Mark's Birthday!

My Marky Sparky turned 34 . . . ahem . . . way back in January.

Is it weird that even though I know we are getting older, I just don't feel like we are?!?

To think that I am married to a 34 year old and that I, myself, will be turning 30 (gasp!) this year seems so unreal!

Anyways, we celebrated his birthday all day long.

Beginning with our traditional number shaped pancakes.

He was being a big goof all day and wouldn't give me normal smile, even after I told him these pictures will be on the blog.

Can't say I didn't warn you babe!

We go all out for birthday breakfasts and even break out the ice cream and sprinkles! 

Then we visited him at his school and took cake for him and all the teachers to enjoy.

Se what I mean?  Goofball! 

That night we invited friends and family over and had a cheesecake bar. 

His favorite dessert!

After dessert we opened presents and played TENZI!  

Have you ever played it?  It's a super fun game!

Happy Birthday Babe!

I hope we made you feel special on your big day!

Winter fun!

We had an INCREDIBLY mild winter here in Rexburg.... I think the East Coast got all the snow.

And you won't here any complaints from me.

Unless winter decides to show up in June, and then I will definitely have a beef with Mother Nature.

It snowed for the first time on Christmas Eve and continued to snow for the next couple of days.

We got an amazing amount of snow then and that was about it for the entire Winter.

Sure, a snowstorm would show up here and there, but nothing that accumulated much.

So we only got to sled behind the four-wheelers once...maybe twice!

Crazy, how mild our Winter was.

No matter, the girls and Sam still had a blast!

Despite what the picture looks like!

By this time the ruts were pretty big and the snow was pretty icy and hard.

It was tough for them to stay in the sled.

Little Lucy was content as can be in her "throne" on the back of the four-wheeler.

She was our "look-out" and would let us know when the girls fell off.

The girls were bummed when we said it was time to stop.

But promises of another day dulled their disappointment..

Who would have thought we wouldn't get another chance.

Sam - 15 months!

Um..so now that Sam is officially WAY past 15 months I thought I really better get caught up before I'm too far gone!

I'm not exactly sure what I had planned to say about this sweet little 15 month old.

Probably something to the effect of... he is ALL boy, and that he is super duper cute!!!
It still amazes me how different boys and girls really are, even at such a young age!

I had to bribe him with fruit snacks to get these pictures....way back when.

Before the fruit snacks I got a lot of these pictures!

Sam does NOT sit still for nothing!

He still eats anything, goes anywhere, and does whatever he wants....within the limits I have TRIED to set, of course!

He has taught my where all my "un-kid/Sam proof" areas are and we are currently working on resolving those issues!

Case in point.... my Lazy Susan!

It used to hold my flour, sugar, oil, cornmeal, etc.

Now it holds pretty much nothing.

And then there was this day....

But after all that, I can never get mad at him!

Maybe it's because he's my fourth, or maybe because he's my baby boy.  

Whatever the case, he gets away with too much.

Oh, Sammo... we love you more than we ever thought possible!

You keep us on our toes but you make us all so happy!

We am so grateful you joined our family!

Sam's Stats

Weight - 21.5 lbs (30%)

Height - 30 in (11%)

Still my short little guy and I wouldn't want you any other way!

Love you buddy!

Christmas 2014

At 2:30 on Friday afternoon, our Christmas Break officially began.

I immediately checked out of school mom mode and threw routines and schedules out the window.

This Christmas break we were going to relax, go with the flow, and just have some plain old fun.

And that's exactly what we did.

There were days when we did nothing but stay in our PJ's and play.

Other days we actually had some things planned.

I don't have any pictures (What the heck!?) but we spent the night in one of the newest apartment complexes in Rexburg.

Weird, right!?   But, it was fun!

They just invited a whole bunch of people to stay so they could find any problems before students arrived.

I though it was a clever idea!

And then on Christmas Eve I got to help my family make 50 large Pizza's

I've missed out on this tradition a lot over the years, either we were gone or they didn't need me!

We've been doing this since 1999, when my parents bought Big J's.

It's quite the production, but it's so much fun!

Momma is the best at creating places for pizza's!

We literally have them EVERYWHERE!  That is sanitary I might add!

The man in charge of the oven!

Me, Nick, and Heidi were the pizza makers!

Don't they look so good!?! 

When she wasn't finding spots for pizza's, she was making boxes!

Couldn't have done it without her!

We had the best people on the crew this year (Ahem) and it all went down without a hitch!

We got those pizza's delivered right on time!

That night we celebrated Christmas Eve with my Grandma and Grandpa Thompson 

and any other family members that decided to come too.

