A Visit from Grandpa and Grammy and a Happy New Year!

Since Steve couldn't take the time off, we had the pleasure of my parents making the mecca out to see us for New Year's!  (And to put my dad to work - he's a great dad!)  

Ross and Ruby were ELATED and LOVE their Grandpa and Grammy, and demanded to play with them every waking moment.

My dad came and started finishing my walk in closet - which is no easy feat with the slanted ceiling, poor finish work from the last people that worked on it.  He mudded and sanded and mudded and sanded and then we painted and he installed some fabulous shelving that he designed with me.  I LOVE it!!  It took practically the entire week he was here though.  That - and he helped me paint my family room wall as well as a handful of other odd jobs we had no idea how to do - like fixing door knobs and locks.  He sure is handy and amazing!

This is the closest I could find to a before picture - just two clothes racks and a once mudded room.

 

Promptly after taking this picture, Ross said to me, "Mom, can you get out of here?  We're trying to work."  Humph! ;)

Grandpa showing him the ropes.

Ruby kept "accidentally" painting Ross instead of the wall...

Ross decided to get creative with his painting skills...

Here's the after so far :)  Still a few things to do, but it looks AMAZING!

Here's a pic of what the rest of the room used to look like.  This is a project for another time - just awkward to work with for sure.

My new green wall!

Still have a few finishing touches and spots to fill with decor, but I love it.  :)  With the dark wood it reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream which is hilarious!

My mom and I headed to Springfield for a Dr. visit for my foot (nerve pain) and checked out the store down there called The Crazy Iguana where I got another pair of these awesome knitted socks Steve had gotten me for Christmas and a nice red pot for outside my house.  We went to the Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch and then headed on home with tired out kiddos.  
 

Always more of a party heading out with the crew when my mom's around!

Saying "hey" to Santa after our lunch.

We had pretty much second Christmas that night since my parents saved their presents for when they came.  The kids got some new jammies, slippers, Ross got a truck you can use a drill to put together and take apart.  Rowland got some toy eggs, and Ruby got a beautiful Snow White dress up.  They also each got some cute fleece blankets too.  We got my parents a frame for a painting of the temple they were married in, a new calendar for the year complete with grandkid pictures, and The Christmas Story Yahtzee game which was hilarious since my family LOVES that movie. :)

"Aww yeah - this is the good stuff." "I've got Grammy right where I want her." ;)

A SWEET Spiderman hat Ross LOVES.

Cute kitty hat

Matching brothers :)  ADORABLE!

My dad did some sanding and - wow - that is no small task - for real.  Here's the proof...   
 

The things my dad does for me...love this man!

The kids got spoiled with going to play at McDonald's including ice cream cones.  Ruby definitely loved hers.

We took down Christmas together, played games, and when it came time to paint my family room wall, my mom was amazing and took the kids to play again at the McDonald's playland (since there's NO where else to go when it's freezing outside).  
 

NOT excited about taking down Christmas decorations.

Playing with the new toys. :)

Naps were optional most of the time grandparents were here...so sometimes this happened.

Who knew something so spicy could be inside such a sweet face like that. ;)

Every night Steve and I pretty much played games with my parents from 5 Crowns to Yahtzee to Farkle to Bubble Talk.  It's always especially hilarious playing with my mom because she gets tired and laughs like crazy!

Playing Bubble Talk, my dad wasn't really in to it - he was losing for the first half of the game...and then out of nowhere he started winning, and then at the end when we were all literally neck and neck and any of us had it - he went ahead and won!! Now it's his favorite game. ;)  Just kidding - but it was quite the event!

I also had to go to the church to help set up some of the new theme for the year, so my mom came and entertained the kids.  They brought their scooters and I found them in the cultural hall riding them in the dark (their wheels light up when they ride) which I thought was pretty daring and then chasing shadows with my mom's phone light.  Haha!
 

Playing with Grandma Claudia's present - we had some SWEET puppet shows.

This is a Pocahontas face.  Hahahaha!

Smiling AND looking.  This NEVER happens with Ruby.  Grandpa must have the magic touch!

Love it!!

She is SO beautiful!

And those thirty seconds of smiling are now over.  :)

He sure loves his Grammy. :)

It's always fun to play in a box!

