It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

I love that song especially the version sung by Bing Crosby. We have decked our halls and now have a ton of snow for our winter wonderland.






Our BYU, silver and blue, wreath.
The tree. Still an artificial one. Next year I'm going to make Ben get a real one with me. We may not cut it ourselves yet. We need to take baby steps. Spencer's head is at the bottom of the tree. He is playing a game with the ornaments. One of my favorite memories of Christmas time is playing with the ornaments on the tree.

Our stockings are hung with care, especially since they aren't actually attached to anything. Things are strategically placed to hold them on the mantel. When the Christmas stuff goes on clearance I'm going to pick up some stocking holders.

And last, our gingerbread house. The construction was pretty easy this year. Probably because I remembered to trim the pieces half way through their baking.

A close up of Santa's sleigh in the back of the house. All the candy is chocolate except for the load bearing candy canes. I couldn't find any ribbon candy so we made do with other stuff. It'll make for easy eating, plus I can tell whenever someone takes a piece off. Yes, I'm looking at you Ben.

Thanksgiving and a Birthday

Birthday pictures first. Here Brenna is in one of her new outfits. She got several clothes items which are all so cute and very needed. Spencer wasn't so thrilled by all the clothes though. "Why does Brenna get so many clothes? Where are the toys?"


Here is one of the toys she got. It will teach her shapes and colors and numbers.

She liked this red dress with the small dots.

Grandma Snow made a little cloth Pokey Little Puppy book. Daddy will read it to her all the time. It was his favorite book.

A much needed new snowsuit. So cozy warm.

We got Brenna a sock monkey. She loves it. So does Lauren.

Someone thought it was his birthday.

After Thanksgiving dinner Uncle Andrew decided to burn off his calories. The niece and nephews loved it. Brenna was terrified. Andrew is bundled in his sleeping bag and pretending to be a slug.

Now Andrew has morphed into a butterfly. . .with a stinger.
Two cute cousins.
Brenna liked playing with Hannah's hair.

Cute Hannah.

The first casualty of Thanksgiving dinner. . .
and while he slept Brenna stole his toys.

This is how we occupied our time between eating. Brenna was forced into her walker so she wouldn't play.

Pilgrim Lauren.

It can't be a family gathering without an injury. Poor Ben Benn fell on the leg of our couch and got a cut and a swollen eye. He was a trooper though and got right back up to play.

Footage of the slug

Ignoring Uncle Andrew

Letting Uncle Andrew Tickle

Who really plays with the toys

Playing with Hannah

First Real Snow

Just enough to make two tiny snowman in it. The kids had a blast, until it melted in the afternoon. More snow coming on Saturday.

Recently Completed Projects

Perhaps it should be entitled Better Late Than Never. Some of these projects have been in the works for years. Nothing like the holidays and a new sewing room to finally make me finish them.


This is a tree skirt that I started working on several years ago. I think we were still living in Chicago when I decided to make it and began amassing fabric scraps. At least a three year old project.

Here are the matching stockings that go with the tree skirt. I made the one with the green background after I finished the tree skirt last month. It is Brenna's stocking. The other four were a Christmas gift from my mother a year before Brenna was born. I think Lauren claimed the Santa and Spencer claimed the snowman with the red background.
These are some little baby shoes I whipped up. A friend of mine hooked me up to this blog http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/blog/cloth_shoe.pdf for the pattern. They are so fast and easy to make and a great way to use up little pieces of fabric. I made both pairs in about an hour and a half. One pair is Brenna's and the other I made for Hannah, my niece.


This project is a little younger than the tree skirt. I started it in California sometime and it's at least 2 years old. Perhaps that is why my projects take years to finish, I start too many at once. This cross-stitch is actually a Christmas present for Lauren so shhhhhh.

Brenna with a Puppy

My brother Andrew took these videos with his cellphone.

Hannah's Blessing

Yesterday we went to Tooele for the blessing of my little niece, Hannah. She is such a cute little baby.

The proud father and two proud uncles.

I seem to recall a photo like this of my dad, except I think I was the only baby. Thankfully none of us has twins.

I made little shoes for Brenna and thought they were so cute I made a pair for Hannah. Now they match for Christmas.

The beautiful mommy and baby.

Matthew gave a really nice blessing to Hannah.

Brenna decided to break in some of Hannah's presents.

I think Matthew could do twins very well.

Later I will post a video of Brenna and the puppy that was there. Andrew has a much better video than I and I need to wait for him to put it up on facebook. Let's just say Ben Benn wasn't the only one who liked the puppy.

Halloween

We had a blast this Halloween and so much loot! We went to the city park for trick or treating, a two ward trunk or treat, and then a little trick or treating in the neighborhood. Now we have candy for the rest of my kids' childhoods.

Brenna was a little lion. By the end of the night she discovered her tail and tried to grab it. She couldn't quite reach so she settled for sitting and just rubbing it with her fingers behind her back.



Our scary witch. She did get a green face for the night time trick or treating, but I forgot to photograph it.

Spidey! He kept saying he wasn't scard of spiders because he was spider man. Good thing we only saw fake spiders. Spencer is holding a stuffed B.O.B. figure from Monsters vs Aliens. He made the costume himself. A tissue held on by a rubber band.

On the way to the park I caught Brenna looking for candy.

All three cuteys before the Trunk or Treat.

Sweet rewards of all that treating! Brenna kept putting all the suckers, still in wrappers, in her mouth. She also liked chewing on the pix stix wrappers.

The haul. It doesn't look like quite as much as we actually got. Those two bowls are really big and I added our left over candy to make quite the supply.

Almost One Year

Brenna at 11 months:

She loves cats, taking off her socks and hats (thank you Amber), blankies, dropping food on the floor and then eating it later, looking at pictures of family, watching family vidoes, and eating.

She has 4 teeth now, can babble a lot, pulls up to standing in her crib, crawls very fast, and rotates her ankles when she is excited or sleepy.

Here is some of her babbling and at the end you can see her rotating her ankles a little. She does it a lot more as she falls asleep.

See how fast I can crawl!

3 Little Pumpkins Sat on a Table . . .

. . .and got disembowled. It was such fun. It was a year of firsts for us. Brenna's first pumpkin and Spencer picked out a white pumpkin to carve.

Brenna wasn't so sure about the pumpkin guts.

Even after it was cleaned out she still rejected it. Some pumpkins just can't win.

Ben made our refreshments, cocoa crispy treats which were super delicious, and I carved the pumpkins. My poor kids had to make do with my artistic talents and carving preferences.

Lauren's pumpkin is Princess Zelda after a stroke. Note the total lack of muscle function on the left side of her face.

Spencer's pumpkin is happy Link. Spence did not want a mean face at all because that would have made his pumpkin a bad guy. What a sweet face pumpkin.

Brenna's pumpkin is teething, can't you tell.

Lights out and candles on!