Christmas 2012 and other randomness

Ok we start this picture feast backwards but...

Michael turned 5 on the 26th of this month, we do friends birthday parties every even year, so when asked what he wanted to do for his birthday he requested that Daddy go outside and play in the snow with him and his brothers.  Chad had taken the day off, and was more than willing to go cover my children with snow...

 Michael throwing a snow ball.

 The fight begins

So fun!

 

I asked Caden if he was having fun, and he YELLED at me "YAY"

Earlier that week we got our first HUGE snow storm and I went out to shovel the drive way.  Caden had started to throw a HUGE fit, and I just had to laugh.  

 This is him screaming at me to "Stop it"

 He fell down in the midst of his fit, and just sat there crying

 Until I came over to get him.  And because I am such a Great mom.  I snapped one more picture before  picking him up and bringing him inside.

The saturday before Christmas we did gingerbread houses.  We invited the Williams and our friend Dustin (who was stuck here because of work).  I had to leave in the middle of it to go ring the bell at Wal-Mart, so I did not get one picture of the boys working on their house, or Dustin working on his.

Marshal and Greyson's house.   

 Chad starting his house.  He was adamant that he had one this year, and then did not even finish it. ;)

 Braxton and Michaels finished product.

 My Girl friend Caitlin Williams had never done gingerbread before and wanted to try to bake it.  She did a great job and her gingerbread looked great, but I forgot to tell her that you REALLy have to spray the pans well, and her houses came out in pieces.  However this girl is a super creative one and turned her pieces into this master piece.  The manger seen complete with frosting angel.

Chad's finished product.  We gave it to the Bishop who has a daughter currently living with him, and Chad did a split house for  the two families in the home. 

Christmas eve.

 

 Grandma Maxwell made these cute PJ's and all my boys looked so great.

 The massive amounts of gifts.  I stress every year that there is not going to be enough, that the boys will not like it.  And this year was no exemption.  We made all the gifts and it was stressful, but it was wonderful and there was TONZ!

 We started a new tradition.  Every year I worry a little about the amount of junk being consumed by my children, and no one wants to wait for breakfast to cook before presents, let alone eat it.  So this year we picked five boxes of cereal that we don't buy that often.  You know the ones that are over priced, we wrapped each box and wrote names on them.  In the morning we all woke up and unwrapped our first present for the day and ate breakfast as a family.  It was so great.  It will happen every year now.  Oh and all five boxes of the cereal are now gone, five days later.

 The boys are always asking for gum, so we bought them each a tin. They both ate all their gum with in two days...

Max's first Christmas.  He was perfect!

I have some videos from Christmas morning, but I can not get  them to load.

 This is random, but I LOVE this picture of my Braxton.  This is the little boy I get to see every day, and those inquisitive eyes are always asking questions.

Blessed with Friends

I don't know about all moms but the hour and an Half or so before my knight in shinning cargo shorts walks through the door is the HARDEST time of the day for me~!  I am DONE, we have exhausted all activities and mommy. So at my house this time is usually when the kids are exiled to the basement, or outside.  

Lately my kids have been outside, it is cold yes, but they have GREAT friends in the neighborhood and I am spoiled and have WONDERFUL friends in their mothers.  Well the mob was at my house tonight, on our trampoline.   

 Caden is sick...so he could not join in the frae.  He was not happy.  This picture is mid fit.

 Max takes a good long nap from two till about four or five every day...So really he is not involved.  Sleeping angel in mom's room

 This is Khale, he is a wonderful three year old, that makes my Brax look tame...I LOVE HIM.  He decided it was too cold outside, so he is inside playing with trains.  The rules apply to little friends just like my boys, no coming up stairs. ;)

And here is the brood, giving me the best group He-Man stance.  From Left to right, Michael, Daniel, Jaxon, Reagan, and Braxton.

  We did have a Bowen, Lexi and Kaitlin, but at the time of the pic they were not here. The group ranges in age from eight to three and they (for the most part) play REALLY well together.

