Christmas!

Another Christmas come and gone. It was pretty festive day, and I'm glad it's over for another year! We enjoyed watching the kids, they had such a great morning. Emma got a dollhouse, Aiden a train set, Hannah a Little People farm set and baby doll, and Makenna her first baby doll. We get the kids new PJ's every Christmas Eve, and they've come to look forward to that tradition as well. Everything looked all pretty before the kids woke up...then it looked like a tornado had hit our living room.

Hannah loved her baby so much, she didn't care about any other gifts!

Makenna was equally excited about her baby doll.

Blessing Day

We blessed Makenna finally! She looked beautiful in her long white dress, and didn't scream during the blessing, so that was good.

5 Things You May Not Know About Hannah...

1. Hannah LOVES her grandpa and grandma. She'll pick them over Kris or I any day. The first thing she says in the morning is "Papa?" I love that she's attached, because then she'll follow someone else all day instead of me! :)

2. Hannah loves cake, cookies, and especially chocolate raisins. She must be my daughter, because I'm a pastry freak as well. She can say "tookie and take". We have a lot of photos of Hannah enjoying her treats. But she'll eat about everything. She won't have plain milk anymore without chocolate, even if it's just a few drops. Thanks, Grandpa.

3. Hannah loves shoes, purses and barbie dolls. She'll take any opportunity she can to put on your shoes. Her favorite is her sisters princess shoes, or dads "boops" (boots). She loves to have on all the pretty things, but hates for me to help her do it.

4. Hannah's favorite toys are containers with lids she can screw on and off and put things in and out of. She'll carry around an empty pop bottle for hours opening and closing it.

5. Hannah is pretty sassy. If she isn't happy with you, you'll get a pretty dirty look. She's the best at making you feel stupid by the way she looks at you. She can hold her own quite well with the older kids and keeps up. There's no way she's gonna be left behind, or watch out!

My sweet Grandma returned to her Heavenly Father early this morning. She was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer the week before Makenna was born; October 3. I'm so grateful we took the trip to visit her after the baby was here and took this photo. She was such an amazing woman, and left behind her such a legacy of love, compassion, and faith. I'll never forget the quirky things she did and said to make us laugh, or her testimony of the gospel. I love her and will miss her terribly, but know with all my heart she is at peace and serving our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge we have that I know I will see her again someday if I live my life according to the covenants I've made. I am also grateful for the many memories I have of her, and try my best to pass those memories on to my children. This morning after my dad told me she had passed away, I told my kids. Emma said the blessing on the breakfast...as is her routine. I'll never forget when she blessed that "great-grandma would be safe now". Even now, it brings on tears and emotions. I'm happy to know that I'm teaching her something good! I love you Grandma!

Letters to Santa

Aiden, Emma and I sat down and wrote our their letters to Santa Clause. They couldn't wait any longer. We have our tree up and made our first count-down calendar as well. It has pockets on it that hold a mini ornament that the kids put on a mini tree everyday, along with a new activity to do everyday until Christmas. The letters to Santa was the first activity. I'm just as excited as the kids are for Christmas to come. This is the first year Kris and I have gotten all of our Christmas shopping done ahead of time, so all we have to do is relax. I think that watching your kids on Christmas morning is so much more fun than wondering what you have under the tree for yourself. They are so much fun, I love being a mommy!

Blue Eyed Beauties

I'm so happy a little of my DNA came through on two of our girls...my blue eyes. Everything else is Liechty, all the way. I love sharing that trait with my little girls. Aiden and Emma both have brown eyes, and are the only ones in my entire family, grandkids and adults, that have them.

Grumpy Man

Aiden was really upset the other night at dinner. I still don't know what he was mad about, but he was determined not to smile or cheer up, and eventually fell asleep at the table.

Turkey Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My brother Nate and his family were able to come visit from Idaho. It was almost a stress free day...the cooking was a little hard considering Makenna's bad mood made it hard to cook. But other than that, we really enjoyed the day.