Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!

This post is a little late in coming and a little jumbled. I am having problems with my posts and I'm not sure if it's blogger, our internet connection, our computer, or the user. :) Anyways, it's highly annoying and I apologize for the disjointedness. (like that new word?)

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was wonderful. It started well before Christmas. The weekend before, Jefferson's littlest sister Ali was in town and we got together for a family dinner. It was really fun. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I'll have to snag some pics from my SIL Ashlee. It was fun to have all the Harmon siblings together, minus Abbey who is on her mission.

Christmas Sunday was wonderful. It was fun to get the kids all dressed up in their Christmas outfits.

Sisters, sisters....
The sibs:

The girls:

The guys:

My parents got in late Wednesday night and we stayed up even later talking. Wednesday morning we got up and got to cooking. Andi and Carter "helped." Carter mostly just stood by the counter eating pistachios. He probably ate a good pound of them, no joke. He and my mom fought over them! :)

Since we were eating an early dinner we just snacked on hors d'oeuvres; shrimp, homemade cheeseball, mini quiche, veggies...

We had some visitors. Josh and Jenn stopped by bringing good tidings. Gifts for all!

Carter loved his cowboy outfit, just like Woody's!

Then Grandpa Jon stopped by with these adorable blankets. Aren't they cute?

Then we hade our delicious feast. After eating we headed out Christmas light looking. Andi has been begging to go out for about a month. Every time we pulled into our driveway she would cry that she wanted to go out to look at lights. It was pretty cute. The kids loved looking at the lights, as did the adults, and we sang Christmas carols all the way.

When we got home we read the nativity out of the scriptures. Our kids dressed up for the event. This was our first year, and though it was short lived, it gives us something to build on.

We also opened up Chrismtas pajamas. We don't have a pic of the kids' together in theirs. Dangit! But here I am with Taytum in ours:

Christmas morning was wonderful! Our kids are still too young to know to wake up early to open presents so they didn't get up until 8! Jefferson and I came down and played some Wii amongst the presents, and then my parents joined us, and finally at 8 we went and got the kids and Andi was still sleeping! They woke up really fast when we told them that Santa had paid them a visit.

This is what Taytum did all morning:

Don't you love those grungy Christmas morning pictures? This is one of them:

And the thing that Carter has been begging for for months; Buzz Lightyear stuff!! The undies give it that real official superhero look. This boy was in heaven.

It was so funny. That wingspan really is impressive, and within a minute of having his wings on Carter walked past one of our end tables and completely wiped out one of our nativities. It was hilarious.

And add the new camera to the mix...

He also got a new bike, Toy Story helmet, Linkin' logs, toy snakes, clothes...

Andi got princess dress up shoes, Tinkerbell dress up outfit, a chest of princess dresses, a baby bear bassinet (too cute to even describe), a unicorn, some Hello Kitty stuff...

However, Andi loved Grandpa's new foot massager and spent more time using it than anyone else that morning!

Woody and Buzz:

After all the present opening and traditional breakfast (bran muffins, peppered bacon, & oranges) and cleaning up a bit, we headed to the movies to see "The Princess and the Frog." It was so cute!! It was slightly scary in a few places, but didn't seem to phase my kids. The story is super cute and the music was great.

Then we came home to play and enjoy our new toys and having GramZee and Grandpa Paul here for another day.

Another great present; Carter's new bike!

Taytum's new dress:

Glad they both can enjoy Andi's new dressup chest of princess dresses and accessories:

Tay's new sock monkey. So classic.

A new Buzz Lightyear:

Then, in an effort to avoid going to bed and spending just a little more time with Gramzee and Grandpa Paul before they had to leave, Carter and Andi kept trying to hide behind them. Very sneaky.

It was so wonderful having my parents here and to celebrate at home. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy new year!

Catch up...

See below for some catch up. Thanksgiving is even up a few posts down.

4 month stats

At four months Taytum is 27 inches (99%+) & 13lbs 3 oz (31%)... aka long and lean.

As of late....

Grandma Mitchy came for a visit. It was so fun to see her! She got to meet Taytum for the first time. Of course she ate her up!
While she was here we had the Corrigan family over to have dinner and watch the Christmas Devotional (which was amazing!). The kids decorated sugar cookies while we watched.

Kaleeya and Taytum. Only two weeks apart.

Andi, Teage, Grandma Mitchy, & Carter:

Story time (and dress up; note the pirate jacket on Carter):

My kids LOVE the snow. We love that we live some place that get snow. And we love having a backyard big enough to play in.

Tay @ 4 months

Tay turned four months on November 29th. A few fun facts about her:

* She first laughed on November 19 . It is magical when she laughs, but super hard to get a giggle out of her. She makes you work for her laughs and smiles for that matter.

* She is sleeping 11 hours a night, not even waking up to feed. Good girl.

*She rolled from her tummy to her back on Dec. 1 and is really good at it. This makes tummy time very short lived. She is really close to rolling from her back to her tummy. I thought she was going to roll that way first in fact, because she gets so close. Her whole lower half is rolled onto her tummy, but she just can't get her upper body over her arm.

*Her hair is definitely starting to thin a little and she has a nice bald patch on the back. Uh-oh.

*She is big and long! She has her four month appointment next week, so I'll be sure to post her stats then.

*She is taking her Binky finally!!! Hallelujah!! My four months of shoving that thing in her mouth has paid off! It took three different kinds, but we found one that she loves! It is super nice. Now we can take her out easier. Usually when she gets ready to sleep and she's not in her bed she'll fuss for a good while before drifting off, so being out and about was kind of tricksy. Now we can pop the Binky in her mouth and we won't hear a peep. Love it!

