Dad and son outing

Chuck called Dane and asked him if he wanted to go to Corn Creek with him and Gavin, He asked Brian if he wanted to go and of course he was all over it, dressed and ready to go before the car was even loaded!!

Gavin and Brian both got Beebe guns for Christmas so the guys took them and let the boys have some shooting time!!! Which thrilled Brian he has been asking if he could shot it since he opened it on Christmas!!

Brian was also so excited that they were in the snow!! He loves the snow and was so ready to make a snowman!! But the snow was not that soft and it was icy so he could not make one which he was kinda bummed about but he got over it!!

They were gone for almost the whole day and when they got home they were both tired and hungry!!

Happy Brithday Grandma

Tonight we took my mom out for her birthday!! We were going to go and try a new restaurant that we saw on the best thing I ever ate, but she loves Cheesecake factory and since Girmaldis is in the same parking lot, she changed her mind and we went to her favorite!
Which was crazy busy on a Wednesday night we had to wait for like 40 minutes and Brian was so hungry that he started to get grumpy and we had the rudest people waiting with us. AGHHHHHHHHHHH



We ordered our dinner and then it was time to have desert!! Brian told the waiter that it was his Grandma's Birthday so they would sing to her!! He was really proud of himself. So after agonizing over the cheesecake choices we settled on Coconut Chocolate Creme (moms choice), Reese cup and Red Velvet cake cheesecake!

When the dessert came out we all sang Happy Birthday to mom and then we all dug in to our cheesecake!! It was so good but we all really loved the Reeses one that was a last minute add to our order! We even got Brian to admit that he likes Cheesecake!

After dessert we opened her birthday gifts and Brian was so excited for her to open his gift! He got her a pink Cadillac hot wheels car that was a Tennessee one that had Elvis on it and then to go along with that he gave her a Are you Hungry tonight cookbook that has all of Elvis's favorite meals in it!! He was thrilled that she was so happy with her presents!! Aubrie gave her a notebook that had pictures of all the fun things we did this year with her! and I gave her a Ladybug assortment of stuff!! It was a really fun night even though it was a rough start!!

A new career

Aubrie wanted a Balloon Animal kit so bad for Christmas that I had to get it for her even though I hate the sound of balloons being twisted!! She got it out tonight and started making all sorts of animals! This was her first one and we were all joking that she was going to be able to go and get a job making them for kids!!

Dinner and a movie

After a LONG day at work I was so tired and really just wanted to go to bed but we had dinner plans!
Everyone was coming over to have Frito Pie and watch Despicable Me on Dane's new Blue Ray player that he got from my mom for Christmas!
We made our plates of goodness and sat down to watch the movie that the kids LOVED when they saw it in the theater!!

The movie was so funny and dinner was great!! So we were all ready for bed and the kids are looking forward to another week of vacation!

Dinner and time at the Stucki's

Christmas dinner is always at moms house and this year we added something new!! Cheese fondue!! It was such a good addition that we ate the whole thing and decided to have it every year from now on!! After dinner we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Stucki's house for a little fun with the cousins and to give them our presents!!!

Kyle had called and told Brian to bring a nerf gun so they could play together! When we go there the WAR began! They were chasing each other all over the house and hiding and trying to catch each other off guard! It was so funny to see them playing together, loved when Kyle was under the table and Brian screamed when he was shot!!


The kids had made things for Grandpa and Grandma so they gave them their presents and we all sat around having a great time!! After a while it was time to go home, because I was so tired and had to work in the morning!!


It as a great way to end a great Christmas!!

Christmas!!!

Christmas is here again and it came so fast again but we are ready to see what Santa brought to us this year!! Brian got up early this year for him, he was up and ready to go by 7. So early for him we are all usually waiting for him to get up this year he surprised all of us.
We call Grandma and Aunt Valerie and the kids had to wait for them to come over!!!

Aubrie's stuff

Brian's stuff!

We all went through our stockings and then it was time to open gifts !! Like always we go in a circle and like every year other year we have the kids open 2 on their turn. They were excited about the gifts as they opened them and had to give hugs every time they opened something!

I opened my gift and found this. Dane had wrapped one of my gifts in 5 layers of duck tape. He thought he was being funny and that I would have to work to open it but he felt bad and ended up opening it for me with his new pocket knife that he got from his sister!! Inside the box was my Sony Bloggie Camera that I wanted!! thanks to my shopping skills I had it here in time for Christmas!!

