Brielley Bean is TWO!

Oh this little girl is a little ball of fun and energy! She is hilarious and silly and keeps me so so busy every day. She rules the roost and knows how to get exactly what she wants. We surprised her on her birthday with a little mini trampoline! She loved it and jumped all day and then took a 3 hour nap. It was glorious for all of us!

She then got to put on her new outfit from Grandma Hymas which she kept saying "cute!"

 She repeated us all day when we would tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY which sounded more like "pee irtday!"

 The two older kids had school so it was so nice to just get some time to play with her on her special day. Rylee was sleeping so we did puzzles (which are her new favorite thing!) and colored and played all morning. She is always pulling me to her room to "come play!"

 Since her party with family wasn't until the weekend we invited a few friends to meet us at bounce town and play for the afternoon. More friends showed up than I anticipated and it was a blast! We are lucky to have such good friends that love Brielle so much. She's quite the hot item with the tween girls in our ward.

 Later we did pizza and cupcakes as a family. She loves anything with sugar so was of course in heaven!

 Finally saturday arrived and we had an Inside Out themed party. She loves bingbong and is always walking around singing bingbong-bingbong!

It was fun and a bit challenging to come up with finger foods in each color of the characters but I found a few things and it made for a good time!
She loves food and I think she was happy with it! The picture above is just before she fell backward into the cupcakes! Too bad I didnt get a picture of that!

 The it was present time! The Eash family came over to help us celebrate.

 BingBong!

 A pony (which was a big hit!) and a new baby from the Eash family.

 I looked and looked for a cute chair that I could afford and I never found one I really liked. But G&G Reed came through and had ordered a little wooden rocking chair for her. I was so happy and so was she. She immediately grabbed her baby and started rocking her. She really loves that little chair and won't let anyone else sit in it!

We sure love her and love everything that she is. She is so busy and makes the funniest faces. She will let you know if she is mad at you or if you're doing something she doesn't like. She loves to gives kisses and hugs and sometimes she is a little too loving especially on her little sister. She loves to have fun and laugh and tries her best to keep up with the big kids. Her vocabulary is expanding daily and we think she is going to be quite a little chatter box. She is very particular in picking her outfits and shoes and will let you know it if she doesn't want to wear it!  Today at the doctor she weighed 30 pounds and is in the 84th% for weight and 50th for height. Sure love you baby girl! I'm so grateful for the relationship we have. You make me so happy every day. I can't wait to watch you grow and see all that you accomplish! Love you baby girl!

December Festivities

There's always so much going on December and I wanted to make sure these made the blog book. We got to go visit Santa and of course the one picture I took with all the kids was blurry. It was Brielles first time and I thought she would be hesitant but when she saw he was handing out candy she as all over that!

 I got to help with Carter's 1st grade Christmas party. I decided to do a Sight Word Snowball Fight. I was happy that the kids seemed to enjoy it. I only made 1 girl almost have an asthma attack, 2 kids bleed, 80+ smashed fingers and dozens of kids cry. But several said it was their favorite thing!

 The Hymas' used to do a fun White Elephant party every year but as families have grown and spread out over the US it has fizzled out. We decided to start up the tradition again with our nephews who live close by and we had a really fun time!

 It was also Chaz's birthday so we made a party out of it. It was fun meeting Chaz's girlfriend Maddy and her little sweet girl.

 A favorite Christmas gift from our neighbors was the pie face game. It gave lots of good laughs

 And a few tears....

 I tried my hand at REAL gingerbread men this year and they actually turned out really yummy.

 And my kitchen was turned into a winter wonder land by the beautiful little artist, Mollie.

 Bri missed out on the cookie decorating but really enjoyed the other side of it!

And now for the Christmas Day Post!!!!

Kicking off the Christmas Season

We were all anxious to get home from our Thanksgiving trip to get our own festivities underway! Its so fun creating our own traditions and seeing the magic of the season through our childrens eyes. 

This is the first year Brielle was really into "helping" with the tree. Lets just say I'm glad I have unbreakable ornaments! Rylee even got in on it a little bit!

 I love how our tree turned out this year! Each year it looks a little better...so maybe one year it will look exactly how I want!

 We went to the Santa parade where we got loads of candy and saw Santa.

 One of my favorite new things we did was visit a live nativity. I was instantly overwhelmed with the spirit as we sat in the freezing cold and listened to the story of the nativity and looked at the live actors. There was a luminary walk and free hot cocoa, a camel and animals you could pet. It was a really neat experience and one that I think we will do every year. There was even a spot to dress up as the characters. Mollie didnt want to dress up but was dying to hold baby Jesus.

Another new thing we got to experience was Carters 1st grade Christmas program. He had 1 line to memorize and he nailed it and did so great. They sang about 15 songs and it was so fun to watch. 

 And I think he's pretty darn handsome in those reindeer antlers!

 There's the whole 1st grade! What a chore to get this organized but it sure was nice!

We also made some neighbor gifts and got to help Chad make fruit baskets for his mutual activity to give to the elderly. It's funny how as you get older its more about giving and less about receiving. That makes it christmas for me.

Thanks Giving

I was excited to get back home for thanksgiving dinner at my parents house complete with lasagna that I attempted to make this year. Here is Bri trying to be patient waiting.

 The spread....oh how I love that we have a holiday about eating lots! (and being thankful of course!) I ate as much as I wanted this year and didn't even feel guilty.

 Most of the people...missing Chad and Brielle and Dad. My 2 brothers Adam and Jordan got to be there too.

 It's not Thanksgiving if someone's kid doesn't have olives on their fingers!

 That night an epic snow storm hit Rupert and since the wind always blows there it of course made 2 foot drifts behind the cars. Jordan and Adam were both leaving that morning so me and Jordan spent our morning shoveling snow. Adam was going to propose to his girlfriend on Thanksgiving day so it was kinda important that he could get out!

 The kids were excited to play in the snow drifts but it was so cold they didn't last long.

It's become a tradition to do gingerbread houses at grandmas when we can so the kids were excited for that.

 This snowman my brothers built and he was once standing up straight. Every day his nose got lower and lower to the ground. It was so funny to watch and it defied the laws of physics!

We then went to Chads parents for the rest of the weekend and had a nice time there. With no snow. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Basketball (FINALLY!)

Carter's been begging for several years now to play basketball and his time finally came! These are a few pictures from his first game. It was so cute to watch him play defense with his arms up and chase around his guy! Man he's getting big and I would be thrilled to death if he chose basketball as his sport of choice!

 The line up so they know who to guard.

 Playing the D! (there in the middle!)