Family Pictures

It's that time of the season for some new family pictures. Tara, my sister-in-law, was nice enough to take them and here are the fantastic results:

And on a side note, we will not be sending out Christmas Cards with these adorable pictures because I am just not that speedy this year. But if all goes as planned, I will  be sending out some lovely "Happy New Year!" cards instead :)

Cherry Lane

Last Monday my brother Mike and I took my kids to Cherry Lane. It's this neighborhood that goes ALL out on their Christmas decorations. Unfortunately only about half of the lights in the neighborhood were on that night. I'm not sure if that was because of the rain or because it was a weekday BUT the lights that WERE on were still quite amazing :)

Winter Wonderland

Tonight we went to the Bass Pro Shop's Winter Wonderland with my parent's and Mary. Yet another opportunity for me to enjoy this Christmas Season fully with the boys. 

The Bass Pro Shop was fun perfectly catered towards boys: trains, remote control cars, arcade guns, a wildlife carousel, big fish and of course, Santa! 

I wasn't a huge fan of the large amount of people there and the massive line to see Santa but the boys had fun and that's what counts. I just wish that fun didn't always have to equal whinyness when the time comes to leave...

Temple Lights & Crickets

Since I am not a crazy full-time working mama this Christmas season, I finally have the time to enjoy the holiday fun before the crazy crowds form. Today I decided we were going to visit the Mesa Temple as soon as dark fell. It would still be early in the evening and early in the month and I hoped this would equal much smaller crowds than I usually encounter. It totally did! Me and the boys enjoyed the lights and I wasn't terrified of losing them in the mass of people. However, I still made them hold hands for "safety" reasons and it was super cute! We had a great night checking out the lights!

And after we were back in the warmth of our house Steven found a cricket. He has this gross habit of picking them up and letting them crawl all over him. I finally gave him permission to do this but found myself regretting it when suddenly his shirt was off and he was giggling about how it had disappeared underneath it. Oh my boy and bugs.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

In an interview Steven had with his preschool teacher this week he had some great answers. Here were some of the most interesting answers he gave:

-I have "a lot of sisters" and "1 brother." 

-When I grow up I want to be a: "Daddy! Colin's daddy!" 

-If I could have whatever pet I wanted it would be "one that puts rocks in my face....a doggie."

Speaking of Santa...

The other day I had Steven dictate a letter to me for Santa and it went like this:

Dear Santa,

    Will you please get me a rocket ship and a toy for Ben and a volcano? Please Santa will you get me a lot of toys. Thank you!

                         Love,

                             Santa

And of course in the letter he included pictures of said toys. I do have to say that I was very proud of all his perfect manners and that he thought of his little brother Benny. Oh my baby is all grown up and believing in Santa :)

Santa

My parent's insurance/investment group holds a special Amazing Jake's Christmas Party every year and my parents invited us to go. The kids LOVED it. Pizza, ice cream, cookies, rides, a goody bag and SANTA! What more could toddler boys ask for? 

Steven had a blast on the rides. This time he went on the spinning "roller coaster" ride and the frog hopper which goes up and then drops down in intervals. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous for him but he, of course, loved the rides and wanted to go again and again. 

And surprisingly, both Ben & Steven sat on Santa's lap without fear or tears. Steven claimed at first that he didn't want to but then he eagerly jumped on up and told him that he wanted a rocket ship and a volcano and pretty much everything else in the world. 

Ben also jumped on up and smiled awkwardly. I am sure he was wondering why I put him on this strange man's lap. And Santa was wondering why he had to endure such a drooly, little boy. Darn wet ring around his neck really ruined the aesthetic appeal of the picture.