Christmas in Lafayette

We spent Christmas eve in Lafayette at Nate's brother Mike's house. Then night before we got to witness Our nephew Asher be baptized.  Then the night with the family, grandma and grandpa, and the Routsongs and us.  It was a full house. Jared and Cassidy had flown in from Provo for Christmas. Madison and Jordan came also. They are at ball state.we enjoyed a fabulous mere and experience our traditional Christmas testimony meeting. Finally we enjoyed opening each other's yes. Each cousin got a gift for another cousin. Then the adults and young adults did a white elephant gift exchange with packages of our favorite things. We had a wonderful time.

Piano Christmas Recital

Jaxton and Cooper were in their first piano recital ever. They hardly seemed nervous. They have practiced and prepared well for the day. Saxton played Carol of the bells and Chant Arabe.  Cooper played Rudolph the red nose reindeer and a Halloween spooky song.  I felt so proud of their hard work and their performance. I know they felt proud too.  They certainly have worked so very hard to be able to play as well as they do.  

Christmas morning

Christmas morning is always so magical. Kids were so excited this year. Jaxton asked for Pokémon. Cooper wanted a garnet birthstone necklace.  Kaylee asked for binoculars. Dawson got a large special train set. Nathan was more pleased with the packaging of his first gift bag. 

Nate's parents grandma and grandpa Frank another stayed overnight with us to enjoy Christmas morning with us. It was magical as always as the kids were so excited running downstairs to explain that the stockings were refilled and Santas sack was filled. Excitement and joy that is so much fun for me and Nate to experience. The joy of childhood.

Christmas Caroling

It has become a tradition that every Christmas afternoon we go caroling at a nursing home where many individuals are lonely during the holiday. Many residents had gone home to be with family but there are also some who don't have anywhere else to go so they remain at the nursing home. I imagine they are lonely and Great when others come to bring joy to them on the special Christmas day. We got a let rather large group together this year and went caroling at the Old folks home that grandma great Martha route son lives. She was not there, she was actually at Christmas with her sister. But we were still able to sing for many residents who were there Christmas Day.  It is even more exciting as the kids are older and able to sing along because they actually know the words to the songs. They can also read the music. I love to have them involved in service projects like this. To bring joy to others on Christmas Day.

Afterward we all read joined together at our house for Christmas day dinner. It was a nice gathering with lots of friends and good food. It is always memorable.

Nathan's First Haircut

Little Nathan got his first haircut today.  His orange hair reflects his personality so much. He is a little spitfire!  He handled his hair cut well.  

Preschool Grocery Store Field Trip

The preschool kids went on another field trip to the grocery store. Our tour guide was excellent. She got each child a goodie bag (grocery bag) and helped them fill it at each station they stopped at. They collected an apple in the produce section. They stopped to see the live lobsters. At the deli department they each got a slice of cheese. In the bakery they each got a cookie and watched a cake decorator create a minion out of frosting. She took the kids in the back "employees only" area and let them see the box smashing machine and the giant walk in freezer. It was a lot of fun.

Bear Den Cub Scouts

We have lots of fun in bear cub scouts. Roasting marshmallows whittling soap cleaning bathrooms carnival games, and a visiting member of the National Guard.  

Nates Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!!

Halloween Fun

Halloween is so much fun with little kids.  We went to a few different Truck or Treats.  They played the Mummy Daddy game and the kids went up and wrapped Nate in toilet paper.  We picked up some pumpkins from the Leo Pumpkin Patch and the kids drew on faces that we helped to carve out.  It was fun to watch the younger ones get the goo out of the pumpkins.  

We had some yummy fun halloween lunch and of course we went Trick or Treating with friends.  Fun times!!!

Halloween Costumes

Halloween costumes has always been a big deal.  It was a huge deal when I was a kid.  We would get measured by a seamstress, either a friend of the family or my Grandma Hutchinson.  We would choose our outfit and begin the process in the summertime before Halloween.  Needless to say, my costumes were pretty awesome costumes!  It was always so planned out in advance.  So out of tradition I suppose, I carry this mindset into my own family.  We plan out our costumes early.  Some of them we buy, but I just love to put the costumes together.  I'm not the best seamstress, but I love to create and try.  So here is what we came up with for Halloween this year:

Jaxton is Harry Potter.  With a sweater and tie, Griffandor badge, wand, glasses, and scar.  We lost the glasses a couple of times and the wand.  Luckily, at the most important times, we found them! 

