it's the most wonderful time of the year...

We love getting a real tree that smells fresh and christmas-y!! 

this is our 3rd year of getting the real tree and the kids love going and picking one out. 

We made hot wassail and cinnamon rolls & finally got our tree up and decorated!  

The kids can play for hours with the train under the tree. It has been a great distraction

since Boston was little, it's so great while i decorate the tree MYSELF! haha

{Wassail recipe at the bottom}

I made the kids a fun advent calendar with little trinkets and treats inside for each day.  Most of the items are from the dollar section at Target, Jo ann's and the dollar store.  Some days it's cute little lego christmas figurines etc...  They have loved doing this every day. 

the dates in Gold are birthdays... the twins and our daddy!

notice buddy showed up for our first day...

Hot Wassail Recipe

4 cups of water

1 cup sugar

6 cinnsamon sticks 

6 cloves

6 whole allspice

bring to boil.

add: 1/2 gallon of Apple Juice

1 qt. Orange Juice

1 cup Lemon Juice

stir altogether. Alternate to your taste.

Thanksgiving break!

We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and fabulous weather in Mesa Arizona.  We 

stayed with our taylor cousins and had a blast.

thanksgiving dinner was fabulous, jane is an amazing cook and made the two turkey's, her

famous cranberry sauce {to die for} and lots of other delicious treats.  She tried a turkey 

wrapped with bacon and it was a hit!  Cory may try to make our turkey like that from

now on.

We ate at Tia Rosa's the night before our Feast and it was delicious.  We went shopping,  

played lots of games and just enjoyed being outside in the warm sun.  

So grateful to have this beautiful and healthy family which brings me so much happiness!

feeling so blessed...

My sister Rachel was spending Thanksgiving in Chandler just about 15 minutes away from us

it was so fun to meet up with them too and swim!  They met us on Thanksgiving night at Target for some black friday shopping! haha

the best part was they just wanted to see us and hang out so they really only bought water!! haha

While shopping at Santan village they had it snowing bubbles for a few minutes.

Mesquite

We had an absolute blast at the Football Tournament in Mesquite.  We rented a condo with our friends the Skousens and played games all night and played in the hot tub.  Before our first game which was at 9pm we went bowling with the kids & played in the Arcade.  We won that game and entered into the winners bracket for the following games the next day.

Saturday was beautiful weather and we ended in a WIN!  Boston scored 2 of the 3 touchdowns and 

played awesome.  It was a great way to end the season of football! 

the kids were more than pumped to be presented with their trophy!  such an accomplishment

for these boys.

football championship game...

Boston had a fabulous football season!  Possibly his best and favorite yet.

They played in the championship game and got 2nd place.  It was a good game and they played in freezing cold temperatures!! Boston scored the first touchdown of the game.

We had a fabulous photographer on the team who took some great photos of the boys.

these are just a few of the many awesome shots of Boston.

lucky #7

 

Boston has such fun and darling friends who came to support them on their semi final and championship game.  The stands were full of people!  so much fun!

and of course our cute little cheerleaders!!

elf on a shelf GIVEAWAY!!!

My amazingly talented friend Jane,  of 'seejaneblog' is doing the greatest giveaway! 

Tis the season for Elf on a Shelf!!

Remember our elf Buddy?  my kids adore Buddy, and all of his fun adventures.  

He has been a tradition in our home since they were little and it's so magical and fun to 

surprise them all month long.

So Jane is doing a fabulous giveaway!!  It's 25 days of fun stuff prepared and planned 

for your little ones!  I love this woman!  Pure Genius! 

I should have planned way ahead, but i haven't... {insert sigh} 

so i am hoping to win this giveaway! cross your fingers!

Halloween!!

Possibly one of my favorite holidays! Oh and it is my Birthday!!

 Love Halloween and Love how much my kids get into it.  They love counting down the

days to my birthday and told me all day "happy birthday mom" it was perfect. 

38 years and going strong!

  

We couldn't have asked for better weather!! 75 degrees and absolutely 

beautiful day and Night! We were so spoiled!

Boston knew right away what he wanted to wear a Morph suit! He knew right 

away and usually he doesn't know what to do!  I love that he still will dress up.

he almost didn't at school, but last minute he put it on with shorts and a shirt over it

of course.

Hayes was Napoleon Dynamite and literally was in character all morning!  He

cracks me up! I was laughing all morning at him.  He would do the Napoleon dance

with his "happy hands" and we were dying!  

My sweet innocent Olivia wanted to be a vampire! ugh!  What happened to being a 

princess and cute characters! haha   she was dead set on being the Vampire while her 

bff Tessa was her bat.  they were so cute!!

Ivy was the Lalaloopsey doll!  the wig is hilarious and she wore it plenty of times throughout

the month.. to school, school carnival, etc... but on Halloween night she said No Way!

she lasted longer than i thought though.

here they are right before school...

"happy hands club"

After their Halloween Parade at school, Ivy and I went to help in their class for their 

Halloween Party!   I Love going and helping and doing my famous "Witches Brew" which 

they LOVE!  My twins look forward to this every year!  I was trying to remember how many 

years I have done this, it's been since Boston was in Kindergarten!!  crazy huh!  they

never tire of it.

we came home and of course Boston had to do it again with some friends, along with our

 Frankenstein pudding cups and our Traditional jack o lantern pizza!  

My talented neighbor took professional pictures of the kids before they headed out

trick or treating!  I loved that she did this for us, the only bummer was that Boston and Cory 

were at Football practice until 6:30! boo!

i think they turned out super cute!

we started off in our cul de sac until Cory could take them out.  by the time cory got home they

were already off with different groups of friends, even Ivy!  haha!{with adults of course}

they were all having a blast. 

Hayes came home after a few more cul de sacs and helped me pass out candy. 

 He was an awesome helper!

Boston got home in time to run out and catch up with some friends.  Later when i saw 

him with his friends, they were scaring kids {older kids} and jumping out of bushes!
oh great, i forgot i had an obnoxious teenager! haha

my cute little helper.

that night i usually throw in the rest of the 'dry ice' from my 

witches brew into the tub with them for a spooky bath! 

they ask for this every year now!

i Love Halloween!!

check out our halloween pasts...here, here, here, here {possibly my fav. costumes}, here & here