strangely interesting

My brother sent me a link to this article online, http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/15/feminist_obsessed_with_mormon_blogs .

I found it very interesting. Maybe because when I have spare time I LOVE to look at DIY blogs and most of them happen to be Mormon. I can't help it, I love to do crafty things when time permits. It is fun, I feel productive, and it is normally much cheaper than shopping and purchasing a new one of whatever it is... Yep, I'm a DIY junky. That's why I liked this article.

christmas festivities

We fit a lot of holiday fun in after we finished the basement. The girls were such good sports with us working in the basement so much. So we kicked off the fun with my Parents' church Christmas party. The girls were so excited to see Santa.


She's next in line, can you tell??

Kennedy wanted to join Reagan on Santa's lap. Reagan rattled off a list of toys she wanted. Kennedy simply said a pillow pet.

Our playgroup had a Christmas party that was tons of fun again. We made ornaments, dipped pretzels, and had a dollar store gift exchange. The kids were so much fun!

We held our first ever tacky sweater party. (There's a shot of the basement for ya...) This is a pic of the men during the 'Christmas Sausage' game. Don't ask...

The girls modeling their own tacky sweaters and the reindeer antlers from one of our games.

Aren't those the best looking couples you've ever seen??! :)

We spent two different nights decorating a gingerbread house and a train. The kids ate the candies off the train 2 minutes after this picture...

Our church Christmas party. The kiddos went up and sang with the primary kids.

They got to visit Santa again to try to convince him off their niceness.

He even brought one of his elves along this time!

Well that leads us up to the week of Christmas - pictures to come!

the basement

So Rick and I made the wonderful decision to finish our basement in November. It was a loooong process, but we worked our butts off and 'finished' it the second week of December. We still have to hang the door and put in the floorboards, but we are in no rush now that it is completely usable. Here are a few pictures of the process...

The first wall that I finished framing just before Thanksgiving.


All framed, time to paint the ceiling....

We painted the ceiling black. Kind of eclectic, much cheaper, and no loss of headroom.

We finished hanging the drywall the day before the carpet was installed. I haven't taken a finished picture yet... But picture this with painted walls and carpeting! :)

I love our basement now, and so do the kids!

halloween

We picked some pumpkins at the cider mill and decided to paint them this year instead of carving them.

We have such an awesome playgroup, and we had a Halloween party together. The kids were all so adorable in their costumes.

The kids tried to eat their doughnuts on a string. Kennedy ended up cheating and pulled her doughnut off the string so she could eat it easier.

Reagan and one of her favorite friends, Duncan, showing off their crafts.

Oreo spiders for dessert.

And pizza mummies...

Kennedy in her beautiful cinderella gown.

Trunk or treating with Sunshine and Grandpa at their church building.

This was their favorite door to visit because the little hedgehog dropped the candy into their buckets.

John Smith and Pocahontas with Cinderella and Belle.

Trunk or treating at our church, so we had lots of candy!

holiday preparations

We went to pick out a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. There was a tree farm nearby that said it was the last year they would be selling trees, so it was cheap. It was a little frigid outside, but the kiddos still liked riding on the hay wagon to pick out our tree. Rick cut it down for us, and we took it back to load on the car. Then we enjoyed hot chocolate by the bonfire.


Kennedy loving the hayride

That's the tree Reagan wanted... but not me!

We put it up and decorated it the same day. The girls hung up every ornament, which meant daddy carried them around the tree until the found the spot where they wanted to hang their ornament.

Next we made jingle bell ornaments to take to Uncle Jack.

Aren't they cute?

Had a fun evening at Uncle Jack's house. Dinner, decorating cookies, putting up the tree...

And singing carols on the heirloom player piano. The kids loved it! (and so did I!)

thanksgiving - finally!

We had a great Thanksgiving! We had lots of family over to celebrate with.

Kennedy was our champion of the pin the hat on the turkey game.

We finally have a table big enough to fit everyone, so I decided it needed to be festive!

Grandma and the Grandkids waiting for dinner to be served :)

Our dessert... Turkey cupcakes. (Thanks Kathryn for loaning me the awesome recipe!)

Sorry that was only a month late ;)

a looooong month

I haven't managed to get on to blog in quite a while. After a long battle with Reagan and strep throat, trying to get her weight back up and dealing with her mood swings from the meds, we are finally closer to normal. Well, not that much closer... Her weight is down, so the docs insisted on a new med to help her have a bigger appetite. Not only is there no sign of an increase, but she also is having new mood swings - sweet. Anyways. So between that and my impulse to finish the basement before Christmas, I have not been spending much time online. So bare with me. I will be back to check your blogs and give you an update on my life soon.