Cooper is an old man.  Church pants that are a bit big, suspenders, suit coat, glasses, hat and cane.  After wearing this costume to one event, he decided at the next to throw out the cane and be a "dancer."  You can only imagine his suave dance moves in this costume!  

Kaylee was Jasmine from Aladin.  We bought her costume, and then added accessories, hair, and shoes to it.  We spray painted her shoes gold, got her a black wig, and tied it with golden bands.  We made a headband for her with extra toole fabric and eyeshadow and mascara on her eyes.  She was stunning!!

Dawson loves Curious George.  But every monkey costume I found was so big and bulky and unflattering.  Since we had a stuffed animal George, we decided to dress him up as the Man in the Yellow Hat.  He loved this idea.  He knew who he was and he was so proud of this costume.  We found him yellow pants and dyed a white church shirt yellow.  We made a tall yellow hat out of stiff felt and elastic.  He wore a black belt and black boots and a homemade felt tie with polkadots.  He carried his George around everywhere he went.  He was absolutely adorable!

Nathan's hair is orange.  It was fitting that he was a pumpkin for Halloween.  And one darn cute pumpkin he was.  I bought a costume which was a cheap one that could not do any justice.  So I decided to just make a costume the way I imagined.  I found some ideas on pinterest and bought some fabric and got to work.  I had to re-do it a couple times till I got it right, but once finished, he looked so darn cute in that thing!!  The first event we went to, he wouldn't wear it.  It was so big and bulky.  But he got used to wearing it by the 2nd and 3rd Halloween event and he would waddle around in that big costume with his hat on and try to carry his pumpkin bucket all at the same time.  Cutest baby ever!

Fall Time Fun

On a day off of school, we got together with some friends and went on a "hike."  There are so many fun wooded areas around here.  This particular area we had never been to before.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Colorful leaves everywhere.  It was warm.  We couldn't have asked for a better day for a hike.  It definitely was tricky with the little ones.  Several times I was afraid they would fall off the cliff of the trail!  And at one point Cooper slipped on a log he was balancing on and fell into deep muddy water!  Oh my goodness!  But the adventures the kids enjoyed during those couple hours were some they probably will not forget!  

Cooper and his friends found a log that crossed the river.  So they went across!! If Nate had been with us, the experience would probably have been a whole lot more controlled :-).  But a 7 year old boy has an imagination of his own and loves to explore.  He was so proud that he crossed that river on that log!  I couldn't help but capture the joy on his face.  

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

We took the preschoolers on a field trip to Hilgar's Pumpkin Patch.  They had a blast running around in the mazes, the playgrounds, and seeing all the many different sizes and shapes and colors of pumpkins.  What a cute bunch!!  

Left to Right:

James, Aubrey, Jonah, Keagan, & Dawson

Preschool Letter F

I taught preschool this week and we learned all about letter F.  So I took the kids outside in the Forest to find Fall leaves.  They were all so cute.  They thought we were lost in the forest and were looking all over to find our backyard and house again.  

Then, we planted Flowers.  Ive been wanting to plant tulips since we moved into our house 5 years ago.  So I had the preschoolers help me get started planting.  They each got to dig a hole and put in a tulip bulb and cover it up with dirt and mulch.  They really enjoyed this.  I hope that in the spring the tulips will pop up and I can show some of them that the seeds they planted really did grow! 

BYU vs. Big Blue Football

Nate got us tickets to go see the BYU vs. Michigan football game in Ann Arbor.  It was an awesome game.  The Michigan fans are absolutely crazy!!  Basically the whole downtown was shut down for the game.  Cops everywhere directing hundreds and hundreds of pedestrians at busy intersections, tailgating for miles from the stadium with full on generators, TVs, barbecues, and alcohol.  These were big time fans!  So Nate and I walking up to the stadium in our BYU gear got lots of smirks, funny looks, and laughs.  They even had a sign out one of the tailgater's that said "Free shots for Mormons" and they invited us to come on down and take advantage of their offer.  It was crazy!!  There actually was a large amount of BYU fans.  Of course BYU fans cover the country, whereas Michigan fans are concentrated right in Michigan and surrounding areas.  So we met lots of BYU fans like us as well as saw a few people we knew from our college days.  

Unfortunately, BYU lost.  So we got out of there early and as quick as we could before the crowds became unbearable and overwhelming.  We hit IKEA on our way home and picked up the rest of the furniture and supplies needed for the new Simplx building.  It was a great date trip!