It was low key and relaxing so I don't have any pictures.

We just sat around and ate and visited.  Pretty much the best things ever!

We finished off the night with Grandpa reading the Nativity story from the scriptures,

headed home and put everyone to bed.

The kids were asleep in no time and then Mark and I got to play Santa.

I really love that part of Christmas.

I couldn't wait to see the girls faces when they opened their presents.

Christmas morning was exciting!

The girls woke up thrilled with the idea that Santa had come.

My family brought their presents and joined us.

It made it last that much longer and I loved it.

We did let the girls and Sam open their stockings while they waited.

Once my family arrived we took turns opening presents.
The girls were so good at waiting for their turn.
And I was totally impressed with how excited they were for each other and what they got.

Santa went PRACTICAL this year.  So each kid got there own duffel bag with their name on it.

It was funny, We could only get Sam interested in opening his presents if we said there was food in it.
Poor kid I'm sure was starving.
But even then most presents he would rather have sit in the box than see what was in it.


We got spoiled, as usual, by all the family that loves us.
And here's the mess to prove it!

After presents we made breakfast.
Belgium Waffles, hasbrowns, and sausage!  MMMmmm!!
I think we are going to make it our traditional Christmas morning breakfast!

The rest of our Christmas break was spent playing with our new toys/games, going sledding, and relaxing.

Poor Sammy had to watch the girls from inside!

 A few days after Christmas my brother Cody's family came and brought with them our newest nephew Henry.
The girls couldn't get enough!

 They left a few days later and it was back to reality for us shortly thereafter..
Boo!
We have adjusted quite well to being back to school, but are definitely counting down the days to our next vacation!
Boise here we come....in 15 days!!!!

Pre Christmas Chaos!

I have always looked forward to Christmas Break.  I'm definitely spoiled with Mark's vacation days!

It usually means seeing lots a family, great food, and lots of fun!  And sometimes travelling!

This year was no different!

Other than the fact that I looked forward to Christmas Break on a WHOLE new level.

I COULD. NOT. WAIT. for school to get out.

 I never realized how much busier I would be once the girls were school.

Phew!  It's exhausting!  

Once that bell rang on Friday afternoon, signaling it was Christmas Break,  

I didn't give school (reading, homework, piano, etc.) another thought until it was time for the girls to go back.

Even then... it was too soon!

It's definitely taken me a while to get my motivation back.  

Case in point... Christmas Post in mid-January!  Sorry guys!

But I think I've recovered some and am looking forward to some slower months ahead!  Ha!

There was definitely a lot of hustle and bustle going on before Christmas at our house.

A tad bit on the crazy side, but it was exciting and fun for the girls and Sam.

Here's what added to the exciting chaos!

School Christmas Program

Mark's school celebrated Christmas around the world again, with each class representing a different country.

Kindergarten chose Bolivia and sang Away in a Manger in Spanish.

Afterwards, we met the kindergartners back in their classroom where they sang a few more songs 

and served us Bolivian Buenolos and Opi.

1st grade represented Italy.

They sang Silent Night in Italian and then fed the parents authentic Italian cookies.

I really think the kids enjoyed showing off what they had learned about their different countries.

Christmas Dance Recital

The older girls are in dance this year (I finally found a good company!  Hooray!) 

and kicked off Christmas with a recital.

It was super casual!  No costumes even, the girls just had to wear the color gold. 

I'm so disappointed I didn't get a picture of them in their "costume" before the show!  Duh!

I loved it though, because it gives the girls experience with performing.

I was really worried about Hannah performing.. or not performing.

The year we did gymnastics, she cried on her teachers lap during the whole song.

But this time she did great!  Performed like a Champ!

Amazing what a few years....and a little bribe of ice cream can do!

Class Parties

I think this was the icing on the cake for my stress level.

Not that I don't love being involved with my girls at school, and everyone knows I love to throw a party.

But on top of everything else, I was sure glad when this party was over!

We decided to serve a breakfast to the kids.

These "Rudolph" pancakes turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

After breakfast we played some "reindeer games".

Throw the snowball through the wreath!

Wrap the Snowman!

We had a snowball relay and then ended with a "snowball fight".

The kids loved it!

My pictures are terrible!  I can never get good ones in a gym!

But the party was a success and I was grateful to cross that one off my list!

I love the month of December and the spirit of Christmas in the air.  

It's probably my most favorite time of year (definitely would be if it wasn't so cold!).

And even though it was crazy busy there for the first little while, 

I'm glad it all ended with enough time to relax and focus on the true meaning of Christmas.