PAIGE

Paige is home with me everyday and it is wonderful. All of my children teach me so much. This week in nursery, Paige made ornaments from an applesauce/cinnamon mixture. She loved it so we had a hard time getting her to leave the nursery room. Her teachers had extra dough left so they gave it to her to go home and make more ornaments. She was so happy! Matt helped her roll out the dough and she began cutting out heart shapes (I couldn't find my Christmas cut-outs). I think that she might be a little baker when she grows up.

She was a master cookie cutter by the end.

Rolling out more dough to cut more pieces.

We have a nativity scene that she loves to play with. She will come up and tell me to get it down for her so that she can play. We have had it for 6 or 7 years, so I just let her have a fun 30 minutes playing away. I wish that you could all hear the conversations that she has with these nativity figures, "Baby you go to bed right now", "Come on Mary let's go", "It's ok, come here". In this picture she is cuddling Mary!

"Time to leave the stable and go on a walk."

While she was playing and I had the camera out, I took a picture of our lovely tree. I try to leave the lights on all day. Some days, the sun might peak through the windows but usually we have overcast days and so the tree is a perfect light for our living room.

*CHRISTMAS SEASON*

Merry Christmas to all of YOU! I love this time of year. The sun has been shining for days and the air is crisp and cold. This last week we have been busy getting everything ready for Christmas. On the weekend we traveled down to Eugene to be with Grandma and Grandpa Newell and cousins. Madalyn had asked us if she could go down and spend the weekend with her Grandparents and cousins. We said sure. Life doesn't get any better than spending time with family. Enjoy the many pictures!!

Paige and cousin Tyler in Grandma's front yard trying to help string the lights. It was so cold that they didn't last long. Bring on the snow***

Matt and Jeff put lights on the house.
Carter went out and helped Matt untangle the lights.

Jeff is carefully putting up the lights.

Aunt Tricia and Aunt Ashlee made Madalyn an awesome cake with swimmers on it. The molded people in the grand stands. Can you pick out Ariel? They did an excellent job.

Tricia, Madalyn and Ashlee.

Almost all of the kids in Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom watching TV. This is a favorite thing to do while they are visiting. The only problem is that they tend to lose Grandpa's remote control.

Tyler, Paige and Natalie playing.

On Saturday evening we went to Mom and Dad's ward Christmas party. This is the gym that Matt and I had our wedding reception. I love this chapel very much. I actually met Matt on this very gym floor when I was 14 years old. Anyway, we all sat down to wait to be served a very yummy dinner.

Matt, Paige and I.

Ashlee and Jeff trying to take a good picture with two nieces acting crazy behind them.

Natalie and Tricia.

Santa arrived at the end of the evening and most of the children did very well sitting on his lap. This is my two nephews, Tyler and Ben acting like such big boys.

Hayden enjoyed telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas. A Star Wars Republic Attack Shuttle. Wow that is a big request!

Carter did not want to sit on his lap. Can you tell?

He said, "I am not going to sit on his lap next year. I am too big for this. Mom, I could have just stood by him and talked."

Bailey just starred at Santa the whole time. She got off his lap and came up to me and quietly said, "Mom that wasn't Santa was it?" I said, "Santa has helpers and tonight this was a helper." She said, "his beard was not real".

Paige did not care for Santa, she wanted nothing to do with him. We said, "just smile Paige". She gave us the cheesiest smile ever and quickly wanted to be removed from his lap. (After she got her bag of candy of course!)

On Sunday, we celebrated Madalyn's birthday. That was really the only time we could. This is Madalyn opening her presents from her cousins. She loved everything that they gave her. Thanks!

Most of the cousins after Madalyn opened her presents.

The AWESOME birthday cake.

Blow out the candles!

Everyone waiting for the cake to be cut.

CHRISTMAS TREE HUNTING!

