good bye teeth!

Ammon lost his second front tooth on Monday. It has been hanging there for a few days but he would not let us pull it out. He wanted to let it come out all on it's own. It fell out when Adam was helping Ammon brush his teeth. Sweet boy! He looks so cute! For the record, he lost his other front tooth a few months ago when he and Lily were playing around and her foot connected with his face. Oops! Lucky catch for Ammon, his tooth fell right into his hand.

Christmas

Dead Luminaries!

Kid's in their new pj's!

Ammon working on his puzzle from Lily.

Anna getting her doll from Lily.

Lily made daddy bookmarks.

Ammon made dad a can to put on his desk at work to hold his pens and pencils.

So much snow!

This is what we drove through! Yikes!

We had a great Christmas! It is so fun to watch the kids get so excited. Thankfully they didn't wake up early because we were up late putting Lily's present together. They were excited about the little things in their stockings as well as their presents from Santa. I loved the gifts they gave each other. Ammon made Lily a bracelet and necklace and gave Anna two of his toys, a train and a truck. Lily made Ammon a puzzle and gave Anna one of her dolls. It was awesome to see the kids think of what they wanted to give each other. Kids are great! Lily painted a picture of her and Ammon playing in the snow on a thin piece of wood and Adam helped her cut it into pieces. It turned out great! Anna had a blast opening presents and wanted more after we were finished. She thought it was so fun tearing the paper. Babies are so fun with wrapping paper! Santa gave Ammon a BB Gun with the soft air pellets, Lily got a kitchen and Anna got a bike/rocker. Santa also visited me, surprise! He wasn't supposed to come for me and Adam. I got spoiled! I got some awesome new running clothes, sheets, a towel and a HUGE jar of chocolate covered raisins! Santa is always so nice to me. Adam always gets me to agree that we will only get things for the kids and not each other and then he never sticks to it. I get spoiled and he gets slim pickings, this year, a box of orange sticks and a can of mandarin oranges. Next year...!

The kids also got gifts from all their grandparents, can we say spoiled?! They are so lucky to have such awesome grandparents! They help make Christmas so much fun! Lily got some pet shop animals and I think it may have been her favorite gift! Grandma Christy also provided them with their new pj's, which they all love! Who doesn't love opening a new pair of pj's on Christmas Eve? Lily got a night gown with Ariel on it and she absolutely loves it! Ammon wanted to wear one of daddy's shirts to bed with his new fleece bottoms. He looked so cute! Do you remember wearing your parents clothes and feeling so special? I used to love to do that!

Well after presents we had waffles with pear syrup, orange juice and Ammon's favorite, sausage for breakfast. It was yummy.

We also had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and that was tasty as well. After we went out in to the cold to set up our luminaries. The kids were so helpful, even Anna, and they all had fun. The disappointing thing is they didn't stay lit. Don't buy tea light candles form Wal-Mart! They didn't work. All that work setting them and freezing and they didn't even glow! So sad! At least we did have fun doing it though!

We got everything ready and hit the road to head to Grandma Margie's for the rest of the weekend. We stopped in the mountains to play in the snow. It took us a while to find a nice spot, but when we did it was great. I love being in the mountains with tons of snow and especially while it snowing! It was beautiful and the kids had a great time. They were like puppies in the snow. They were jumping and rolling all over the blast and thought it was so cool, and so did I! I will admit that driving over the Sierra's in the snow is really scary to me, but it sure is beautiful! Thank goodness for a truck with 4-wheel drive! The drive was slow and thankfully uneventful.

We met up with the Peterson's at Margie's for Christmas dinner and visited with them that night. They left early the next day to go to Salt Lake and we are enjoying the beautiful Sacramento weather here! It is so pretty here in the winter! Everything is green and gorgeous. I do love the snow though! I am glad we have some in Reno. I wish we would get more, but what we have is great. We love the weather.

All in all it was a great Christmas! I feel so blessed to have everything that I do. The Lord has provided so much for me. i am so thankful for my kids and for Adam. What is more special than family? I couldn't ask for anything more. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well!

