The Grimmett's Visit

Maisey loves her Grandma and Grandpa Grimmett and she was so excited that all of her "families" were coming to visit.

On there way into town, we met them at Sweet Tomatoes. Maisey had been feeling ok all day, so I thought it would be fine to bring her. As soon as we got there she told me she felt like she was going to puke. I felt her head and she was burning up! :(

So she spent the first few minutes laying in the booth next to me, until we decided we better wait in the car to try to avoid another puking episode at the same restaurant. (a little over a year ago, she was like a fountain spewing puke all over! The family at the table next to us was mortified!)

Everyone else enjoyed their dinner and we all met back up at home. We exchanged Christmas gifts. We got 3 new games which we spent the whole next week playing!!!

On Wednesday, Shaun's family went to spend time with some friends. I decided to stay back because I didn't want to spread whatever my kids had!

It's a good thing I did because this was what she looked like all afternoon! This was the 3rd day of this for Maisey and the 5th in a row between both kids! I am SO over this!

The next day the kids seemed to be feeling a little bit better! They were able to play some games with Grandma and Papa!

And some dress-up with Uncle Ryan! They sure do love all of their friends!

We also headed to the church to play some basketball! It was so fun! We had some pretty close games, and in the last game I made the game winning shot! I haven't played ball since my beginning basketball class at BYU before I got pregnant with Maisey! I had SO much fun!

Friday was New Year's Eve and our last night with our family! We celebrated East Coast time so Miss Maisey didn't think she was missing out on anything!

Maisey and Daddy doing cheers with their apple cider!

We used our new ice cream sundae lazy susan
and made some yummy sundaes!

Happy New Year!!!

Out of Order!

I have so much to update on!

Nap time has been a DISASTER today, so this will be quick.

I have 2 sick kids now!

Gage spent all of Christmas puking and diarrhea-ing! The puking has subsided, but not the other thing! He also has this nasty croupy cough, snot spewing out his nose, a fever, and a sore throat.

Maisey's bladder infection cleared up 2 days ago. But now she has the same horrible cough as her brother and a fever.

I stayed home from church with them yesterday. I decided to rearrange Maisey's room to fit all of her toys from Christmas! I like the way it looks.

I had been in bed for 30 min. last night before Maisey woke up in a coughing attack. I ended up in her bed with her, rubbing her back and tummy while she coughed in my face! I'm sure I'll be the next victim of this nasty cough.

At some point last night we had both fallen asleep . . . until she fell off her bed right onto a wooden stool. So at 1:30 am, I stumbled to the freezer to get an ice pack for her and fell back into her bed!

I'm tired!

There will be real updates coming, but not for a while! Shaun's fam comes tomorrow!

It's probably safe to say I won't be back til next year and there will be lots of back-dated posts!

So, happy 2011 to all of you!

The Rest of Christmas Day

After we finished opening gifts we ate a delicious breakfast,

during which Gage ended up puking his guts out. (He didn't even want a cupcake that his sis snuck for him!)

After a while, he seemed to be feeling better so we let them go outside to play with their toys!

Maisey had been asking for a scooter for months! She was pretty good on that thing!

And Gagey wanted to play with his old favorite toy! He totally has Flinstone feet in it! He's such a cutie!

We came back in and played with all the rest of our toys. Maisey played dress up forever! We also watched a couple of our new movies.

In the evening, we decided to put the kids in the car and drive down to Keizer to do the Christmas light route again! The kids love it! We could have done it every night of December and it wouldn't have gotten old for them!

Oh, and Maisey LOVED riding in her new seat for the first time!

After we got home, we had more puking, and high fevers from both kids!

Merry Christmas to us!!!

Christmas Morning

So, we got a new video camera a few weeks ago, and I was so focused on using that this morning that I kinda forgot to take real pictures too! Once I realized it, the most exciting parts were over!

Gagey had already dug into his stocking! He enjoyed some chocolate for breakfast while riding his new scooter.

Maisey also tested out her new scooter!

And her new big girl seat! Santa must have been listening to her BEGGING for a big girl seat!

I made Gage an ABC scrapbook for Christmas! It turned out really cute and he LOVES it!

Maisey made a cute photo ornament for Shaun and I at preschool. She was SO excited for us to open it! And, she did a great job at keeping it a secret!

