Christmas 2012

Christmas was fun this year!  Of course the kids had a great time

which is fun to watch.  I wont lie....I was sick all the time and a little

 miserable and depressed all through December and January.  But

this is a CHRISTMAS post...no room for rants about how much

I have hated this winter!  Okay. I'm done.

Christmas Eve.....with new jammies!

Christmas Eve fondue tradition.  My mom makes it the best.

This is what Malia asked Santa for  "Ladybug  Dweamlight".
It's actually a butterfly, but she thinks it's a ladybug.  There's
no arguing with her on that one.

And this is what Riley asked Santa for: Imaginext Dreamracer Set.
We saw it at Costco, and he never wavered.  That made it
really easy for Santa!

New shoes!  From mom and Dad of course.  Santa gets credit
for one toy/kid.  The rest are from us!!!

Hot Wheels race set that attaches to the wall.

Riley was so so cute.  He wrapped one of his favorite books, a
muscle car book, and gave it to Ben.  He knows Ben likes cars too.

Ben's loot!  I got him some deluxe windshield wipers, a keychain
with tape measurer, AND air fresheners.  

Rapunzel doll!  

She knows this crown belongs on her royal head :)

Hot Wheels stuff from Grandma Blacker.

Malia's gift to us.....her cute bum is always hanging out.

Feeling like a princess in her new Cinderella dress.
She loves her Daddy! Sometimes she comes right
out and tells me "I think I like Daddy better." Ha!

Rapunzel doll with matching Rapunzel dress.  

Hanging out at the Hansen's.  Strange to think that the clan will
just continue to grow, once everyone is married and having kids.

ENORMOUS reeses peanut butter cups.  They are up for it.

The kids opening their binders FULL of art supplies.  They
have played with these more than any other toy.  A hit!

Pre-Christmas

We put the Christmas tree up a few days before Thanksgiving.
Had it in the basement again this year.  Next year we will for sure
have it upstairs, since we just don't spend as much time down there.

I really love our tree!  It is so pretty and glittery.  Worth all the
glittery mess that happens when putting it up.

The kids were great helpers.  I tried my best to not let my desire
for perfect symmetry get in the way of their creativity!  They had
so much fun.

Hanging out at the mall, waiting for Santa to get back from lunch.

Malia had just told Santa what she wanted, and then Santa
turned to Riley to find out what he wanted.  Malia looks
confused because, as we found out later, she thought she
would get her present right away!  

Fist bump!

Who lets their kids play on the escalator??????  They rode
this several times while we were waiting for Ben to finish
up his conversation with a guy selling RC helicopters at
one of the kiosks.  Soon I will need to break down and
buy one for Ben....he had a looong conversation with this guy.

My mom got the kids this cute gingerbread house set.  I'll
post a picture later of the kids eating it.  Oh and there was
plenty of snacking during the making of this little house.

Snow! Recital!

In November we got our first snowstorm for the year.  Malia
was such a good helper with shoveling the driveway.  She's
happy, that's what matters.

Playing with a buddy.  By default, every friend of Riley has to
be Malia's friend too.  She demands it!  This girl sticks up for
herself in every situation, even to the point of being annoying.

What a smile!  She built this and is very proud.

Went to see Twilight.  These movies are always so dumb,
but it's fun to get hyped up and go anyways.

SOOOOOOO cute!  

So this is basically turning into a Malia post :)
Here are some pictures from her dance recital.
Her outfit was supposed to represent a penguin.
It didn't, but that's okay.  

Oh Malia.  What a smile!  Sydni of course has
a cute smile.  I don't think I've ever taken a goofy
picture of Sydni.

I love her little knees.  And of course the "smile" if
it can be called a smile :)

Practicing the waddle, my favorite move in the  routine.

Theeere's my cute girl!

Family Pics 2012

Ciara took our pictures this year at a cool barn area in Fairview.
 We skipped family pics last year...gasp!  Oh well.
 I guess I'm easing up, or getting lazy.

This is just too cute!  Riley is getting so big...seven already!
And I love Malia's smile.  It fits her stinker personality.

I really love this one.  It was a runner
 up for our 16x20 family pic

Good one of Ben and I.

This was the winner for the family pic!

I love their BLUE eyes and smiles!  And I couldn't believe how
 good they were being for the pictures.  They acted like it's
NORMAL for Riley to wrap his arms around Malia.

 This was our funny face pic, and I find amusing for so
many reasons!  Malia's eyes terrify me, and Riley wasn't purposely
 trying to look funny..his eyes were itchy but he looks pretty
 funny!  My face....I can't believe I use that as my funny face.
 And Ben needs to be more creative!!!

This picture reminds me of a picture I've seen of Roger
 (Ben's Dad) at about this same age.  They are sosimilar!

Another good one!

Halloween 2012

Our friends the Ashcraft's threw an amazing Halloween party.  The
entire downstairs of her house was transformed into a dungeon.  Pictures
just don't do it justice.  Amazing food too, and it was a murder mystery.
Ben ended up being the killer :)

We all dressed up in character.  You can see Candace in a blue
arabian outfit, and her husband Scott is wearing the flashy blue turbin.

Time to carve pumpkins and eat a pumpkin pizza!

The finished product.  

Riley's school parade.  He is just so cute!

Riley and his teacher, Ms. McAllister.  I love tomato soup.

Malia's hair was the best!  She was a great Ariel.  Riley
was a great, beefy Hulk.

The first house!  Check out the fullness of that hair.  And
she loves her Ariel highheels but they aren't very practical for walking.

Even mermaids have to go potty sometimes.  Although
I've always wondered how real mermaids do that.

It was really warm this evening, until the sun went down.  I miss green grass.

I hope to get a picture of these two every year.  They are
just so cute!  They used to be the exact same size, but
Malia is now outgrowing Sydni.  

Riley is all business about getting candy.  I love his six pack.

We had my family over, and had dinner in a pumpkin.  It wasn't
too bad.  Probably do it again next year.

Post trick-or-treating hang out.  My dad stayed home to pass out
 candy while we were out.  We had a BIG bag of candy, and thought
that would be plenty because we usually don't get a ton of trick-or-treaters.
Well, my Dad ended up making TWO emergency runs to the story to get more
candy!  We kept running out.  He told a funny story about one little 3 or 4 year old
 boy who, after being told there was no candy, turned around while walking away
and glared at my dad and said "NO CANDY!"  That scared him and he ran
to the story right away :)