Christmas!

We had a great trip to Boise for Christmas. The kids loved seeing Grandma & Grandpa Deppe and their aunts, uncles and cousins. We celebrated Christmas eve with a delcicious dinner, games, decorating piggy banks, and a gift delivered from the elves. Taylor and Emily are at the perfect age for Santa and love all that comes with Christmas!

On Christmas morning, amazingly the kids slept in until 8am! They woke up and were thrilled to find Santa had come and found them in Boise. Taylor was thrilled with his magnet games, art stuff and pokemon cards. Emily was delighted with her baby high chair and play make up. Isaac got a Igloo tent with a tunnel and it kept him entertained the whole morning.

We had huge, yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then relaxed and enjoyed the day. It was so fun to spend time with all of Danny's family and enjoy playing games, walking down by the river and watching movies in the movie room.

We will always love Idaho and sometimes miss living in Boise.

Last night we went to the extended Shields Christmas party and had fun party. It was a fantastic party with dinner, a program, games, obstacle course, etc.... Derek performed a song with Taylor, Emily and Natalie and it was great. They love their uncle Derek. It was a fun party that went late into the night.

We can't wait for New Years!

Christmas Activities

This has been a fun week full of many fun Christmas activites! Taylor made this cute Gingerbread house in his class at school. It was packed full of yummy candy, which he ate all the way home from school. Taylor loves his teacher and has had a fabulous year in 1st grade.

Then earlier this week Aunt Nat was being a little grumpy. She got a special delivery from Santa's elves, and it was a big bag of coal. The poem told her to change her attitude, or expect more coal on Christmas. The kids thought it was great, and it helped Taylor and Emily shape up as well. Taylor also made this cute snowman gift bag for a gift he made in his class.

Then we had a fun, Hawkins Christmas Party at Uncle John's house. There was a delicious dinner, games, chimes, bingo and candy guessing jars. The kids had tons of fun and it was great to see all the extended family.

We Love this time of year. We can't wait for Christmas!!

A week of "first's"

This has been a week of first's for Taylor and Emily. Taylor has not lost any teeth yet, so he went to the dentist to have two teeth removed. The teeth were fused together so they needed to be removed in order for his other teeth to start loosening.

He was very brave and said it hurt a lot. He enthusiastically put the giant tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. His friends have told him about all the money they get from the tooth fairy so he had high hopes. What ever happened to a quarter a tooth?

Then yesterday Emily had her first dance recital. She was excited about the show all week, but when we got to the school she got really nervous. She was terrified of going on stage and was clinging to me as I walked her up to perform. She started crying and looked so sad, but she pulled through, started dancing and by the end of the song was smiling and loving all the attention on her! I was so relieved. She has come along way these past few months and has made huge improvements in her self esteem and ability to be around other people.

Showing off her red nail polish!

We love you Emily and we are so proud of you!

Let it Snow!

We've been playing outside in the snow this week, even though it's 16 degrees outside! It's freezing cold for me but Taylor, Emily and Isaac love being in the snow. They beg me to build a snowman, go sledding, or build a snow fort.

Isaac looks jjust like Taylor did when he was this age. Taylor wore all these same snow clothes when he was one. Isaac says "No, No," for snow, over and over when we play in the snow. It's one of his favorite words right now.

Emily likes to make snow angels and go sledding. She loves her cute new snow hat, (thanks to Aunt Katie).

Time to go get warm with hot chocolate!

Wassil Party 2009!

We attended our First ever Wassil Party hosted by Marcus Shields. We have livedout of Utah for the past seven years, and have never been fortunate to attend the event.

It was a fantastic Christmas party complete with ugly sweaters, treats, sing-along carols,hot cocoa, a photo booth, steaming wassil, and lots of friends and family.

Taylor and Emily thought the party was great. They got to stay up late, eat candy and drink cocoa.Taylor wanted his sweater to be "ugly" so he put duct tape all over the front and back.

A good time was had by all, we are so glad we could see all the outrageous sweaters, hats and boots.What a wonderul way to start the Christmas season!

Primary X-mas Party

We had a fun Primary Christmas party on Friday afternoon. It was a fabulous gingerbread making party, full of candy, friends and fun.
Emily and Taylor were thrilled to decorate their houses with tons of candy and yummy frosting.

Taylor and his friends made quite a mess on their clothes, hands and table.

Emily ate most of her candy off her house as soon as we got home.

It's starting to feel more like Christmas, we are all so excited for the holidays!