Our Crazy December!

As some of you know, December around our house gets just a little bit crazy. It usually starts off okay with the first half being pretty typical for every family preparing for Christmas. This year we had the Dallin stuff interupt our semi-normal start of the month. The second half of December at our house is pure chaos! But so fun! James Birthday is on the 18th, then of course we have Christmas. Ragan's birthday follows on the 27th and then last but not least our anniversary on the 29th! We're lucky if we've got anything left to celebrate our anniversary, both money and energy. This year the money ran out, and we had a belated family Christmas/engagement party for my little sister on our anniversary, so it was kind of a dud as far as romance is concerned!

We'll start with the first event! My sweet baby James is no baby anymore. He is FIVE years old! I can't believe it. He is so fun and so smart. When he get excited about something he is all consumed by it. He is just like his mother in that sense. His obsession lately is dinosaurs. So I finally got around to the request he made when we first moved in. He asked me to paint dinosaurs on his wall. I somehow found the time and revealed the masterpiece on his birthday. Here is the video of the reveal and some still shots!

Here's a plug for Jenna Layton. She got me started by painting Little Foot! Thanks Jenna!

We continued the dinosaur birthday theme for his party. I love birthday parties for kids. They are so fun to plan, and the kids get so darn excited. My kids love their birthdays. That makes me happy. My birthday growing up was always something I looked forward to.

Next event...Christmas. We had a meager Christmas this year, but truly it was one of our best. I think smaller is better and makes everyone appreciate things so much more. We were blessed with some items left on our doorstep from a Secret Santa. I am so grateful for the love and generosity of our friends. I love Christmas and the spirit that it brings. Thankyou to our secret Santa and to all those we love that made the Christmas season mean so much!

This is a picture of our kids on Christmas Eve in the Elf PJs. Growing up my family had a tradition of the Elves, or Impy Ganomeys as we called them, dropping a Christmas Eve gift on our doorstop. We have kept the tradition going, I love it, it's one of my favorite Christmas memories. At our house the elves always seem to leave homemade pajama pants!

Next Event...a princess parade! We have a 3 year old! And she is so proud of being big! She started primary last week and when we went to the gym she got to go to the big kid room downstairs. As she walked in the room at the gym, with a grin she looked up at the teacher and proudly stated "I'm big!" She is so excited to be growing up. I on the other hand am not so sure! I love to see my kids learn and grow but I hate the thought of them getting closer and closer to teenagers, and not thinking I'm cool. I enjoy that they adore me, and think there is no one better than mom and dad. James told me the other day that when he grows up he wants to marry me! I will miss comments like that, which will likely be replaced with something like, Mom you are so not cool! Anyway... I got sidetracked... We actually waited until January for Ragan's party, so we could spread out the chaos a little. Her party was so much fun! Like I said a princess parade. All the girls came dressed in their best princess dress. Then we made crowns and jewelery and played kiss the frog prince. We even painted all their fingernails. I was so grateful for Brandy and Aubrey for helping me everything. I would have been more than overwhelmed without them! It was definitely a success and the girls were adorable. Oh we also read a book called Fancy Nancy that Tami suggested to me. If any of you have little girls that love dressing up etc. Fancy Nancy is a must read. They will love it!

Like I said last but not least Pete and I celebrated, well acknoweleged is probably a better word, our SEVENTH anniversary! Time definitely flies! I can truly say they have been seven wonderful years. I couldn't have picked a better man. He truly loves me unconditionally! He treats me like a queen, which sometimes I really don't deserve, but he does nonetheless. I love him more now than ever. He is a wonderful person and a good example for me, my kids and everyone around him. Happy Anniversary babe, maybe someday we'll celebrate!