We had the most festive Christmas eve! In the eraly morning we piled everyone into the car and headed North. We drove all the way up to Cedar city and pulled over into a field to play with the snow. The idea was to make snowmen but the snow was so powdery that it wasn't even going to sort of work. We ended up pilling up exsisting ice chunks and making ghetto icemen. I made a snow angel. And Jude and Alice were in love with their own foot prints. Derek and I had a snowball fight and we all got really cold. Then we headed to a mom and pop burger joint that had the most yummy food to warm up. It was my favorite thing I have done so far this holiday season and I think I will have to do it again before the winter season is over.

So a couple days before Christmas I went to go grab all something from the closet and while I ws rummaging all my wrapping paper fell behind the water heater and the wall. I let out the most anguished "NOOOOOO" because I was certain it was lost for good. It was such a hard to reach area. PLus paper next to a water heater! Fire hazard. I was in the kitchen brainstorming on how to get it out when I hear banging on the wall. I come to investigate and my husband has wiggld his way into the itty bitty space and saved my wrapping paper. But now I had lost my husband. Especially since he got in an accident and his wrist was useless to him. But lie the hard core tough guy that he is, he just one hand hoists himself up and out. I was so immpressed and grateful that I had both my husband and my wrapping paper back.

It's Santa!! I love him so much and this guy is the best Santa I have ever seen. He does a Q and A session and is just flawless. Both Derek and I got to ask questions and we learned about Santa's magical bag and how Santa and Mrs. Claus vacation in a a volcano in the south pole. Andrea was nice enough(and sneaky enough) to grab us tickets ahead of time. Everyone got to sit on his lap and did pretty well. Alice got a little nervous but other then a paniced face she was fine. I had been coaching Jude all Christmas for this moment. And while I couldn't get him to sit on Santa's lap he did let Santa talk to him and hold him close by. I had been telling Jude that when he sees Santa he can tell him what he wants for Christmas. So the second Santa address him he start yelling "TRAINS!!! I WANT TRAINS!!!" from about 5 feet away. It was so funny. Derek was lucky enough to be asked by Santa to carry his magic bag out to the car. It was so much fun! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Ok this is pretty cool. I must admit that even I was pretty excited about this. My moms school was getting a visit from Santa, but no just any old Santa. Santa in a helicopter! Wabam! All of the kids from her school dragged out their chairs and had a little assembly. Jude was already super excited to be able to see Tati so early in the morning but when that helicopter came aound he lost his mind. He thought it was so cool and wanted to run out and see it and we had a hard time keeping him still. Alice was so excited by all the fuss that we had to take her off the floor so she would stop running away. Super Christmas-ey fun!

We have a pond pretty close to our house full of very appreciative ducks. We visit them once a week or so because we just love to feed them. They come right up and out of the water and get close enough that they will eat right out of your hand. Jude and Alice just love it and are so amazed. There is a little white duck that just cracks us up. He will sit at our feet and jump to try and get the bread. It is so funny to watch a duck try to jump let me tell you.

We toook the boys to the tuahcan festival of lights and had a really good time. Lights, fire, Santa, and lots of dancing. We all had a good time.

Making and decorating sugar cookies. It's not Christmas till we do.

I found a sprinkles recipe! Another fun experiment that worked great! All you do is take sugar and food coloring in a zip lock bag and shake like crazy! Sprinkle rainbows! Alice got in on it and so did Jude.

Aren't they beautiful!

I was having such fun with the food coloring that I couldn't stop. I added it to dinner and made green spaghetti. So much fun!

The boys had so much fun with their Halloween shirts that Angie and I set out to make Christmas shirts as well. I found this awesome "screen printing" tutorial online that was perfect for our kids level. You just get contact paper and trace out the shape you want. Cut it up and stick it on the shirt. Then you paint, wait to dry, and peel. It was a fabulous way to do it because the kids could get as crazy and messy as they wanted and we could lift all the mess away and leave beautiful Christmas shirts behind. The boys had so much fun being artistic and creative and they love their new shirts.

Jude loves the muppets! He just loves to watch Muppets with us at home so we weren't about to pass up a chance to see them on the big screen. We went earlier in the morning so there woulnd't be a big crowd and headed on in. By the time we got there they were already running the commercials and it was a huge black room. Jude was really hesitant to go inside and I thought it was going to be over right then and there but we picked him up and dragged him in far enough that he could see the screen and then he was OK. He kept repeating to himself, "it's not scary, no it's not scary." When the movie actually started he was entranced. He would get so excited when a new character came on screen. "Miss piggy! Miss Piggy! Beaker! Beaker!" We had to keep reminding him to keep his voice down. He did so well. He kept bouncing from mommy to Daddy's lap but othet then that he sat through the whole thing. I was so impressed. I even got a little teary eyed toward the end. My big boys first big movie. Way to go Jude!

Our town is just the coolest. They took the splash pad that we have loved and frequented all summer and turned it into a beautiful Christmas light plaza! The pictures don't do it justice at all. But it was so beautiful and Jude, how is now old enough to understand that something special is happening, is losing his mind. "MOM DAD!PRETTY!" He would just run from tree to tree in amazement and wonder. I love love love Christmas and seeing Jude get so excited brought a tear to my eye.

Derek and I took the kids for a family walk and we ended up finding the most beautiful yellow trees and frolicking in the leaves. Jude was so confused by the changing of the leaves. I kept pointing to the trees and asking him what color the trees were and he kept insisting that they were green. Finally I pulled down a leaf and handed it to him to look at. After that he told me the trees were yellow. But we didn't really care what color they were, they were just fun. I couldn't resist weaving some through Dereks big burly mountain man beard. I guess now he is treebeard(LOTR shoutout) and speaking of trees! Jude climbed his first ever tree! I was playing with Alice and then Jude cries out to me to look at him and there he was a couple feet off the ground up in a tree. The child in me got all warm and fuzzy about it. I was just so proud and excited! He asked me to help him go higher but I told him that if HE couldn't go higher then HE probably shouldn't. I also warned him that what goes up must come down and sure enough he fell out of the tree. Luckily he was only a couple of feet of the floor. It wasn't the first time and it most certinly wont be the last. I LOVE FALL!

Get ready for the sundance film festival cause there are about 6 videos to watch today. BECAUSE WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!! We went to the Sand Dunes today and it is the best! The sand dunes are so soft and so fine that it is hard to walk. But it feels so good on your feet that you don't even care. The kids had a great time running, digging, jumping tumbling, falling and all over playing.

We buried Derek and he made a very dramatic breakout. So awesome!

Then Derek started screaming "I am having the time of my life!" to which the other kids started copying.

Then we started cart wheeling all around! Well I tried to cart wheel, can't quite do it as well as those Olivers.

And I also can't jump, just for the record.

Just random randomness in this post. A decorate your own snowman kit....complete with Snowman.
The most popular gift for all the children. All the collective children.
A crazy hand chair that was at DI.

And good old fashioned rule abiding citizens.

Alice is such a little stinker. She is such a head strong little spit fire. She does what she wants and nothing else. She is always stealing food from the pantry or climbing up onto the tables. Shewill make demands of us and if we don't listen she will hit us. Or she tells US no. Like she does in this video. She is so funny.