It's almost Christmas!!

Cute kids pictures ...

I decided I didn't want to be on the Christmas card this year (due to some extra baby weight that isn't so pretty), so we got lots of good pictures of the kids. Here are my favorites:

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Maggie's birthday lasted 3 days this year! We had a birthday party on Thursday-- with 10 of the cutest girls EVER! We had so much fun and big THANK YOU to Micki, I couldn't have done it without you! And Arisa for taking Annie, which was a HUGE help!! On Friday we took treats to her class and I got to have lunch with her and her cute friends, and for the best treat ever, Grandma came and spent the night with them while John and I went up to SLC for our anniversary. Saturday brought more presents and cake and dinner at I-Hop. What more could a 7 year old girl ask for? We love her and she is so sweet. She has great friends and is so smart!!

December 2009

Here's what we've been up to in December:

Thanksgiving 2009

So, we are a little slow, so now we play catch up! We had Thanksgiving at my Mom & Dad's and it was wonderful! We started the day out with a Turkey Trot 5k. John, Johnny, & I ran with my Dad, Tyra, Scott & Jorine. It was a great way to start out the day. My mom cooked an amazing meal, Scott did the turkey, and both my Mom's parents and my Dad's mom were there. It was so fun to be with both sets of grandparents! The next day brought lots of 3:30 a.m. shopping, and we did awesome-- as we usually do. We love Black Friday shopping! It's one thing we look forward to Thanksgiving for! Josie was our amazing photographer this year. It is so great to be able to hand the camera to her and it's fun to see what she comes up with.

Johnny's Birthday 2009

I realized when I went to post pictures of Maggie's birthday, that I haven't yet done Johnny's. Can he really be nine years old? Maybe I'm just in denial. The other day he asked how old until he was an "adult". He's halfway there!! This year we had a little party for him, he invited some friends and they went bowling. They had a great time, he is blessed with so many good friends in our neighborhood and ward. One of the reasons we stayed in this neighborhood when we bought our house is because there are a multitude of boys his age that are so great, which is really hard to find. We love Johnny so much. For Christmas he asked Santa for a brother. Hard to tell him it's just NOT going to happen! If I'm only going to have one boy, I'm glad it's him-- he's the best older brother and biggest helper ever! Having a fourth baby is soooooooooooooooooooo much easier than a first, mostly because of him! Happy 9th birthday, buddy, we love you!!

Hottest Toy This Season

Something about the hunt makes it exciting for me. I've been looking for months, along with others I roped in with me. Today I scored (4) of these:

I already have a lot of the accessories I've just been holding onto. I finally made the decision to give up last week, but ... by a matter of luck, I'll be holding onto EVERYTHING. Or selling them on E-Bay to pay for Christmas this year!