Christmas Fun

I think this was one of the most exciting Christmas's I have had since I was a kid. It was so much fun to watch how excited Keagan was about it all. Keagan was bouncing off the walls Wednesday evening.

Andrew and I decided a few years ago that one of our traditions would be to open one present on Christmas Eve and it would be PJ's. This year, I decided that it would be fun to all have matching PJ's. I got a 50% off coupon from Joanne's Fabric and we went and picked out the material. We then used plain white T-shirts to go with them. So, all last weekend, anytime both kids were in bed (either for nap or at night) we would work on the pajama's. Keagan was so excited when he realized that we all had matching PJ's. Andrew had to work on Christmas Eve night and didn't get home until the boys were in bed, so I got a picture of the boys that night and then we set up the camera and got a picture of all of us in the morning.

Keagan got a kid size snow shovel from Santa Claus, which he was so excited about. We even had snow on Christmas day and so he was able to go out with Andrew and help shovel our driveway. All day yesterday (Friday) he kept asking to go outside and "shovel snow more". Keagan also got some Thomas the Train stuff from us and his Grandma & Grandpa Smith along with other great toys and clothes. Here is a little video of Keagan shoveling snow.

Of course Deker didn't really care what was going on. He got some great toys, bibs, books, etc.

On Christmas morning, we made Santa pancakes (an idea I got off my favorite website, Tip Junkie. We made regular pancakes, then used whipped cream, strawberry jam, bananas and M&M's to decorate.

Then, we went over to our friends, the Kolilis's, to have lunch, play games and watch movies.

Deker's first laugh's

Deker has really started coo-ing and trying to "talk" lately, it is so fun to hear. Once in a while, we can get Deker to do a little laugh by tickling him, but it is usually one short one and that is it. But, last Saturday, we got to really hear Deker laugh. Andrew was holding Deker and Keagan was playing with some toys and swinging them around. Well, Deker's decided it was quite funny and he just started all out laughing. It was such a joy to hear and even more fun that Keagan was able to get Deker to really laugh for the first time. Here is the best little video clip that we got. He was laughing even more before we got the camera out.

Here is a picture of the boys after it was all over.

Here is a picture that I think is really cute. We were having Deker "get" Keagan, which Keagan loves.

It brings me so much joy to see how much Keagan and Deker love each. Keagan is always wanting to help Deker. He likes to show him his books, make sure Deker has toys or anything else he needs. And Deker, loves to watch and smile at Keagan.

Keagan's Hair

As you all know, Keagan's hair is very curly. Every morning, we have to wet his hair down to comb it out and then we put gel on it. When we comb it, we comb in down and then "fluff" it up with the gel. Well, in the last couple of weeks, if we take too long to get it "fluffed" up. Keagan has started saying to us "No hair up".

Free Christmas Music

I was looking around on the internet this afternoonw while my boys were napping and found out that you can download 8 Christmas songs free from Opera's website. To start downloading them click here.

The website says they are available for the next 48 hours, but I am not sure when that started, so you might want to act on this quickly.

Enjoy!!

Tagged Again

My sister, Jeanette, tagged me with this fun tag. So, here is goes:

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks!Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things. Nothing made up!You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Brenda
BOY NAME : Bryce
GIRL NAME: Brianna
OCCUPATION: Banker
COLOR: Blue
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Bra
BEVERAGE: Beer of the Root variety (aka Rootbeer)
FOOD: Banana
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Bathtub
A PLACE: Boise, Idaho
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Bumper to Bumper Traffic
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Bam!

Here is Andrew's:
WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Andrew
BOY NAME : Aaron
GIRL NAME: Andrea
OCCUPATION: Accupuncturist
COLOR: Aquamarine
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Airwalk Shoes
BEVERAGE: Aquafina
FOOD: Avacado
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Antibacterial Soap
A PLACE: Atlanta, Idaho
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Accident
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Awesome

I tag: Anyone who wants to do this

Update on the Family

There has been a couple of things that I have wanted to blog about, so I thought I would do one big post about the things that we have been doing.

First of all, Deker rolled over for the first time on Thursday. He rolled from his front to his back and he's become quite the pro at it.
Friday night was our ward Christmas Party. We had a good time visiting with friends. Santa even came for a visit at the end. Keagan wasn't too fond of sitting on his lap, but liked it just a little bit better when he got a coloring book. Here is the best picture that we got of it. I (Brenda) received a new calling in the ward. I am now the nursery music leader. We have 5 nursery's in our ward and I get to go around to all the nursery's and sing songs with the kids. Today was my first Sunday doing it, and it was so much fun. Now is my chance to learn a lot of fun Primary songs.

We finally got around to decorating for Christmas today. We were going to do it yesterday, but I got busy finishing some craft projects I had been working on. When I was packing up our Fall decorations today, Keagan found a bag and decided to pack it as well. He started going around the house and packing his bag. He kept asking Andrew and I for more things that he could pack in his bag. Here are two pictures, one of the inside of his bag and another of him carrying it around. He just had to find the tallest bag and use that one. With the help and inspiration of many friends and our ward's Super Saturday, I have had a a really good time doing lots of Craft projects. It is always fun for me to see my finished project. Here are some things I have done.

This first craft is a Christmas Card Holder. It is something that I had seen at a friends house last year. My sisters and I made them together over Thanksgiving weekend, but I didn't quite get it done, so I put the finishing touches on it yesterday.

This is an Advent calendar. A friend of mine from my ward does a craft night every month and this is what we did in November. I really love how it turned out. Who knew that a pizza pan could be so cute? This nativity set is one of the things I did at my wards super Saturday this year. They had the blocks all cut out, all I had to do is paint, sand and clear coat. I loved how they turned out.
This is a project that I did with Andrew's side of the family last year over Thanksgiving. It is quite fun to see it hanging on our wall this year.

What?!?

One day last week, I was putting Deker down for a nap and Keagan was out in the living room playing. When I came out, I went to the fridge to get Keagan a snack and this is what I found.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we traveled down to Southern Nevada to see my family. All my brothers and sisters and their families were able to make it (24 people in all). The weekend included:

Lots of very yummy food (I found this cute turkey rolls on Tip Junkie and since I was able to make the rolls this year, I thought it would be fun to do):

On Friday, we had Navajo tacos for dinner (scones, with chili and all the yummy taco fixings). My mom was making the scones and, as you can see, she had lots of help in the form of 3 toddlers.

Rides on the Four Wheeler and Rhino:

And lots of fun playing with family.

Keagan and his cousin Hafen, eating suckers.On Thursday evening, the girls went over to my brother and sister-in-laws house and made christmas card holders. The guys had the privilege of watching all the kids. They put in a movie and gave them popcorn.

Lots of kids playing.