Gagey is opening up a big Thomas the Train set! He got tons of trains and trucks this year!

I am opening my "BIG" gift from Shaun! He scheduled me an appointment at a day spa for next Tuesday! He worked it out with his manager to work from home so he can watch the kids! I can't wait to get my ice cream pedicure! It sounds SO SO SO great!

Maisey was sure excited about EVERY.SINGLE.PRESENT she opened this year! But among her favorites: A princess dress-up trunk and all of the princess shoes!

Here is Shaun opening his "BIG" gift from me! I was so excited for him to open them! He had NO idea I got him this really expensive pair of shoes he's had his eye on for over a year! It was so fun to see his face!

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was pretty low key. We had to keep it like that because Shaun was on call and ended up working all evening last night. Luckily he didn't get any calls today! We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight. After dinner we gave the Elders their stockings that Maisey and I made. They had fruit, candy, shoe shiner, a tie, and a McDonald's gift card in it. They turned out really cute! Then we played a fun game.

Maisey LOVES taking pictures with my camera. She took these ones and that's why heads/bodies are cut off!

After the game, Shaun, Maisey and I each shared one of our favorite Christmas stories and then we all got to eat a treat that had to do with the story. Shaun read a little poem about an unwanted Christmas tree. We all ate Christmas tree cupcakes. Maisey read a story called "I Believe in Santa Claus." It is an AWESOME book and she did such a great job reading it. We ate Santa graham crackers. Then I read "Christmas Oranges" and we all ate chocolate oranges.
Our yummy dessert.

This Christmas Eve was different than any other. It was weird not having family around to share the evening with.

This little guy wasn't feeling very good, so we put him to bed at 7 and Maisey was not too far behind him!

Because the kids were in bed early, Santa was able to come early!

The kids are getting some great things!

We can't wait for the morning!

All I Can Say is. . .

. . . WOW!!!!

My hubby, sportin the new (fake) stash sent this to me today!

At least they are all equally nerdy!

You better watch out!

Love this girl!

Losing My Patience

Maisey has a viral bladder infection, in which antibiotics won't help. She won't pee, she screams and cries, kicks and wiggles. It's really sad. I've been trying so hard to be patient with her. She is impossible to reason with. She doesn't understand that the more you pee the faster the infection will get out!

I was trying to console her on the potty this afternoon, while Gage was eating his lunch at the table. He pulled the table cloth (which he has been doing all season--VERY ANNOYING!) too far this time and the glass vase center piece full of glass Christmas bulbs came tumbling down and several of the bulbs broke!

He's screaming! She's screaming! And I'm going crazy!!!

And Shaun's swamped at work and will be late tonight!

I have a Primary Class Christmas Party at my house tonight, in which I am NOT.AT.ALL. ready for.

We'll see how this all plays out!

Primary Class Christmas Party

When I got a new calling in November, I was kind of sad to leave my primary class. A few months ago, I made them a deal. Everytime they brought their scriptures to class we would put a star on a chart. So if 3 people brought their scriptures on that particular Sunday, then we would put 3 stars up. If they met their goal of 35 stars then we were going to have a class Christmas party at my house.

I got released right before they met there goal. So I decided to throw the party for them anyway! I let them plan it all out, then I provided all the stuff.

Here is the class (+ Maisey) with their gingerbread houses!!!

We played a game

and another game!

It was a lot of fun! We also watched Home Alone and ate ourselves silly!

I really miss this crazy bunch of 10 year olds! But at least I will see the girls in a few years in YW!

Christmas with Grammy

Grammy is going to spend Christmas in Colorado this year with Shayla, Derick, and Luke, so we decided to celebrate Christmas with her early!

Shaun really missed out on having a drumstick for Thanksgiving dinner! Those are his favorite, so I told him I would make a Turkey during Christmas time and he could have one! So today, before church I stuck one in. I thought I got a picture of it but maybe it was on my mom's phone! But it was AWESOME!!! And I don't even like turkey very much! It was really moist and flavorful! Both Shaun and my mom said it was the best turkey they had ever had! I was pretty proud of myself!

After dinner we exchanged gifts with grammy!

She got each of the kids a few toys. . .

. . . and made them blankets. Maisey's is Cinderella and she LOVES it! (P.S. Please don't ask what she's wearing! She changed herself after church)

Gagey got a dinosaur blankie and a really cute dinosaur flashlight and book.

