Our Christmas

Christmas Eve! Makayla and Evan were so excited to leave Santa a treat! We left him a cinnamon roll and a glass of milk, and some carrots from all of his reindeer. We were able to track Santa online! We watched him go all over the world!!! Evan was so nervous, he kept telling me "we have to go to bed so Santa can come to our house too". He was afraid he was going to miss our house. They went to bed really quick! I love to watch them get so excited for Christmas to come. It is such a magical time of year and I love the magic they bring on Christmas Eve!
CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

Tyson got a train bike. Evan plays with it more than Tyson does. Tyson just can't fight back yet!

Evan woke up first and woke up Makayla. They went downstairs before they came in to wake up me and Ryan. After they saw that Santa had come they came running up the stairs to tell us that there was presents in their stockings and big boxes under the tree! When we went downstairs Evan and Makayla got the presents that they made for me and Ryan and wanted us to open them first. It really surprised me that they didn't want to start with their presents! I guess the gift of giving is just has fun for them as it is for us. Makayla gave us her hand print on a tile and she wrote her name underneath (she made it at school). I love it! Evan made a snowflake ornament at preschool with his picture on it. It is so cute! I love it too!!!

The day after Christmas we went to Byron and Misty's house and went sledding behind their 4-wheeler. They got a lot more snow than we did. The kids had so much fun!!!

Houghton Family Christmas Party

This Houghton Christmas party was with my immediate family. We always have a yummy dinner, act out the nativity and the kids get new jammies. For the nativity this year Misty found a play script for the navitity from an old Friend. Everyone had a part and there was music to go with it! My dad was the narrator and my mom played the piano. The rest of us dressed up for our parts and acted them out. It was so cute and got everyone involved! Something new we did this year was every family put together a little song or (Auston told jokes) and we shared with each other. It was pretty funny. We even got my mom and dad up there!!!

Clarke Family Christmas Party

At the Clarke family party we played a game where we rolled dice, if we rolled doubles we got to pick a present and unwrap it. You could either pick a present from the pile or someone else's. It was really fun! We had a yummy dinner and exchanged gifts!

Houghton Family Christmas Party

Our Houghton Christmas party is with all of my dads side of the family. My Aunt Tammy buys little gifts for everyone at the party and wraps them up. Then my dad plays "Santa" and hands out the presents! It's a fun tradition!!! The best part is EVERYONE gets to sit on "Santa's" lap. When Ryan sat on "Santa's" lap, he made sure he felt it!!! (He was digging his butt into his legs!)

6 Years Old!!!

Makayla opened her present from me and Ryan as soon as she got home from school. She was so excited! She got a CD player for her room and the "High School Muscial 2" CD.We had all of our family over for Makayla's birthday!She was so excited to open her presents and loved everyone of them!

Our wonderful family!!! Thanks for all your love and support!!:)
Aunt Shawnee always has the kids laughing and dancing! She is so cute with them!!

Makayla you are such a sweetheart! We love you so much!!! You always have a BIG smile on your face and LOVE to laugh and be crazy! You are not afraid to try new things and are very good and whatever you put your mind to. You are such a good helper around the house and you love to help with Tyson. You are our sweet little angel princess!!!

Makayla's Dance Recital

Makayla's Birthday Party

Makayla had her first friend birthday party this year! When I asked her what kind of party she wanted to have she said just a plain party and play games. So, we decided to have a balloon theme and play balloon games! I think it turned out good. Makayla said that it was lot of fun, so I guess that was a good sign. We decorated with lots and lots of balloons!!!

Opening presents! The bottom two pictures are from the "Make your own glitter tattoo kit" from Ady and Auston. (She loves it and it's really not that messy!)

My sister Cassie came had painted faces!!! A big hit! Thank you Cassie!:)

We decorated balloons, had a musical balloon walk, and just had a CRAZY fun time!!!

Gingerbread Houses and Snow!

Every year Bryon and Misty have all of us over to have dinner and make gingerbread houses. It is such a fun tradition! The kids LOVE it!!! We made the gingerbread tree because we usually make a gingerbread house with Ryan's mom and dad.

It snowed on Monday and Makayla and Evan were SO excited!!! They were outside playing before 9:00 am. They were throwing snowballs at the window trying to get me and Tyson in the house!

9 Months Old

He scooted himself to the tree and loved playing with the ornaments!

Tyson turned 9 months on December 1st. He isn't crawling, but he can sure get to where he wants to go. He usually just scoots on his bum and he can move pretty fast. If he is on his back or belly he will try to crawl. He can get in the crawling position but can't seem to get his arms and legs to do what there suppose to! I am trying to teach him some sign language. The words we are working on are "more" and "thank you". He can sign "more"! It doesn't look perfect but it's pretty good! He will copy yes and no with a head shake if you do it to him. He is still a GREAT eater! He will eat pretty much anything you put in his mouth! He is getting 4 teeth on top all at the same time. (Not fun for any of us!) He is getting pretty good and picking stuff up with his thumb and 1st finger. He can find the smallest piece of lint or garbage and puts it in his mouth. Yummy!!! Last night when he woke up in the middle of the night I got him out of his crib and he gave me the biggest hug!!! He puts his head on my shoulder and his hands on my neck. He is the sweetest ever! We love you to pieces Tys!!!:)