At the end of opening all the presents, and Dane thought that he once again had not gotten what he really wanted, I slipped two presents on his chair while he was cleaning up. He turned and said oh so you think you got me huh? Which I know that I did!! He opened his GPS and his rhino mount!! He was a happy camper and then it was time to start the "move" of stuff to the rooms! Dane says it is cleaning up but really we just move the stuff from the family room to the other rooms!!

It was another great Christmas and we still are not done with our festivities!!

Books and Cookies

Problem solved, when we got older and we figured out the pj thing my mom started to give us books on Christmas eve instead of pj's. So this year I found the kids books for the present on Christmas Eve.



They opened their books and it was time to go to bed but first we had to put out the Santa key and the Milk and Cookies for the jolly fat man! Each kid picked their favorite cookie to leave for Santa. And they poured the milk and were in bed after kisses from everyone twice then they were both out like a light!!!

Matchy...

This year on black Friday I thought it would be cute for all of girls to have matching pj's! I was not to sure that Dane would be into the matchy thing but he said that he would be OK with it. I found some really cute pants and shirts for all of girls at Old Navy. I found the boys marching camo pants and shirts, which is perfect for them. But it caused another dilemma for me since the kids get pj's every year on Christmas Eve what do I do now???

GingerBread house

After dinner and clean up it was time to build our annual gingerbread house! Last year it was so interesting and I decided that I would buy a new one and not use the old one that my mom had! So we were in high hopes that we would have success this year!


There was two small pieces that the kids could chose to decorate, Aubrie picked the tree. Which she was having a real hard time using the green frosting. But it turned out cute !!

Brian chose to decorate Santa! Which as you can see did not do any better then the tree!! The frosting was not working or sticking we tried everything and nothing seemed to work!!!

After an interesting turn out we decided that we should try another kind next year so Valerie is in charge next year and then we can hopefully have a gingerbread house that we can be proud of and not laugh at it!!

Fondue Dinner

This is one thing that as a child I looked forward to every year and now my kids are so excited to have fondue!! Aubrie said that she was glad it was not Christmas yet because then fondue dinner would be over! My mom said that she thought that we should have it more then once a year and we all said no!! It is a special dinner for a special night and that is how it will stay!!

A true story....

We were all getting dinner together and Valerie had brought a book to read to the kids. It was a story about a little boy who told Santa what he wanted and it was misunderstood by Santa. The book was really cute and they were both listening to see what would happen next!

At the end of the book it asks the character if he believes in Santa and then the kids turn the page and this is the picture they see!! Brian and Aubrie are both convinced this story is a true story!!! Love the still believing in Santa!!!

Lights Lights Lights

Valerie found these pictures of our house in Mesa! I really miss this and my dad at this time of the year. He had his faults but one thing he did right was Christmas!! He was Santa at this time of year and he made Christmas a very memorable time each year! He worked on his light from the end of October to the end of November then it was a light show the whole month of December.
The double Decker buses and endless line of cars and all the people who came to see it every night was so embarrassing then but now I wish that I could have this to share with my kids! I remember the kids at school where like you live there that is so cool, then I would tell them that it was not so cool when you can not have more then one light on in one room at a given time and you better not have the microwave on when the TV is on because then everything would blow! Now I would love to have everyone know that this was my house.

hanging out with the Otero's

Like so many other times Rhonda and I had come up with a fun craft to do with the kids while we baked, but as always life got in the way. So while I was baking and Rhonda was working on her moms present we thought that it would be fun to let the kids make snowflakes with Popsicle sticks. They were entertained for about 20 minutes and then they were done. They did not even ask to paint them or use glitter to decorate them.


After the snowflakes Brian got home and the kids started to play Apples to Apples. It was so funny to hear them playing and trying to win their case!!

Even though we thought they would be so excited about the snowflakes they had a great time playing games and playing the Wii. These kids have a good time no matter what they are doing as long as they are together!!

Baking

This year the girls were not able to get together and bake for days!! Which was really a bummer that is one of my favorite holiday things to do. So this year while Brian was on his date, Aubrie and me started baking she was excited to help!! We made peanut kisses, dream bars, snicker doodles and molasses cookies!!



We were done in no time and had them in containers and the kitchen cleaned before dinner!!