Christmas Eve

Just wanted to share a few moments from our Christmas Eve. We had the missionaries from our church over for dinner. Mike fixed a FABULOUS roast, potatoes etc. We have a wodnerful set of missionaries right now and we are sad that transfers are next week. Hopefully they both make the cut to stay a little while longer in this area! :)
Then on to our tradition of new PJ's. I wish I would have had a video camera set up for some of these reactions. Mason was thrilled. Carter was so thankful that his were about his favorite game(football--oh I mean soccer), and Taylor just said, "oh cute!" She was excited about it being George. Brennan didn't care, but Mason was very pleased about helping his little brother out in the opening up department.

Merry Christmas!!!

Follow santa around the world on Norad Tracks Santa 2008--the kids loved it.

Are you ready for Christmas...Mason is!!!

Isn't food coloring great? That's all I have to say about that. :)

This was after i mopped up the large amount....didn't want it sitting there for a long time.

Brennan

More posts of Brennan. I think this is the least number of pictures we have had one of our children. Not because we don't get around to it with number four. Just because our camera situation. It makes me sad because he is growing so fast. Here are some we caught with our okay camera that we do have.

He is so good at jsut falling asleep where ever and when ever he needs. No fussing required, he just drifts on into dream land.

Who says your brother can't eat your homework? Brennan decided Mason's stamp he made was very tasty.

Cereal Time

Wow! Can anyone else believe that little Brennan is almost 6 months old!!

Considering he was trying to snatch food off our plates during dinner we decided it was time for cereal. This boy does not mess around. He was immediately assisiting with the spoon to make sure I wasn't teasing him.

Brennan eats cereal once a day at 5:00 pm. He is on the ball about it, and if I get carried away making dinner for the rest of us he is yelling that he would like to be fed and milk is not an option! Taylor loves to help, but she does not understand that he does not need the spoon down his throat to get the food. So she just watches now and says, "me can't." We did have to convince her that it was okay for Brennan to have the food. We have been telling her not to feed him because it would make him sick. So it was cute that she was concerned for his health. Good times for our baby. He is still rolling from one side of the house to the other and loves to get to anything he can.

New nephew

We just wanted to welcome our new nephew into the world. Auklin Reed Craven was born on the 9th of Dec at 9:45. He was 8lbs 4oz. Chelsi and Kasey, we are so excited for you both and wish we could be there to send our love in person. You are both fabulous and will do a great job as mommy and daddy to your little man.

Congratulations!!

Why can't we all just get along?

I just have to vent CALLING MS. NATALIE!!! We need you back. I miss the days of people taking Mason to school that were wonderful, fun, happy, understanding, and just down right great friends!!! I fired Mason's driver today. It felt good. They switched his driver back in October...without going into details we have been on a down hill slide since he started and today we hit rock bottom. Am I really that annoying? That demanding? I just don't get it. I will be taking Mason to school and although I can't afford the gas to do so it will be over my dead body that he gets into a vechile with someone who shows me no respect. Carter even said he was sorry that Mr. *****(nt using name) was rude to me. Yes, right in front of the children we had our arguement.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! I will not let this spoil my mood and the fact that my phone got cutoff because our bill didn't go through for whatever reason. They do not mess around here. Due the 6th, payment didn't process, no phone for you. The problem is now solved, but we won't have our phone back until tomorrow--how annoying!! People can still call, so that is good.
Alright I am done...not too bad. :)

Jack Frost is nipping at our toes here. Carter now invisions 'Jack' Frost' from The Santa Claus 2 blowing all over England. FUNNY STUFF!!!
oh ya---Brennan started cereal.. I will get pics up soon.
Still don't have our new camera--back order, when things are cheap, you wait longer. :(

That is our life right now...You know, we are so blessed...My kids rock, Carter is going to be an Angel in his Christmas program from school.
Taylor was ssssooo easy to potty train. Our bishops wife is totally responsible. She watched her while we were moving for ONE day. She peed in her toilet and so she and Taylor celebrated by jumping on the couch together--I would never do that! I am horrible!! It worked, Taylor has wanted to go in the toilet ever since. She has had accidents, don't think I have a super human girl, but she is doing fabulous for the last week and now I will send Brennan to the same house when his time comes around. :)
Mason is really enjoying being in school. He is making friends and you can hear people telling him hi the whole time he is walking through the hall at school. It is great!
Brennan smiles at EVERY person that tells him hello and makes eye contact. He is a beautiful, happy, healthy, content, energetic, and talkative baby!
Okay, this post kind of went everywhere. SO congratulations if you read to the bottom.

To all our friends and family about to have babies--GOOD LUCK!! I love the experience of giving birth--I am jealous. Yes, I am weird. You all are beautiful woman and we are anxious about hearing your news of new babies!!

Christmas is coming....

The star is always a favorite. Carter put it on this year because he is the only one anxious to get it done.

Mason was actually excited about decorating this year. All the other years he just plays in the tree box, but this year he was grabbing the ornaments and helping Dad get them on the tree. It was awesome. In this picture he is playing with a little Nativity set that the Grand Forks Ward Primary put together last year. He was loving the little figures that go in it.



Brennan is rolling! His first day of rolling everywhere was Nov 13th. He finally figured out back to stomach and was off! We now have to watch him closely as one minute he was in the middle of the floor, the next he was hiding under the tree. He was captivated by the lights.

