December Days

For a couple of weeks, we stopped swaddling Dallin. He became really good at rolling around, and would end up stuck on his tummy inside his swaddle. But now we are back to swaddling and he doesn't seem to get stuck anymore.

Dinner time has been really fun lately. I'm trying lots of new recipes. We eat at 5:00 to keep Tanner from snacking and then spoiling his appetite. He is doing really well at eating all of his food, trying new things, and having less spills and messes. He has also been cracking us up with his silly comments, songs, and comedic routines. 

We have been eating in the dining room about 3 times a week.

I really love family dinner time.

Here's some random shots of our life in the early half of December.

Tanner got the stomach flu and threw up several times on a Thursday.

On Friday, Tanner hurt his foot pretty bad from trying to jump down the stairs. Saturday he didn't walk.

On Monday, Tanner broke out in hives. The doctor said it probably was a side effect to the chidlren's tylenol we gave him to help with his foot pain, which is different than an allergic reaction.

On Tuesday, Dallin started throwing up.

And then he fell while trying to crawl and got a bloody nose.

My poor boys!

We decided to go with a real Christmas tree.

Look at my long-legged husband!

Project time

Enjoying the snow, but quickly because it was so cold.

This was my contribution to the snow play.

Tanner loves his boots and snow gear even inside the house.

Dallin also began teething. He sucked on orange wedges constantly for a whole week. The following week, we saw his first tooth on the bottom left! A few days later the bottom right tooth showed up, too!! 

Pie Party and Wassail Party

Pie Party

Two days after Thanksgiving, we had a pie party! (Shout-out to the Hill family! We copied their pie party that we attended in Sac town last year). Everyone brought left-over pie from their Thanksgiving meals. We chowed down and played games. It turned out to be a really fun (and loud) night.

We ended up with pumpkin, lemon marang, chocolate silk, and rassleberry pie along with pumpkin cake and tons of cookies.
Jeremy let all the kids play on his drum set. They were in heaven.

My friend Leighsa and her daughter were in heaven with the babies! Dallin on the right.

Wassail Party 

On Saturday Dec 21, we had a wassail party! A wassail party is where you sing tons of Christmas songs together around the piano and eat cookies and drink wassail, which is a yummy drink like apple cider. Maybe you've heard of the song "Here we come a wassailing among the trees so green!" (Shout out to the Shea family! We copied their wassail party that we attended in Provo during xmas of 2006). 

We had a great group of friends that came. Jeremy and Cole made the wassail. It was AMAZINGLY delicious. And people actually sang songs together!

 Okay, so I admit that it was mostly the moms that sang. The kids mainly played in the basement and roamed in and out of the singing room as they got more cookies and wassail. And at one point I caught the kids and dads in the family room watching a movie, haha. 

BUT there were several times during the night that most of the group participated in the singing. The songs that got the most people involved were Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, Silent Night, and the top winner...Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. The kids also loved Picture a Stable in Judea and we had a pretty awesome round going with the Shepherd's Carol. I loved being able to  

sing songs that you usually don't get a chance to hear or sing during the holiday season. (Doesn't it seem like on the radio they always play the same 6 or 7 Christmas songs, none of which have anything to do with Jesus!?) 

Some of our songs put the babies right to sleep, including Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella and Oh, Holy Night.

Other songs had Tanner very overwhelmed. 

Meredith loved how we were able to do something "that you only see happen in movies." 

One of Tanner's little buddies.

Dallin was all smiles most of the night.

Here's our little family at the end of the party, including our two adopted kids for the week- one by me and one seen in the mirror taking the picture. (More stories to come about how we got to keep these two amazing kids for 9 days!)

Thanksgiving Part II

Once we had both Grandma and Grandpa here, the fun got even funner!

We did art projects every day.

Grandma took Tanner to the library. And Grandpa went shopping with me to help me stock up our food storage.

We (me and Dad) organized the entire storage room together.

We watched TV.

Grandma and Grandpa brought a special surprise for the boys. Camping toys, tent and sleeping bag! Tanner was THRILLED.

Once any of us got in the tent with Tanner, he wouldn't let us leave. I'm not joking, he keeps you in there for an hour or more.

Nana made this sleeping bag.

We all went bowling.

We put Dallin on the ground because he was wiggly and eager to move. 

He was so happy about it.

And he made some headway with almost crawling and trying to climb.

Bowling was really good for Tanner because it made him learn how to wait a while for his turns. He was so strong holding the ball on his own. 

While we were bowling, we had to let the house air out because of carbon monoxide issues. (The exhaust vent for the water heater was clogged with bird's nests, making our home fill up with carbon monoxide. I'm very glad we finally figured out why our detectors kept going off!) So anyway, when we came home, the house was 33 degrees INside, so we cuddled up next to the fire while the place heated up again.

Look at this cutie! (don't worry, these were taken when the house was a normal, warm temperature).

The grandparents got lots of play time in with the boys.

The big feast! 

Dad did the turkey, Mom made pie and autumn casserole and cranberry sauce, I did the salad and green beans and fruit turkey, and Jeremy did...wait. What did Jeremy do? "I spent a lot of time putting water and ice in those glasses!" The punk. He got away Scot-free.

Tanner was still napping when we started eating. He was pretty cranky when he woke up and did not want anything to do with Thanksgiving dinner.

Great nap after a great meal.

Grandpa Papa made Tanner a picturebook of all the times they have been together. Tanner loves it.

Random shots

Dallin tried and tried to crawl. He would get on all fours from sitting position, then lift his arms and reach forward, then fall on his face.

Tanner sometimes breastfeeds his toy baby.

Dance party!

Main Street Festivities

On the day after Thanksgiving, the town kicks off the Christmas season by having a sort of street fair. There was horse drawn carriages, mini train ride, and fire truck. Every shop was open with free goodies like hot chocolate, cookies, cider, arts&crafts and face paint. 

Grandpa and Dallin were buddies most of the night.

Our Baby Gnome

We ate at the Pizza Ranch after the street fair.

Getting some more play in before the grandparents leave.

Look at this Christmas table cloth Mom quilted for me!

We had so much to be grateful for on this holiday!

Thank you for being with us for Thanksgiving, Grandma Nana and Grandpa Papa! We miss you and love you!!