Merry Christmas!

We had fun week filled with Christmas activities. On Christmas Eve we went to a fun party at Grandma & Grandpa Deppe's house. We played Bingo, decorated gingerbread houses and ate Mexican food. It was fun to see aunts, uncles and play with cousins.
The kids loved decorating their gingerbread house. Emily couldn't eat the candy fast enough.

On Christmas morning the kids were so excited that Santa had come. It was a beautiful white Christmas, cold and snowy day. Taylor was thrilled with his 2009 calendar, art supplies, blocks and KNEX.

Emily was in heaven with her new Snow White dress, sparkly shoes and baby doll. She is such a girl. We had a nice relaxing morning at home then we had Christmas dinner at the Deppe's with everyone.

Aunt Katie and Jennifer are being smothered with love by the kids! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

The kids are so excited for Christmas. They are counting down the days until Santa will come to our house. Emily got her haircut, and it's cute. She looks so grown up!

This is my attempt at getting a "cute" picture of the kids all together before church! What a disaster. Right after this I took them outside to snap a shot. While running down the driveway Emily fell on her face and tore a huge hole in her tights. It was a funny day.

We had a fun Ward Christmas party. This is the first year Taylor has sat on Santa's lap. He was brave and Emily screamed as soon as she saw Santa enter the room. Taylor is such a practical 5-year old. He asked santa for a January Calendar- that's what he wants for Christmas.

Thanksgiving

We went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving break. We had a fun week spending time with family and friends. The food was delicious, the games were fun and we all left exhausted.

One night we visited the lights on Temple Square.
Emily had a great weekend playing with grandparents, aunts, uncles and her favorite cousins; Jeffrey, Spencer and Mary.

Isaac was a good baby. He liked being passed around to everyone.

The little girls wore dress ups all weekend and played princess, babies and pretend.

One sunny day we all went to the zoo. All the kids had a fun day seeing the animals, riding the train and playing on the playground. Taylor and Jeffrey made spaceships, did art projects, played bad guys, and raked about 10 bags of leaves. Grandma paid them .25 cents per bag, and they worked for hours outside raking up leaves.

Emily and Mary even warmed up to uncle Derek. They always act scared of him when they see him, but they love Derek. He teases them and makes them laugh.

Issac and Spencer sat and played toys together. They have such different skin coloring. It's like looking at "Chocolate" and "Vanilla" babies! They are going to be great friends in future years.

We all had a wonderful weekend. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Shields for letting us all stay at their house.

Taylor and Emily both love to ride their bikes, so we spend a lot of days on our bikes. Emily is getting good at riding her "Big Girl" bike with training wheels.

Isaac is such a happy, sweet baby. He loves to be outside enjoying the sunshine.

Taylor is a great biker. He likes to zoom around and go on trails and jumps. He makes me a little nervous, so I always make sure he wears his helmet.

Another great day spent biking at our favorite park! This has been a gorgeous fall in Boise.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween! Taylor and Emily wore their costumes all day. Taylor was very creative and made his own superhero, "Super Taylor", Emily was Cinderella, Isaac a tiger and I was a mean witch!
We went to a Trunk or Treat with our ward. They loved getting lots of candy without having to walk very far. They ate way too much candy and had fun seeing all their friends from church. These are their "scared faces".

Wow, a hug, instead of a hit or a pinch! I wish it would last.

We raked leaves earlier in the day. The kids had fun jumping and playing in them with our neighbors Rachel and Kayla.

We hope you had a fun Halloween as well.

Happy Birthday Princess!

We had a family party for Emily's birthday. Grandpa and Grandma Deppe came over for dinner. Emily was thrilled to have all the attention on her.

She for a new Rapunzel dress and book, rain boots, princess DVD and fake makeup and jewlery. She was delighted with it all. Taylor was a good sport and even helped her paint her nails!

The good news is Emily is finally potty training! We have been waiting for her to be interested for months. After a lot of guilt and bribing her with a Cinderella Dress and a new crown she is ready. We are all excited!

Conference Weekend

We went to Utah for Conference weekend. We had a good time visiting family, friends and having fun! We spent some time with Grandpa Hawkins. Taylor and Emily love seeing their great grandpa and hearing his stories.
Emily loves her "favorite" aunt Natalie!
We were excited to spend some time with great Grandma Shields. She came to Salt Lake for the weekend and we had fun seeing her. Taylor and Emily always love to go to Utah, they play hard and have tons of fun!

More of Fall

We have had a good fall. Isaac is six months old now, he is getting so big! He can sit up steady and play with toys. He likes to laugh, play with his siblings and eat solid food. He is such a good boy!Taylor and Emily love going to the park. They like to go on nature walks, ride their bikes and play on the playground. They are helping Isaac learn how to go down slides.

Taylor is getting good at soccer. He really looks forward to his practices and games. He scored his first goal at his game last week!
We have been missing Taylor during the day while he is at school, although Emily has had fun playing "girl stuff"with Isaac. She likes to have him play "school" or "babies" with her, she is always the mom and he is the baby. She is such a good big sister!

For Labor Day Weekend we went to McCall and spent some time with Danny's parents. They let us come and stay in their cabin. It was a beatiful weekend and we enjoyed spending time outside in the mountains.
Danny and Taylor did some fishing, and caught a lot of frogs.
Taylor and Emily had fun hiking, swimming, hot tubbing and playing.Isaac is starting to eat solid food. He loves sitting in his high chair, and he loves real food.
Taylor started soccer this fall. He won his first game yesterday and had a lot of fun. So far it's been a great fall.

Taylor starts school!

This is a big year for our family, Taylor is 5 and old enough for school! He started Kindergarten this week and I am in shock. He was so excited and very ready to be in school. He could hardly sleep the night before and woke up extra early, wanting chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. He wasn't nervous or scared, just confident and ready to learn. He is happy because his good friend, Sam is in his class, and they are on the same bus. He looks so grown up.

Emily was sad to see him go and kept asking when she can go to "Taylor's school".

Although she provokes Taylor all day and loves to fight with him, she misses him when he is gone. She had her backpack and special orange tu-tu for her back to school outfit.
Taylor has loved his first 2 days of school, let's hope his enthusiam lasts all year.
Last weekend we did a little hike overlooking Boise. It was a beatiful night and the kids had no much fun. After the hike we let the kids play at Camels Back park until nearly dark.
Isaac loves to be in the swing, he is getting so big!

Trip to Utah

We took a fun trip to Utah last week. We spent some time with the almost the whole Shields family up in Park City. Taylor and Jeffrey got new BYU jersey's from grandpa. Taylor and Emily had so much fun playing with their cousins,and getting spoiled by grandpa & grandma, and all their aunts and uncles.

We spent most of the time swimming, hot tubbing and boating at Jordanelle. Taylor had fun going on the tube and learning how to knee-board. Emily was scared to get out of the boat, but her and Isaac like going on boat rides.
The highlight of the trip besides being in the water was going on the Alpine slides and mountain Roller Coaster in Park City. The kids loved the slides and everyone had a blast on the roller coaster. It was a great week full of family, great food and fun! Sorry Colton and Derek couldn't make it, we missed you.