The fight was three to one...

...and Daddy still dominated! :)

Autumn writing her name backwards- I can't even think that way- should we be concerned?

Amberlee and Autumn have been doing incredible wrapping jobs this year! :) We took them both to the dollar store and they picked out some fun prizes for the family. They have been so excited. I think this is really going to be a fun Christmas year! Their ages are perfect- everything is so magical!

Hosanna, Hosanna, let down your long hair...

I grew up with a pretty funny/silly dad and I was recently thinking about how he would sometimes mix up Christmas songs.  For example:
"While Shepherds darn their socks by night..." (While Shepherds watch their flocks by night)
"Arrest that hairy gentle man, he's stolen my taupe!" (Got rest ye merry gentleman)
Now I can't think of those songs with out thinking of his sacrilegious version. :)  But lately, we have come up with some mix-ups of our own.

Resent Christmas song mix-ups:
Autumn:
"Hosanna, Hosanna, let down your long hair..."
"...Then one Froggy Christmas Eve..."
"Hi-ya-lula, hi-ya-lula" (Hallelujah)
Amberlee:
"...This is my sacred beauty." (Sacred Duty)
Doug:
"...And the government shall be upon Lyd's shoulders..."
(I think that was a result of my acting grumpy like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. :)
"...Heavy Valley" (Every Valley)
This was from the tenor solo at the Messiah. I was singing it and Doug was surprised to find out the real words. He said he had been thinking, "I had never thought of a valley as being heavy before, but I think Handle must have been right. Not only was he a great composer, he was pretty smart, too!"

Well, that is quite enough silliness! :)  Anyway, I wanted to tell you about some of the fun stuff we're doing to "deck the halls" this Christmas!

On Sunday, I got to sing in the Messiah- we have been practicing for 3 months now.  It was SO MUCH fun for me!  I have been way out of practice- haven't sung like that since high school or freshman year of college.  I enjoyed it so much, and I really felt the spirit and we sang.  I felt like I was singing far beyond my capacity, and it made me know that Heaven was helping.  It was a pretty cool feeling!

Afterwords, I took the girls to an amazing "Nativities from around the world" open house.  I have never seen so many!  They completely filled the stake center cultural hall!  It was incredible!  The girls really enjoyed the children's room where they made a craft, played nativity puppet show, and got to dress up and pose in a professional picture.  Autumn insisted on being a shepherd.  (She's not your typical- "I want to be Mary" kind of girl I guess.)  They were pretty excited.

 

Then my cute friend Natalie invited the girls over to decorate sugar cookies.  The girls were thrilled!  She shared her amazing recipe with me.  I just posted it on my cooking blog if you want to check it out: Natalie's Amazing Sugar Cookies  I'm lucky to have such a sweet friend!  (It gave me some good time to finish making and wrapping presents!)

We have had several people knock and run, leaving us fun cookies and prizes on the door step! People have been so good to us!  (Especially last week when everyone but me was sick with the flu- my friend Afton put together a whole "get well" kit for us with everything you could possibly need (even cleaning supplies!) to feel better!  We got a delicious loaf of homemade bread on the door step!  And my sweet friend Brittany (whose whole household also got the flu after Autumn threw up all over their kitchen floor when we were bringing by Christmas goodies- talk about decking the halls! (I've never been so embarrassed!)) brought us a delicous pot of veggie stew!  I sound like I am bragging or something, and I guess I am... I'm bragging about having the best friends!  I have felt so loved and grateful for good friends!  Especially through hard times- it makes life so much richer!!!  Thank you dear friends!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from us!!! Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Our neighbor gave us this awesome snow suit- it keeps him so snuggly, but he hates it because he can't move at all. He gets so frustrated- it reminds me of "A Christmas Story..." :)

The Nutcracker Ballet

My sweet friend Helaine took the girls and I to the Eugene Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker. It was absolutely delightful! What a wonderful way to kick off the festive season! We had so much fun and the girls were completely riveted the entire time. I wish I could have recorded their little faces! (I also wish Autumn had a volume dial- it was so tough to get her to whisper- especially when the Indian dancers came out. She yelled out, "That girl is showing her belly button, just like Jasmine! She's so fansy-mansy!" She had a very embarrassed mom and a laughing crowd all around! Over-all though- they did so well! I was proud of them and it was so fun! Definitely exceeded my expectations!

