Family Christmas Party

This year for our family Christmas party, we got to have Santa come visit! We met "Santa" at church one Sunday when he came to listen to the primary program. We sat next to him and he played with the kids during sacrament meeting. At the end of the meeting he handed me his card and told me that he makes Santa visits during the Christmas season. We thought it would be fun so we scheduled him to come to our party. 

We set gifts on our porch with the kids' names on them and he put them in his sack before he came in. He came in ringing his jingle bells and the kids were amazed/surprised/shocked that Santa came! It was so funny to watch! They didn't really know what to do!

None of the kids were scared, which was kind of amazing. Even Santa was surprised that the little girls were excited to sit on his lap. Brooklyn was so excited, but she wouldn't smile. It was so funny. She kept standing by him waiting for her turn and when he finally called her name she climbed right up on his lap like she knew exactly what she was doing.

Brooklyn waiting for her turn

It really was so much fun for everyone. The kids had the best surprise and it was so fun to watch. I think it is something we will probably do every year from now on. Before he left we sang Christmas carols and he explained what the colors on the candy cane represent to the kids. Such a fun new tradition!

Swings

Two weeks ago we went up to Rexburg to hang out with Ashely and the kids. It was a semi-nice day, so we ate pizza at the park and played. Brooklyn tried the swings for the first time and she loved it. Kenzlee is such a great little cousin and pushed her and played with her all day. Carson and Joslynn loved swinging next to each other. I can't wait for it to be warm all the time so we can do this more often!

Easter Day

Since we have church at 1pm on Sundays, we decided to spend the morning doing things together for Easter. I made homemade buttermilk pancakes with homemade syrup for breakfast. I had bought a cute flower and egg pancake mold last year on clearance and wanted to use them. However, when it came time to make the pancakes I forgot about them! Oops! I guess next year we will try again.

Carson loved dying eggs so much that we decided to dye them again. I bought an egg spinner last year on clearance and we tried it out. Carson loved pushing the button and watching them turn different colors.

We put out Easter baskets for the kiddos this year. We didn't talk about the Easter Bunny at all this year, or last year for that matter. I'm not sure that I want too. I love Easter because of what it means - that Christ was resurrected. I really want to try and focus on that instead of the Easter Bunny. Granted, dying eggs and Easter egg baskets aren't exactly focused on Christ, but they are still a fun family tradition and there isn't anything wrong with that. Still trying to figure out exactly how I want to pull of the whole Christmas/Easter fun traditions vs. getting away from the true meaning. Any ideas would be appreciated. :)

Carson got new socks, 2 new shirts, and some bath toys. Brooklyn got new socks, a new pair of shoes, and some new clothes. We had to try out the new bath toys for Carson right away! We got him cars that actually drive on water. They are pretty cool. You pull them back on the water and off they go. He loved them.

After Church my sisters and their families came over for Easter dinner. The girl cousins were all wearing matching dresses so we attempted to get a picture. Brooklyn didn't exactly want to cooperate.

We also attempted a family picture while we were all still dressed in our Easter best. It turned out pretty good considering no naps!

After dinner we had an egg hunt in the backyard. Once again, the kids loved it and got WAY too much candy. That's ok, the parents helped eat it. Carson and Brooklyn are pro egg-hunters! Way to go team Messano!

"Look, Dad! It fits on my head!"

Brooklyn and Joslyn eating mini M&M's off the floor

Wrapper and all....

Miss Independent

 

Checking out the loot

All in all it was a great day. Church was wonderful, dinner was pretty good (considering the burned ham), and the egg hunt was fun. I am so grateful that our Savior was resurrected on Easter Sunday so that we can all be resurrected someday. I know He lives. I know He loves us. How blessed we are to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. Happy Easter!

March Updates

Here is a little bit of March in review:

We went to a friend's house for dinner one night when Jason worked late. While we were getting ready to go home, Carson asked to take a picture. Sweet little boy. He is actually happy and saying "Cheese" in this picture, you just can't tell.

We went to the park with Kenzlee and Brock one afternoon. It was still a little chilly, but it was above freezing and the sun was out so we went. The kids liked being outside and Brooklyn liked going down the slide with Kenzlee. I even crawled up and took the kids down the slide a few times.

Brooklyn loved playing on the playground equipment. She wants to be bigger than she actually is. Silly girl! If I let her, she would crawl up to the top and then crawl right off the edge.

On St. Patrick's Day we had Stake Conference. I love the messages of Stake Conference, but I had having to wrestle 2 kids through 2 hours of speakers. This year they had overflow in the Relief Society room for those kids that were noisy. We lasted about 45 minutes in the main part and then went to the Relief Society room. It was heavenly. We could listen to the speakers and the kids could get their wiggles out. Of course, we all had to wear green and we HAD to take a picture or two. :)

Going to dinner as a family is more stressful then it is fun. We went to dinner one night with Ashley, Shaun, and all the kids, and it was a little crazy. Brooklyn can get out of any high chair (I'm serious) and she is such a wiggle worm. She would rather be crawling around on the ground. It gets exhausting trying to hold her and eat at the same time. If she wasn't so cute..... Ashley let her try her first lemon that night. Her reactions were priceless. She just kept going back for more!

Brooklyn learned how to stick our her tongue...

 

and drink out of the tap while the bathwater is running....

and ate some lasagna like a pro.

Carson learned his new favorite mode of transportation around the house...

One day as we rounded a corner in the car, I heard Brooklyn start crying her scared cry and looked back to find her tipped over in her seat. I quickly pulled the car over and found that her base had been unbuckled. Carson had been playing in the car earlier and must have unbuckled it without me knowing. Poor little girl! She was pretty ticked!

Brooklyn rode Carson's 4-wheeler around the driveway and loved it. Carson won't ride it because he is scared of it, silly boy. I guess it will be Brooklyn's now!

We took a walk on one of the nicer days to check the mail. The kids rode in our wagon and Brooklyn thought it was pretty cool. She had to stand up the whole way and wouldn't sit down.

The kids are finally learning how to play together. They can often be found wrestling and normally Brooklyn wins. She was quite the little attitude and she can hold her own. I'm loving this stage!