But what Gage really loved was this! It's an ice cream lazy susan server for ice cream sundae toppings! My mom gave it to Shaun and I with a gift card to buy stuff to go with it! SO CUTE!

My mom also gave the kids some games. Elefun and Gator Golf. These were both big hits with the kids! :)

We had a fun early Christmas with Grammy. The kids got a little confused as to why we weren't opening all of our presents tonight but it was still fun.

Then Maisey got to go home with Grammy tonight for a girls only sleepover!

In the morning they are making sugar cookies together!

We sure love our Grammy!

Tons of Christmas Activities, A Wedding, and A Gymnastics Performance!

So. . . I'm not going to lie! I'm pretty sure this is the LONGEST post I've ever done! I uploaded about half of the pictures last Monday with the intentions of doing the journaling part later in the week. Well, I had something EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT! I haven't put my kids to bed in a week. Either Shaun has or a babysitter has! And as for the days, my laptop got a virus on it Wednesday morning. It was the craziest thing! I was working on it in the morning, I left to take Maisey to preschool, and by the time I got home 15 minutes later, my laptop had been taken over and my hard drive cleared! It was just a crazy week! So I decided to add this week's pictures to this post and make in one gigantic post! And because of that, the pictures I added today are first, and there are so many that I am not going to go through and put them in order!

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Last Thursday, Dec. 9th, we had a play group Christmas party at the Haycock's! It was a candy cane theme, and the kids made ornaments and candy cane reindeer, frosted cookies, watched a fun Christmas show, and ate a yummy lunch! My kids had tons of fun! Thanks Haycock's!

Maisey eating her cookie, which she frosted so nicely!

Gagey eating his cookie, which he didn't have enough patience to wait for his mommy to frost!

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Saturday, December 11th, was a packed full day! We started at my mom's ward Christmas Party! It was a brunch with Santa! Too bad my kids are so scared of Santa! We enjoyed some yummy food!


Gage got closer than Maisey would! Maisey wouldn't even wait in line to see him!

Then we headed to Maisey's gymnastics performance! She was more nervous this year than she was last year! She wasn't sure about performing in front of hundreds of people, but she did GREAT!!! Her class and the other tot class did somersaults, bear crawls, bunny hops, jumping off the big cheese mat, and other stuff from class!

Here are both classes right before they went on!

Here is Maisey doing her somersaults!

Jumping off the big cheese!

Taking the final bow!

In the evening, Shaun and I had our Elder's Quorum Christmas Party! It was a Mele Kalikimaka theme and was so fun! We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and I made pineapple upside down cake for dessert! We had our annual games of Christmas Jeopardy and White Elephant! This was the most attended party the Elder's Quorum has had since Shaun has been the president! We had 30 people there! It was AWESOME! We may have to hold it at the church next year if we get that good of a turn out again!

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On Sunday, December 12th, we had the Stake Presidency Christmas Fireside! I thought the kids would love all of the singing because they did the weekend before at a different Christmas event that we went to, but boy was I wrong! Gage lasted about 5 minutes, and Maisey about 20! In their defense, it was a lot different this year! There was a lot of talking between songs, which in the past there hasn't been ANY! Before the fireside, we went to my mom's for dinner and some pictures! We also had my brother, Scott, dress up in my dad's Santa suit so maybe, just maybe I could actually get a picture of my kids with Santa! :) (My Dad used to dress up as Santa every year for us when we were little, then for my mom's class at school when she started teaching full-time! He LOVED to be Santa!)

I love Christmas outfits!!! :)

Look how handsome my little man is!

They sure love their grammy!

P.S. Gage started saying Grandma this week! He says it ALL.THE.TIME!!! He is definitely a grammy's boy!

Our festive fam!

Maisey was SO brave to sit on Santa's lap! My brother put the suit on over his clothes out in the family room so she understood it was just uncle Scott wearing a costume!

Gage still wasn't sure, until Santa broke out a gift for each of them!

They each got a zhu zhu pet and had so much fun playing with them that night!

The kids also got to help Grammy decorate this tree for Papa for the cemetery!

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Last Monday, December 6th, we had our annual Gingerbread House FHE with the Hoopes and Maughans! This year we acted out the nativity, because Maisey wanted to be Mary so bad!