I'll add pics once my computer is back.

Slacking

I know, I know... you are all waiting with baited breath (I hate that saying, by the way) to see what we've been up to. Our computer crashed so I am waiting for that to return so I can upload pictures so I can update my blog. Sorry for the wait.

In the mean time, here are a few of the 'darndest things' the kids have been saying:

* We were driving in the fog and Carter said, "It's hard to see far. We should get some binoculars."

* Talking about my sister and SIL being pregnant got Carter talking about baby Taytum. He said, "Mom, you used to have Taytum in your tummy, but now it's empty." It was just so literal. Made me laugh.

*Andi was laying in bed with us one morning over Thanksgiving and it was still pretty dark in our room. She looked up and said, "Look! A star!" as she pointed at the little green/yellow light on the smoke detector.

*Whenever Andi wants to put on chapstick, lip gloss, or some of my lipstick, she'll say, "Mom, I need lips."

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. I really am just in love with every holiday now that I have kids. They just make everything so fun. So does having family around. I love any excuse to get together with my family. My kids loved spending time with the aunts and uncles:Thanksgiving week was a riot. We had so much fun all week long. It actually started well before the Thanksgiving holiday when my sisters and SIL's all met up in Klamath with my mom for some girl time. Saturday night we went to the Hustlin' Owls basketball game to watch my little sister sing the anthem and dance in the half time show. She is such a talented little thing. We spent many an hour crafting. We did letters that spelled "Family," Christmas trees, chalkboards, Christmas stackers, and a Christmas count down. We tried to have some fun things for the kids to do to make up for the time we neglected them while crafting (I kid). Gramzee had sugar cookies for them to decorate. What's not to love? Sugar sprinkles, frosting, and cookies? YUM! They also made turkey hand puppets.
Our men showed up on Tuesday afternoon and we lost them to my parents new toy: If they weren't up playing pool then they were down playing Donkey Conga... I fell victim to a few games myself. Turkey day was food and fun filled. We decorated the tables all pretty.
The women cooked.
Gramzee and Grandpa Paul got the kids matching turkey headbands that they (mostly) loved. I think Andi wore hers throughout the whole Thanksgiving dinner. We decorated my parents Christmas tree so that we could do our mini family Christmas party the next evening. We figured that since we were all together we should do our family gift exchange. The cousins had their own exchange and we did the adult exchange once they were in bed. It was really fun and got us all in the Christmas spirit. The kids all got new pajamas from Gramzee and GrandpaPaul:

Friday was our annual trip up into the woods (see post below).

Saturday we did family pictures. And started a new tradition of BINGO! It was really fun. We played about 15 rounds of Bingo with fun little prizes each round. Great job calling Dad!

My parents also got the kids matching Christmas outfits. It was fun to take them to church in them and let everyone see how cute they were taking up a whole row in their cuteness.

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for.

*For my family, of course, for being so fabulous and fun and supportive.

*For my three beautiful, perfect, children. I never knew someone could bring so much joy into my life.

*For prayer. I have never prayed so much in my life as I have in the past three months. It has been such an amazing comfort to me, and my relationship with my Heavenly Father has never been more personal or closer.

*And finally, for my amazing husband. He is such a selfless person. He takes his responsibility of supporting and sustaining our family very seriously. He has been working so hard for us. He is also such a genuine person. I love that what you see is what you get. He is honest to a fault and never puts on a false pretense. He loves me and I love him for that.

Tree hunting

The Friday after Thanksgiving is our annual tree hunting extravaganza. We always trek up to the forest, light a fire, roast hot dogs and marshmallows, build snowmen, and ride the four-wheeler. It was a blast! It was definitely cold, but mostly sunny and absolutely beautiful. My kids were snow bunnies. They LOVED playing in the snow, especially Carter. I think he got in a snowball fight with pretty much everyone there.

GramZee made a snowman with the grandkids:

Jefferson took the kids on a ride on the four-wheeler:

And we took a spin ourselves:We roasted mallows and dogs and ate lots of yummy food:Taytum stayed warm in her little snowsuit and spent a lot of her time up there sleeping in the back of our car: My parents got themselves a great looking Christmas tree for the basement:

Surprise Shower!

My sister and sister-in-law are both pregnant and due in March. We can't wait to have a new niece and a new nephew! We really wanted to throw a shower for Nikki since it's her first baby, but we wanted to surprise her. So over the weekend my mom casually suggested that we go out to dinner on Monday since we would be cooking all week and for the big Thanksgiving feast (this was all part of the plan, and everyone was in on it except Nikki). We nonchalantly grumbled about taking all the kids to a restaurant without our husbands there yet, so my Dad offered to watch our kids. Hooray, a girls night out! Monday night my mom had a rehearsal so she picked up my little sister afterwards and called to have the rest of us girls meet her. We loaded up and headed down to the restaurant. We had a whole dining section to ourself and when we walked in my mom and Alli had all our gifts and balloons set out. "Surprise!" and Nikki was surprised. We ate a delicious meal, had an 'activity', and opened presents. Super fun.

Then, we all headed up to the house where my dad and BIL, Nic, were "watching" the kids (read: playing pool while the kids slept). Well, while we were gone they got out dessert, cheese cake and chocolate torte, set out our gifts and balloons for Summer, and when we walked in, "Surprise!" and Summer was surprised. It was a great surprise shower evening. Pulling off two surprise showers in one evening was quite amazing. Nice work Mom, Sharon, and Alli! We rock! It was really fun and both babies got some super cute goodies. We all helped tie quilts for both baby boy Stewart and baby girl Andrus.

At Summer's shower. You can't tell but Summer and I are laughing really, really, really, hard in this picture.