Christmas Morning

The kids with their Santa presents

Maisey got a Huge Mr. Potatoe Head with lots of little ones and all of the pieces inside, lots of princess dress up clothes (Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty), Hi Ho Cherrio, a new pair of jammies, some jewelry, and a princess plate, cup, bowl, silverware set.

Gage got a wobbly lion, a train that has these spinning balls, some new jammies, sensory balls, and a Spiderman plate, cup, bowl, silverware set.

Maisey loved to help Gage (and EVERYONE!) open his presents. His favorite present of the day: a little Diego doll.

Like I said, She loved opening everybody's gifts.

Lucky for her we went down to my mom's after we finished to eat breakfast and help them open their gifts. Then we headed to Sunriver!

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was a jammed packed day! We headed down to my mom's bright and early to play a game of flag football!

We headed down to my mom's bright and early to play a game of flag football! Don't we look tough?

After football, everyone showered and got ready for the day! Shaun's friend from BYU, who now lives in Colorado, came to visit for a while! We haven't seen him since his wedding a year and a half ago! It was fun to catch up!

We played a Christmas Jeopardy game that I made during afternoon naps!

We ate a yummy dinner!

We did a mini photo shoot of our Santa Baby. . . who was so.dang.cute!

Then we started our Christmas Eve program. We have a Christmas countdown and for our second year in a row we fill each day with a slip of paper. Each slip of paper has a song, story, or game on it. It makes for a fun Christmas Eve.

Maisey performed Feliz Navidad for everyone while shaking her maracas. I practiced a lot with her before Chirstmas Eve, and she still asks me to help her practice!

The whole family sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer while playing instruments. Maisey got the triangle and LOVED it!

Blair sang "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" while Kelsey accompanied him.

We had a coloring contest.

We played a present game!

And maybe the best slip of paper from the whole night. . . A Mid 1990's Christmas Eve reenactment of Frosty the Snowman. It was awesome! And my sisters were good sports!

When my sisters and I were younger, my mom put me in charge of doing a Christmas Eve activity. I made Katelyn dress up as Frosty, we shoved her full of pillows and she was so lumpy. When we were 10 and 7, we didn't have a lot of resources, so we used a whitches hat as the top hat and a measuring cup as the pipe. We made big black circles out of paper for the eyes. So once she was all dressed up, Kelsey and I SANG the song (which was almost worse than the costume!) while Katelyn danced around and acted it out.

Daddy and Maisey pulled out the last slip of paper from the countdown. They were assigned to act out the nativity with her Little People Nativity set (since they practiced for FHE a few weeks ago!)

The fam getting ready to head home!

Once we got home, we did baths and jammies. Maisey and I put out cookies and milk for Santa and wrote him a letter.

This is what her letter said:

To Santa:

I love you and Santa's Daughter. I'm leaving you some milk and presents. Please leave some presents and toys for me and a reindeer for brother. I would really like a Cinderella dress please. And a barbie too. Brother wants books.

Travel safe!

Love,

Maisey Grimmett

and

Gage too!

Christmas Light Display

The Wednesday before Christmas, I took Maisey to see a Christmas Light Route in Keizer. Most people drive, but it wasn't raining, so we decided to bundle up and break out the wagon. My mom, my sister Kelsey, and my brother came with us. Dad volunteered to have Gage duty at home (maybe because there was a bowl game on!), and Uncle Brian decided to keep Shaun company. They really missed out! It was priceless to see Maisey's reactions to all of the lights! This will definitley be a tradition!

One of the several houses decked out in lights!

Go Beavs!

I thought this was funny. It totally looks like Santa and Rudolph are kissing!

Maisey and Mommy! She loved pointing out all of the reindeer, sleighs, Santas, Baby Jesus', snowmen, stars, penguins. . . pretty much anything we saw!

Santa stopped at our house!

It's an early night for Santa and Mrs. Claus at our house. The presents are out and we are all packed and ready to head to Sunriver tomorrow!

We had an AWESOME Christmas Eve. . . actually a really fun Christmas week!

Lots of posts to come. . .

But for now I'm going to enjoy Christmas morning. . .

And my vacay!

Merry Christmas!

8 months

Happy 8 months today brother man!

He is growing so much lately, and these last few weeks have been going so well!

EATING: He now eats 2 baby foods at each meal. Like I said, he is really GROWING! He likes everything he has tried, except for peas, which Maisey didn't like either (and neither do daddy and mommy, maybe it's genetic!) He eats 3 meals a day with a bottle at each meal and an extra bottle after his afternoon nap.

SLEEPING: He has been sleeping through the night for the past week and a half. We put him down around 7 pm and he usually wakes up sometime between 6 and 7 am, but we don't get him out of bed til 7 am, to encourage the later wake up time! Mom is getting lots of rest at night, which makes her happier! :) He takes 2 -3 naps a day, usually lasting anywhere from 1 - 1 1/2 hours. We just put him in his crib and he falls asleep on him own. Like I said, THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING WELL THE LAST FEW WEEKS!

PLAYING: He loves his toys! He likes to play with anything that has wheels. He just sits there and spins them. He likes to roll a ball back and forth with anyone who will do this with him. He likes to play with blocks and legos, books, stuffed animals, this boy's pretty much happy with any toy we give him! He loves to play with his sister! They are best buddies! He will just sit there forever watching her do whatever she's doing, but he mostly likes when she tickles him or reads him books.