The dad's were the wise men, Maisey was Mary, Peyton was Joseph, Porter was a shepherd, Angela was the star, Tish was the Angel, and Hudson and Gage wanted no part of it! :)

Our fam working on our house!

At one point all the kids were in the play room watching a Christmas show. . .

. . . and the parents were all out decorating the houses!

Each kid was so proud of their house!

Silly faces!

(I'm pretty sure Porter is eating his house in EVERY picture I have!)

The little guys wanted in on the action too!

Then the adults played this silly little ball-catcher game! I don't even know what it's called! My sister sent it for the kids! It was really fun! Shaun and I lost though!

(See Gage in the back right? That's the story of our lives right now -- Light Switches!)

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Now back to the Monday before, November 29th. We decorated our Christmas tree for FHE! It was a lot of fun and the kids have done way better than I expected about leaving everything alone. We have lots of presents under there and Gage is not tempted at all by them!

She is just absorbing every bit of the holiday cheer!

The final product!

Last year, the train was like a babysitter for me! Partly because Gage couldn't crawl yet! He would just sit there and watch it go around and around! This year he is all over that thing! He loves to be in charge of the remote! As long as it's moving he does really well at watching it and not touching but. . .

. . . once it stops moving that thing is derailed within seconds! So now we leave it up on the mantle and a couple times a day we take it down and turn it on!

(I know. . . I'm a mean mom!)

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On December 2nd, we had the opportunity to drive to Tri Cities to be at the sealing of Shaun's best friend, Kurt and his now wife, Emalee. We are so excited for both of them! We were able to go with out our kids (Thanks Angela! We owe you BIG!) and just enjoy a whole day together!

You know they're best friends when they both marry girls with the same name! :)

The whole gang!

Shaun, Kurt, and Jacob!

They were all roommates when Shaun and I started dating! We haven't seen Jacob since we graduated from BYU! It was so so so fun to catch up with him! He is a crack up!

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On Saturday, December 4th, we had our ward Christmas party, which was also a brunch. The primary kids did this little program thing and Maisey was excited to be a part of it!

Maisey is having serious anxiety about Santa this year (and who am I kidding. . . every year!). We ended up telling her who Santa was going to be so that she would even get close to him! A few nights before the party she came out of her room at like 10:00 crying because she was so afraid of Santa. She told me she didn't want to go to the party and she wanted me to call Grandma to see if she could baby sit her instead! So, to get her even standing next to him was a HUGE accomplishment!

Gagey wasn't a huge fan either. . . UNTIL food was involved! That's my boy!

Later that evening, we went to a Mexican place for dinner!

Gage discovered the plate of beans! He started out pretty well with the chip, but by the end was shoveling handfuls of beans in his mouth! We had to stop at Target to buy him new pants and shirt so we could take him to our next stop.

We went to a Nativity display put on by a stake in South Salem and it was INCREDIBLE!!!! I just accidentally deleted my picture that I loaded on here of the live nativity (and I'm not going back to do it again!) but both of my kids really enjoyed it! They had a live camel that Maisey thought was pretty cool!

Then we headed inside for the nativity display! They had all kinds from the most extravagant to the most simple, large life size pieces, to tiny little bity ones! It was really neat!

This was Shaun's favorite!

And this was my favorite! All made of chocolate!

Then we headed to the kids room where they made donkey ornaments, played in Mary's kitchen and Jospeh's workshop, and listened to the shepherds tell the story of Jesus' birth by a camp fire.

In the room after that, the kids got to write a gift they would like to give to Jesus this year. Maisey was so serious when she answered, "A Rattle." It was so cute! She just loves that Jesus was once a baby! Shaun added to her answer "And be good for my parents." She got to put her paper in a gift basket for Jesus.

Maisey is really in to taking pictures right now! She took this of Shaun and I at the nativity activity. I didn't know Shaun was doing that to me! She thought it was pretty funny!

I can't wait to do this again next year! It probably was my favorite activity of the season so far!

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This picture pretty much sums up how I feel! We are all SO exhausted, and these next few weeks don't look like they'll let up! But we are making great family memories and traditions, and having fun while doing it!

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P.S. Gage has become quite the little cheeser!

This is his new cheesy smile when ever he sees the camera!

He does this eye squint thing, and he thinks it's so funny. . . but it doesn't make for the best picture!

***If you survived this post, props to you!***