Gingerbread House

I had forgotten to buy ONE stinkin thing to make my Mom's Christmas present before Christmas so she didn't get to open her present with the rest of us and I had to go Michaels as soon as possible so I could finish it . My Mom went with me so we could look for any after Christmas specials and she ended up buying holiday crackers, and a gingerbread house kit since my kids and Trisha (if you know Trisha you know gingerbread houses are serious business)hadn't made one.

So Trisha, my Mom, Porter, Ruby and I all decorated the gingerbread house. It was, of course, very important that the house look perfectly decorated. The adults had a lot of fun decorating and the kids had fun trying to sneak the candy before we put it on the house.

Since gingerbread houses are such serious business and this years decorating of said house ended without any temper tantrums Trisha wanted to take lots of pictures with the house.

Photoshoot

I need a lot of practice and classes before I can take really good pictures but I gotta start somewhere. My kids and niece and nephew where my first victims. I also found out from this shoot that it takes a lot more then know how or talent, it takes a lot of PATIENCE, which I do not have. Do they teach photography patience classes or how to get children (especially your own) to behave classes?

Josie - 7 years old

Parker - 4 years old

mohawk hair

Porter - 4 years old

Ruby - 2 years old (completely uncooperative)

The cute grandkids, this picture is where I really needed the patience!

Some blooper shots:

Christmas Morning

Sam, Ruby, and I woke up before Porter so we just hung out waiting for Porter. I had made matching pjs for us all but didn't finish sewing Porter and Ruby's until after they went to bed on Christmas eve so I got Ruby all dressed and hair done. I had some extra time so I took pictures of the great job Santa did setting up their presents. I was in the middle of making a breakfast casserole when Porter woke up so I had to make him wait while I finished the casserole.

Porter got a geo-trax set, a ben 10 action figure, a car and some new socks.

Ruby got a baby with clothes that snap on, a sock monkey, and some Little People.

We then tried to take a family picture since we were all wearing our matching pjs. My camera can take 4 pictures on the self timer so I set it and ran to get in the picture. Thank goodness for all the pictures because we had to do it twice to get a good shot and even then I would have taken more but the flash was bothering everyones eyes

We played with toys and later that afternoon while Ruby took a nap Porter and Sam went sledding. Sam got this video camera for work so he took this video for me since I couldn't go.

(Video to come, the batteries died)

Snow Day with Daddy

Sam wanted to build a snow cave so he built it in our front yard. He piled the snow high as possible then started to dig it out. I bundled Porter up in his snow suit so he could help his Daddy. Ruby hates being left out so I put on her jacket and boots and she went outside to check things out. The boys legs where hanging out of the snow cave while they were digging and Ruby kept freaking out that they were stuck. Eventually the cave was big enough for Porter and Ruby and they loved hanging out in the snow cave.
After the snow cave they all took turns shoveling the driveway and sidewalk.

New Camera

For Christmas I got my present a little early. Sam bought me an awesome camera that I have wanted forever. It has a lot of bells and whistles so I am trying to figure out the camera. I was working on focusing on different parts and I loved these little pictures of Ruby coloring.

Ruby loves to color and write. She can hold a pencil/crayon/pen better then some 3 and 4 year olds.

Plus she looks like she is playing Suduko so I think that means at 20 months old she must be a genius.

Snow

Porter decided he wanted to play in the new snow so I dressed them in snow clothes and away they went.

Ruby fell down and Porter tried to help her up but with the huge jacket he couldn't get his arms around her.

Whatever Porter does Ruby wants to do and thus the tongue pictures.

Santa Claus

Porter and I had talked about what he was going to ask Santa for (that way I new what he wanted). When he got to Santa's lap Santa asked him what his name was and in a whisper voice he said his name, so Santa started talking really quiet too. He asked Porter what he wanted for Christmas and Porter whispered "Ben 10". He did sit and smile pretty good for the camera, what a funny kid!

Ruby didn't want like the whole Santa thing, so when I made her sit in Santa's lap she screamed. Santa even tried to show her some bells but she just kept screaming.

Ward Christmas Party

So I am on the ward activities committee and it was time again for a party. Dont get me wrong cause I love to party and plan parties but six weeks between the Halloween Party and Christmas Party is just not enough. It feels like I have been thinking/worrying about parties for months and I am such a perfectionist that I always feel like it could have been better but from what I hear it turned out awesome and I thought it was good.


My friends, Charmaine & Leilani (just a little bit, j/k) helped me decorate. We had so much fun talking and being goofy until 1:30am, so the next morning I was a little grouchy. Sam took the brunt of my grouchiness (real word?) because everytime I asked him to do something he would ask why and I was so not in the mood to explain everything so I kept saying/yelling "Just do it, and stop asking why!"


