Trees, Trees and More Trees....

We went to something called the Festival of Trees on Friday night (it was a miracle that I got Orrin to go!) We ate at Crown Burger first with my Auntie Leanne and her family, then walked across the street to look at all the Christmas trees... there were so many! People create a tree for someone they loved who have passed away. People then purchase the tree and all the profits go to Primary Children's Hospital.

Pictured above is my favorite tree: A Cullen Christmas! A Twilight tree, baby!!

Orrin started throwing a Piper-esque fit about the twenty rows of trees, so we went and watched a singing and dancing group (Vanessa's was soooo much better) and then left. Poor girls didn't get to play any games or sit on Santa's lap. Next year I think I'll take the kids by myself and leave Mr. Scrooge at home!

Melts My Heart

Today, it began to snow. The first snow of Christmas. The flakes, as you can see, were georgous- the soft, fluffy kind that you see on movies and think "that is so fake". But they were real.

Then I blinked, and they were gone. They only fell for maybe ten minutes, but while they did, Porter and I were entranced.

On another note, I went this morning to Parents and Pastries at Adi's school (this is an evil scheme the PTA came up with to get all of our parental-booties out of bed early to get to the elementary before the sun was up in order to get a doughnut-and pay extra if you want something to drink it down with so you can read with your child. I read every night with my child, must I do it in their loud lunchroom before my brain is fully functioning?).

Anywho, I met one of Adi's little friend's mom. We were trying to arrange a playdate, and the mom asked me if I worked. I told her no. Adi then said, "Uh-huh, she works inside our home."

Who needs more of a lift than that?

Messy, Messy, Messy...

No holiday would be complete in our family without the ceremonious making and frosting of sugar cookies.

Messy, Yes.

Fun, Oh Yes.

Most of the cookies are never eaten, since the girls lick their knife, frost a cookies, lick their knife, put more frosting on it, lick their knife, frost a cookie.... you can see where this is going.

Today was the first time little Porter got to "frost" the cookies. He ended up frosting himself.

The girls ended up eating more frosting than they put on the cookies.

A jar of sprinkles met a watery death in Porter's sippy cup.

And I ended up laughing the entire time (not so much while I was cleaning up, but hey, we're only young once ;)

Here's how Porter looked when he finished:

Letters to Santa

The Kiddos have been itching to write their letters to Santa (in fact, they have written several rough drafts), and Mom has wanted them to hurry and write them so that they couldn't change their minds after the gifts had already been bought :)

Days of Christmas

Now that it's December, I'm back to doing the Days of Christmas that I tried out last year.... wish me luck! I'm trying to do a mini scrapbook page each day to capture our Christmas Activites, plus it helps me to bring the spirit of the season into our home. Here's Day One:

It was Porter-Pot's turn to put the star on top of the tree this year. Orrin helped (or put it on himself... we might have staged this picture). Afterwards we watched White Christmas (a tradition) and the girls giggled when Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye dressed up and performed like sisters:



Gotta love that movie!

Christmas Decor...

Got my blog decorated, but I haven't begun in my home...

Tagged

8's
8 Shows I like:
1. The Office- that's what she said :)
2. Ugly Betty
3. Clean House
4. Wizards of Waverly Place
5. Phineas and Ferb (Not kidding, I have every episode of this and #4 saved on my DVR)
6. Criminal Minds
7. Monk
8. Psych

8 Restaurants I like:
1. Applebees
2. Chik-Fil-A
3. Olive Garden
4. Texas Roadhouse
5. Ummm... I don't eat out much....

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Am I supposed to remember yesterday?
2. Was up by 4 am (thanks Porter-Pot)
3. Got myself and three kids ready by 6
4. Went to Target-to for diapers and a few other not-quite-neccessities
5. Activity Days meeting
6. Had friend for lunch
7. Helped said friend digi-scrap her Christmas card
8. Broke up 52 fights between my three children

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Going to Salt Lake Temple Lights next week
2. My sis coming in December
3. Sleeping in sometime this weekend and letting Orrin take the morning shift :)
4. Seeing Twilight again this weekend
5. Being with friends and family tomarrow for Thanksgiving
6. Black Friday shopping
7. OP getting home from work so we can go see Four Christmases
8. All the Christmas Festivities that are coming!!

8 things on my wish list:
1. That a magical fairy would come and finish my laundry and ironing
2. And my vaccuming
3. I could get a magic wand that would silence all screaming immediantly
4. We could go to Arizona for Christmas (that one might come true)
5. OK, so this one is harder than I thought!!

