Gingerbread Lane

Tonight we went over to our friends home for a little Christmas time fun. We made gingerbread houses and somehow or another it because a competition. I, of course, was off to a wonderful start with my house nearly assembled before anyone even got their frosting out. This prideful attitude became the downfall to my gingerbread house making. I don't think my partner, Isa, even noticed or cared what was going on around her. She had handfuls of candy along with tubs of frosting to keep her busy.

Anyways after getting a little boastful my house fell to pieces. Not just once but 12 times, until I decided to take my house in a new direction. For probably an hour I was no where close to being able to compete with the professionals at my side. So here are a few photos of our homes. I have labeled them for voting purposes. On the side of our blog is the poll where you can vote on which home is your favorite. I am not sure if there will be a prize other than gloating rights for the next year but we will see. Anyways the poll is to the right and we are taking votes until new years.

HOME #1





HOME #2





HOME #3

Kansas City Christmas

In case you are wondering if we are ever going to post here we are but are behind. I hate posting pictures without editing out the boogers, drool, scars, and all the other parts of kids that take away from their pretty faces. But I will post pictures and stories soon. We are just finishing up Christmas shopping by daring the icy KC roads and the crazy shoppers. There are tons of good stories to come.

We will be posting our Christmas Letter Here and our Family pictures for all to see instead of sending out cards this year.

Santa isn't sick anymore!

Monday night we were planning to go to the school to see Santa and get out picture taken. Every year Santa comes to the school, you bring your own camera, and you take your picture! It is really the best. So we were all ready to go when we found out he came LAST week not THIS week. It broke my heart to have to explain to the girls that they wouldn't see Santa. Isa did alright but poor Layla just fell apart. You could see the sadness sweep over her face as we tried to explain why he couldn't make it. HE WAS SICK! I really thought that this was one thing she could understand but instead it just made her even more upset. So we went out to dinner to try to ease the pain. That night Isa offered to say the prayer and it went a little something like this...

Heabenly Bather,

Thank you for today. Bess Santa that he feel better and we tan tell him what presents to bing us for christmas. Bess that his tummy is better and he not sick anymore. Bess all da dings. Bess mommy and daddy and Layla and sophie and Jesus Christ. Bess all my friends. In da name Jesus Christ. AMEN!

This was Isa's little prayer pretty much word for word on Monday night. She was so upset that Santa Clause was sick and she wasn't able to see him, we wanted to make sure he was okay. This little kid really makes me teary eyes at least once a day. 

After being completely and utterly depressed for a day the girls agreed to go with me to our ward party. I really hate going to things by myself without Brian but he had to work and we all needed to get out of the house. So we packed up and headed to the church. We sat down at a table and then waited for everything to start. After eating for a while they announced that santa was coming to the church to see all the kids. These are the faces of to kids who just found out Santa isn't sick anymore!

I am not sure but I think they are excited how about you!

They requested that everyone sing Jingle Bells Santa would know when we were all ready for him. The girls sang just about as heartfelt as any person as ever sung. I almost got teary eyed watching their little faces light up when they saw him arrive. I was glad for once I had my camera and got it all on tape. So for your viewing pleasure here is out night!

In this one Layla is totally star struck she can't stop staring at Santa!

 

This is Layla explaining to santa that she want a singing puppy like the one she saw at Walmart. 

And this is Isa trying to decide what she really wants for Christmas.

All in all it was a great night... if only daddy could have come it would have been perfect!

A day with Isa

As most of you know I am taking a few classes this semester to finish up my associates. One of the classes I am taking is Infant and Toddler Development. It is kind of a fluff class but all in all it is nice to get out of the house every once in a while and learn something new about kids. 

For one of our class assignments we had to observe a toddler in class. So I brought Isa with me to class. She had such a great time in her own quiet world playing with blocks. She was so reserved and shy it was funny. After class we went out for pizza just the two of us. Then little Isa came out of her shell. She talked nonstop the whole time at Craigo's. She would smile and wave at everyone. She did her own little pizza dance and sang songs on the top of her lungs. 

It was so nice to just spend time with her because she really is always with her sister. I forget what great kids they are on their own and how much fun we can have with it is just two of us. I really need to take more time to have one on one time with each!

Anyways here is picture of my cute happy to be alone with mom- Isa!

Just For Carson

The girls love their friend Carson and ask at least twice a week to watch his singing and dancing videos. So we thought that we would post videos just for him to see the girls! So Carson these are just for you... miss you!

And now one of the two girls together!

Family Pictures!

Here are my favorite family pictures we had taken two weeks ago!

We are going to send out little Christmas letters of sorts which picture should we use?