I love my neighborhood and I love all the friends my boys are making.  

FHE fails, and saves

I tried to cook these AWESOME looking for cookies for FHE desert last night. This was the face-book post that was a result. 

Things I learned tonight:
-Reading a recipe and actually following it, are two different things.
-An egg white in a recipe will do very different things vs. an egg yolk.
-You can make heavy cream by mixing milk and butter.
-Little boys like to double dip with licked little fingers.

-When one does not follow the recipe, things can and will get interesting.

-When a pinner says something is "Easy" they should include their cooking ability.

Then my hubby took these great Pictures to show how epic-ly the evening ended.

NAILED IT!

 I had sad little boys, the cookies were not edible and they were looking forward to them, so instead we played, "Don't eat Pete" 

 Chad had never played this game, "AH WHAT"  I loved this game growing up, and it was SO fun to play it with ALL my boys.

 Caden always jumped SO big, and laughed SO hard when we all yelled "DON'T EAT PETE" this was the usual face he gave us after.

 Braxton was our second victim, and he got to eat 1 skittle.  It was so fun to watch him JUMP SKY HIGH after we all yelled.  Then he turned to dad (who had gone 1st and practically cleared the board) and gave him this look, saying that he wanted to be as good at this game as he was!

The videos are so fun, and show how much fun my boys had with this game!

The night was really a fun one, even with the epic fail of the cookies.  It always makes me smile when we are blessed with nights like these as a family, and confirms my testimony in FHE and it's place (even with little ones) in my Saviors plan for us!

WANT A POST WITH ALL THAT SYRUP?

This post is going to be LONG!  and it will have mostly syrup.  Yes that is right I found the plug for my camera.  Guess where it was...in my camera case ;)  Then it did not work so I had to go get a new one.

My Caden has what is called a Strabismus, or a lazy eye.

 SEE!

We will go into get it surgically fixed in February.  The opthamologist says that it is not something that will fix itself and that surgery is our only option.

AUGUST 20th 2012

Braxton's first day of school picture!  I have a Kindergartener.  OH GOODNESS!  He was so excited, and a little nervous.

SEPTEMBER 14th 2012

Caden turned two.  He was so cute with his presents and spent so much time unwrapping each one!  

SEPTEMBER 20th 2012

Braxton turned 6 in september.  He got to have a friend party, and was so excited. 

We did obstacle courses, played red rover, mother may I , and relay raced.  Over and over.  We had an awesome spiderman birthday cake and a pinata.  But I forgot the camera up stairs until we started opening presents.

OCTOBER 23rd 2012

Chad's school changed locations, and his new class room did not have room for these little fellas.  Two red footed tortoises.   He brought them home so we could sell them to our local pet store.  

They spent the night at our house and our boys were so EXCITED!  However by the following afternoon I was DONE with he smell. BYE BYE Turtle!

OCTOBER 27th 2012

Every year we do a murder mystery party with some great friends of ours.  This year was a super hero themed party.

I was not doing so well pregnancy wise, so this sweet amazing girl (kylie) played my part and her own.  So that the show could go on :)

CHAD WAS CAPTAIN AMAZING!!!!!!!   I love his costume!  I thought it was the best and he wore it with such power, and dignity.

The entire group

The killer!  I think he was the killer last year as well.  Maybe I should worry!

OCTOBER 30th 2012

PERFECT, even with a sad face

MAXWELL ELDON HUNTSMAN

OCTOBER 31th 2012

Braxton was a vampire for halloween, and had the "I want to suck your blood" line down pat.  

Michael was Batman, so cute and loved his costume.

I was still in the hospital and was not around so I asked chad to take LOTS of pictures. 

There costumes were home made, and so much fun.  The paint on their capes glow in the dark.  SO COOL.

My puppy.  He was so cute!  I was able to fix his costume pretty well, but I did not take the time to lengthen the sleeves.