Rowly needed to be involved. :)

We celebrated New Year's a little early - like 8:30 with the kids.  We made a yummy turkey dinner, had a glow in the dark dance party (which was a HUGE hit with the kids) complete with music, and games, and then we rang in the new year before heading to bed.  Super fun (and smart).

This one was too funny not to include.

Our glow stick dance party.  It was epic!

We included songs such as Immortal by Fall Out Boys, When Can I See You Again by Owl City, Ghostbusters, and a bunch of 70's stuff my mom had on her phone. ;)

This girl didn't even wait for the countdown before chugging the sparkling cider!

Cheers! (Ross may have had too much cider) ;)

Happy New Year!

We BBQed on Sunday after church and some naps (my mom and I watched Once I Was a Beehive which was cheesy and cute), and then it felt like they should stay another week to just relax and hang out with us...

These two sure like being together! :)

Bike Riding!

It finally warmed up one of the days they were here.

Cute little monster. :)

And just like that, their visit was over.  We were all pretty sad about it, but our kids were the saddest.  Watching Grandpa and Grammy leave was the worst!  But we sure loved having them come stay.  Family is just - the best! 

Grandpa and Grammy just left...

Sometimes you have to lie on the floor and cover your head with a blanket when you're sad...

Or feel pretty put out about it.  Take your pick. ;)

 

11 Month Old Rowland!

I've tried to put a ban on growing - on all of my kids - but no mind trick or deal is going to make a difference.  This little boy is GROWING!

There's no more hope for my signs...and he just chuckles about it! :)

Still sporting his signature forehead. ;)

Rowland is by far our laughiest baby.  The funniest thing lately is that he's turned into the chuckler kind.  He chuckles about everything - if you catch his eye - he chuckles.  He's surprised? - chuckles.  Is in to something off limits? - chuckles.  It's hard to get frustrated when he's so good natured. :)  

There's those two teeth. :)

Getting WAY too big!

He also is so sweet he can charm his way anywhere.  The ladies at church definitely ooh and ahh over him.  He gets LOTS of attention. 

Rowly's also got his two teeth and is working on his first top tooth.  Everything currently goes straight into his mouth lately.  Luckily when he's snuck something in there he shouldn't - he just holds it in his mouth instead of trying to swallow it.  Though we still have mild panic attacks sometimes with things he finds! 

Love my brown eyed baby!

He still will scream when he wants your attention - which is a must in our family since there are so many needing attention.  He's a very content kid - but if he's feeling like it's his turn - He. Will. Let. You. Know.  

He ADORES his brother and sister.  They are always so fun.  He tries to get in to Ross's cars and toys all the time, and Ross usually ends up rolling him away which Rowland thinks is hilarious.  He likes to climb up on Ruby whenever she's around too - much to her dismay.  

He's still the speedy crawler - like crazy speedy - though he does short, quick, scoots so he doesn't get TOO far too fast for us yet.  He's always pulling himself up on everything now and trying to figure out how to go from there.  In all of this though - he is VERY proud of himself - chuckling whenever he pulls one of his tricks off.  
 

At least he's showing the sign! :)

He really REALLY wants to climb, and almost has the maneuvering down.  He's gotten up one step, but that's as far as he's endeavored.  

He's thinning out with all his moving (wipe a tear) and definitely handling himself much more.

Rowland is DEFINITELY NOT into baby food so much and is crazy about any other kind of food.  It's nice that he's feeding himself more lately.

His favorites: eggos, oranges, bananas, frozen or cooked peas, green beans, hotdogs, strawberries, pretty much anything he can gum down.

He loves peek-a-boo, chase, just laughing, racing to put something in his mouth before anyone can catch him, sleeping on his tummy with his bum up in the air, his binky, grabbing faces, and being snuggled right before he goes to sleep.

He's growing like crazy!  And we love our Rowly Cannoli!  

Christmas 2015

Well Christmas just came extremely fast this year.  Or maybe I gave myself too many projects, and not enough time.  Nonetheless, Christmas came and we definitely enjoyed it.  I have plans to simplify next year though...I'll let you know how that works out. ;) 

We had a Christmas party with some friends a couple days before Christmas.  I tried my hand at making breadsticks (we had pasta, breadsticks, and salad for the dinner).  They were surprisingly easy and SUPER yummy. The kids were sent downstairs and the rest of us adults ate, chatted, and ate some more.  Really fun. :)
 

I was really awesome and took zero pictures at our party - so I mooched the only one of our family taken from my friend. :)

Christmas Eve was spent getting ready for Santa and for Christmas Day (so I wouldn't have to cook). We made cookies for Santa, I made cinnamon rolls, and watching Christmas movies (since we have no movie theater to go on our traditional outing for a movie).  It magically snowed...for about 30 minutes two days before Christmas making us wonder if we'd get a white Christmas this year.  Nope - 60 degree weather - just like last year!

