Merry Christmas late!

We hope that everyone had a Very Merry Christmas filled with family and love. I hope that we all remebered the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrated. I am so thankful for this time of year and the joy it brings to all of us.

We had a wonderful Christmas and here are a few pictures from that fun morning! They are in the wrong order, but I am too lazy to fix them.

Here is Steve having more fun with the toys than the kids. Steve has always loved Nerf guns.

Another of Steve with the Nerf gun. You wouldn't know that it is actually Andrew's present.

Alex eating wrapping paper. Yum!

Andrew with his new Hot Wheels set.

Malea with her Cabbage Patch kid. Lilly Paula is her name. I think she is very cute.

Alex wasn't too sure about the whole unwrapping presents thing, but he remained happy and loves his new toys.

Malea's new dollhouse. Andrew likes it as much as she does, and they have been playing with it non-stop.

Before the chaos began.

Elf Yourself Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Pictures

This morning I decided that I needed to get pictures done for our Christmas cards. It was definitely interesting. Andrew and Alex were sick all weekend, Andrew with the stomach flu and Alex with croupe. Needless to say, it was not a fun weekend and today they were both still a little bit grumpy and not feelin 100%. I got them all bathed and dressed and told them they just had to be cute for a couple of pictures. This is some of what I got. I do think they turned out pretty cute, even if they are not perfect, and of course at least one of them looks goofy in each one. That's kids for you. I've also learned that the more kids you add, the less likely you're going to get a really great shot.

Thanksgiving thoughts

I am feeling very sentimental right now and very thankful for all of my many blessings. I have way too many blessings to be able to name them all, but I will put down a few.



I am so very thankful for a wonderful loving husband who supports our family and is the amazing patriarch of our home. I am thankful for my three beautiful children who have so many talents and wonderful things that they bring to our home. I am thankful for the joy that they all bring to my life. I am thankful that we are all strong and healthy.



I am thankful for my sisters and my parents. I am thankful for the love and support that they give to me. I am thankful that my sisters are truely my best friends and that they are always there when I need them. I am thankful that my parents raised me to know right from wrong and to stand up for my beliefs. I think they did a wonderful job at raising us.



I am thankful for wonderful in-laws who are truely my family. I love them all and am grateful for their love and support.



I am thankful for all of my extended family who I am so close to. I feel sorry for people who do not get to know their grandparents, Aunts/Uncles, and cousins as well as I do. I love you all and am thankful for your love and support.



I am thankful for amazing friends who also love and support me. I love you all dearly. Although I don't get to see all of them as much as I'd like to, I want you all to know how much you mean to me.



Heavenly Father has blessed me in so many ways. I will never be able to express my immense grattitude toward him. I know that he loves me and will continue to bless me and my family. I love the gospel so much and am so thankful that he sent his son to die for me and each of us.



Sorry for the sappy post, but I felt that during this season of Thanksgiving that it was important to share my gratefulness. I love you all and hope that you have a fabulous holiday!

Photo tag

My friend Karyn tagged me in this game of photo tag. Here are the rules:

1. Go to your pictures file.

2. Go to the 4th file.

3. Go to the 4th picture.

4. Post it and tell the story.

5. Tag 4 more people.

This is Malea still in her pajamas one morning. Steve wanted more recent pictures of Andrew and Malea to put on his myspace, so he grabbed the camera. There is no fun or exciting story, but I like this picture. It captures the silly side of Malea. These are also her favorite pajamas with Ariel on them. Sorry it wasn't more exciting.

I will tag:

Amy - All about the Caldwell's

Adrienne - Ballantyne Bunch

Jalaine - The Gibson's Ark

Denise Wilkes - Wilkes Family

I hope you have fun with this and I can't wait to see what you post.

Halloween

So I realize that I am behind, but I wanted to post some pictures from Halloween. We had a wonderful day and the kids were adorable.

This is Malea as a ballerina, doing her favorite "trick!"

Alex was a cute little penguin, however, he only wore the costume for a couple of pictures, and then had had enough! It was also too warm for him.

Andrew was Spiderman for the second year in a row. I tried to convince him to be something else, but he would not hear of it. Luckily the costume from last year still fit him and I got to save money.
Here are my silly little trick-or-treaters together.

This is Malea's pumpkin that she picked. My friend Rebecca grows pumpkins every year, and she let Malea and her school friends pick out a pumpkin. Thank you Rebecca!

Here are all of the pre-school friends together with their pumpkins. They are all such sweet kids, and I am glad that Malea can have great friends.

Overall, we had a great week filled with fun parties and family. Malea and Andrew both had parties at school and Andrew had a costume parade. We went to lots of family members homes to show of their costumes, and we attended the Trunk-or-Treat at the Blaine St. Church. It was a wonderful and fun holiday!

My real name.

The other morning Malea came running in and said to me, "Your nick name is Andrea, and your real name is Mommy." I thought it was so cute that I just had to share. Most days it does feel like my real name is Mommy, but it is a name that I wouldn't trade for anything. I love being the mommy to my three sweet and wonderful children. I am very blessed.