January Happenings and Carrie Walking

 Devon took Spencer and James on a walk last Sunday.  I love this picture because they are both smiling and looking at the camera (truly a rare moment), and Spencer is carrying a bear and James a truck, very usual occurrence.

 Spencer made a bow and arrow and decided he wanted to be cupid, he gets some interesting ideas.

 Carrie started walking at exactly 11 months (a good 3 months earlier than Spencer, and 7 months earlier than James), on Jan 21.  She thinks she is so cute, probably because everyone tells her she is quite often.

 She is also very curious and into everything.  Whoever told me toddler girls are easier never met this girl, I think I'll be running after this one.

Happy New year

Two of my sisters and their families were able to come for New Year. They stayed in a great house with Gouldings. We had a great time. One day we went on a hike to find some ruins. It was a longer hike than we expected, but I think that is a rule for family hikes. We had a great time and the kids loved climbing.

Spencer and Huck were the true mountain goats, the climbed over everything with ease.

When we got back we made a feast of food from around the world and Spencer and Kate and Olivia made decorations.  The food was wonderful, then we did fireworks and toasted the New Year with sparkling cider- at about 9 o'clock.

The next day we made gingerbread houses.  We had one for the "older kids"

And one for the 4 year olds.  This one fell apart so they each got to decorate their own piece, and they loved it.

It was so fun to have family here and the weather cooperated pretty well, although Olivia was sad there was no snow.

A full December

 Spencer has found a new place to try new tricks and wanted Devon to get some cool pics, I think they turned out great!

 When I move the table out of the kitchen to mop it becomes a favorite play thing.  Somehow it is not as fun when it is in the kitchen.

 The hot air balloon festival was in December this year.  The boys got their faces painted, Spencer took forever to decide what he wanted.

 James wanted stars, but then when his friend got a cheetah face he wanted that too, so he got both.

 We did get to go to the night glow.  Our branch actually caroled there and handed out bags with treats and invitations to our Christmas program.  A lot of new people came to it, I don't know if they got the message from the bags, but at least they came.

 This is our primary with some visitors acting out the nativity.  It was very last minute and crazy, but sweet, I think the kids had a good time.

 Spencer has been really into making crafts lately.  I have a book of crafts for each holiday, and he looks at it and makes them all by himself, which is nice for me.  He made about 10 things for Devon's birthday coming up.
The boys school had a Christmas program.  They both sang songs in Navajo.  James sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in Navajo, although I don't know if he got the words right.

 Spencer's class sang a song about bringing animals to a tree to feed them (it reminds me of a song in English).  Apparently he has the pronunciation down great (not that I would know), but he still sings the song constantly. 

Christmas 2013

We had a great Christmas this year.  We stayed home and it was really nice to just relax since the year has been so busy.  Devon went to work most days of the break, but he got ahead on a lot of things and we still got to see him a lot more, which I loved.
So back to actual Christmas, we had our friends the Whitaker's over for Christmas eve.  We played bingo, acted out the nativity and just hung out together.  It was really great to see them, I wish we lived closer than 2 hours away!  Somehow we have no pictures, that is sad.

 We opened PJ's and one toy on Christmas eve.  This is Carrie opening her first present, she looks really excited, but mostly she didn't unwrap her own presents, the boys were happy to help.

 Matching PJ's
Spencer was pretty convinced that he would get a lump of coal this year.  He told me he would be able to tell if there was a real Santa because Spencer saw and felt actual coal for the first time this year, and if his parents tried to give him charcoal, he would know.    He actually got a detective kit with rear-view sunglasses, binoculars, a voice changer, and invisible pen and notebook and a periscope.
James got an old-time "Little People" house which has surprisingly been a favorite with the other neighborhood boys who pretend to be too manly to play dolls and such.  James has no problem telling people he likes to play Barbies, in fact he wanted "Polly Pockets" for Christmas, this was just the more manly version.

 Carrie got a dog that moves when you touch it.  She loves the boys Zhu-zhu pets, but this moves really slow, so she is not as impressed.

 James was very happy with the toy Spencer bought for him although it is now broken, no more toys from Family Dollar I guess.

 We watched a few movies and played with toys the rest of the day, it was nice and relaxing!

 These are the notes to Santa about his treats, Spencer makes me laugh.  They say "Dear Santa, We left you a healthy thing today.  Try a cutie.That will get you a little bit less fat.  Give the reindeer the carrots.  Love Spencer and James.  PS- Don't eat the cookies or the muffin or the pickle on the soft floor."
Santa wrote back "I loved the treats and my reindeer loved the pickle and cookie."  Spencer thought that was hilarious.  Christmas is fun with kids.