Getting fired up for Christmas

Putting up the tree is always one of my favorite events of the year.  Of course, the kids think it's pretty fun too.  They get pretty excited when we pull out the Christmas boxes and they get to go through everything.

It's always easy to spot  where the toddler helped out.  I'm going to miss the day when we don't have a little cluster of ornaments near the bottom of the tree.

Cutie patootie, Lydia

It was too hard for us to decide who got to put up the star so we gave everyone a chance!

Even me!

 In the middle of December we had the chance to house Richard's cousin, Victoria, who is from Pennsylvania, before she headed on her mission.  We got to drop her off at the MTC and the kids had fun getting to know her for a few days.

And here's just a random picture of the kids looking cute all snuggled up watching TV together.

Happy birthday, cute Rachael!

Rachael turned 4 in December.  We had a little party for her and invited some of our closest friends and her cousins.  It was pretty low key, and I was kind of embarrassed by how unprepared for it I was, but Rachael had fun.  The highlight was the pinata.

Is n't she a cutie?  We love her.

Here's all the cute little girls who came to party.
From left to right: Olive and Hazel Olsen, Rylie Swinford, Rachael, Savannah Harper, Hailee, Liesel, Eleanor Olsen, and Maya Swinford.

Hugs from Grandma and Grandpa, always our best supporters

Present time!

Rachael is not a typical girlie girl and hasn't really been very excited about dolls and girlie things in the past.  We decided to get her LEGOs and she loved them!

I made this pinata and it turned out kind of weird looking.  But, like I said, she loved it!  I love how easy kids can be to please.  Happy birthday, Rachael!  You are such a great part of our family and we love you so much!

Our little dancing girls

The girls had a couple more dance performances for Christmas in December.  They got to perform at the mall and also had a little performance at a church.  They both felt a little more confident for this round of performances.  They were so cute and fun to watch.

Our pretty girls!  Lydia really wanted to dance with them too.  I tried to make her feel special by dressing her up and putting makeup on her.

The happy supporters...

I think Hailee put us up to this, whatever it is we're doing...

Thanksgiving, then winter fun!

For Thanksgiving this year we went to be with the Durrant family and we all gathered in Layton.

And this is the only picture we got of that happy occasion.

Once it started snowing the kids and I spent a decent amount of time out in it because Richard would take the car to work and I would walk the kids to school.  Luckily the school isn't too far.  The kids love having an excuse to get their snow suits on too. :)

I love this one of Lydia walking up to our house.

Waiting for Jeff and Hailee to get out.

And here are some random pictures from November/December...

We like to take advantage of the train that goes pretty directly from our house to Grandma's house.  The kids love it!

Playing a family night game with my siblings.

Lydia was so proud when she set the table all by herself!

Playing at Grandma's.

Other things that happened in the fall...

Here's a little sampling of the normal day to day at our house...

Soon after Hailee started kindergarten she started perfecting her pretty handwriting.  This was her spelling test.  Not long after this she started having me teach her cursive and she started a cursive club in her class.

These eyes..... Does it matter what she may have done wrong?

Rachael learning how to do her own hair?

Hailee and Liesel, best cousin buds.

Me with the Murri girls at Time out for Women.  We all went to St. George where Kim was going to school.  It was a super fun weekend!

Shopping with my girls.  Amazing that everything fits!

And last but not least... my little screen zombies.  Love them all.

Halloween time!

Time to pull out the costumes!

My kids pretty much always get to pick what they want to be for Halloween and we end up making or buying new costumes for them every year.  Still, we love to pull out all the old ones to play around in all throughout the season.

 Jeff wanted to be Sonic the Hedgehog this year.  I amazed myself by making this hat/mask thingy.

 So this year we had Sonic, Cinderella, Belle, and a dragon.  Jeff's was the only costume I made.

 Rachael was jealous of Jeff's face paint and had to have some too.

 Actually, Lydia and Hailee had to have some too. :)

During the day on Halloween Rachael, Lydia, and I went to see the kids in the school parade.

We also went to see Richard at work...

 Then... apparently that wore the girls out so we took a nap. :)

 We made jack 'o'lanter pizzas for dinner.

This is just a random picture of Lydia at our ward Halloween party.  I guess it's the only one I took there.

And of course we went trick or treating.  This year we offered to buy the kids' whole bucket of candy, minus 10 pieces of their choice, for 10 dollars.  Jeff thought that was a great idea and accepted the offer right away!  Hailee and Rachael weren't sure they wanted to do that.  But then we saw these cute dresses at the store and they were only 10 dollars!  When they realized they could buy them if they gave up their candy they changed their minds.

It was probably our healthiest Halloween ever!