Neighborhood Christmas Activity

We have a local shopping center just behind our house.  Every year they shops in the center have a big Christmas celebration.  Every business has a different activity for the kids, free goodies, and treats.

Since we live away from family and we don't get to participate in family Christmas parties.  It sometimes doesn't feel like Christmas with out all of the traditional parties and celebrations.  We have tried to make our own special traditions.

A Papa Murphey's just opened in the shopping center and were giving out all kinds of goodies and coupons.  Yum!

A hair salon was putting chalk in kids hair.  Grant didn't want any color in his hair, but Celeste was cool with some fun pink in her hair.

One store had a real reindeer available to pet.  Celeste loves animals and thought the reindeer was really neat.

Another store had cookie decorating with Mrs. Claus.  Grant liked this idea except for the decorating part.  That kid!

The spa and pool business had ice fishing for the kids. Celeste just wanted the ducks and to play in the water.  Grant thought it was really fun.

We had our picture taken with a miniature horse.  I think I have an animal lover!

We waited in line to see Santa.  It was a really long line, but worth it.  Santa was really neat and actually talked to the kids about what they wanted.  He was a cute Santa.  Grant was a great sport and sat on his lap and told him everything he wanted.

Celeste on the other hand....

Halloween 2014

I am catching up on all my pictures!  Halloween.  Halloween was a blast!  I took the Celeste and two neighbor girls to Kyle's work in the afternoon for some office trick-or-treating.  I love office trick-or-treating for little ones because it is warm and the kids get a lot of candy for little effort.  

After Grant got home from school we ate dinner and got on our costumes.  Grant went with the neighbors to some "far away" ward members.  These ward members decorate the houses all out and some give out full size candy bars!  

I stayed home with Celeste and she was not happy about getting left behind.  She really wanted to be with the other kids.

She was so excited when she finally got to go outside.  She wouldn't stay put for a picture and this was the best I did.

Grant was going to be a super hero this year, but as you can see that didn't happen.  Last year, we found a Hulk and Captain America costume for pretty cheap.  The costumes still fit and so I told Grant that he could dress up in one of the hero costumes.  However, all the neighbor boys were going as ninjas.  (One boy is not pictured below)  Grant really wanted to be a ninja like them.  He was so sad we wouldn't buy him a ninja costume.  So we caved in and bought him a ninja costume.  We surprised him the night before Halloween and he was so excited!

Grant with all his candy!  By the way it is the middle of December and his bucket is still more than half full!  Celeste on the other hand polished her candy off weeks ago.

Half-Way to Christmas

When I worked for Up to Three, there was a service coordinator that loved Christmas.  Sherry played Christmas music all year round.  No one liked to drive with her because they were afraid they would be stuck listening to Christmas music.  On the 25 of June she would always wear a Christmas shirt to celebrate half way to Christmas.

I just realized that yesterday was the 25th of June and we are half way to Christmas.  I find it ironic since yesterday my sister-in-law handed me this disc of picture she took of all the grandkids at Christmas.  It is a long story as to why I just got these pictures yesterday, but in honor of Sherry and because these pictures are so cute I have to share. 

Evy loves these shoes because they have a little heal on them.  She loves the sound they make when she walks.

Celeste in her pretty Christmas dress!

Brother and Sister

Preston

All the Grandkids

Brother and Sister

Little Miss Bright Eyes and Happy Face

Easter Sunday Part 2

We got Grant ready for Easter by talking about the resurrection for about a month before Easter.  We talked about the true meaning of Easter and fun reasons for Easter.  We tried to keep it spiritual, but we also wanted to have some fun activities for the kids too.  

The Easter bunny brought the kids a new swimming suit.  Celeste got a little splash pool and Grant got a slip and slide.  We had a small Easter egg hung after church and after Sunday dinner.  We just put all of Celeste's eggs on the ground and she had fun putting them in her basket and then taking the eggs out again.  We actually hid Grant's eggs.  He had a great time finding them.  

We also got the kids a pair of Croc sandals.  These are my favorite sandals for kids.  They protect the kids' toes and stay on their feet better than flip flops.  I can wash them in my washing machine when they get stinky.  

After the egg hunt we stayed outside and enjoyed the nice weather.  Kyle pushed Celeste on the swing and she had a blast.  

It was a wonderful day!  

Easter Sunday

I have a lot of pictures from Easter.  Celeste wore her pretty new Easter dress Granny bought her.  My mom bought Evelyn the same dress, but I haven't seen it on her.  I love the bright colors!  Such a fun dress to wear all summer.  

I am going to have to find a different shrug for summer though.  The shrug she is wearing Chris and Karlee bought her for Christmas.  It still fits and it matched perfectly!  It worked out great because it has long sleeves and Easter was a little chilly here.

I just love this girl's smile!  Her bright eyes and little teeth light up my world.

General Conference

I am always about a month behind...GRRR!  I can't stay caught up on this blog, but hey at least I try right?

So...General Conference.  AMAZING!  I always try to find a general theme throughout the talks.  The theme this session seemed to be standing firm in the Gospel.  I could break it down into a few main points.  First, don't succumb to Satan.  Stay strong and firm in the Gospel.  Second, every member is a missionary and we all need to do our part to share the Gospel with everyone we know.  Third, teach the Gospel to your children.   We have strived to put these principles into our daily lives. We have taking on an extra effort to have FHE and to have daily scripture study.  It isn't easy, but it is worth it!

So Grant would stay focused on Conference I did a little activity.  I got the idea from Auna and she got the idea from someone else.  I cut out pictures of the first presidency and the twelve.  I bought some treats and little goodies.  I taped a picture of an apostle to each treat.  The rule was when the apostle spoke we could eat that treat.  It worked great!  When Grant would see a new speaker come on the screen he would go to the pictures to see if they matched.  He figured out they all kind of look the same and so he started looking at the names.  It was fun!  We didn't make him listen to every talk only if it was one of the first presidency.  Some times he would stay and listen sometimes he would play with Celeste in the toy room.

I made our traditional Conference sugar cookies and so during one session we frosted cookies.  Another session I let Grant color Easter eggs.  We had a great time!   I felt like a spent the whole weekend in the kitchen, but at least I could listen to Conference.  I think it was one of the better Conferences we have had.  No fighting Grant to listen and we were able to listen. Yeah!