Our family pictures!

My family was finally able to get together about a month ago to get family pictures taken. It was quite an experience with so many little kids, but my sister-in-law's dad did a great job taking the photos, don't you think?!?

Isn't it amazing how families grow and change?!? All 5 of us kids are now married and starting our own families. The wonderful thing is that all of us have been married in the temple and are active in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for guiding us and loving us enough to make this possible. You are amazing people to deal with all of us growing up! ;0) I know we didn't make it easy for you through the years! Thank you for everything and getting us to this point! We love you so very much!!

Adding a new instrument to the list

A couple weeks ago, one of my friends came over to practice her flute arrangement for "Silent Night", one of the songs we're doing for our Sacrament meeting Christmas program. Ever since then Paige has been fascinated with the instrument. She uses a chair to climb up to the counter and gets a wooden spoon out of the container. Then uses it in this manner. She always is so proud of herself. "Mommy, I can play the flute, too!!" I know never know what she's going to come up with next!!!

Ward Christmas Party = SANTA

I finally am getting around to posting the pics from our Ward Christmas party. Paige really LOVED Santa even though these pictures don't really show it. I had to play the piano right before Santa came in (yes, our new ward has discovered that I play, so I'm put to work quite often) and Paige was next to me. She pretty much flipped out when he walked through the door. "Mommy, Santa's here...Santa's here!!" All the while, jumping up and down. Pretty funny. She had to be right by him the whole time he was standing in front of everyone. Once he went up on the stage to hand out the Christmas bags, she was one of the first ones. Silly girl!

This is a pic of Paige, one of her nursery buddies, Joy, and another boy from our ward. I felt sorry for him because Paige and Joy refused to leave Santa's side (or front in this picture) to let the boy have his picture taken alone with Santa. Not so silly girl! :0)
And here's the best thing she received that night...a candy cane. Yep, she's a candy cane addict. I have to hide them so she will sometimes forget about them! :0)

Paige's haircut

Paige's hair was getting a little too straggly for my liking, so I decided to trim it a little. I have to say that I LOVE it!! I think I love the idea that she actually has hair to do something with. Remember not too long ago that she was completely bald except for a tiny bit of fuzz?!?

Reindeer antlers...some like them, some don't!

As you can see, Paige loved her reindeer antlers, but little Austin...not so much. I have to say, though, that they're growin' on him now. I had them on him for a good 10 minutes this morning and he didn't mind them at all. They both look pretty darn cute in them, don't you think?

Paige's new dances!

So Paige is learning tempo and figuring out how to change her dancing style depending on the music. Very smart, I know! ;0) Here's the latest. Enjoy!!

I love the drop to the floor and then kicking the feet. Classic dance move right there! ;0) Don't you love Austin percussion techniques in the background. It pulls it all together, I think!

The "After" picture

This pic was taken about 10 seconds after the first pic. She slept like this for quite a while. Talk about neck-ache!!! At least Lucky was there to act like a pillow....kind of! :0)

This is the girl who doesn't sleep in the car?!?

Yes, we have proof that Paige does sleep in the car....sometimes. :0) We were on our way to celebrate Grandpa A's birthday and she surprised us. I love that her dog, Lucky, was in that position also. She HAD to have Lucky on her lap like that or she got very upset (he had to look at her). I also love her glasses. Those are her movie star glasses and she has to have them on every time she's in the car. When she realizes she doesn't need them (cloudy day, for example) she doesn't take them off...she puts them on her forehead. Don't ask me where she got this from!! :0)

The Sick Household

Just wanted to let you know that if you were planning on visiting us this week....DON'T!! This week, well actually the last 2 weeks, have been interesting. We are all trying to get over some nasty colds. Austin has been by far the worst, so that means little rest for Mommy, who isn't feeling up to par either. At least I know how the kids are feeling. (A little empathy never hurt anyone.) Paige started in all about 2 weeks ago. She then gave it to Austin which in turn gave it to me. Luckily Brian has been able to avoid most of it. Thank goodness. This is the excuse I'm using for not posting as often this past week! :0) We have been busy, though, with Ward and Relief Society Christmas parties and just life. (I'll hopefully upload some pics of Paige with Santa at the Ward Christmas party. She was quite hilarious!)

Our little elf family

I saw this on one of my friends' blogs and had to try it. Brian and I were laughing hysterically. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1144926522

Paige singing her ABC's!

This has to be one of the cutest things ever. Paige was so excited to have a project of her own because Aunt Kandra and I were working on our crafts for almost 2 days straight. We've been playing with Paige's letters almost every morning when Austin is taking his nap. She loves it and is doing pretty well learning her letters. Her favorite one's right now are S and P. Very fun. Enjoy Paige's song. She took the liberty of adding a few new lyrics! :0)

A couple Thanksgiving pictures

We spent Thanksgiving with Brian's parents, grandparents, Uncle John, Aunt Bethany, and Uncle Dan. It was so much fun. We did feel very bad for Uncle Dan, though. He broke his collarbone the day before Thanksgiving. He went snowboarding on the opening day at Targhee. Paige kept asking him if she could see his owie, but we told her he had to keep it in his sling. She seemed to accept that since she's never seen a sling before. We just hope Uncle Dan is doing better! :0)

I completely forgot about the camera because we were all busy either getting the food ready, watching the kids, watching football (this probably more than watching the kids!) and playing football at the park. But I finally remember that I did bring it and took a couple pictures before Thanksgiving dinner. I love that everyone is actually looking at the camera in this pic. Between Paige and Austin this doesn't happen very often. I also LOVE Paige's hair in this pic. I love actually being able to do something with it because it's finally growing!! Yeah!!!

I absolutely LOVE this picture. Paige is such a good big sister. She's almost always willing to help Austin play with toys, get his diapers or burpcloth, and just playing with him. She's been especially loving lately, which I definitely can't complain about! This is just one time that I caught her being affectionate towards her little brother (who, by the way, adores his big sister)!!