Christmas....

We had Christmas at grandma and grandpa's house and on Christmas Eve, my kids always get to open new pj's. (I know most people make them themselves, but I just buy cute ones at the store) They loved them.

Ashley was excited to get the Barbie Diamond Castle barbie, it's the one she wanted.

Jordan is always hard to shop for. The kid doesn't really play much with toys, but I figured I can't go wrong with Star Wars. He was happy.

And Cody, anything "Cars", and he is happy. Easy to please. He was fun to watch this year, being the first year he kind of understood what's going on.

One of the gifts santa brought was a new Wii. The kids were so excited. Cody had to try it out.

Jordan is good on the thing, but also very competitive. He trash talks anyone he plays. He will play until he wins. Funny kid, I just don't know where he gets it from. Cody is not really playing in this picture, we just let him think he is. :)

We had a great Christmas.....

Attitude......what attitude????

This is our Ashley with an attitude. She cracks us up with how much personality she has. You can usually find her dancing and singing around the house, and is very expressive when she talks. Jordan took this picture of her, saying, "whatever, major, loser." She moves her hand to a w, then an e, then an m, the does the loser sign on her head. Gotta love her. :)

This is one of her many outfits that she likes to dress up in. Great sense of style, eh?

Playing in the snow....

My kids have been very excited to play in the snow. It's nice that Ashley and Jordan are old enough to get all their snow stuff on themselves....since I hate doing it. They had lots of fun. Cody didn't last long, but the other two were out there for a while.



After a while, since I couldn't see Ash and Jordan out the back door, I decided to go find them. I found them on the side of the house, back to back. It was so cute. They play so well together....I love it.


This was not a pose, I called their names and they turned and smiled. Aren't they cute...


They waited for Nathan to get home to play with them in the snow. (I am not fun enough) So Nathan went to make snow balls with them.....


Then made snow angels....


Then it turned into full on tackle football. They were having so much fun. I even had to go to the store, and when I came back, they were still playing. They were out there for a long time. If you click on the picture, look how happy Ashley is to be tackled. The kids just love playing with their dad.


Hut, hut....


The team....

How we celebrate Christmas.....

You might have to pause my playlist music first, before playing this....

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Cody's pre-school....

So I know Cody is only two, but there was a few ladies in the ward with two year old's that were home bored, and needing some time away from home. So we decided to do a little joy-school type pre-school swap. So they go every Tuesday and Thursday morning, and we all take turns every week. It has been working out great and Cody loves it. So this week was at my house. This was Tuesday morning and Cody was up early because he was so excited it was going to be at our house. He is laying on the carpet squares that we use.

So this is the little poster that was made for them. A couple of the kids were missing today.

This is circle time on their carpet square. They all know which one is their's, and they stay on them pretty well. It's so fun to sing and read to them, and watch them interact with each other.

Gotta have snack time.....I think this is their favorite part.

A night with grandma and grandpa....

So have I mentioned how much I love Nathan's parents. They wanted Ashley and Jordan to come and stay the night last Friday night. They wanted them right after school, so they would have time to do everything they had planned for them. Grandma always has them help make dinner, then she had ornaments for them to paint, then she had made sugar cookies for them to decorate and of course watch a movie. I think they got to bed pretty late, and from what I hear, were up early. They just get too excited and have too much fun with grandma and grandpa.

This was only half the cookies they decorated. I think they turned out pretty cute. Thanks to grandma and grandpa Petersen for loving my kids!

Final game for Jordan.....

Jordan had his last basketball game this last Saturday. He really has improved compared to his first game. We have had a lot of fun watching him learn and play. He really enjoyed it.....thankfully..... :)

This is his trophy that he got, and broke the same day. Nice!



This is his team, minus a couple of players. They all had lots of fun together. The coach's son is one of Jordan's good friends from school, so it worked out well.

We ended up going to Primos pizza, which my kids just LOVE. They love getting whatever kind of pizza, and however much they want. They feel so independent. I think that's why they like it so much.
Jordan really is happy, just embarrassed.

Jordan said he ate about thirty pieces of pizza. I think we get our money's worth.

Santa.......well, kind of......is coming to town....

We had our ward Christmas party this last weekend. My kids were just excited to see santa....but of course, as soon as he appeared, Cody was not too sure. He didn't want anything to do with him...except have his candy canes.

Before we left for the party, we had told them that it might not be the real santa, it might be one of his helpers, playing santa for him. (We never know what the santa is going to look like, so we thought we better play it safe). Jordan was so funny. He was so excited to talk with santa, but as soon as he was done, he came over to me and said, "mom, that's not really santa." I said, "how do you know?" Then he said, "because I can tell it's brother Stephenson." It was pretty funny....yes, if any of you know our ward, santa this year was Ryan Stephenson.

