So, it’s not all bad when you don’t get the tree of your dreams. We had a BLAST walking around in the snow. Corry came with us and I am really loving having him around. He is such a help with the kids! We love him. :)

The “Tree”

Corry looks COLD!

Connor wanted “this tree” and offered to carry it the whole way! What a big strong helper he is! :)

Such a handsome boy. ;) I may have to frame this one…

And this one.

All warm and toasty! My mom got this for us when Haylie was a baby and it just fits Maggie. I love it. Takes me back…

All in all we had a great time getting our tree this year. Even if it’s not the perfect tree. Priceless time spent together, sharing laughs, telling stories, and making memories are what we will remember. Because really… Christmas isn’t about the perfect tree. :)

This year I was SOOO excited to get our tree. It’s always really exciting, but this year I have these really cool new boots that go up to my calf, and so I didn’t get cold the entire time! You’re probably laughing but I’m totally serious.

So I assumed we would get this PERFECT tree and everything would be great! Well… we found a few trees, but kept walking, just so we could MAKE SURE we picked the best one. Anyway, we walked around for probably an hour and a half before we found this tree.

Kind of funny looking, right? I agree. But we always like to pick a tree that has a little character. So- we cut it down. And brought it home. And I hate it. This is what it looks like in our house:

I feel like it looks like a giant bush. Or a weed. It looked SO cool outside when it was still in the ground… it had snow all over it and it looked like it had a few long branches here and there sticking out… No. EVERY SINGLE BRANCH is sticking out!! 

Ok, so in all seriousness, it’s not that bad. It definitely has character. Maybe once we get the lights and ornaments on it, it’ll look a little better… On the bright side, there’s no way the ornaments can fall off. :)

My dad’s birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, so we had a combined Thanksgiving/Birthday celebration! Didn’t get any pictures except these… oh well. :)

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you. :)

Translation:

Dear Mom and Dad. I am going to my friend’s house to play with them.

Then she tells me, “Mom, I am going to my friend’s house for real.” Like writing it to me in a letter means she gets to do it no matter what.

:)

Little Connor couldn’t WAIT to get out in the snow. A VAST improvement from last year… Connor has a “thing” with his hands. Always has. Doesn’t like them to be dirty or sticky (He may or may not get that from me ;). But mostly, he doesn’t like them to be cold. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the store before it snowed this year, and so cotton gloves and tennis shoes were the best we could do. I kept telling him to wear Haylie’s old ones, but she went and said (in front of him), “But everyone will laugh at him.” Thanks Haylie. So once his little cotton gloves got soaked through, he took them off and it was a huge, dramatic, chaotic, fiasco.

Poor little Maggie was mesmerized by the falling snow. She just kept touching the window over and over again. I’m sure she would have loved to get out there if I’d let her… At least she was happily watching Connor play!

You know.. the ones that are so long that you can actually catch falling snowflakes on them?

It’s moments like these that reaffirm in my head, that a time out truly was needed. And that I am not a mean mom, ALL of the time. ;)

One day after school last week, Haylie’s friends came over to play. Little did I know that her friend Hailey, brought over some make-up! Yay! :/ Haylie came inside looking like this…

Gorgeous, Hays!

It’s taking all of my guts to post this one… I can’t believe Maggie is already 6 months old. It’s KILLING me. What’s killing me even more is that Joe’s parents haven’t seen her since she was 3 weeks old! It’s a good thing we’re going to visit them right after Christmas… Joe’s mom reminded me yesterday that Maggie won’t know who they are which totally stinks! I SO depend on her to calm my crying babies when we stay at their house… ;) Just teasing Tami… I’m sure everything will be fine!

Anyway, in honor of Maggie turning 6 months (but not for another 2 days) I thought I would put up some recent pictures of her. Love ya Mags!     

This little grin melts my heart. What a happy baby!

This was last night… NOT ready for crawling…

I’m posting this picture against my better judgment… I have a “friend” who doesn’t know when to stop. She made some pretty irritating comments about Maggie and her extra rolls, but I love her rolly polly-ness. And I know Joe’s mom and sister will LOVE to see this picture, so it’s mostly for their benefit. :)

This picture was taken on the 30th of October at Haylie’s first basketball game. I know I’m biased, but seriously… doesn’t she have the cutest face?

This was last night in the tub… the first time I put her on her tummy in the tub, a few weeks ago, she FREAKED! Last night she actually liked it! And how could I not snap some pictures of her “Michelin Man” arms?? LOVE this girl!

We’re a little late on posting about Halloween. I should say, I am. Life has just been very busy lately and Maggie is at the age where she’s figured out that crying equals Mom picking her up. SO… we listen to Maggie cry quite a bit these days. Because how do you take a shower or cook breakfast, lunch and dinner or clean house while holding a squirmy 6 month old (can you believe she’s 6 months?)? :(  

This year, we skipped Trick-or-Treating on Halloween day. Friday afternoon, the businesses in Benton City handed out candy, so after Haylie got out of school, off we went! And HOLY COW! They got SO much candy! Then, on Saturday evening, we went to a Trunk-or-Treat with my friend Bethany and her family at the stake center. That was SO much fun! I’d never done that before, and the kids had a blast! So between Friday afternoon and Saturday evening, we had more candy than we knew what to do with! In fact, we had so much, we started handing some out to Trick-or-Treaters on Sunday. :)  

Cute little Maggie almost didn’t fit in her costume! ;) She looked SO cute… people on the street would just stop and stare at her… I was surprised at how many people stopped to tell me “how cute the little mermaid was..” Really people?

Go Spidy!

Haylie was actually Ariel the mermaid. 

The whole fam!