Our Disney Christmas

For Christmas this year we couldn't decide what to do for the kids, nothing looked that fun and all we needed was more toys...
We decided to do something a little different,
We took the kids to
DISNEYLAND!

Our first day there it was poring rain. We weren't really sure what to do, but we had paid for the day and so we had to try and have fun. We walked into the park and the first thing we did was buy us all rain ponchos. The rain ponchos saved the day, along with some pink umbrellas that aunt Jessie let us take.

I carried Ella around in a front pack that we also borrowed from Aunt Jessie. Ella stayed the warmest and the driest there under the poncho.

The boys were good sports, but the rain was kind of a bummer.

James had finally had enough and fell asleep in the stroller. It amazed me that he could sleep with all that water all around him.

To get out of the weather we decided to do some of the shows and things inside that we usually don't think about doing. We saw the turtle talk show in California Adventure which was super fun, and as we were walking out we got to meet a few funny characters.

We also found our favorite ride.. Toy Story Mania! It made us all laugh and we road it three times in a row. The best part about this day at Disneyland was we didn't have to wait in any lines. There were hardly any people there and we got to do what ever we wanted. The rain finally stopped and we were happy to take off our rain ponchos and run around until the park closed.

The next day was beautiful and we were able to take more pictures outside.

There still was hardly anyone there, and the longest we waited for a ride was 10 minutes.

We had a ball doing what ever these four kids wanted to do.

There were lots of fun Christmas decorations and festive things going on.

The boys were thrilled to see Santa's reindeer at Disneyland.

Matt was such a good sport. Disneyland isn't he favorite place, but he enjoyed being togehter as a family and even had the most fun on some of the rides.

We enjoyed the stroller exchange on a few of the rides. This is me with the littles while the boys were on the materhorn.

We saw the pixar parade that evening. James was thrilled to see Buzz, and Woody, and all his favorite characters. It was really magical for him this year.

One of our last things was the Bugs Life show in California Adventure. It was super fun and funny. Grant is really afraid of bugs so this freaked him out a little and we laughed so hard. It is a fun family memory I hope to never forget.

One of the best parts for me was finally buying a princess bling. She defiantly is our little princess.

We all had so much fun together, but we were all so tired on the way home. It was a lot of work to get four kids to Disneyland, but it was well worth the effort. We enjoyed every minute and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Not a Festival tree, But...

This year both Matt and I wanted to get a new tree, one that was taller for our tall ceilings with more lights and no musty storage smell. We really just couldn't this year and it was a little discouraging and depressing. But it was our boys who taught us a good lesson this year about the joy in memories and tradition. Grant was just torn apart with the idea of getting a new tree. He thought it wouldn't be Christmas without our old little tree, So we put the tree up and tried to like it. Then we got out the old box of Christmas ornaments. For 9 years now Matt and I have collected Christmas ornaments every where we have gone as our souvenir. Last year I tried to buy all new ornaments and make our tree look like one of "the festival of trees" tree. It just didn't feel the same. And this year when I started unwrapping memories and hanging them on our little tree, it just felt like Christmas with my sweet family. I love the four first Christmas ornaments, the cute ones the boys have made at school, and sweet memories I have with my cute hubby.
Our tree isn't a festival tree, it's a memory tree and It makes me so Happy.

6 Stockings...

6 New Stockings all in a row.

This was a super fun and easy project, thanks to a jelly roll, and my mom's fun sewing machine.

Can't wait to see these stockings full of fun surprises on Christmas Morning. There is a lot of Joy in the Christmas season. Looking forward to a little Joy!

Piggy Tails at 3 Months...

Yes, we tried Piggy Tails today.

Ella didn't love it because it effected her sleeping postions...

But she did look darling.

Sweet...

Among all the craziness is this Sweet little thing.
She brings a smile to my face every time I look at her. She is defiantly a mommies girl which I just love.

She has become my binky baby. Which is a good thing.

I thought this wild woman picture was just too cute. As you can see, i'm still not sure what to do with all that hair.

I'm not sure what color her eyes are going to be. I'm hoping they are brown, but Matt wants blue. His ideal woman is blonde hair, blue eyes... go figure. Sorry we are brown eyed girls.

Middle Child Blues...

So the Idea of the middle child has shown it's ugly face at our house lately. Grant has acted out the most since Ella was born which was unexpected. This day Grant decided to cut his own hair 10 minutes before school started. I have realized my attention has been occupied with a new baby, demanding two year old and an ever busy first child. Grant sometimes does get lost in the mix. But I am trying to do special things just for Grant so he doesn't feel so lost. I'm telling ya, four kids has been the hardest by far. Hope we all survive!

So in Love...

who knew having a daughter would feel like this.
Total Joy!

Halloween Fun...

The Saturday before Halloween we went as a family to Gardner Village to see the "witches".
It was so fun to get out as a family and spend a whole day together.

After gardner village we went to the ward annual chilie cook off and Halloween party.

Hunter won the prize for best child costume

Grant was feeling a little left out so mom got him a prize for being her favorite pirate.

and James took 2nd place.

Ella didn't dress up that night, but she was super happy and smiley anyway.

Halloween day was full of fun and parties...

Grant and James were invited to a friends party in the morning. They had lots of fun playing Halloween games and being with their friends.

Grant was captin hook and talked James into being Peter Pan so they could fight swords together.

Ella dresses up as a darling wicked witch. I made her costume.

At my grandma phillips party the kids hit a ghost pinata, decorated sugar cookies, roasted hot dogs on a fire and had a great time.

Hunter was a musketeer. I made his costume after a trip to the fabric store where he found the pattern and had to have it. It was worth it in the end because Hunter was so proud of his costume and told everyone that his mom made it and it was a lot of work. Hunter knows how to score the points. Maybe next year I will have the time to make the other boys a musketeer costume and they could be the three musketeers together.

After grandmas party we went to grandma cindy's house for taco soup and fun with the girls.

My camera died right after this shot so I didn't get any more photos of the night, but everyone was dressed darling and they all had a full day of fun.
We love Halloween.

Dirt

I can't believe it, all that beautiful new grass and the boys still just want to play in the dirt...

We are so grateful to everyone who helped us get our lawn in this summer.
Thank you, thank you!
It sure has made a difference and we are loving it.