Ashley didn't care who it was. She was just excited to see him and get a candy cane.

Time for Christmas...

We had a lot of fun, and a lot of help, decorating for Christmas this year. They kids always look forward to helping Nathan put up the Christmas lights.
(Sorry, for some reason all my pics keep posting backwards)

The kids had fun playing with the santa hats. They all wanted pictures with them on. This one, Ashley wanted to take the picture, so hesitantly, I let her.


Ashley loves posing. She planned this picture out herself. Crazy girl!

This summer, I bought a fake tree on Craigslist, and was kind of worried about it because it is a nine foot, pre-lit, Costco tree. I didn't know exactly how big it was going to be, and when I went to Costco and saw them, I freaked. But after we got ours up, it isn't too big for the room....thank goodness. It is actually really pretty. Nathan is not thrilled with having a fake tree, but we are happy we don't have to pay for a real one every year. The kids had a lot of fun helping me decorate it.




Ashley was suppose to put the star on, but when Nathan lifted her up, she decided she didn't want to put it on....too high. So, Jordan did it. It was funny to see his face, he panicked a little bit. Nine feet up is pretty high.

Anyway, we had fun decorating for Christmas this year. It is nice now that Ashley and Jordan are getting older that they can really help with lots. We love Christmas...

p.s. Anyone notice my pics are not blurry. I got me a new canon camera...for Christmas....and I love it. What...I had to open it now, I couldn't wait that long...

My own band....

My kids have been out of school the whole month on November.....and I know you are all feeling sorry for me, but don't! I have had plenty of GREAT entertainment. Lots of relaxation and time to myself......:) I know you might all be jealous, but you too can make your own band. It just takes a few pots and lids and wooden spoons, and a guitar player that sings...


I am not anxious for my kids to go back to school in five days on the 1st of December....I am not counting down.

A night of "Twilight"....

So I went out last night with a bunch of friends to see Twilight. We decided we should do dinner after the movie so we could sit and talk about the movie for a while. We had fun, and enjoyed the movie. Of course, the book is way better, with a lot more details, but all in all, I did enjoy watching the movie and seeing who they cast for each part. It was a fun night. Thanks ladies!

Fun with family....

Since my kids have had the whole month off, last week me and the kids were able to go down to Utah to see my sisters and their kids. This is a picture of me and my two sisters. Again....sorry so blurry.

We wore them out. This was us traveling around town, and the kids fell asleep.

My sister, Melanie, and her kids were able to come to our house a few weeks earlier. These are just some fun pics of them at our house. Our kids all get along great.


My kids love their cousins, and we wished we lived closer.

Disney on Ice..........with grandma

So grandma Petersen decided a while ago that she wanted to plan a "girl's night out" to see Disney on Ice. It was going to be she, Ashley, me and Ashley's aunt, Katelyn. Then grandpa thought that Jordan might be bummed if he didn't get to go, so grandma invited Jordan also. So it was the "girls", and Jordan. He didn't feel out of place, although he did ask why dad, grandpa and uncle Donny were not coming. Oh well, he had fun.

Me, Ashley and aunt Katelyn, waiting for the show to start.

You should have seen my kids faces when the show started and Mickey, Minnie and Donald came skating out. I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them that excited.

I couldn't believe all the characters there. Lion King, Incredibles, Princesses, Nemo, Pinnochio, Mulan, Toy Story and probably more. Name them, they were there.

Of course, Ashley LOVED all the princesses. She did notice that they were all there, except Sleeping Beauty, but she said that was ok. :) She was sitting on the edge of her seat the whole show (2 hours). She started out sitting by me, and I moved her by grandma, so she could see how excited she was to be there. Jordan didn't really want to show how excited he was, but it was hard for him to play "cool". He leaned over to me in the middle of the show and said, "this is so cool, I want to cry". He says funny things sometimes.

I actually felt a little sad that my kids were SO excited, and that I have never taken them to anything like this before. I don't know why I feel guilty, but I do. This just makes me want to take them to Disneyland that much more and that much sooner. We had a great time. Thanks grandma Petersen!

I spoke with one of my friends the next morning, and told her the pictures I got, and she said on the ticket it said no cameras. I did not notice that. But I walked through the security check and I told them I have two cameras in my bag, and they just made jokes about how much stuff I had in my bag. (I came very prepared) So I don't know if I am suppose to have pictures or not. Oops, honest mistake. ;)