Christmas

When we came back to Logan from Christmas we left our camera in Koosh, so sorry no pictures of our awesome Christmas. We had a really great one. The kids were of course spoiled rotten. Grandma Hatch especially spoiled the kids. They got a new little 50 fourwheeler. It's really cute. My favorite feature is the remote shutoff, if the kids happen to get going to fast or get too far away I can kill it. Cohen got a new tricycle which he won't be able to ride for a long time but he didn't need anything else. Caeli got the ballerina dress that she wrote numerous letters to santa about. They both got tons and tons of clothes which they actually needed. Cohen got lots of toys that are no where near age appropriate. He got a play chainsaw from my dad and a play rifle, also a toy train and well, just way too much to even list. Caeli got a leap pad the she is always playing. We are going to have to invest in some more games soon. She got a lot of random things as well. Then the kids both got little sleds so we can get some use out of all of this snow. It was an awesome day. kids make things like that fun.
Friday was our Chidester family Christmas party. I thought that it was so fun. But once again no pictures. I think that is a really good tradition we need to keep going..... We had lots of yummy food and opened more presents. The kids had a ton of fun playing together. And I always love to be able to see and visit with everyone that we don't see as much. Hope you had has as good of a holiday as we did!

Official Announcement....

After a very encouraging doctor's appointment this week we are finally making our little announcement. We are expecting another baby at our house! It has been a HUGE surprise. (I just sold ALL of my baby things in September!) However we are really excited now. I am 11 weeks right now, which puts the baby coming in July. I really like the doctor that I found up here. He is wonderful and very thourough. He told us about a new drug that will greatly decrease the chances of delivering early. He will start that at 16 weeks. We had an untrasound and he told me to plan on having one at every appointment. Things were looking well. It's always fun to see the baby in there moving around. It makes things seem more real. I am definately not in lala land (though maybe I should be) This could potentially be a really stressful 29 more weeks. However after a blessing and finding this good doctor, I am really encouraged and comforted. I know that the Lord will bless us, and I am grateful for that. Past experiences as well as this one have shown us that it doesn't matter what we do, things are in the Lord's hands and not to argue with him.

Just some stuff....

Granny this post is mostly for you. :) We haven't done anything exciting for the last little while but here are just a few pictures of life at our house. Caeli had so much fun decorating the tree. Luckily Cohen hasn't really bothered the tree very much. I have WAY too many decorations for our little tree. I kept at least half of them in the box and the tree is still pretty full. We had to go with a little tree because our living room isn't very big. I was just glad that we got to have a real tree. Even though at this point it is super dry and making a huge mess if you even breathe on it.

Caeli being silly. She makes me laugh all of the time.

We made Grandma's Yummy ginger cookies the other day. They would have turned out great, and a few batches did, but my oven is a hunk of junk and the temperature fluctuates when I am cooking. A couple of batches were fine, one was way over done and one took forever to cook. I promise I know how to make cookies, for a girl that hates to bake I can at least do cookies. It really is my oven. The kids ate lots of cookie dough. They were a huge mess, but they loved it.

I am so grateful for this time of year. It's really fun for Caeli to be old enough to get it. Not only Santa and all of that jazz, but she understands that it is when we celebrate Jesus' birth. She keeps telling me that Jesus was wrapped in "toddling" clothes and slept on the hay. Children are so innocent. I can see why we are told to be "as little children" full of so much faith and love and so forgiving. I am really grateful to my Heavenly Father for my children. What a blessing!

Gingerbread Houses

We spent ALL day making gingerbread houses. Caeli had a ton of fun. Thanks goodness that is all that matters because it was a ton of work and a huge huge mess. She was covered in flour.

We made a big house and a small house. Caeli and I decorated the little one and Cam took care of the big one. It really was fun to see the kids be so excited about something. Cohen just liked to eat the candy. So did I for that matter. It really was a lot of fun once I got the dough rolled out. I don't like baking at all.

The finished products. We aren't very creative. Cam did well though. It was late when we finally got around to decorating them. That's why we don't have any pictures with Cohen helping. He had to go to bed.

Comfort me

Cohen has developed this bad habit. When he gets really mad he SCREAMS really loud and starts repeatedly wacking his head on whatever is closest. The wall, the tile floor, me.... I have been just ignoring it and walking away, thinking he will stop, but he seems do to it whether I am watching it or not. The poor kid (with a huge forehead anyway) is having all sorts of bumps and bruises. It looks like I am beating him across the forehead. Any ideas anyone? Maybe soon I will just start beating him for real. :) (not really for those of you who don't know me... and those that do)

Thanksgiving and The Wedding.

Thanksgiving was a little wierd this year. I didn't get any pictures at all. We got uninvited to go up to Grandma Hatch's because our family is getting too big. That makes me laugh because I know what an actual big family is but anyway.... We did go to Grandma T's house which was great. There's nothing like Granny's cooking. My favorite part of the weekend was Steven and Jazmin's wedding. It was such a great day. Caeli was so excited to be the flower girl. All of my pictures turned out dark, so sorry they are hard to see. Bug Jaz looked beautiful, Steven even cleaned up nicely.. hehe.

Just a few pictures... Steve, Jaz and the kids. Caeli asked if she could always be Jazmin's flower girl. She stole the show at the end of the ceremony when Ron said they could kiss, Caeli threw a bunch of her flower petals into the air. It was really funny actually.

Caeli and Cohen with their Great-Great Grandma Mackay. They are so lucky to get to know her so well. She spent a lot of time in Koosh this summer so both of the kids always run to her when they see her. She is the best. She makes me laugh all of the time. Love you Grandma.

Cohen pretty much never quits eating. We had a really yummy wedding dinner. Prime Rib with all the fixin's. I was glad that the caterer thought to do chicken and mac and cheese for the kids. Cohen ate a ton of chicken. Overall it was a really great weekend. Busy, and with no shortage of great food.