A Christmas prayer by Jay

Over breakfast this morning...

Dear Heavenly Father,
Please help us know about Christmas. It's about giving not getting. We are thankful for the Christmas spirit.
Please bless this food & help it to be good for us.
We are thankful for our home here on earth.

Merry Christmas!

Dipping Chocolates Rowley style

We got together with some friends tonight to dip chocolates. Our friends the Rowley's are famous for their chocolate expertise. Eric & Meredith spent many hours prepping the filling for our Boston cremes so we could get to work flavoring and shaping. We made several kinds. Boston cremes plain and with nuts, caramels...mint crunch with candy canes, orange and almond. So delicious and dangerous to have around. There goes the 3 pounds I lost this month!
Only 3 days til Christmas!

Matt taste testing!

I wish my hat was pulled down lower, my head looks huge!

Tiffany, Jamey & Mer

Eric...
the chocolate maestro

Not pictured Jason (the photographer) Whitney

Cowboy boots & pop guns just what every little boy needs!

WARNING: I'm having problems with blogger loading my pictures out of order so bear with the wackiness.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my parents who flew out from New Mexico (The Land of Enchantment.) It is always so nice to visit with family and strengthen those bonds.
Some highlights were:
*Christmas in the Sky- A firework extravaganza set to Christmas music held on Thanksgiving eve
*Thanksgiving day food- a given
*A little bit of Black Friday shopping
*Bass Pro Shop (2x)
*Pop guns for the boys (although I don't know if Matt would call that a highlight)
*BBQ
*Movies
*Visiting the site for the K.C. area temple
*Listening to my children giggle as Muffin & Punkin read/made up stories to them every morning in bed
*My dad performing an Indian war dance using the headdress and drum Asher made at preschool
*Cowboy boots for all 3 boys!

Here comes the out of order part. This is a shot of Ridge on his first day of Nursery at church. I can't believe my baby is 18 months. I guess I need to stop saying "I just had a baby"...

We started a new tradition this year called Elf on the Shelf. This picture is from when our elf first came to visit our family, and the boys finding him. They named him Elfie. Elfie is a silent listener/watcher for Santa and reports to the North Pole every night on the boys' behavior. They love to find him in a new spot every morning. *Notice Ash and his pop gun. They are allowed to talk to him but not touch him. (Elfie has orders from Santa not to talk to anyone).

Yesterday we were leaving to go somewhere and Jay says, "I need to go talk to Elfie" I told him okay we'd wait and I listened in as he was TELLING on Asher. "Um, Elfie Asher just pushed me getting into the van. You tell Santa O.K.?"
My dad and Jay on Thanksgiving day. Getting a little early morning fishing in.
Blurry but still a great document of our boys' excitement over setting up the Christmas train.
Ridge modeling his John Deere boots and pop gun. He loves to stomp around in them. I love his little legs so much!
Another blurry shot of the whole family. I think our camera is having issues.
Nick modeling the Kansas City area temple site. We are so thrilled to be getting a temple so close to us. (About 30 minutes.)

Christmas in the Sky!
During the display Asher told my mom "I wish the fireworks could talk to us!"


A rare shot of JUST the two of us! It's funny now b/c for our first 5 years of marriage that's ALL we had pictures of.
We are so grateful for all of our friends & family members who are scattered all over the globe. Our lives are so enriched because of those relationships.

Early November Happenings

Matt & I are promoters of self/creative entertainment for our children. I never would have put Ridge's diapers into that category...good thing our friends the Skinner's don't mind. I think Avery is in the process of self diapering. Maybe she could give Ridge some pointers!?

One evening I noticed it was too quiet and went looking for the older boys. I found them in the garage "surfing"! Life jackets and all. Jay had his on too, but took it off so he could do better "tricks." I never know what I'm going to find when I open a door...

Jay recently earned a reptile field guide he had been wanting. Matt had ordered it used off of Amazon and told Jay he could earn it. He was so excited and focused on his goal. We were really proud of him. He loves to read out of it and is really good at sounding out words.

Christmas came a little early at our house for Matt via Dad & Mom Jeppson. Notice the extra attention the new fly rod gets. Hmmm, maybe I should dress up as a fly rod next Halloween?... Just joking!

90% off costumes at Target. My boys are in dress up heaven! Our friend Cole is the clone trooper. I got 3 total and spent $6.50

This is my loot from the 90% off sale at Hobby Lobby. My sister Sariah had called from New Mexico to share the tip. My friend Tiffany was over so we headed to the Hob Lob and picked up a pretty good haul. I do love me a good sale!