

Christmas Eve

Ryand did not have to work on Christmas Eve and we had a great time spending the day together as a family. We took the kids to see Narnia during the day. They loved it. We got home and spent some time playing games and I made a pizza to look like a candy cane. Then we talked about how the candy cane turned upside down, is the letter J. To remind us of the baby Jesus born of Christmas Day. After we ate we heard a knock on the door. When we got there the elves had a left a package for us to open and it was our Chrismas jammies. Becca was thrilled to FINALLY get to open a present.

Everybody got bathed and in their new Christmas jammies and then we got Santa's milk and cookie ready. Kyle frosted the cookie, Jaden poured the milk and Becca added the sprinkles.

Next we watched a little video clip off of lds.org about the nativity. It was narrated by a little girl and Becca was glued to it. Then we sang some soft Christmas carols, like Hark The Harold Angels Sing, Away in a Manger and Silent Night. It was a nice peaceful feeling. We said prayers and the kids went to bed. They were way excited and I kept thinking about how much I love this time of year and the excitement in the kids. They are at the perfect ages and just make it all so much fun.

Teacher Gift

Becca goes to school at the preschool patch and loves it. This year we decided to make her teacher a clipboard for Christmas.

I had this cute American Crafts paper and cordinating ribbon to go with it.

If you look real close you can see the alaphabet on the ribbon. I think it's so cute.

Becca was very excited to hand deliver her gift to her teacher. If you want to see more about her preschool click here it's adorable.

Cutest Santa Ever!

It started about 5 years ago when we still had family that lived in town. We would get together with my sister and her kids and my nephew Mitchell would dress up like Santa and come visit during our party. He came up with the idea on his own and did it for 2 or 3 years until they moved out of state. The boys both remember it and LOVED it. Becca was not born. Well Kyle decided when they moved that he wanted to play Santa. This year they decided Jaden would come along and be Santa's Elf and pass out the presents.

Becca was so cute with them. She just played right along and loved every minute of it. I love the sweet sweet bonds my kids share and the tender little memories they are building for each other.

**Note**

I was so excited I went to the after Christmas clearance sale and was able to buy a cute elf hat for next year. The boys will LOVE it and Jaden won't have to wear a piece of green felt tied with yarn and a gingle bell next time. haha!

Santa's Lap

We took the kids to Bass Pro shop to have a visit with Santa. It was so much fun. They had it decorated really cute. While I held our spot in line Ryan took the kids to different activity stations they had. They got to decorate cookie, write a letter to santa and color some pictures. It was a lot of fun and the line moved very fast. After our visit with Santa we went to Cracker Barrell (our boys LOVE it there) for dinner. We had a lot of fun being together in our sweet little family. All night I kept thinking about how blessed we are. I just love the magic of this season.