Oreo

We finally broke down and consented to let the kids have a cat. I thought it would be a nuisance, but we all have loved our new family member! She is a grey and white cat, which makes it funny to me that they decided to name her Oreo (oreos are BLACK and white). But at least they all finally agreed on something!
She likes to look out the windows. Poor thing spends half of the day meowing, begging me to let her go outside!
I swear she thinks Hadley is her kitten. Whenever Haddie lays on her bed this is where Oreo goes. She licks her head and runs her paws through her hair like she's grooming Haddie. It's the craziest thing! And Haddie just lies there and loves every minute of it!
This was cat watching over her "kitten" when Haddie had her recent bout with a stomach bug. Oreo did the same thing for Julia--laid above her head on the bed the whole time Julia was sick. Sweet cat!

SANTA!

Santa brought the boys an xbox 360.
He brought Haddie bunk beds for her new baby dolls.
He brought the girls a volleyball net and each a new volleyball.
Of course, mommy and daddy didn't get as much cool stuff. I guess we weren't as good as the kids were this year. We'll have to work harder in 2012!

Christmas morning

I created a new decoration for our banister this year. I think it's super cute! Julia added the little blue bow around the knob. It didn't really match, but I always love her help!
It's amazing to have a Christmas tree stay intact for the entire season. A definite sign that our kiddos are growing up!
Here's the crew waiting in anticipation to come down the stairs and see what Santa brought!

One of Hadley's Christmas presents

I just have to post this because I LOVE the way it turned out. I found a youtube video on how to make a barbie bed out of a cereal box, pencils and some decorated duct tape! It was one of her favorite presents!

Thanksgiving and Ryan's #12!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Matthews flew all the way from Los Angeles to spend Thanksgiving with us and be here when Ryan was ordained to the Aaronic Preisthood. Kind of cool because Ryan's birthday was on Sunday. He got to be ordained on his actual birthday! Uncle Todd, Aunt La-La and cousins spent a lot of time with us too! We LOVED every minute of it!!
Ryan turned 12! I can't believe it! We have a son in Young Men, passing the sacrament and doing awesome things in school, church and at home! We are so proud of you and the choices you are making and the young man you are becoming!

Group birthday present

Uncle Todd and Auntie La-La bought all of my kids the game of Life for their group birthday present! We LOVE it SO much. We've already ruined the box because we play it all the time and it gets hauled all around the house! Thanks!

#4 for Hadley

After Ben, we get to celebrate Haddie's birthday! She turned four years old. We had an awesome party for families. We invited four families over and had brownies, ice cream and lots of fun!
Happy 4th birthday to our DUDE! I know she's a girl, but she is definitely a dude. She knows what she wants and has a way of getting it. She has a little attitude that cannot be overlooked. You certainly make everyday an adventure girl-y!

#7 for Ben

Ben turned 7 years old and we had a few friends over to celebrate! It was a lot of fun.
He loved his chocolate angry birds cupcakes. He got a lot of fun presents too and some money from both sets of grandparents! Happy birthday to my beautiful "son"shine! You really do make every day a better day!