Grandma's Dance Party

 Every December as a Christmas present to both her children and grandchildren, my mom hosts a huge sleepover. All grandchildren ages 2 and up are invited to come. While I'm pretty sure she is delusional for doing it year after, the kids look forward to it for months, and so do the parents (date night!). She gives the children presents and has treasure hunts and they eat whatever they want and stay up way past their bedtime. One of the gifts this year was a dance party game for the wii. Apparently it was a huge hit. Here are a few pictures of the kids in action:

Thanks for having this fun holiday tradition, Grandma!
Merry Christmas Everyone!

He's so Vain

Davis was caught kissing his own reflection in the dishwasher yesterday.

Madelyn at 2 1/2

Maddie is two and a half years old this month and I wanted to record a few things about her. These are some of my favorite posts to look back on because it is amazing how fast kids change (and how some things about them never do) and how quickly I am able to forget what they were like at certain ages.

• Maddie is crazy about carbs. Chips, breads, muffins, pretzels, crackers, and especially popcorn are among her favorite things to eat. If we have bread with dinner, it is ALWAYS the first thing she eats. When she asks for more, I usually respond with, "Of course, as soon as you eat your {insert vegetable or other dinner foods here}." This trick usually works. Usually.
• Speaking of eating, she has recently started hoarding food in her cheeks like a chipmunk so that she doesn't have to swallow anything she deems unpleasant. Not long ago she kept a chewed-up shrimp in her mouth for approximately 30 minutes. Now that sounds unpleasant to me.
• She is also a heavy drinker. Her beverage of choice is almost always milk (unless juice is an option). We joke that if she ever got a hold of the bottle, she'd have to go straight to rehab. The other day she downed 12 oz. of orange juice in a matter of a couple of minutes. Impressive. And if she ever gets a hold of soda, you have to pry it out of her hands, pink eyes watering from the carbonation the entire time.

• She is still obsessed with all things Dora. She loves to act out her own adventures and I think she will really like the Talking Backpack that she is getting for Christmas. 
• She still insists on doing almost everything by herself and will turn into a screaming, limp, mop-of-a-person if you try to do any of the following for her: help her into the van, buckle her seat belt, carry her anywhere she insists on walking, separate the pieces of an orange for her, or put her in her crib for bed without sufficient warning. 
• Maddie is starting to love helping me in the kitchen. She is the official bouillon cube unwrap-per of the house. She loves to open them and put them in the soup pot. With winter upon us and soup a staple in our house, she is kept pretty busy. She also thinks that sorting and unloading the clean silverware into the silverware drawer is the greatest thing ever. Let's hope that one stays a novelty for awhile.

• She has been giving more attention to her baby brother than ever before. For the first 6 months of his life, she didn't seem to pay much attention to him unless she was following Isaac's lead. Lately she loves holding his hand in the car and trying to make him laugh. Just the other day, Isaac yelled, "Davis, you are a PAIN in the BUUUUTTTT! (one of the phrases he has learned from my father)" Maddie quickly retorted with, "NO, Isaac! He is not a PAIN in the BUUUUTTT! He is our baby brother!"
• Multiple times a day she comes up to me, gives me a hug, and says, "Mama, I soooo proud of you!"
• She loves to sing but can't carry a tune in a bucket. Sorry, little one, you inherited that from me.
• She doesn't mind at all being the center of attention and is rarely if ever shy. 
• She talks nonstop, especially in the car. 
• She is Ike's almost-constant sidekick. 

• If you take a toy from her, she will come at you with a vengeance, but if you ask her for it, 9 times out of 10 she will give it right up.
• She is very cuddly and loves to give hugs and kisses, and will often tell everyone around her how much she loves them, even inanimate objects. We love our little Mads.

The Gingerbread House

Last night we decorated a gingerbread house for FHE. All day Monday they were bouncing off the walls with excitement and couldn't wait to get started.

 Davis was content to just sit in his chair and eat the gingerbread waffles we had for Brinner. I highly recommend them, and I think D would too if he could talk. 

Every single piece of candy we bought to decorate either ended up in the kids' mouths or on top of the gingerbread house.

The finished product and the hyped-up kids who created it. 

Decorating the gingerbread last night reminded me of a time when my sisters and I did the same activity with our Young Women's group. I must have been about 14, so Allie was 16 or 17. We were in the church kitchen, decorating graham cracker houses. I turned my back for a second to get some candy for my awesome roof. When I turned to face my house again, it was a pile of broken graham cracker pieces. I glanced at Allie who was laughing her head off at my predicament. Naturally, I assumed she was the one who made my house topple to the ground (wouldn't you?). Without giving it a second of thought, I took my fist and crushed her house to smithereens. I think it was about this time that our youth leaders intervened and I was informed that Allie had nothing to do with my house falling apart. Guess she learned not to share a laugh at my expense (sorry girl!).

I still haven't lived that story down. In fact, Allie brought it up to me just the other day (love you Allie! muuuaahh!). Our Young Women leaders never forgot it either. They told that story at a bridal shower they gave Brooke and I twelve years after the alleged incident. I'm pretty sure Allie has since forgiven me, but I'm not expecting an invitation to decorate gingerbread houses at her house anytime soon...

Guess I can't really blame Maddie's "spirited" personality completely on either her aunt Shanny or aunt Brookie.

His Newest Form of Transportation

Big D is on the go! As the video shows, he usually starts out on all fours and then moves into an army crawl (worm?), kind of like his big sister did when she was about his age. Always bittersweet when they start to become mobile. Sweet because it's fun to watch your kids learn new things. Bitter because his learning to crawl means more work for mama. But less vacuuming, right?

One last Word

Pretty sweet gratitude list

I feel like my final post in my 30 days of blogging was kind of a cop out--wheat bread, really? So here is my p.s. post.  Just a list of a few things I'm grateful for, in no particular order:

• Christmas music (almost everything except The Little Drummer Boy...)
• Pepsi Throwback--seriously, you gotta try it---I don't even like Pepsi.
• Sticky, slobbery kisses from my kiddos.
• A husband who gets to come home every night.
• A warm house to live in, and parents who make it very easy to live here.
• My health and the health of my family. I hope to never take it for granted.
• My wonderful sisters. All of them. And my brothers too. All of them. 
• The Gospel. This past year has been the hardest of my life, but the Gospel has helped me have perspective. I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who is mindful of my little family. 
• Warm boots.
• Chocolate.
• Cousins for my kids to play with. 
• Dear friends that feel like family.
• The opportunity that Ryan has to go to school. 
• Loving and supportive parents. 
• Christmas traditions, and kids who cant wait to celebrate the special day.

The holiday season is officially upon us, so 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!