Here's Haddie and Daddy snuggling with her new pound puppy from santa.
Emily absolutely adores her present from santa. It is so much fun to watch her imagination work as she enjoys playing with her new toy.
For one of their presents from mom and dad, I made all five kiddos a flannel blanket. I thought they turned out super cute!
Here's grandma and Haddie, don't they look SO cute talking together!
Here is grandpa getting ready to unveil their present from santa. Sadly, grandma already knew what it was.
Here's grandpa doing his happy dance when he saw what his present was.
Here's what Hadley got from santa.
Cousins Lyvia and Ally were at our house for Christmas too!
Here's what grandma and grandpa got from santa.
Look at all of those presents!
Santa definitely came to our house. And we do hope that all y'all were good enough to have santa stop at your house too! Here's what Ryan got.
Julia.
Emily.
Ben.
Grandma and Grandpa Oliver got to our house on Sunday and we were so excited to see them. There was serious rejoicing and jumping up and down and hugging and kissing. Here are the big girls snuggling with Grandpa.
I took this picture because I just thought Haddie looked super cute engrossed in playing with one of the boys' transformers.
Well, I am remiss for not posting for so long. Things have been out of control lately. Stop the ride, I'm dizzy and I want to get off! Speaking of dizziness, Hadley, I think, has been dizzy all her life as a result of ear infections and fluid in her ears. On the 7th, she fell off my lap during sacrament meeting and caught the corner of the hymnal holder with her eye. Pobrecita!
Originally submitted at Teavana
This comforting blend of vervaine and marshmallow leaf, ginger, and peppermint aids in digestion, relaxation of the body and mind. This tea is designed to help promote a better night's sleep and taste delicious at the end of a long day.
love at first sip
Tea Body: Medium
Tea Flavor: Citrusy, Fruity, Flowery
Pros: Soothing, Smooth Body, Fresh, Unique Flavor Profile, High Quality
Best Uses: Anytime
Describe Yourself: Tea Enthusiast, Health Conscious
I love this tea because it has a very unique taste and smell that is soothing and surprising. I smelled it and thought,"Wow! That smells really good, but I don't think it'll taste good." But boy was I surprised! It's delicious. When I'm in the mood for something different this is what I reach for. It transports me to the French countryside after a long and tiring day.
(legalese)
This year Ryan's birthday was actually on Thanksgiving day, and we were down in Houston visiting our good friends the Anways. I thought about having a party for Ryan that next Saturday, but we were only inviting three friends, and his very best friend was still going to be out of town. So, we settled for the next Saturday even though it was far away. I think just the fact that it was a whole new month made it feel even farther away even though it isn't really. Anyway, we had a crazy day. All of the three friends we invited showed up. Julia has a little boy friend from church who often shows up at our doorstep with no shoes or socks or jacket on in the freezing weather asking to play. His kid radar was in full swing, he showed up and totally lucked out, cake, ice cream, pizza, the works. Our little next door neighbor girl had her kid sensor turned on as well. Her mom called and asked if she could come over. I have such a hard time saying no. I think especially to these neighbors because I know the state of our lawn bothers them immensely and they try to still be kind and nice to me. Embarrassing. One of Ryan's friends, Braden, who was at the party, his mom is one of my good friends, and she asked if I could watch her five and two year olds for an hour right during the party. She is SO good to me I felt again like I couldn't say no. Actually, I was happy to do it. I had set aside the time to be doing a party, and entertaining kids, so it was no big deal. Just a bit crazy, at the height of kid-ness we had 12 kids 9 and under at our house. Tangent--back to the party. Ryan is currently obsessed with Pokemon. So I made him a pokemon cake. I go back and forth between being embarrassed about how it turned out, and thinking I did a pretty good job.
Ryan currently is incapable of making a normal face for the camera.
Blowing out the candles.
One of Hadley's favorite new games is to rock on the nice rocking chair with one of her sibs. Emily started the game with her, and does a great job of not going too crazy so the baby doesn't get hurt. This morning Ben decided he could do it too, he rocked with wild abandon, and as much as Hadley loved it, I was concerned for her safety! But they did look cute together. I managed to snap a few pictures before I took Hadley off for her own safety. She was mad at me! and I tried a couple of times to show Ben how to rock slow and gently but still make it fun...yeah, didn't work.
Hadley is in a really fun stage. She LOVES to explore and discover. Today she was facinated by my kitchen handtowel. She put it over her head and went walking away. Funny, funny baby.
It seems like whenever I open the refrigerator door, Hadley comes running. She loves to play inside, pull things off shelves, take a bit out of whatever catches her eye. Today was especially funny. She was captivated by a bright red tomato. With lightning speed she shoved it in her mouth instantly followed by choruses of,"mmmmm." It was love at first taste. She was walking around eating it like you would an apple. Crazy baby. I put her in her high chair to enjoy her spoils after I found a trail of tomato seeds and juice all over the floor.
Well, my kids and I would LOVE a dog. One Saturday we stopped at two Petsmarts with hopes of finding a perfect dog. At the first one we found a beautiful black cocker. She was calm and sweet, but was finishing heartworm treatment and wouldn't be available until Dec. 1. You know how kids are, when you tell them you're getting something, they want it now! So it was on to the second Petsmart where we found Scooby. His foster mom had more than she could handle with four new adopted babies under the age of two, two dogs of their own and several foster dogs. She was ready to find a home for Scooby, she said we could take him home for a night and try him out. Well, we loved Scooby, but he is a Beagle, and would be way too high maintenance. He kept trying to dig under the fence to get whatever he smelled on the other side, he was also a pain to walk because he would get sniffing and just be oblivously pulling his walker along. I think Scooby probably would have calmed down as soon as he got used to the new place, but it was too much for Scott to handle. So, no dog until the kids are a little older. But how they loved Scooby, especially Julia. She snuggled him in her bed right on her pillow with her.
