Christmas and the start of a new year

Caleb started the Christmas season off by getting super sick. 
 Probably the sickest he's ever been.
Poor guy.

Here are all his supplies.  Tissues, throw up bowl, and water.
He just laid on the couch all day.

City tree lighting.

Caleb came but was quarantined in his stroller.

These kids helped prepare some reindeer headbands for our ward's Reindeer Run and Christmas breakfast.

Caleb didn't answer when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas.
So Santa told Caleb he'd bring him a surprise.
Caleb was thrilled to hear that Santa would be bringing him a surprise!

This girl was shy too, so she will also be getting a surprise.

And Carter asked for a surprise.

Jayden's class helped decorate a Christmas tree at a local bank.

Good job girls!

And Carter and Caleb had a field trip to the St. George Temple visitors center.

We've got the tree set up.  We are ready for Christmas!

Just because it's Christmas time, don't think we got out of doing all our work.

Pull Carter!!

A great helper.
This is a section he did all by himself to surprise Dad.

Craig trying to show up his son.
"Mine is bigger."

Some progress made, lots of work left to do.

Carter showed Dad how to put his new toy together.

"Santa! Please turn on the Christmas lights!"

We love when friends come to visit!

These kids decided to have a candlelight dinner and tell spooky stories.
Mom's was the scariest story.

Hanging out watching the World Cup finals.
Go Argentina!!!!

Craig's work Christmas party got a little crazy.

Caleb begged and begged all month to make gingerbread men.

After a lot of parental procrastination, they finally got baked and frosted on Christmas eve.

A Christmas Eve hike.
Jayden just wanted to go home to bed so Santa could come.

We got her to have some fun with us anyway.

Whoa!

Ok mom, I guess this is pretty cool.

On the hike everybody had to have a stick to hold/drag in the dirt.

Caleb found a great spot to hold his.

Time to go to sleep and wait for Santa!

Welcome to Christmas morning!

Jayden was sure at first what Santa and brought for her.

When we explained to her what calligraphy was, she loved her new calligraphy set!

She also loved her backpack and notebook.

Carter's new gaming mouse!
Thanks uncle Spencer!

Look at all this stuff I got!
(It's all stacked neatly behind him)

And this!
I'm a transformer!!!!!

Treats for Craig.

Merry Christmas!

Caleb wants to be a tomato plant for Halloween next year. 
He even comes with his own watering system.

Time for a ride on trolley

Hello neighbor

This isn't Winnie the Pooh's house,
it's Daniel Tiger's!

These kids didn't watch Daniel Tiger's episode about sharing.

Hold on Miss, your car is almost ready.

Dominoes!!

Saying goodbye to Tuesday.
We are going to miss this girl.

Grammy took Jayden to get her first not-at-home-in-the-kitchen haircut.
Jayden was so excited!

Looking good!

You too bud!

Grumpy came to help us work in the yard.
It should be done in a couple more days.

We are learning how to compost.
Apparently mold is a good sign.  We will see how it turns out.

Lots of weeds to dig out.

It's looking better!

Making a little progress in the front yard too.

Cleaning out this girl's room. 
She did a good job saying goodbye to toys she doesn't need anymore.

We loved having Grammy and Grumpy visit for New Year's Eve.
I can't remember what we were laughing about here, but it took us several minutes to compose ourselves.

Visiting the Ninja gym.
Tough girl.

Tough boy.

We have had a lot of fun hiding this scarecrow in places around the house,
trying to catch each other by surprise.

"Mom, don't take down my house!"

Carter's friends dared him to sleep in our basement (the unfinished side) all night.
Apparently it's haunted.
Both survived.

We often find this girl sleeping in what looks to be very uncomfortable positions.

Surprise attack from our fridge.
I guess we need to screw this shelf in place.

Getting some weed cover down.

Read for rock.

Lots of shoveling.

We finally have one section that will hopefully be weed free this spring.

Caleb was so proud of his castle.
"Take a picture mom!"

Grammy gave Caleb this black box with a marker and a ton of paper.
It's probably been one of his most used Christmas presents.

Carter is a deacon!
He has done a great job the past two weeks helping pass the sacrament.

Jayden begged and begged to do a tumbling class.
She was so excited for her first day!

Field trip to the airplane museum.

This was Caleb's favorite plane because a skeleton is in the cockpit.

Carter's P.E. class this week was up in the mountains.

He had a blast with his dad!
Although his neck was a little sore the next day from a few hard crashes.

With big brother on the slopes and big sister at school, Caleb and Mommy had a fun day together.

Just making some letter monsters.

Caleb can't play until he finishes his school work.