Watching the snow fall.  :)

Rowland trying to see too. :)

A Christmas fairy granting wishes...

Helping make the Christmas cookies - they MUST be chocolate chip according to Ross. (I am suspecting it might be because he always gets a dough ball and a few chocolate chips when we make them...)

Cinnamon roll dough is the most beautiful dough I've ever worked with.  I literally love smoothing it out - it's so soft!!

"Mom, I'm kind of over these cheerios...how about a cinnamon roll?"

We settled down to do a Christmas devotional...which - I'll spare you most of the details - was half of a train wreck with tired, grumpy kids.  We still read the Christmas story and shared what our gifts to the Savior were for that year, said our family prayers, and then quickly set out our cookies, and tucked the kids in bed before any more drama could occur., and Steve and I watched one more Christmas movie while we wrapped each other's presents before calling it a night.

 

The next morning Ross came in, and I was delirious as to what day it was.  He was looking for some clothes to change in to and I told him to just grab some downstairs when he said, "Mom, I can't!  Santa's down there!" Haha.  Both he and Steve went down and when Ross saw that Santa had come, he started doing a little Ross dance and singing, "I was a goo-oood boooooy.  I was a goo-oood boooy!"  LOVE that kid. :)

Ross was ELATED to get the inclusive toy boat complete with a crane, shark, helicopter, raft, and cars from Santa.  Ruby was dying over her dress ups.  She promptly put each one on when she opened them, and then preferred the wedding dress one with the veil I made her.  Rowland got some stacking toys he loved dismantling anytime anyone tried to stack them.  

Ready for Christmas!

Our old neighbors were super generous and gave our kids gifts as well. Ruby got this Elsa wig. haha!

Rowly got a piano baby toy.  Which all of the kids have enjoyed.

Dress up #1 - fairy outfit.

Ross's wish from Santa.  A dream come true!

Dress up #2 - Cinderella.

Steve ALWAYS guesses his presents and I hate it!  He couldn't guess this one though. :)  Lord of the Rings Extended edition on Blue Ray.  So thick and heavy - like a book! :)

Dress up #3 - wedding dress.

Steve got me a luggage scale - since whenever we fly mine are always borderline!

Rowly got some sweet new shoes from his Great Grandma Staheli.

Both Ruby and I LOVE this - lots of coloring and stamping...and NO mess. :)

Eating Christmas oranges. :)

Ross was also wishing for an ambulance which he got from Great Grandma Staheli.  He LOVES it.

Steve was wishing for power tools which was granted - getting a chop saw and a hand sander.  I also got him the illustrated Harry Potter book so he can read it to the kids, but it didn't come until the middle of January.  Haha.  
 

Every time he gets his tools out and works on something - it's like Christmas all over again.  Haha! :)

I got a sweet blue tooth speaker since I play music off my phone all the time at home, it's fun to listen to it properly! 

We got the kids some fishing poles, and some nice scooters too which they have loved and was totally worth the money.  
 

Trying out the scooters. (Wedding dresses may help).

The aftermath...

Finally got her to look at me!

Our traditional matching Christmas Jammies.

After all that, we called family and the kids opened their presents from Grandpa and Grandma.  Grandma Claudia made the kids an awesome puppet show theater and gave them loads of puppets. We've had a ton of fun with that.  They also got a tee pee too!  
 

Of course the babies prefer the boxes - right??

Later the kids tried out their scooters and Rowland went down for a nap, and then the missionaries came to call their families.  It took longer than we were expecting (since a couple of them didn't even tell their families when they would be calling....????) but we tried out a couple of the new games we got including Quelf which I got from my brother-in-law and is HILARIOUS.  
 

We played Bubble Talk and came across this picture - at a glance - it totally looks like Steve!!  Haha!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our kids enjoyed their new movie Ice Age 4 they got for Christmas and we played some more with all the new toys after the missionaries left.  It was a fun day, and Steve and I are REALLY enjoying the magic of Christmas more with our kids.