Decorating...

I love decorating for the holidays. I have decorations for every holiday, and decorating has been especially fun with kids:) Rhenley gets so excited when we get to decorate. Christmas is the Best! I do have quite a few decorations for Christmas, it's my favorite time of the year. Lucas calls my decorating "foolishness" & "mayhem" (like Niecy Nash from "Clean House": if you aren't familiar with this show, then "foolishness" & "mayhem" will be less humorous to you:) Anyway, we decorated for Christmas the Saturday following Thanksgiving, it took about an hour and a half, but it was worth it:) I love snowmen, I have 45 of them (Lucas counted them this year:) I also have a few nativity scenes, lots of christmas books, snowglobes, & other christmas nic-nacs. (We actually just decorated the inside of our house, the christmas tree we're getting this weekend, and outside will be done as well.) It's quite the project, but I love it, it makes me happy:) The pictures attached with this blog are of my new Snowman Family (Me, Luke, Rhen, Jodee & Jayda:) (I couldn't resist:) And then a picture of my favorite nativity scene.

Happy Holidays Everyone, Happy Decorating, Happy Shopping, Happy Giving:)

It's Snow Time!

So we had our first snow fall, Rhenley was so thrilled, she couldn't wait to go outside to play in it:) However, once outside, she realized that snow=cold, she made a little snow cake on top of the AC unit, watched the neighbors roll a few snowballs, and then she was ready for some hot chocolate:) (She is her mother's daughter:) The next day, she did play outside in the snow, but wasn't a big fan of touching it (her hands got cold too fast, even with gloves on:) She is a funny girl.

*Lucas' 28th Birthday Party*

Lucas turned 28 yesterday (November 13th), man he's OLD:) Our families came to our house for the occasion. We had a good time, the kids loved the balloons, Grandma Stevens was half asleep, but had a blast, Lucas received a picture of a Barbie from our 5 year old nephew Jakob (Lucas and Jakob have this long running joke with each other about getting a Barbie doll for Christmas:), The Harry Potter papermache mask was from Luke's sister Erikka, and everyone else pitched in $$$$ so Lucas could buy his "Flip" digital camcorder that he wanted:) (Rhenley and I got Lucas some clothes, Shrek the Third, and Chips w/ Salsa Con Queso (Luke's favorite thing to eat:) The Party was fun, we love having our families around and being able to get together often:)

My sisters...

The previous post got me thinkin' about my little sisters:) Leslie, Kyra, & I have always had a good relationship. Don't get me wrong, we had our moments when we were kids: sharing/not sharing clothes, sharing a room, sharing friends & secrets, thankfully never sharing boys. My sisters are my best friends, I love them to pieces:) Now that we all have families of our own, it's been even more fun seeing our kids play together, and our husbands get along. "Sisters by Chance, Friends by Choice"

A Special Bond:)

Sisters and Twins: What a special bond the twins have! I loved having sisters, someone to play with, get in trouble with, share clothes & secrets with. But being a twin: Jodee & Jayda at such a young age have a very special relationship, it is so fun to watch them grow & play together. (The pictures are of Jodee & Jayda playing: They play pretty well together, Jodee is already making sure that Jayda knows who's the oldest:) The picture of them holding hands was taken on the way home from camping, I turned around to check on them and they were holding hands, it was priceless:)

Camping @ Emigrant Springs, OR

This last weekend (November 9-10) we went camping with Lucas' family: Grandma & Grandpa Stevens, Auntie Erikka, Auntie Megan, & Cousins: Jakob, Mikah, & Zakry.

Camping, I mean really camping (tent, outhouse, no showers, fire) is fun sometimes, but this last weekend, we Camped more "my style":) We stayed at Emigrant Springs in these cute little cabins (heat, electricity, stove/oven, matresses on the beds, showers/bathrooms) Seriously, my kind of camping:) (The cabins sleep 5 people, so each family had their own cabin.) We had a really good time, the weather, although a little wet on Saturday, was nearly perfect, not too cold. Rhenley loved sleeping in "the cabinet" (she called the cabin a cabinet:), she thought it was so fun. Roasting Mallows with the kids and making smores was fun as well (Smores are the best:) "You want S'more?":) Jodee & Jayda liked wearing their stocking caps, they were happy babies, and enjoyed being outside. We will definitely be going again!:) Good times were had by all:)

Good Times @ Halloween

Rhenley, our little monkey had a great time Trick or Treating this year, she LOVES candy, and asks for a piece every second of every day. Jodee & Jayda go Bananas over the candy wrappers that big sister leaves behind:)
Halloween was fun for our family, we had a good time carving pumpkins, and Trunk or Treating. (Man, why didn't they have Trunk or Treating when I was a kid, seriously, what a great idea.) Our church parking lot was full of cars, Rhenley's bucket was full of candy within minutes, it was great! We didn't have to go anywhere else, Trick or Treating was done with one stop:)

Who was the first person to start "Trick or Treating"? Where did it begin? I mean really, it's a scary holiday, with a few weird perks: costumes and candy:) It's just a funny thing to think about sometimes...where things come from, why they began.