Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving Day full of great food and fun. We stayed home this year, well we went next door to my Parent's house and my sister and her family came. I was in charge of the stuffing and sweet potatoes. Charyn made the potatoes and rolls and my mom did the turkey, gravy, corn, and veggie tray, and pies. We al ate like kings and then decided to play some card games. It was a fun day and nice to be able to relax. We decided that it is getting hard to always pack up the kids and go to the next house every holiday. So we are going to spend Christmas day with Matt's family and try and rotate some of the holidays from now on. We had a great holiday and have so much to be thankful for.

I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting this last week and in part of my talk I listed some of the things that we should be thanking our Father in Heaven for. After I got listing things, I was truly grateful for all that I have and enjoy. I think it is a great activity to jot down every now and then, in detail, all the many things we enjoy and take for granted. It doesn make you very thankful.

Here is a list of mine, in now particular order:
My Savior Jesus Christ, the gospel, the scriptures, prayer, Matt- the great husband he is,Family- each one of my kids, Parker, Paige, & Paxten
My parents, Matt's parents, my sister and her family. Matt's siblings and their families, Friends, Health, Love, the seasons, clean water, clean air, indoor plumbing, heat, a home, a car with gas, clothing, warm blankets, good food, a store close by to get the food, both arms, my hearing, sight, smell, taste, books - my Kindle :) , a camera- to capture memories, blogging - my journal, my scrapbooks- to look at all the memories, money to provide for our family. I could go on and on about everything I am truly grateful for. I hope all of you have a great holiday and that you were able to look back and reflect upon the things you are grateful for as well!

Family Pictures 2011

We are on a tight budget this year for the Holidays and I didn't factor in getting Professional family photos, so we used our new camera and had my mom snap a few family pictures on Thanksgiving day. I think they turned out pretty good and we at least got some good shots of every person, they may not all be in the same picture, but hey, it doesn't always happen that way. Here is a little peek at some of the pictures.

Visit with Zander

My kids got to finally meet their newest cousin on the 11th. He was here with his momma to get some darling newborn pictures taken. Charyn stopped by for a little bit so that we could see him. The kids were all sick when he was born and we decided to wait a few weeks until they were all better before we introduced Zander to them. They all loved him and both Parker and Paige had several turns holding him. They are always asking me when they get to see him next. He is pretty darn cute and I love cuddling and holding him as well, Paxten doesn't really like it when I hold him, he's a little jealous. Guess that means it isn't quite time for number 4 yet! hahaha!

Pickle Time

This little boy loves a pickle just like his mommy.

In fact all three of my kids love a good pickle. Matt rolls his eyes at us when we are all snacking on a pickle. He just doesn't get our love for one. I am starting Paxten out young too in hopes he will love a pickle just like the rest of us. So far so good!

The Gym

I seem to have a love hate relationship with the gym. It has been way too long since I have been in there, I am ashamed to admit that it was before Paxten was born. Probably going on a year! I have been procrastinating going back and using my poor sleep schedule as an excuse. Well today I finally went! It felt so good to be in there and to get a workout in. I might not be able to move tomorrow moring, but I will go again. Matt and I are going to be working together to try and shed a few pounds. I think with him trying too, it will be a litle bit easier as far as cooking goes. Now I just need to keep my motication high and keep my mouth closed! Wish me luck!

2 Front Teeth

 

Here are the culprets for long nights, and rough days. Hope they make their way out soon!
Paxten will have 2 front teeth for Christmas and Parker will be asking for his!

9 Month Old

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paxten is getting closer and closer to being a year old and I can hardly believe it. It makes me quite sad actually, my little baby is getting bigger and acting more and more like a toddler and less and less like a baby. I am not quite ready for that yet, so I guess I better enjoy the next few months with him.