We had a breakfast party with a dutch oven breakfast casserole that was so yummy. The muffins and cinnamon rolls weren't too shabby either. Everything went well except we didn't have time for the 12 days of Christmas that Charmaine had planned and I was bummed about that but we are determined to do it next year.


The kids, of course, loved Santa and we (really just Charmaine) had the foresight to bring a camera to take pictures with Santa and everyone who didn't bring a camera loved that. I printed them right away and handed them out at church today. We did have a few mix ups that I need to get pictures switched around but over all people loved it.


So our big parties are done for the year and it is time to think about some kind of party in February, March, or April. So I love crazy themes and so I was thinking St. Patricks Day and dye the food green but this grouchy old lady told me "I would never eat anything dyed green!" ha ha. If you have any cool ideas let me know.

The Big Haircut

So I finally broke down and got Ruby her first haircut. I was terrified and stressed about it but finally just knew it had to be done. Her hair had never really been cut other then bangs or my Mom cutting off the really long front parts when she was like 6 months old. I think I was worried because when I told my Mom she could fix the front she cut off way more than I expected and it freaked me out.

Well I scheduled an appointment with my friend Shanette who has three little girls of her own whose hair is always adorable so I knew no matter what it would be fine.

Ruby was very good and only tried to get out of the seat after 20 mins. She did start to cry at the beginning but I stuck a sucker in her mouth and she was fine. (Doesn't she look so big sitting there getting a big girl haircut)

I decided to not go crazy and just get her hair evened out and all the fine baby hair cut off so that I couldn't freak out if it was shorter then I wanted. Luckily the haircut turned out perfectly, you can't even tell that she's had a haircut except her hair is less crazy these days. Plus Shanette gave me lots of information on how to style Ruby's hair.

So here she is all done with some gel in her hair. Can you tell the difference?

Christmas Cards

I dont have any cute Christmas pictures yet and I know I am way way behind on posting but I am doing well with Christmas cards so if you want a card please email me your address kristadodd@yahoo.com

Happy Holidays!

Storybook Cavalcade

The city has a Storybook Cavalcade Parade every year and this is the first year we made it. Sam was at Hill AFB so it was just me and the kids. The worst thing about parades is they are on Main St. and in order to get a good seat you have to sit on the curb before they shut the street down. It was really hard getting Porter and Ruby to sit still for 30 mins so they didn't run down the sidewalk or run in the street but I had bought Kettle Corn so they snacked while they waited. I had gotten everyone all bundled up for a cold December day but it was so warm that we quickly took off our jackets.

Porter stood on the white line watching the floats with his friends Loni & Kiera.

I guess the costumes were from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade so they where pretty good. This year they had two giant balloons, a gingerbread man and a rocking horse. Porter and Ruby loved seeing all the characters. Porter liked Spiderman and Batman the best, Ruby liked Minnie and Mickey Mouse, and they both where very excited to see Dora the Explorer.

The last floats where Mrs. Clause and Santa on his sleigh on top of a house. The kids really liked the parade and it was such a nice day that it was an fun thing to do, maybe we will do it again next year and we might even try to convince Sam to go if he can.

Ruby's Beautiful Hair

I have decided to cut Ruby's hair. When we leave it down it is a crazy mess. She has never had a real haircut and I am terrified to lose her baby hair because it is curly. Even Sam told me the other day that I needed to cut her hair so I have decided it is time. Now I just have to get convince myself to call and make the appointment. In the meantime I have started to take some pictures of her long hair when it is all done and nice looking.

Lacy and I made flower barrettes this last week. We have been experimenting with different size ribbons. The flower in Ruby's hair is the original one I made for our family pictures a few weeks ago.

Pre-Thanksgiving

I convinced my Mom and my sister, Lacy (Josie & Parker too!), to come visit me the week before Thanksgiving because Josie's school had a week and a half break. Trisha had already planned to come to my house so we all got to be together. All 5 of them spent two nights at my house which 9 people in a 3 bedroom house is a lot of people with nowhere to go but we had fun eating, playing cards and figuring out what the next thing we were going to eat. On Sunday they went to my Grandpa's in St. George and I came down Monday and stayed until Wednesday evening when I met Sam in Mesquite. It was a whilwind of fun that included a lot of not sleeping because there were just too many noisy and coughing people in one room to get enough sleep.

The best part of the trip was that Lacy told us that she is pregnant and due July 12!

Here is the only picture I have of our Pre-Thanksgiving Fun.

Trisha was teaching Ruby how to pretend she was asleep by making snoring sounds.