Family Pictures 2011!

Family pictures this year was fun. We went to Anthem Park. They have a huge jungle gym, big grassy area, beautiful lake, gazebo, water fun, and a cool train running through the park. It was a great place to get pictures. Of course trying to get pictures of our three small kids sitting still at a park is impossible. That's why we are so grateful to our photographer, Polly, for chasing after our kids and capturing these great pictures. We were pretty sure we would get zero usable pictures with how crazy excited the kids were, but some how she managed to get some really great ones! Our family picture was certainly tougher. The kids were never all looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. However, I like these because it portrays the truth of our family: laughter, happiness, and pure chaos. haha. It's perfect! The individual shots are so cute. They show our kids personalities perfectly. Hailey is sweet and calm. Emma is a free spirit down to the core, and Michael is sometimes serious and other times and total comedian.

Love this shot. Adam and I just smiling as our kids run wild behind us.

My sweetie :-)

I love this shot. I didn't even know she was taking a picture.

Look at the joy on my boys faces. So sweet!

I could have died when I realized that I didn't' get any shots with me and Emma. Hailey was being really clingy to me and Emma to her daddy. So I took one when I got home. haha.

See what I mean.... daddy's little girl.

Look at the smile on her face. She could have stayed there all day.

Hailey loved the train!

Mommy's little girl.

This tree was so awesome!

My Angel!

Michael's serious look....

And here is the comedian. :-)

My free spirit. She got there, ripped her bow out of her hair and took off!

Such a sweet baby girl.

Baking Cookies with Mommy!

(After we were done......the bigger the mess, the more fun we had!)

(Look at all that flour on the floor,.... oh dear emma)

(My baby Hailey.... loves to lick the beaters)

(My girls.... and there is Hailey's classic smile)

Michael helping mommy stir)

The joy!!!!! BEST MOMENT EVER!!!!

(There's that smile)

(Very serious about her stirring)

(Sweet Emma taking her job seriously)

(My beautiful children & little helpers)

(Michael favorite part....eating the dough)

(He likes to stir too...)

So this holiday season had been a bit of a struggle for me. But no longer! My kids want Christmas and they are going to get it! :-) You saw in previous pictures how we decorated for Christmas and how wonderful it was! Then came the cookies. We set everyone up at the table. Everyone got their own bowl and measuring spoons/cups. They were so excited to be helping! Every time they would take turns dumping the right ingredients in, then I would take a smaller amount and put it in their bowls. They were so excited and we had so much fun and made such a mess. We listened to Christmas music and danced like crazy while we stirred. We had such a great time! The Christmas Spirit is flowing wildly throughout my home. Merry Christmas!

Loving Moments w/ Great-Papa Tobler!

We do dinner at my mom's house every Saturday. Hailey and Emma have developed very special relationships with their great grandpapa. I can totally understand it because I have always had a very good relationship with him. He was practically my dad growing up. I love him so much! And my girls do too.

(Emma smiling with Papa)

(kisses with papa)

(Hailey & Papa)

(Hailey telling Papa where his eye was)

(Papa kissing her elbow owie better)

(Sweet Kisses)

(Feeding Papa Cheese)

Meeting Santa!!!

I must say I was surprised..... but all my children loved Santa this year! We had our ward Christmas party and they each sat on his lap, talked to him for awhile about what they wanted and then reached over for a candy canes. It was a great experience! Now.... it's time for Santa's little helpers (adam & i) to take care of the rest. :-)

(Emma hugging Santa)

(Emma getting her candycane)

(Hailey excited to be with Santa & her candycane!)

(Michael & Santa getting a candycane)

Michael the Gym Pro & Emma the Ballerina!

Michael has been getting more involved with his gymnastics. He goes to one of the best! You wouldn't believe those kids there swinging from the bars, doing floor routines, the beam routines.... those kids are training for the Olympics and have many team championships wins to prove it. We're thrilled to have Michael training here. He is in the little "mighty mites" part and still doing a lot of learning, but he LOVES it! I find him practicing, what he learned in class, all week long. He has a natural talent for it and he is very strong in his core and upper body (or so his coach says). We're really proud of him. It's fun to watch him do all his tricks. We can't wait to see how far this takes him. We are leaving it up to him of course. If he wants to try a few different things then that's totally ok, and we would love that too. Whatever he wants. I know he will excel at everything.

Then there is my sweet Emma. A good friend of ours handed down some of her daughters dance and gymnastics outfits. When Emma got them she would not take them off. Still hard to get them off her. Lots of times she will wear it under her regular clothes as if she is a super hero of some kind. haha. She is quite adorable when she dances and so beautiful.

Hailey is next! We haven't found a little sport for her yet. But she is only 18 months. There's time.

Michael Not Very Happy:

The other day I was getting the girls ready for the day and Michael had said he was going into the bathroom to poop. All was find for awhile until I realized he had never taken this long to poop. So I went to check on him, only to find that he had taken my eyeliner pencil and was drawing pictures all over the wall. So I gave him some cleaner and a rag and told him to get to work. He wasn't happy about it, but he got it done and I doubt he'll ever do it again. :-P

Visit with Grandma Weeden

The other day I wasn't feeling well. My mother in law stopped by to check on me and the kids. She enjoyed some sweet cuddles with Hailey Rose.

Letters to Santa....

I could not be more proud of my kids. Every day they give me more reason to beam with pride. Today was no different.
We decided to turn on some Christmas music, bake cookies and make cards to send to the North Pole for Santa.
The kids were doing an amazing job decorating their cards and putting lots of effort into it as they talked about what they wanted to ask Santa to bring them for Christmas.
Then we talked about the little kids in the world that don't have much if anything for Christmas. We talked about those that are hungry, and don't have warm beds to sleep in and good clothes to wear. We talked about the real meaning of Christmas and Christ's birth. They love the story of Christmas every time they hear it.
A friend of mine was surprised when I said that my kids would rather see baby Jesus at the temple lights than go to see the zoo lights... but that's my kids. They can feel the difference between the commercialized Christmas and the real meaning.
That's not to say that they don't love the magic of Santa, cause they do...
so as we're talking about the kids that don't have much for Christmas and we're making our cards, Michael says "mommy... can you write something on my card to Santa for me." and I said "of course buddy, what would you like me to write." and as he spoke tears filled my eyes. This little boy has such a huge heart and I couldn't be more proud. This is what he said
"Santa, please don't forget to go and see the kids that don't have presents this year. Even if they don't have a place to live, I know you can find them. And if you need extra presents to give them, you can take mine, but if you have extra I would like something too."

Merry Christmas!