Grandma Roberts' house

After Christmas we went to Grandma Roberts house in California. We left pretty late in the day because we heard a storm was coming in and we tried to beat it. We did not, we added about 2 hours to our trip with the snow. Also our check engine light came on again (Devon and the shop guy here had just replaced all the ignition coils that morning). Thanks to grandma Roberts car guy we finally got the real problem fixed, at least the light hasn't come back on yet (knock on wood). Otherwise we had a great time. The weather was great and warm, we got to go to a lot of after-Christmas sales, and it was nice to just visit and relax.We also had a great New Year part with a cake that looked like a clock (made especially for Spencer) and noise makers and sparkling cider.

Here is grandma with the boys right before we left.

Grandma has the best lemons, we picked some the morning we left and made some delicious lemonade.

One day the Tom and his family came to visit.  The boys loved having people to climb on, and it was great to see everyone.

I just had to put this picture in, this is the first time I met the Roberts family, they have grown a lot! McKay was younger than Spencer then, life goes too fast sometimes.

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas. This is the most excited Spencer has been for Christmas, he was going crazy.  I don't know how, but we didn't get any pictures of Christmas Eve, which is my favorite day of the year. We invited a family that is just starting to attend church, but they didn't end up coming, so we kind of winged it. We invited our neighbor also for dinner, and he joined us for Christmas Bingo. Fewer people meant more prizes for us I guess. Then we went to the "Christmas light parade." It was snowing and windy, but we sat in the car. I kept trying to find out a real start time- but everyone said sunset (which is not a time). We didn't go until after dark, but still ended up sitting in the car for an hour. We did the nativity with puppets while we waited, and then the kids drew on the windows because it was so foggy and now they really need to be washed. The floats were pretty cool once they came, but I think next year we will just walk down to the school and walk around them since that's where the parade ends and they stayed there for a few hours. Then we opened pj's from Grandma Gosney and talked to them over a google hangout which was fun, but we didn't get pictures of that either. I wish we had taken a picture of the food Spencer left for Santa- ham and jello. He probably gets tired of the cookies anyway. We also left some apples for the reindeer. The boys were sooo crazy by bedtime! We said they had to stay in bed until 6, but we ended up getting up at like 5:30 the next morning. I think the days of sleeping in on Christmas morning are officially over.
We accidentally started a new tradition last year since Christmas was on Sunday we just did Santa stuff before church and then brought out the other presents after.  We really liked spreading it out, so only the Santa gifts were out on Christmas morning, then we brought the rest out after breakfast.

Now you can see their cute Christmas PJ's.  I love how excited little kids get about presents.

Spencer got a Magnetic Dartboard.  It has been well used, and works really well.

James just wanted a present, but he got a castle which he played with all day, and many days since then.

We had Gosney breakfast burritos for breakfast.  James threw up- do not be alarmed he has the Gosney gag reflex and just didn't want to eat, so he gagged when Devon fed him.  Too bad he had to change out of his cute PJ's, but no other harm done.

I made quilts for the boys- okay I've been working on these for years and they still need to be bound, but December really was crazy, I tried. 

Spencer got a "bub" from his cousin.  It is a little plastic figure you can color and design, and he thought it was the greatest thing ever- I never know what he will like.

Here is James kissing his hot chocolate.  He is a funny boy.

My grandma made pillowcases for all of her grandkids and great grandkids- that's more than 50 pillowcases.  She also chose specific material for each one, and she could not have been more right with my boys, she chose exactly what they like.  Grandma's are amazing.

They opened grandma Coombs' present while on the internet too, so we don't have pictures, but they have been wearing their jackets everyday.

We spent a lot of the day doing this.  I love there pictures.  You can tell James doesn't really know how to throw a dart- these things were amazing, they still would stick.  Spencer and James look so involved in the game it makes me laugh.

We also watched some new movies.  Spencer's new favortie is Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.  We watched it on the Christmas and on the way to and from California.  It is a good long movies- good for trips.  They have been singing the music since then.
We had a great Christmas.

Other things in December

December was a crazy month, a little too crazy and too expensive for me. The check engine light kept coming on in our van and we keep paying too much to get it fixed and then it would come on again, then Spencer had to get a ton of dental work done (I really do brush his teeth everyday) and so I had to make a trip up north with the boys and no Devon, and it was a very expensive month. In between the craziness though it was fun, I just wish the holidays could mean things slow down instead of get crazy.
So on to the good stuff, Devon took the boys to his classroom one afternoon so I could get some rest and Spencer made this colorful dog.  I don't ever know what is going on in his head, but it's creative.

One day it snowed a little so we made tiny snowmen.  It actually snowed a lot more before Christmas (mostly on the days I was traveling) but somehow we have not made bigger snowmen yet.

We have an elf that flies to our house after Thanksgiving and watches to see if the kids are good.  Every night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa, and then he usually lands in a new place (unless he was really comfortable in the old one).  Spencer loves this elf and named him "Present."  When we were gone he insisted that Devon take pictures of where he landed to show us.

James loves to sing, he is always singing something- here is a little Jingle Bells

These boys love to dance, here are some new moves.

Tree Hunt

This year we decided to try to cut down a Christmas tree. I remember it was so fun when I was little. We were a little apprehensive that it would take forever and end with screaming kids and not really be fun, but it actually really was fun. First we drove and drove. At the bottom of the mountain there were not too many Christmas tree looking trees, and you were not supposed to cut down Pinion Pines, and we didn't know what that was, so we kept driving. We decided to follow this truck, because what else are you doing on the mountain in December besides cutting a Christmas tree. He went a lot higher and further than we probably would have, but then there started to be aspens and what I think are blue spruce- at least they look like Christmas trees. James fell asleep on our long drive up, so he was not very happy at first.

Spencer however was right in his element, he thought it was so much fun to hike through the woods.

The tree we chose was really about 20 feet from the car.  We did walk farther in to look at other ones, but this one was our favorite.

The boys loved saying "timber" and helping carry the tree out.  It was pretty small, but a good size for our house.

We decorated it the next day since we got back pretty late.  Grandma Coombs sent presents to open when we decorated the tree

New ornaments!

I thought Spencer would have allergies to the tree, and we both had itchy eyes the day after, but then nothing.  I think we have found a new family tradition.