It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

We have been so busy the last few weeks with Christmas parties, decorating, shopping, baking cookies, tons of Christmas stuff!

 

 

Here is Maddie all dressed up in her Christmas dress (which she has worn every Sunday for the last two months) and her beautiful Christmas jacket and matching hat. She wore this outfit to both the 1st and 2nd ward Christmas parties.

 

 

Tanner loves to play with the tree and take the wrapping paper and bows off the presents.

 

 



 

 

No bubbles

 

Bubbles!

 

Making Christmas cookies! This was a lot of work but lots of fun too! Kalie came over to help us make cookies. She and Maddie cut out all the sugar cookies for me and then afterwards helped decorate them!

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 

I just had to get a picture of all the trash I generated making 4 batches of chocolate chip cookie dough and 4 batches of sugar cookie dough. 

 

 





Tanner enjoying a chocolate chip cookie



 

Making truffles!

All the treats packed and ready for delivery

 



 

We can't wait for Christmas!



The Shed is Done!

Trevor finished the shed in our backyard! We are so glad to have that huge project done and to have the extra storage space. Now I can show you how he built it from start to finish. Just to be clear, he designed and built it all himself, there was no kit involved. So that makes it even more awesome.

 

 

 

In the first stage, in our garage because it was too cold and too dark to do it outside. I like how Tanner is reaching for the drill in this picture.

 

 

Putting up the walls

 

 

All framed!

 

Trevor's dad and brother Ryan were really nice to help out with the labor and providing many tools during this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our little helpers

 

 

 

Maddie helped me paint this side of the shed but it was so cold outside we couldn't paint very long before our fingers were frozen stiff.

 

 

Trevor and his dad finished the shed while us girls were making cookies inside.

 

And that is our shed! I love how it turned out and how the paint matches our house.

Thanksgiving break

Thanksgiving break was so much fun! Ryan came down to visit and it was really fun to see him. On the first day he was here Trevor had to work so we all met at McDonald's for lunch.

 

 

 

Tanner just loves Uncle Rynan (that's how Maddie says it) and he warmed up to him as soon as he got here.

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving day! The food was so good and we were all stuffed for days afterward.

 

 

I look like I am concentrating really hard in this picture. It's because getting everything on one plate is an art form!

 

 

Finally we get to eat!

Tanner was crawling around on the floor somewhere behind us.

 

 

Stockings hung by the chimney with care. We put up our Christmas stuff a few days before Thanksgiving. Maddie was really excited to put everything out after helping Grandma put up her Christmas stuff so we went ahead and decorated a few days early.

 

 

I felt really bad because when we first put the stockings up, Tanner's wasn't done yet. I bought the stocking kit in September and thought I would have plenty of time to finish it before Thanksgiving but of course other things get in the way and it wasn't finished by the time we put our stuff out.  Luckily I just worked super hard and was able to finish it two days before.  I kept joking with Maddie that Tanner wouldn't get any presents because he didn't have a stocking and she thought it was hilarious.

 

 Our new Christmas tree. This isn't the best picture but it is the only one I have right now. We bought it after Christmas last year and got a great deal on it because it was on sale, the last one, and didn't have a box to go with it. I love it because it is really tall and goes with our vaulted ceilings. However, we only have like ten ornaments to go on it. In years before that was fine because we had a small tree but this year it looks very bare.

 

Tanner loves Ryan and Ryan held him and fed him a lot while he was here. Tracy and I went to Rite Aid on Thanksgiving Day to do some shopping and when we came back, this is how Tanner was. If only I could get him to sleep that easily!

 

Tanner was sick for a lot of the Thanksgiving break with the flu so he didn't eat much but I am glad to see he at least ate a roll.

 

And that was our Thanksgiving break! The boys got to go on a ride, the girls (and Tanner) got to go to the movies to see Frozen (so good!) and we got to eat and talk and have tons of fun. The only thing that would have made it better was if more of the family was here with us.