Busy, Busy, Busy!

I've sort of been a slacker about blogging lately, but in my defense, there's just not enough time in the day! I can't be on the computer when JJ is awake, cause he thinks it's his own special toy, and like all toddlers, he somehow knows just which buttons to push in that micro second he touches the keyboard, to just screw the whole thing up, so I've quit! That only leaves bedtime, and frankly I'm just super busy editing photos. Alot of them!

There are just so many things I need to catch up on though, like Halli's basketball league, which she loves!

Or Lexie's new Joy School that she goes to once a week that a friend of mine does. She LOVES it and asks everyday if she's going to school. I think this girl really needed some structure, and time away from me!:)

Oh, we also had our ward party last friday night and met Santa. JJ may or may not have had fun, but don't worry, a candy cane totally made it all better. Everyone must have a picture of their child crying with Santa, it's tradition!

We also got to go see Halli in her school choir performance, and apparently I only took video and no pictures, so that will be coming soon. She did amazing and even had a solo, we're so proud of her for getting past her fear and doing it, she did awesome!

Kevin had an awesome dream vacation right before thanksgiving, when he went to Maui.

Yep, he got to play lots with his brother and dad. I'm totally fine with it....I think. Don't worry, next year is our tenth anniversary, and he'll make it up to me then, I'm sure. Right?:)

Other than that, it's just been some crafting here and there  to get ready for christmas (like the girls christmas shirts, easiest thing to make ever and so cute!), a little bit of shopping, lots of photo sessions, and lots of editing, and lots of designing. I'm having fun with it, but it takes up a significant portion of time. None of this even takes into account all the day to day stuff we moms do. Cleaning, working out, which I found a new program that is AMAZING and I love it, running kids all over the place, cooking and just having a 17 month old who is basically into EVERYTHING! I'm planning on being done with all of the photography stuff by this friday though, and then I can soak in my kids and no school for two whole weeks...I'm looking forward to it!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!

I just love this time of year! So glad my whole family does too. We're trying to just soak in the magic and enjoy our family traditions...I'm loving every minute!

Thanksgiving

Our thanksgiving was full of great food, wonderful family, and Kevin coming home from his big trip to maui...I'll have to post about that later, but he is one lucky dude!

So, here's our thanksgiving in pictures...lots and lots and lots of pictures. For once I remembered to bring my camera, and I used it this time!

Jamie holding our niece Miss Ellie. What a sweet and big baby girl she is, she's adorable!

There was absolutely no shortage of food there...always tons of food and tons of leftovers!

Everyone in the kitchen, ready to dig in!

We had Eric and Jill there with us this year too! It was great! We didn't head over to grandma & Grandpas house till later that evening, so it was nice to have more family in town to hang out with during the day, and Lexie absolutely loved having LaNea there to hang out with, she loves her!

I just saw a quote that says.

Grandma's house: Where cousins go to become best friends. So very true in this instance. These girls all love each other so much, and the four little guys are getting a little older and interacting more too, it's so much fun to watch!

Speaking of the little guys, here's one of the cuties himself, colt!

Sweet Savannah, with her other cousins from Jamies side of the family. Halli loved having a couple older kids there to play with too.

Oh my heavens, she almost makes you want another one right? Only when they're happy and can't move though.:)

I just love all these girls!

And apparently the boys just love babies, and miss Ellie in particular.

What else are you supposed to do with olives?

I didn't get any other pictures, but do you notice the shirts their wearing? I saw them on pinterest and thought they would be cute...little turkeys. The girls loved them, so it was worth it!

I guess with 19 kids all 9 and under, and 16 being 5 and under, things will get a little messy!

While we were cleaning, I started wondering what the kids were all doing. They were, as always, up in grandma's storage/secret room, having a blast!

Spunky girls!

There's miss LaNea, wandering around in her princess shoes. I always have to remind myself that she's younger than I think. She's the same size as Lexie and over a year younger, and almost a big sister herself, can't wait to see what the new baby will look like!