Santa Clause

We saw Santa a week and a half ago but I am a little behind. You can tell it wasn't this weekend because Lily's hair is still long. Anna was not happy and didn't want to get near Santa. It's what we expected. As I thought about it, Lily was scared too, but I don't think Ammon was ever afraid of him. I don't think I have any pictures of him crying on Santa's lap. Cute boy! Lily was very shy and it took her awhile to work up the courage to sit on his lap. Ammon is counting his fingers in the last picture. Santa asked him how old he was and he counted his fingers to tell him he was six! How cute is that! He also was very excited to show Santa his cast, which isn't on anymore, yeah! This Santa was awesome. He was so sweet and gentle. He was arranged by our hoa. We submitted a form that told Santa what the kids wanted and anything about them we wanted to know. Santa had a little elf next to him with a book so he could read what we said about our kids as he visited with them. Santa read that Ammon didn't believe in Santa and asked him why. Ammon was shocked and embarrassed that he knew. Ammon believes now! This Santa had a real beard and made a point to let Ammon know it was real. He let Ammon pull on it to see for himself. It was fun to go see him and I think helped the kids a little too. Ammon had been telling Lily, and Mitchell too(sorry Emily!) there was no such thing as Santa any time she mentioned him and I was starting to get mad at him. I told him Santa doesn't visit children who don't believe in him. Between that and finally seeing him, I haven't heard him say a word about Santa not being real!

All That Hair!

Lily has been asking me off and on for the past several months to cut her hair. I've usually been able to talk her out of it by saying,"We won't be able to do twists, or braids, or buns..." She has agreed that she wanted to keep her hair long to do it in fun ways. Well, Tuesday she mentioned it again and we looked up some info on Locks of Love. She didn't want to give her hair away though. Yesterday she wanted it cut right then, just like Mikaela's, no more waiting! So we took some pictures and chopped it! I think she looks so cute with it short. It fits her face well. When we got Ammon from school he said, "Wow, Lily I really like your hair. Mom I like Lily's hair better short how about you?" I love it long or short, but I do think she looks darling with it how it is. The scissors I used were awful and dull and I cut it crooked. It took me a long time to fix it. Well, I don't know that I really fixed it, but it will do. Sabrina I wish you were closer! With three kids in the bathroom and hair everywhere, things were an absolute mess by the time I was finished. Anna had cleared out several things from under the cabinets and they were all over the floor along with the hair. Ammon was bouncing all over my room on the air mattress, and Lily would not hold still. It was a long crazy afternoon, but with great results. Lily loves her new hair and so do we.

Ammon and Lily were putting makeup on Lily while I was cutting her hair. Ammon put the lipstick on Lily and she did the blush. They were having so much fun! You can see what a mess they made in my bathroom. Lily was so itchy from the hair on her neck and back. She didn't want to wear the cape because it made her too hot. So, her face in the pictures of her on the floor are not mad that her hair is short, just crazy itchy and wanting to get in the shower! The one below is of Lily this morning, so cute! She is a brave little girl. I never would have chopped my hair when I was that young, but I am thinking of it now...

Inside the house

This was from the back of our home in Vegas. All you could see were houses. We had about 15 feet from the back of our home to the cinderblock wall and only 5 feet max on the side. Now we have 10 feet on the side and way more than 15 to the back and the lot is wider since our home is single story. We have room for a tramp, a swing set, and grass! I know this may not look big to those of you in Utah or elsewhere, but it is a huge yard for us! Plus we have a nice covered patio with stamped concrete and a fireplace right off the back corner of the house. It is so fun to have! Ammon loves it most.

Kids bathroom

Looking in from front door.

To the side of the front door

Living Room

View of kitchen from front of house .

View of kitchen from living room.

As you can see I obviously need to do some decorating! That will happen little by little. We are getting blinds next week, I hope! I feel like we are in a fishbowl! I am going to make or buy bedspreads and paint the girls beds and room. I will also paint Ammon's and get him a bedspread. It will be fun to get it all done. It will also cost money and take time to buy all the things I'd eventually like to get. But for now it is great and we love it!

Snow!

We are all so excited that it snowed! It hasn't been much, but it is cold enough that it is sticking around. We are hoping for even more. The kids are having a blast in it and it looks so pretty. We had to buy snowboots and snowpants for Ammon and Lily because they haven't needed any for a few years and what we have is way too small. We also need to get a snow shovel. Wal-mart didn't have any so I need to go to Costco. I am so glad we have a garage so I don't have to scrape the car off in the morning. Ammon wanted us to leave it out so it would have snow on it. We said NO! I think I just need to pull out some pictures from Omaha for him to look at when our cars were practically buried in the snow! Happy snow days to you all.

Our New Home

More pictures to come...