Taylor woke up early a few mornings ago, she got a yogurt and then was gone. I went looking for her and she was curled up next to Brennan sound asleep. She is really sweet to him most of the time and is very concerned if she hears him crying.

Do I look cool?

This is the question that we got asked about 10 times while we were cutting hair and then Carter insisted we take a picture of him because he did afterall look, "way cool."

It had to be done.....

First picture is of a night where mom had an activity at the church and Taylor was in charge of feeding Brennan. She didn't last long, but she had fun anyway. You can see that Brennan took over the job. Now, the hair. Brennan's hair was just way to long in spots, nothing in others and fresh growth in others. Are you ready to see the final result?


I'M BALD!

Although it takes a bit to get use too I am sure that Brennan's new look will catch on quickly. We need to go get some hats to keep his poor head warm now.

Signing off..

For now we say, goodbye. Didn't we just do this? :)
See you all in a couple weeks. It takes that long to get things up and running here. Bummer. :(

Blog Books

I have a problem folks. I was going to start working on my book from our blog on blurb.com which no longer supports blogger. So my question of the day is this. What other companies allow you to do this. I really want to get a printed out book of our blog...HELP!!!

*** EDITED*** Alright, you people that are smarter than I. How exactly am I doing this wrong. I logged in how I thought I was suppose too....please, treat me like a child evidently I need it. :)

Our new house....YES!!!

This picture is quite small, but it gives you an idea. This is going to be our new house! We are so excited to get out of our mold situation--finally!!! It has been a long time coming and we are ready to move on. The fact that we need to move is obviously not exciting, but the new house is! Good thing we have fabulous ward members from church that are anxious to help out. We will be moving this weekend and will be settled by Monday. :) Right, I can hope can't I? The neighbourhood is great, there is a little park right around the corner, and we have a much larger garden(yard). We are going to be even closer to the church and Carter doesn't need to switch schools--so yippee skippy!!

Framlingham Castle

Framlingham is a magnificant example of the late 12th century castle. Built by Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, the castle, together with Framlingham Mere, was designed both as a stronghold and as a symbol of power and status--as befitted one of the most influential people at the court of the Plantagenet kings. Artchitectually, the castle is notable for its curtain wall with mural towers, an early example of this design. The castle fulfilled a number of roles. It was at the centre of the sturggle between the Bigod barons and the Crown, and Mary Tudor mustered her supporters here in 1553, before being crowned Queen. At the end of the 16th century it was a prison:later still a poorhouse was built within the walls. That was your short history lesson in regard to Framlingham Castle curtiousy of the English Heritage members guide book. This was another fun castle to explore at your own pace. It was fun to see the walls that still stand strong and imagine what it would have looked like hundreds of years ago. The kids always have fun when we go on these adventures. They have been dying to go to a castle as we haven't been for a long while. It was a bit rainy, but overall it was fabulous. We were some of the only people there, and we always enjoy the freedom that allows you to explore.
Exploring the castle grounds. You can see that Brennan was especially interested in this castle.

The kids on the tower walls. They had made a catwalk that you could go on the upper level and walk around the castle walls. It was a gorgeous view from up there, you could see for quite a ways.


Going up the spiral staircase. That was an original stair case. They were so small and you had to pay attention or you would have gone down quick! Carter decided he didn't need a coat with us today. He said he would not get cold. We did point his coat out to him at the front door and said take it with us please. We got there and realized that he hadn't grabbed it. Good thing his 'Uncle' Damian is such a nice guy and donated his. I would have let him go until he was whining about the cold so he might remember next time to bring a coat!! Cheeky guy!

Like father like daughter...goodness!! At least she didn't go as far up as Mike did.

Enjoying life in the carrier. He just started sucking his lip recently. He is such a good boy about being carried around all day.


This is a picture of the inside grounds. The fencing and bridges you see in the picture are the upper level.

How cool is this giant chess set? The kids were having a fabulous time playing with this even though they didn't have a clue as to what they were doing.

Carter got a bit nervous after climbing up the side of the hill and wasn't sure how to get down. Then Dad showed him how to get down using the berlap going down the hill. We decided if it snowed this year we would need to come here and go sledding.

From the Batcave.....

Happy Halloween! We had a great night at our ward's Trunk-and-Treat. It was fun getting together, going trick-or-treating, playing games, and eating food. Credit for most of our costume appareal goes to my dear friend Lisa. Carter wanted to be Batman and the rest is history. For the record, since I have been asked Batgirl the original does wear purple, not black like most think. :)

This is Taylor with her very best friend Charlie. Ever since the first day in our ward getting here Taylor has been by her side. I sometimes feel bad that she won't leave her alone, but she just LOVES Charlie. Charlie is also such a sweetheart for just taking her in and loving her to bits.

You know Mike and I had to be the first adults to do the donut eating...and of course I won, seriously was there any question? :) Carter did great and had his not completely broke in half he could have won.

The Riddler and Two Face...Mason just really enjoys everything about Halloween. You smile and people fill your bag with sugary treats, what's not to love?

This Two Face was all smiles all night long. He was so happy and content to let everyone give him candy and unwrap it for him. Got to LOVE Halloween. We are all sugared up and loving life.

Another family shot because we couldn't decide which we liked better. I think Brennan's costume wins the prize of first this year. What a handsome little Robin he makes.