At some point that night, Alan, Greg and Kevin wanted to review the maui invitational games to see if they could see themselves in the stands at all. We had found them two of the nights there, and they had fun showing us everything that was happening. They had a dream vacation full of hawaii and basketball, how can it get better than that? Oh, maybe bring the wife along? Yeah, that might help! More on that later though, I'm sure!:)

We had a great thanksgiving and had a small redo the next day with the leftovers too.We're so blessed to be surrounded by so much family and love that we can get together with them, we just need to try to do it more often!

Backing up a few weeks...Soccer ended!

Peyton recently finished her second year of soccer. She has so much fun playing with her friends, most of whom were on her team last year. Although she's not quite the aggressive type, she still loves to get out there and run around. That's really what she does, doesn't get the ball too often, but she looks awesome in her uniform don't ya think?

Lots of team spirit with the Stingrays!

They get a little fiesty on the sidelines, but it's all in good fun!

Our awesome girl!

Peyton & Jada, two of the three girls on the team.

Peyton may be bigger, but Jada definitely has more spunk, and went after the ball!

The team with coach Mike. Sean was also the coach, but was typically flying on saturdays, so Mike would step in and coach the games, he did awesome!

This is the Peyton we know and love, not all that interested in the actual game!:) Actually, she told us, she liked practice much better than the games cause you got to do more.

Peyton and Braden. When they were on the field together, she usually just ran after him. Kinda like how Halli and Blake play basketball, funny kids!

Going through the tunnel at the end of the game.

As much fun as we have with soccer, I've got to admit that I'm slightly glad it's over. I tend to get that way with most sports though, you just get to a point that you want your saturday's back. Not that that's happened though, Peytons last day of soccer was the same day as Halli's first basketball game....and so it begins!

Peyton's Ice Cream Parlour

I realized as I was looking back through my blog that I forgot to post something pretty important. I do have four children, and threw each of them a birthday party within a 2.5 month period. I don't know if it was pure exhaustion from doing them all or what, but I didn't post about miss Peytons party, or the fact that she turned 5 over 2.5 months ago! Sorry about that Peyton. The funny thing is this is one of my favorite parties ever!

For our sweet girl, we had to have a sweet party, and ice cream fit the bill perfectly!

Lots of sweets and toppings and pink yumminess!

I got little containers for all the toppings, painted them and then made little tags to go on them.

I love me some cake pops, so I had to make these when I saw them, they're mini ice cream pops. Made just like cake pops, but stuck on a mini ice cream cone and topped with chocolate. so good!

To stick with the neopolitan theme, we had three flavors of milk in their own custom little bottles.

And a super yummy, and tall neopolitan chocolate cake.

I have found these little swing top bottles everywhere and am in love with them, they're perfect for so many things, including holding caramel and chocolate.

A little custom sign for Peyton

The invite was the inspiration for the whole event, so perfect!

There were cute little labeled buckets for all three ice cream flavors, filled with ice to keep it all cold.

I saw the waffle cones filled with fruit on pinterest and it was a perfect addition to this sweet party.

We played a little sundae relay outside before we dug into the sweet stuff.

First they had to run the bowl down to the table

Then add some ice cream

and some caramel sauce

then strawberry sauce

Then everyones favorite was the sprinkles. They had to wear them on their head, attached to a headband and pour it into the bowl without using their hands.

Halli was very determined

Then using their mouths, they added a cherry on top.

So much fun!

The kids sat around after and poured more sprinkles cause they loved that so much.

Most of them missed the bowl completely.

Then it was time to go in and partake of the goodness! Someone loved the cherries!

Peyton had fallen off the trampoline, and wasn't in a very good mood, even while blowing out her candles.

We love this sweet girl so much, and I can't believe she's 5 and growing up so fast!

Happy super late birthday sweet girl!