Jaylee's First Day of Nursery

Jaylee is now 18 months and has started nursery at church. She has cried the last few times we dropped her off, but eventually calms down and does alright. I would say it is hard to drop her off while she is crying, but she has been so awful during sacrament lately, that by nursery time we can't wait to get rid of her!

Here Comes Santa Clause

We went to the fire department Christmas party with my parents; and Santa came. Brady was really impressed!

Easton was star struck and couldn't decide what present he wanted to ask Santa for.

Brady had no problem talking to Santa.

Jaylee didn't do quite as well!

Getting Ready for Christmas

We always know Christmas is coming when I get out my candy thermometer!

The kids had a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa, and made these cute apple Santa's.

Jaylee's cousin Lyra is coming for Christmas. Since I was already making Jaylee a Christmas dress for church I thought it would be cute to make Lyra a matching one! They will look pretty cute at church together.

I even made them a poinsettia bow!

Grandpa wanted in on the action as well! So I made him a matching tie. Hopefully we will get some good pictures of him!

Brady's preschool class performed some Christmas songs for the parents. This picture is of them singing "O Christmas Tree."

Random Shots from the Past Few Weeks

We went over to a friends house the other night and the kids had fun. So much fun that they all crashed on the way home!

Mmmmm... Chipotle

We had Hawaiian themed Christmas party at church, so Riley and the boys dressed up for the occasion.

Jaylee has started playing with My Little Ponies. My mom was able to find a few of my old ponies for her to have. It is interesting to see how they have changed in the last twenty years. The yellow pony is a 2011 and the blue pony was mine when I was 5 years old. I think I prefer the older ponies.

You can't tell very well from this picture, but I saw a Bald Eagle about two miles from my house the other day. We drove back and forth for about 10 minutes watching it. It was really cool to see it that close to our home.

Jaylee enjoyed a playdate with her cousin Dax this week.

1st Snow of 2011

We had our first big snow a few weeks ago. The kids were really excited to go out and play in it. It took longer to get them all bundled up than they actually stayed outside, but it was worth it!

Christmas Pajamas

Every year Riley's parents get all of their grandkids matching Christmas pajamas. This year was no exception. Nana and Papa had all of the grandkids over for a pizza, pajama, and movie party. There are now 9 grandkids on the Gibb side of the family (my parents are only slightly ahead with 10 grandkids).

11 Years

Riley and I just had our 11 year anniversary. We celebrated by having a fancy dinner, prepared and served by Riley's brother, Tyler. Tyler enjoys cooking and he made some delicious food. We shared the evening with Curtis and Shayla who also share our anniversary date. It was such a good, relaxing evening, and I hope we can do it again next year!

Thanksgiving - 2011

We had a good Thanksgiving. The boys started out the day, by playing flag football with some friends from church. Easton and Brady were really excited that Riley invited them along.

We had a delicious dinner with a very full kid's table.

I even made Jaylee a "gobble, gobble" dress.

Then the next day the kids and I put up our Christmas decorations. We are now ready for the next big holiday!

Cousin Time

My kids were very excited to have their cousins in town for Thanksgiving week. They got plenty of much needed cousing playing time!

Jaylee and Dax are starting to learn that playing dress-up is fun.

Ruby hosted a tea party. Easton is the black spiderman. He couldn't figure out how he was supposed to eat and drink with his mask on!

Ruby and Stella even came over to our house for a sleepover! They did great and we will, for sure, do it again.

And, of course, the grown-up boys played football together while they were waiting on Thanksgiving dinner to get ready.

Tough Mudder - 2011

Riley, his dad, brother, brother-in-laws, and friends competed in the Tough Mudder a few weeks ago. The Tough Mudder is a 10 - 12 mile running race with obstacles. Riley said that there were about 20 obstacles, but the biggest obstacle was the extreme cold. It was only about 35 degrees outside and he was getting in and out of cold water and crawling through mud. Everyone completed the race and there were no significant injuries. Everyone said that they had fun, but would probably not do it again... so whatever that means!

This is Riley getting ready to leave in the morning...

... and this is Riley coming back home when it was over. He headed straight for a hot shower, and I headed straight to the laundry room! He did good and never complained about being sore afterwards!

Random Shots from the Past Few Weeks

This is me with my friend Marcy. We have started running together, and it has been a lot of fun. Marcy has run several half-marathons and a few marathons, so she has been a good running coach for me. We are planning to run a half-marathon in the spring.

This is my newest sewing creation. I had this pattern for awhile and was finally able to make it. Riley picked out the fabric and helped with the design. I think this is one of my favorite dresses yet!

Village Nursery School - Thanksgiving Festivities

I spent a lot of time at the kids' pre-school the week before thanksgiving. Easton had a "concert," I helped in Easton's class party, and Brady's class had a "feast" that they invited parents too. I am slowly transitioning from a mom of little kids, to a mom of big kids with lots of activities! We stay pretty busy!

I know this picture isn't great, but Easton is on the left hand side of the stage. His program was in the evening and all of our family who live in the area was able to come. He had lots of fans. Easton looked cute, but only sang along to about half of the songs (which is actually better than we were expecting). It was fun to see him up on stage, though!

Easton's class had a fun party. They did crafts, read stories, and had a "feast." As you can see, Jaylee thought that she should be in the middle of all of it. It was great to see Easton in his class, and watch him interact with his friends.

As soon as I finished up in Easton's class, I walked next door to Brady's party. They sang a few songs for the parents and then ate some snacks. Brady is actually a good performer and knew the words to all of the songs.

2011 School Pictures

These are the boy's school pictures. They actually did pretty good this year. I don't usually buy any though, because they just aren't ever worth all of the money. However, it is still fun to see the pictures that they take all on their own!

Random Shots from the Past Few Weeks

Easton has been talking about the pilgrims and indians at school, to get ready for Thanksgiving. Earlier this week he made an indian head dress. Brady wanted one as well so we made one for him. They had fun running around wearing them.

We babysat my mom's dog a for a few days. Jaylee thought that he would make a good horse for her doll!

It's not much, but I was finally able to put a little braid in Jaylee's hair. Impressive, huh?

I am attempting to run in the mornings, but it is so dark that I have to wear a headlight. It works pretty well, but I still stay pretty close to our house!

Riley has been deer hunting lately and Easton is convinced that he will also be shooting a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. He drew this picture earlier this week. It is of a hunter shooting a turkey, complete with a gun and a bullet hole through the turkey!

Superhero Family

We do not have many nice days left before winter, so if we have good weather we like to try to take the kids to the park.

Do you see the deer in this picture? Riley has been out hunting a few times without much luck. This past Sunday he looked out our back window to see a buck walking back and forth across our yard! He was still unlucky though, because I was gone and his gun was in the car that I took with me! I hope his luck changes because we need some meat in our freezer!

Jaylee got her first bloody nose this week and she was pretty sad about it. She needs to learn that she shouldn't try to throw frisbees with her brothers!