I had to post this one because this is how they were in the car both on the way there and on the way back. It happen to be on a Sunday, right after church and during nap-time, so they were sleepy to begin with. Then after all the excitement was over, they just crashed. I loved that Autumn was holding the nutcracker doll. :)

We had awesome seats, just a couple rows back- as Helaine said it, "We could see their tonsils!" It was great- it made it all seems so real and exciting!

I just love this picture- it shows Amberlee's sheer delight with the whole thing, and Autumn's new obsession with ballerina's. She must of told her 20 times that she was "SO LOVELY!" And chalk it up for another time, because that is just what she is doing in the picture.

Getting Crafty...

This is a fun idea for hands-on practice with letters. I just dump out a bunch of the pretzle sticks and put a list of letters in front of them, and we practice making letters and words. It makes it fun, and it's becomes a good snack. :)

The girls love to paint. We've been sticking with a Christmas theme lately. This was their virsion on the Nativity. This kind of thing keeps them busy for hours! (I need to get them washable paint to I don't have to monitor them so closely. :) Just think of what I could do in that free time... but then it unleashes the artist in me and I end up painting with them and poor Seth is crying at my feet.

Happy Birthday Aunt Choody!

Happy Birthday Chels! Hope you have a happy day Aunt Choody! We love you! Hope you get to go to Disney Land today- wish we could take you! (You have no idea how much we wish we could!!! :) Thanks for being such a great Aunt and sis-in-law!!!

Home again...

My little Seth Douglas is 8 months now. He has six teeth. He is crawling everywhere and climbing up to things. He loves to eat- bananas are his favorite. And I'm proud to report that he says, "Mama..." quite clearly and frequently- especially when I ask him who he loves the most. :)

Before we left, we took Amberlee up to see the temple. She was excited to touch the walls of the "House of the Lord."

Just as we were pulling out, Doug roll the window down to say good bye to his mom, and we couldn't get it to go back up. It was quite the morning trying to get on the road. Most places were closed for us to see if we could fix it, and when we finally did find a dealership open, Doug was in signing papers to have them check it out, and I just said a little prayer and gave it another try and it rolled right up. :) I had to go in and get Doug. We haven't given it a try again for fear of it getting stuck. (You should have seen me at the bank window yesterday.) We're just glad we made it safe.

Amberlee stuck her fruit roll up under her nose- it gets pretty crazy in our car! The girls get quite car sick, so the throw-up thing doesn't even phase us anymore. We have just gotten to the point where they ask for a bag, we pass it back, they hand it forward. We tie it up with another bag and we don't even have to stop. :) Usually happened atleast 3-4 times a trip. Bless those little girls! :)

A Thankful Crew...

(Ma and Pa Stewart, Ma and Pa Romney, Doug's cousin's Bryan and Lizzy, Doug and I, Catherine, Anth, Kylie, Kylie's sister Cody, and Cousin Ben and the kiddos- a great group!!!)

Clean up crew...

Let the eat pie...

Ready, SET, EAT!!!!!

We were SO lucky to have our parents combine their celebrations this year. It made it so fun and easy for us not to try and divide it up to make things fair. It was a blast and the food was amazing!!!! (Check my cooking blog for some good recipes!)

Dad carving the turkey...

The girls loved their new "Cousin Ben" who is going to school at BYU. It was fun to have him visit!

Haul out the holly...

We had a game night with my cute Alabama cousin Ben. She showed us some fun games! Hope he can come up again soon! We enjoyed his company!!! (Even if it did get a little confusing with 3 Ben's walking around. :)

Doug was sweet to help his parents put up the lights. He actually went to work over the break for a couple of days professionally putting up some lights. I was proud of him being willing to do that in his free-time! He is quite good at it!

I love this one! I just love how they are matching and Autumn totally thinks she is helping! :)