Our Christmas Pictures

Ok, so these are very late! But I wanted to get them up. Our Christmas. It was a fun, good Christmas. I was busy the week before making and preparing Christmas gifts. But was so happy when the night before I could go to bed at a decent hour.

For Christmas Eve we did a Rowley family get together, that was fun. Then at home each child got to open their special "Christmas Eve" present. Which was slippers made by mommy. They were so cute, if I do say so myself. :)

Christmas morning the kids sleep until their usual time, 7am. I let them get into their stockings, and then it was a family breakfast of eggs, ham, and toast, before presents could be opened. I love being able to enjoy our time together and take things one at a time. Presents were opened one at a time from youngest to oldest, so we could all "ooh" and "aah" over each thing. :)

Gorgeous ready for her first present to be opened.

A super hero cape made with love from mommy!

Dinosaur dress up for Handsome

Ok, this was the star of the show. Buzz! Who still to this day is the most played with toy. Thanks Santa!

Gorgeous got from Mommy my old Maple Town set. A special treasured toy from my childhood that thankfully my mom took such good care of all of these years so I could pass it on to my own daughter! (If you don't know what Maple Town is, they are little toy animals, that are dressed and each has a role as mom, dad, sister, baby, etc. I would play with these for hours! Never did like Barbie, it was Maple Town all the way for me!)

And from Daddy to Handsome, a treasured Lego set from his childhood that his mother had gone to great lengths to save and preserve for him. I don't know who was more excited about the gift, dad or Handsome? :)

It was a great Christmas. I love the age of my children now, there seems to be a special magic to the whole thing. :)

Christmas Caroling

For those of your we were not able to get to, we still wanted to carol to you too. Enjoy the little voices, and the not so much on tune melody. :)

This is the same song the primary sang in our sacrament meeting. Bet you can't believe it, but Handsome was the loudest one singing, and he knew all the words. :)

Gifts

My sister had my family for Christmas this year. And she made us this awesome rock nativity. She found rocks, painted them and added clay to the bottom so they would stand up. I LOVE it! And my kids are always playing with it. Thanks Jana!

Also, my mother-in-law learned how to make these awesome bags. This is the one she made for me. She has made them now for all her daughters, daughters-in-law, and some grand-daughters. How awesome! I love my new bag. :)

11th Article of Faith

Ok, so this is really for the grandmas. But hey I think she's cute. Of course I taped it sideways and realized after. sorry for that.

Christmas Time

10th Article of Faith

Handsome said the article of faith in front of the entire primary. You never know how those things will go, but he said it loudly and with such pronunciation. It was adorable! Many teachers commented that they could see him as a future missionary. I love being in primary where I can see these special moments!

Trick or Treat

This year we all went to the trunk or treat, where the kids got PLENTY of candy within only 15 min. I had bought over 250 little toys to pass out, and we still ran out! Next year I guess I need to plan on 400! Gorgeous was our adorable BYU cheerleader and I could get her to say "Go BYU" if she was around those she knew. Handsome was a cowboy. I tried to convince him to be a football player, but he liked the boots so much there was no changing his mind.

Again like last year, both came down with a cold the day before trunk or treat. In order to not repeat last years ER visit with Handsome, I did not let Handsome or Gorgeous play outside that day. We kept the house warm and layered the kids for trunk or treat. (they each had 4 layers on top and 2 on bottom, plus gloves, hats ready if needed, and coats ready if it rained, which I can't believe it didn't as it was raining all day long before hand). When we got home the kids went straight into a warm bath, warm PJ's, and then we let them pick out 5 pieces of candy to eat (Gorgeous couldn't count and thus picked one out)

Since Halloween was on Sunday we decided not to have the kids go trick or treating, teaching that we keep the Sabbath day holy. Neither cared and already had more candy then I cared for them to have. (Maybe we'll just stick to Trunk or Treat for the future as well) And success no ER visit this year! Actually no problems at all, just kept Handsome on his meds and all was well.

A couple days after letting them pick out 10 or so pieces of candy (and giving some away to friends), we decided to just let them at it and finish it off. Handsome had one piece left but looked so sick, I asked him how he was and he said "I think I'll throw up" I told him to lay down. He didn't want to, but took it easy for an hour. Then he perked up and said that he had a miracle happen. That Jesus helped him not throw up. :) I tried to suggest that some times we do throw up to learn a lesson. But he insisted it was his own miracle. Gorgeous was not fazed at all by all the candy and just ran circles around Handsome for a change.

Look! No Training Wheels!

Handsome has been wanting to have his training wheels taken off of his bike. I was worried he wasn't ready, but Daddy thought he was, and promised him the next nice day that he would. So on Friday that is just what happened. The entire family was outside cheering him on, teaching, and watching him learn to ride his bike with no training wheels. After half an hour he gave up realizing how hard it was and not likeing the many falls, but he we convinced him to get back on a little later. Three more hours and he had it. Then Grandpa Rowley came over and he had to show off for him, and was able to start by himself as well (but I didn't get any of that on video). I am proud of my little man, though it was hard, and he fell many times, he stayed with it and suceeded! Way to go!


Starting out with Daddy

Litter sister cheering him on

The Big Boy riding his bike! And little sister cheering him on. :)

It's A .....

BOY!!!

Just found out and am excited to share with you all. Of course we would love either, but I just needed to know! Now I can start thinking of cute things to knit and sew for our new little BOY! :)

Handsome's Big Win

Handsome and Gorgeous did the summer reading program through our library system and got the cool book and pen when they finished. I slightly remember being told their names were entered into a drawing, but thought nothing of it because we rarely win things.

So I was surprised when the story time librarian called to tell me that Handsome had won the prize for that library. And what did he win? To attend a party for all of his family, with all of the other county library winners (I think there were 12 in all?), at a local children's museum!

So we went to the museum and had a blast playing with all the cool different hands on exhibits. But that wasn't all. Handsome got a raffle ticket and won 10 story books that have a pen that when touched to the page reads the words for him (ok, each child from each of the libraries won the raffle too :). he also won tickets for the entire family to go to the zoo (ok, all the other winning kids did too). And he and Gorgeous both got bags with two brand new books as we left (yes they had them for all of the children that attended)!

Way to go Handsome!

Michaelmas Festival

Last Friday the kids and I enjoyed a fun home school party. The Michaelmas festival! I'd actually never heard of it before, so for those who are in the same boat I was in not long ago; it is a English celebration of Michael the Archangel leading the battle in heaven against Satan the Dragon. The story says, Satan was trust down to earth and landed in blackberry bushes and that is why you should never eat blackberries after Sep. 29Th (and the fact that they taste bad too!)

The boys dressed up as knights and the girls as princesses. They read Revelation 12:7-8 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven."

Then a children's story was read and they had a treasure hunt, followed by potluck lunch and play time. It was fun, and the kids had a good time. :)

The Fair

We did the Puyallup Fair this year with friends. Sorry, not much pictures taken by two pregnant women with 2 little ones each. But the kids had fun looking at the animals, checking out the ambulance, and fire trucks, and getting 4 bags of free cotton candy! I think the first time all 4 had cotton candy. It was a fun day with friends.



Milking the cow.

The younger ones not very sure about the whole milking thing.