OTHER INFO: No teeth, but I keep thinking he's teething! So maybe soon, but maybe not! No crawling, but once again, I see it on the horizon. If he is sitting up he can get into the crawling position, except for one leg. It looks pretty funny. If he's on his tummy, he can scoot himself around in a full circle and he can scoot backwards, but no forward progress yet!!! He has been a lot more content lately! And he's also made it through a whole sacrament meeting awake, with out having to be taken out!

Here are some pics from this morning!

B.F.F.

He sleeps with his feet crossed at the ankles. It is so dang cute! He loves his blankie to be snuggled up by his face, and he can't fall asleep with out it!

I hope this next month has been as good as this last month! We may be getting out of this rut we've been in!

Polar Express

The theme for our ward Christmas Party this year was the Polar Express. I spent all Friday afternoon at the church decorating! It was a lot of fun and our turn out was incredible. Almost double what we had last year!

People were assigned to decorate train cupcakes that also doubled as our centerpiece. These weren't the ones I decorated, but these were the ones on our table.

Here is Maisey eating her train. (She won't pick it up b/c she doesn't like her hands to get messy)

Every one, including Daddy and Gage, came in their P.J.s since it was The Polar Express

Santa came to visit and gave all of the kids bells with their treat bags. Gage was SO not scared of Santa. He would have sat there all night! He loved his beard.

Gage may need to teach Maisey that there is nothing to be afraid of. She was terrified! Look at her face! She would not even look at him. I put my camera down to go help her. I was holding her and I told her that if she didn't tell Santa what she wanted then he wouldn't bring any toys. I could feel her heart beating so fast and the poor girl was shaking, but she gathered all of the bravery that she had, whipped her head around to face Santa and yelled so fast, "A Cinderella dress PLEASE!!!!!!" Then whipped her head right back around. It was pretty funny. When we went back to our seats she calmly asked me, "Mommy, where is my Cinderella dress?" I told her that Santa will bring it to our house on Christmas morning. I'm pretty sure she still doesn't get the whole thing. . . maybe next year! But it's a good thing Santa really is bringing her a Cinderella dress, otherwise I'm pretty sure we would have a HUGE Christmas meltdown.

BTW, the whole you better pick up your toys or you will be on Santa's naughty list is totally working in our favor right now! Too bad Christmas is in a week, because I could be using that for a long time!

Zzzzzzz

Yes, I know it's only 8:40 pm.

Yes, I know that my 2 year old is still awake in her bed.

Yes, I know that my kids have summer clothes still hanging in their closets, my fridge needs to be wiped out, my carpet vacuumed, my craft closet organized, my own closet cleaned out, our hall closet organized, our garage cleaned, the list goes on.

But I am tired, so I'm going to bed!

A mom is entitled to an early night every once in a while!

My projects can wait. . .

Who Said Girls Can't Play Football?

Maisey challenged Peyton to a game of tackle football. Can you tell she's really in to that lately?

Get him Maisey, get him!

Childhood Bliss! Look at their faces!

She got him down!

Daddy joined in on the fun too!

Family Home Evening

Last week the kids and I went to the $ store and I told Maisey if she was good she could pick out one toy. When we were there she asked me if she could pick out a toy for her friend Porter. I told her yes. And she asked, "And Peyton too?" I said of course. And she asked, "And Hudson too?" So we came home with presents for 3 of her friends. So we invited them over for a fun-filled Christmas family home evening last night.



Shaun started the evening out by doing a short, kid version of the nativity. The kids got to act it out with pieces from Maisey's Little People Nativity set.



Then all of the kids exchanged gifts. Maisey gave Porter and Peyton monster trucks, and she gave Hudson a puzzle. She even helped me wrap the gifts. She was in charge of the tape and really enjoyed her job. Porter gave Maisey a Mickey Mouse Puzzle and Peyton gave Maisey a beautiful ring! :) These kids are so cute together!



After presents, we headed into the kitchen and each family got to make and decorate a gingerbread house. We all bought kits from different places and ours was definitely the worst. The frosting wasn't thick enough, our house kept falling apart, and the frosting kept coming out of the top of the frosting bag (Shaun was in charge of that part). So we made ours in to a Teepee. Maisey kept asking where the door was because everyone else had a door on theirs. We had a good time even though it didn't turn out perfect.

Everyone decorating

Porter eating the candies!

Our door-less Teepee

The 3 kiddos with their works of art!

Maisey was watching Porter lick his house and she was kind of grossed out. She was flipping out all night because she thought she was going to get sticky! What a girl!

After we were done decorating the houses we were all just talking in the family room and we thought the kids were off playing. . .

. . . But Shaun found the boys hiding under the kitchen table. Porter got into the cupcakes and it looks like he is trying to persuade Peyton in to one.

Peyton gives in!

We had such a fun night! We will definitely have to do it again next year, but I will buy my kit from Wal-Mart, but just remind me!

Gymnastics Show

On Saturday, Maisey's gymnastics class was part of the Dance, Dance, Dance, Christmas recital. Maisey was so excited to go to her gymnastics show.

Posing in front of the set.

Then she met up with her gymnastics friends, Porter and Peyton.

Hudson joined in on the fun!

This is Maisey's teacher, Anne. She is so good with the toddlers and Maisey loves her!

We had to watch 11 dances before it was Maisey's class' turn. Maisey is absolutely captivated by the dances.

Maisey is getting ready for her big debut!

She just got done doing a summersault down the mat.

So happy!

I was so proud of her! She wasn't shy at all and did everything that Teacher Anne told her to do! She is going to be my little performer!