Matt and I love to get our tree around Thanksgiving. We were with my family that weekend and then this last weekend we were in Eugene, so we decided no matter what, we needed to go on Tuesday after Matt got off work. Well, I had a doctor's appointment and so we realized that the sun would almost be down when I got home. Quickly, Matt dressed the children and we jumped in the car and drove to a tree farm close to our home. As we pulled up, it said that it had been closed since 4pm. It was 4:55pm. A man walked up and we must have given him a pathetic look and he probably heard the children talking and screaming in the back of the car so he said, let me get my flash light and we will try to find you a tree. So, let me just say, we picked the tree in less than 3 minutes. We really couldn't even see what it looked like. It turned out to be an awesome tree. It was probably 15-20 degrees outside, so we tried to move fast. We asked him how much we owed him. He said $15. I felt so grateful that he let us look even in the dark that I told Matt to give him $30. What a wonderful evening!!! We came home, turned on Christmas music, ate chili, homemade french bread, got into a few arguments, and put the lights on the tree.

Matt with the kids as soon as we arrived at the tree farm!

The kids and I.

Look at how dark it is outside.

This was the fastest that we have ever found a tree. Usually we spend a good 30 minutes searching.

Madalyn, Carter, and Hayden carrying our tree.

The nice man putting it on the top of our car. We forgot rope!!

Can you believe that?

Matt and I at the tree farm.

Carter and Hayden helped Matt get the tree inside of the house.

I had to put the lights on the tree before the kids could decorate. This is Paige trying to help me. There is also another child in this picture trying to help me string the lights.

Can you find it??

Paige yelling, "no my lights".

Our house is very cold! I wear a hat to keep warm. I also have on 2 shirts and a sweatshirt. , and my winter boots. I am not kidding. Matt started a fire thanks to my Dad giving us firewood. It felt toasty and warm. Here I am stringing the lights.

If I can't see them, then they can't see me!

This is Paige trying to sneak lights on the tree. Look at her rosey cheeks from a warm fire in the livingroom.

Madalyn turns 12

Time really does fly by. Our oldest child, Madalyn has turned 12 and we feel like she was born yesterday. We lived in Monmouth, Oregon at the time of her birth and we were so excited to have her come to Matt and I. I was really excited because I was 41 weeks and 1 day pregnant. We don't find out the sex of our child until they enter this world, so we didn't know that she was a girl. We were so excited when she finally made her appearance. She was born at 9:08pm and the day was a beautiful day just like yesterday was. She is just a wonderful daughter. She is very responsible, helpful, loving, kind, thoughtful, forgiving, patient, and beautiful. We have loved all that she has taught us over the last 12 years. Hopefully, she feels like we have taught her some important life lessons. Happy Birthday Madalyn. We LOVE YOU!!!!


Now remember everyone, I am not a cake maker. Her Grandma is amazing at cakes and her Aunt Tricia. This weekend her amazing cake will be made by her Aunt Tricia, aka cake extraordinaire. Needless to say, I wanted her to have a yummy cake on her official birthday, so I made this simple cake. She liked it.

Paige and I wrapped Madalyn's presents during the day. Paige punctured 2 of the gifts wrapping paper and so they had a lot of tape on them. Madalyn was very sweet and let Paige open 2 of her presents.

Madalyn loves Greek mythology and so Matt and I bought her a children's book about it. She was very excited! I always love it when you know that they love their presents.

Afterwards the kids wanted to know when they could have presents like Madalyn. Well, luckily I can tell them that Christmas is right around the corner.

Madalyn loves sour cream chicken enchiladas. This was her birthday request for dinner. Bailey and Paige loved them, but the boys struggled, even gaged to get the food down. I told the kids that they could not have cake and ice cream unless they ate dinner. Carter and Hayden were not happy campers.

Sour cream enchiladas!!! If my brothers read this blog they will be so impressed with my cooking skills. When I went to college with my 2 older brothers, they would tease me that all I could cook was burnt toast. Not anymore!!!

Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

As Madalyn was blowing out her candles, she put her hand up and told Hayden not to blow out her candles. Hayden got a huge smile on his face and attempted to blow out the candles, but I covered his mouth and got a handful of saliva.