Maybe I didn't do so well, but it was fun trying!

I tag anyone who wants to play along!

An Inquisition at Breakfast

Would you like to see just how smart my boy is?

OK, so he's not exaclty a linguist, but doesn't he wear his food well?

*Toot, Toot*

We've been working on learning the Articles of Faith as a family for the past six months. The girls learned the first eight at lightning speed, but the last few have been a bit of a struggle. Last night, I was trying to say #10 without looking, and my girls corrected me and then finished it without my help:

That's my girls!!

Porter is a good sport (and no, I haven't taken away his bottle but his time with it has been cut back). I'm hoping he is learning these subconsciously and one day, after he starts talking, of course, he'll be able to prattle them off with the girlies (it's a wish, ok?).

You only wish you could dress like this...

Instructions for creating this fabulous look:



1. TEAR APART Mom's closet looking for just the right skirt (even though Mom has told you about a million times to STAY OUT of her closet.



2. Find something to cinch the waist- anything will work, really. As you can see, Adi is sporting a darling headband that she refuses to wear on her head but loves as a belt; and Piper has a pair of heart leggings wrapped around her a couple of times.



3. Try to hurry and get your waist tied before skirt falls... scream after three failed attempts. Big sister will then come and tie it for you.



4. Put on church shoes that Mom has warned you and warned you and warned you not to tough excepting Sundays. They're scuffed now anyways from previous adventures, so Mom doesn't get as mad anymore.


5. Demand that Hish School Musical 3 songs be played and have Mom sing Troy's part.

Now you're dressed for success and ready to rock!!

A Dose of Reality

Scene: I was doing Adi's hair for school at six o'clock in the AM (yep- I got morning kids). Adi is acting as though I am methodically pulling out each and every hair on her head.

Adi asks, "How many days do I have left of school?"

Me, "Three days till Saturday." I'm too busy trying to pull her hair into an even ponytail while she is busy trying to pull out every ribbon in my ribbon jar to reach the bobby pin on the very bottom... don't ask.

Adi, "No! How many days till I don't have to go to school anymore?!" May I insert here that Adi is not a fan of school. Already she says that her favorite part of kindergarten is recess.

I chuckle. "You have twelve years left of school and then there's college..."

Adi bursts into tears.

"I'm done going to school!!!!!!"

She then went to school.

The Taking of the Christmas Pics

So, I have done it. The dreaded photo shoot. Me versus my three little monkeys. Getting the three of them to hold still is almost as hard as getting the three of them to look at the camera at the same time.

I think that I have one photo I could possibly use.... it isn't exactly what I wanted (at all) but I do not want to subject myself to their torture again! I'm serious.

To prove the difficulty which I faced, I caught a moment on camera:

See... now do you believe me?

Here are a few of the rejects that I love but they just don't work:

Ya gotta love Porter's face in this one!

Alright, look carefully at Piper's face and what Porter is about to do to her arm....

I really love this photo... Porter's eyebrow, the background, but the darn girls weren't looking!

YUM-MO

Need I say more?

Let It Snow

I'm not a big fan of cold. At all.

Especially when it involves bundling up three extremely stubborn children, all of which hate their winter coats.

But, ahhh... the first real snow of the season. It is a beautiful thing. And it was fun to watch Porter's reactions to it (he just didn't really get what it was, but he did keep saying snow)!

The girls were determined to make a snowman, which then turned into a slide, but they didn't get very far before they decided they were just too cold and came inside for a hot shower and a mug of hot cocoa.

They're Animals!

Unfortunately, none of my Trick-or-Treating pictures turned out :( But I did get this video of Porter-Pot trying to figure out why he had to put his first candy into a dumb old bag:

For the rest of the night, Porter would get upset whenever we tried to get him to put his candy in there...

We visited the Hogle Zoo on Saturday- and let me tell you, it was the perfect day. It was overcast (but no rain) so the sun wasn't beating down on us, and the temperature was just perfect! So, there are some benefits to living in Utah.


(That's Pip's ticket sticking out of her pocket)

Porter didn't much care for this pose...

And this one is my favorite pic of the day.

Now, you might be asking why I always have pictures of the back of my family. I'll tell you: my children are animals and I am extremely lucky to get a picture of even their backside! Porter automatically turns away from the camera when he sees it, Adi puts on a cheesy grin and Piper strikes her sae ole pose of tilting her head to the right side and smiling. So, to get one good picture I usually have to snap at least 20. No joke.

Let's just say that my kiddos are little celebrities with their own personal papparazzi stalking them...