Welcome Christmas Time...

 Here are some pics from Thanksgiving, a visit from the Bitters, and playtime with Daddy....

she was pouting about something...

andrew, becky, hannah and grace

this was the best i got. its not great. but you get what you get....

she LOVED following this dog around.

at thanksgiving she loved the puppy, but was scared of it a little too. she couldn't quite decide, but she definitely couldn't leave it alone either. it was pretty cute.

these pics are from Thanksgiving

This is andrew with hannah and abby, when the bitters stopped by for a visit.

So i know this has been probably nearly a record for me of bad blogging. been reading books. the twilight books. andrew has also had a book marathon thing from school so we've been reading to him more often too, i'm actually really glad he had that because its so easy to skip reading time with the kids, but when its on a marked calendar, i do it. We have celebrated my birthday (which i blogged last about i come to remember...). then we had dans 30th! i always thought i would do something really big and exciting for his 30th birthday, but i didnt...honestly it snuck up on me, but it still came out good. just no big suprise party or anything. we went over to sam and heidi's that night, because Kortney shares his birthday. she turned 6. she had a jessie cake from toy story, and i made dan the stevia cheesecake. its one of his favorites. usually his favorite thing for his birthday are donuts and root beer floats. but he was really watching his sugar this year, so thus the cheesecake. which turned out very well, i don't think he felt he was missing anything. andrew loved that too, he LOVES cheesecake. though he refuses to acknowledge that it IS called cheesecake. he argues with me everytime (andrew that is.). i guess andrew doesn't ever see the cheese, and thinks i have it all wrong. either way, he LOVES it and will eat it up...then we went to The Roof for dans birthday the next night, i think my FAVORITE place ever to eat. MMMM. so good. we saw Elder Hales leaving when we got there. that was kind of cool. then...life has just been going on. andrew going to school, coming home. constantly wanting to play the Wii. i am NOT one for video games all the time. once in a while- GREAT. but this waking up and wanting to play Wii every second of the day thing andrew is doing- its NOT going to fly. i am sick of him whining to play, and the Wii just might "break" for a few weeks. then i might have to remind him if he plays it too much it will "break".... abbys usually wandering the house tearing things apart, pulling things out of cupboards, wanting me to hold her instead of cook dinner...that sort of thing. she is a little sick at the moment, but on antibiotics that should take care of it... church was nice today. the kids stayed home with dan (on account of abby. we didnt want to take andrew incase he got what she has), and so it was just me. very enjoyable. very rare. quiet. still. i was able to really listen. really feel the spirit. it was like a breath of fresh air. the weather here has been much nicer than last week. 40s. its felt so nice to not feel bitter wind and snow when we go outside... i find myself not even thinking a jacket is REALLY necessary if i'm just going to be running to the car and then inside somewhere...i remember once when we lived in North Dakota (the COLDEST place i've ever lived by FAR), it had been 30 below for quite some time, and then it warmed up, and we went outside, in t-shirts, and were soaking in the WARMTH. When we checked the temperature outside, it was 10 degree's. i thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. i thought it was at least 50. probably why it made such an impression on me. i hope i never live somewhere that cold ever again. sorry maaret and jenny. i know you live in North Pole, AK and 30 below is nothing for you guys...ahhh i would go crazy. but you ARE in ak. which is pretty sweet...definitely has its perks.

this is very common in our house, the kids both piling on dan and trying to ride around on his back, and usually getting tossed onto the lovesac (their FAVORITE part...)

this has become a little habit for dan and the kids, he does such a good job reading and playing with them. he is a great daddy.

Oh, right before dans birthday we had some unexpected visitors! our friends from Buffalo, NY, the Bitters called. They came to town to visit family for Thanksgiving, and we got to spend the evening with them. it was really nice to see them, and meet their babies! last time we saw them i think was last summer...abby was a baby and their little girl was just a baby. before that andrew was barely 1, and becky was about to deliver their first baby...we were passing thru NY on our way to UT. that is one trip i'd like to make again! it was so much fun. so thanks andrew and becky for visiting us! it was fun catching up. even if a cat did take shelter somewhere in their car, and we had to wait quite a while before we thought it was out...stupid neighbors were kind of freaking out. anyways... Its beginning to look and feel like Christmas around here. Tree has been up for a while, Abby LOVES ornament picking...kind of like apple picking you know? she tries pretty hard. and sometimes almost falls into the tree...its actually hilarious watching her try to get ornaments, i keep putting them higher, but she still manages to grab...she is fascinated with the tree. andrew hasn't bothered it at all. thats been nice...We also went to the Festival of Trees on saturday. the girls (katie and kortney) were dancing in a little group there, which was very cute, and then we walked around. it was really packed in there though, so note to self- don't go on a saturday next year! i didn't even attempt pictures because it was so crowded...i just didnt have the energy to fight for a picture. plus abby was really fussy (probably because of the dual ear infection, red throat that the dr said was  most likely strep, and the impetigo rash she had developed...we took her in the urgent care afterwards, and i am glad i did...she was more sick than i had thought!) . but otherwise, life is good. we got a car, which i am really excited about. it has so much power. 2003 lexus LS 430. gets good gas mileage, very smooth ride, and very roomy. there is so much room for the kids even with carseats and all. anyways, well that about sums it up for us right now. i feel a little more caught up now:) Merry Christmas! i love this time of year because it lets me hear songs about Christ so much more. i forget though how annoyed i get with santa and songs that simply have the word Christmas in them, like "Last Christmas" by george micheal. NOT a christmas song! my favorite songs are Oh Holy Night, What Child Is This, those kind. you know, songs that really are about Christ. Anyways, hope you all are having a Merry Christmas.