Meet Present

This is our friendly scout elf Present! Makayla and Evan got to name him. We got him in a box from Granny and Grandpa. He came with a story book that explains what he is here for. He came out of the box on Dec. 1st and was found sitting on the table in the front room. He is here to watch and listen to everything that goes on in our house. Makayla and Evan tell him everyday what they want Santa to bring them for Christmas. Each night while we are sleeping he flies to Santa at the North Pole. He has Christmas magic to help him be quick. He tells Santa if they have been good or bad, and of course what their Christmas wishes are! He comes back to our house before we wake up to a different place. It's a game to see who can find Present first! There is only one rule we have to follow so he will come back and be at our house the next day: We canNOT touch him or his magic might go and Santa wont know if they have been good or bad. And he can't talk to us he can only sit and listen to what we do.
It has been so much fun to see the kids talking to Present and looking for him! The first night he was out of the box, Evan woke up and asked me if Present was alive. He was not going to go down stairs if he was alive. I told him that he only comes alive at night when we are asleep so that he can fly to Santa. He hasn't been worried since. Yesterday Present fell off the the lamp shade and Evan touched him. Makayla and Evan were so nervous that he had lost his magic and wasn't going to be able to fly anymore. But all was well and Present was found in a new spot this morning, on the stove!:)

Getting ready for Christmas

On Saturday we went with my mom and dad and Misty and Bryon, to cut down their Christmas trees. (we have an artificial one so we didn't get one) This is my dad cutting theirs down. We had a great time helping them find the perfect tree!

Tyson isn't crawling yet. But I think we are still in trouble, he can pretty much scoot on his bum wherever he wants to go.

Our Christmas tree! The kids had so much fun decorating the tree. Every time they would pull an ornament out that they made or remembered they shared all about it. It was fun to watch them remember Christmas' past.

Duck Hunting

Ryan took Evan duck hunting on Friday morning with my dad. Or I guess I should say "duck huntin". Evan told me he was going "duck huntin" and I said "fun you get to go duck hunting". He said," no I'm going duck huntin'" Apparently there is a difference! I'm sure "duck huntin" was lots more fun!!!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Idaho, we go every other year. It is so much fun to go and be with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins and family. Going to Idaho was the hightlight of the year growing up. I loved it. My grandma and grandpa Phillips lived there on a farm. I have lots and lots of great memories of being there! So I am so thankful for my ENTIRE family! We got a piano!!! I have been looking for on on KSL for a few months now and finally found this one. We love it! I don't play very well, but I can play and Makayla and Evan are excited about taking piano lessons.

My sisters and cousins in Idaho!

Makayla dressed up as an Indian and had a Thanksgiving lunch in the lunch room. Evan also had a Thanksgiving Feast at preschool but I didn't take any pictures of him...oops! He also dressed up as an Indian and had so much fun!

Tyson loves to watch and play with Evan. Evan and Tyson were playing with the fire truck and looked so cute! It is nice to see them playing nicely with each other. (Evan tends to be a little rough with Tyson)

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Tag!

I've been tagged by Jessika

Here are the rules:

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This is Makayla when she was 2 years old. We are camping at Ottercreek Campground and I don't remember where that was. It was a long drive though! We went with my mom and dad, Tenille, John, Tanner, Michelle, Cassie, JT and I think my mom and dad brought Auston with them because Misty and Bryon couldn't go. I remember that we brought the canoes and went fishing and it was really cold, but we had fun! I love camping with my family!!!

I tag Alicia, Leslie, Jana G., and Becky S.

Say Cheese!

Makayla loves fake nails! She saw these High School Musical nails and had to have them. I bought them and she earned the money to pay for them. She was so excited! Once she had them on she was pretty much helpless. She couldn't do anything with them on. But they sure looked cute!:) I also took this picture because she lost her first tooth on Saturday November 9th. She was taking a bath and talking to me, she had shampoo bubbles on her hands and put her hand up to her mouth. She just looked at me like help. So I told her to wash her hands off in the bath water. So she wiped her hand on the side of the bathtub and there was her tooth! (She didn't talk to me until after I saw the tooth on the bathtub so I had no idea her tooth even came out) She was so excited to loose her first tooth! Makayla and Evan LOVE to take pictures with my camera. So I decided to share of few of their photo shoots! Makayla is quite the little poser.

8 Months Old

Tyson was 8 months old on November 1st. He learns so much all the time! He can clap his hands and actually make a clapping noise. He loves the bathtub. He knows when we are going in the bathroom for a bath. He gets so excited!! He loves to splash and doesn't mind if Evan splashes water in his face, he just laughs at him. He has been drinking the bath water lately. He will bend over and put his mouth in the water and start drinking. It kinda reminds me of a dog drinking water from a bowl. It's really funny! I know that it is really gross too, but how do I stop him!? He loves to spit. Especially if he has encouragement from his dad, sister and brother! I think it's cute too.....except when I am feeding him and I am wearing his food! He is content just sitting and playing with his toys (until Evan or Makayla come up and get in his face. He can't stand that!) He loves to play peek-a-boo! I love it when he smiles! He smiles with his whole mouth wide open. I love everything about him. I love watching him grow and learn new things!