He is officially crawling all over the place. For a while he would do an army crawl type of thing, but he has figured out how to be up on his hands and knees and how much faster that is to get around. He will come looking for me throughout the house if he can't find me. Just this last week I made a discover in his mouth, he it cutting 2 top teeth!! They are slowing making their appearance and have been causing him great discomfort. His poor gums were so swollen, I thought they would pop. So now he has these 2 big teeth poking through and making their appearance into his smile. He will like being able to use them to chew once they finally get all the way through. Isn't he adorable!! I love my little Paxten!

Scrap Weekend

I went with my mom and friends Sheri to our scrap book retreat this last weekend. Matt made arrangements to get work off so he could watch Parker and Paige while I went. Of course since I was taking Paxten with me, he decided he would catch the bug that Parker had earlier in the week. So I was up with Paxten the night before I went scrapbooking. The day I was going to leave he seemed fine, hadn't thrown up for a while and I decided that I would still go and try to get some pages done. We arrived on Thursday evening and I set myself the goal of 10 pages. Usually I try and get 30-50 pages done, but I knew that having Paxten with me would make that a very big challenge. So I set myself a realistic goal. I worked hard on Friday and with the help of my mom and Sheri and a few other ladies there taking turns with Paxten I was able to get 10 pages done. I was very excited, thinking that I could possible get another 10 pages done the next day. If only....during the night, I caught the bug that Parker had, then Paxten had. I was up almost the entire night visiting the bathroom. It was horrible. I was trying not to wake up the other people there and I felt miserable. By morning I was sure wishing I was in my own home, in my own bed, by my own toilet. I called Matt and had him come and get Paxten and me and take us home, so I missed 1 1/2 days of scrapbooking and I was mad about it. Why did I have to get sick? and why on this weekend? the one weekend I actually get my scrap books stuff out and get caught up on pages!! The bug only lasted 24-48 hours and I am feeling much better (Matt and Paige also got it over the weekend, so it made it's way thru the whole family) So now more than ever I am looking forward to the Spring retreat so I can get myself caught up. I am setting the goal for 75 pages at that time to make up for this last weekend. I won't have Paxten with me and if I can get a move on it I cane get really organized and know exactly what I am going to do... I can't wait!!

Parker's 6th Birthday

 

Parker turned 6 on the 1st and how did he get to celebrate?....In bed with a bucket by his side! Poor KID! The night before his birthday he was up most of the night throwing up and not feeling good at all. I felt really bad for him and the fact that he had to stay home from school and wouldn't be able to celebrate his birthday with his friends at school. I pretty much confined him to his room all day long watching movies. I wanted to keep the nasty flu bug away from everyone else. By about 3:00 he seemed to be feeling better, but still not quite himself. We had already invited some grandparents over for pizza, cake and ice cream and I didn't want to change it to the next day because then Matt wouldn't be there, so we went ahead with the birthday plans. I kept with my tradition of making the cake and attempted to do a Spider Man cake for the special occasion. I was getting frustrated with it and at one point took some of the icing off and started over. But for the most part it turned out fine and Parker loved it. That is all that really matters anyway.

We had pizza, pepperoni of course, and salad and then opened presents. Parker got a Star Wars lego set, new pajamas, new hat and gloves, and a lego figure from Grandma and Grandpa C. He got the Cars 2 movie and some ninja stars from Grandpa Yancey, a remote control car that transforms into a robot and a sweat suit outfit from Grandma Yancey. Paige got him 3 new cars 2 cars that he was so excited about. Then Matt and I got him the Transformers 3 movie, a Sonic video game and another video game called Shoot. He was pretty excited and perked right up after opening his gifts. He seemed to feel more like himself and was eager to play with all his new toys. Even though the day started out rough, it ended on a good note and he had a great birthday! I can't believe he is 6!!

Trick or Treating

 

We took the kids to a few houses to go trick or treating. Mostly people in our ward and a few friends. Here they are ending the night at Grandma and Grandpa C's house. They ended up with a ton of candy between trick or treating, the ward party, and school parties. We will have candy here for months, yuck!