Christmas Program

Stefan and Janine had their Christmas program last Thursday on the 16th and it was fun to have both kids in the same program at the same time! Janine loves to sing and was so excited to do the program. She has been singing the songs since Thanksgiving. Stefan on the other hand doesn't mind singing and will occassionally will join in with Janine. Most of the time though he is just a brother and will only sing to make her upset. Because Princess Janine likes to sing by herself.
The songs they sang were cute. The whole program was cute.

Aftwerwards we got to see Santa again!! First at Maceys and now at school. Stefan doesn't have a problem with the man in red but Janine on the otherhand is more hesitant. She wouldn't get on his lap by herself, but did when her older brother sat on the big mans lap for a picture.

This is a picture of Stefan and his best buddy from school Mason. They have both been on their moms to get phone numbers so they can play....That has finally happened and they will be playing after the holidays!

Jacoby's 1st Birthday

We wish you a Happy Birthday,
We wish you a happy birthday,
We wish you a happy birthday and many more too!

Friday December 10th was Jacobys first birthday! He had a good day. Stephanie and the kids would sing Happy birthday to him and Jacoby would smile and laugh. He knew that day was a special one. we decorated the dining room as always with balloons and the Happy Birthday sign. Stephanie couldn't decide what kind of cake to make Jacoby for his birthday, but finally decided upon birthday hats! Because after all it is a party!! We let him open gifts and he loved his toys. Eric and Stephanie had to get mad at the two older kids because they would "try" their best to play
with Jacoby but naturally they would end up with the toys and Jacoby has nothing and would be upset. We also decided to take the kids to see santa. There was absolutely no line when Eric had been there 30 minutes earlier getting balloons so we decided to race over there and BEHOLD there was no line we walked right up to santa and Stefan handed santa his Christmas list he made at school. Santa was so excited to get Stefans list. Stefan wants a Hot Wheels track from Santa. Stefan loves Santa. He is so comfortable you think Stefan saw him every day!
Janine was scared this year again. Even though she didn't sit on his lap she too gave her list and did speak to him and told him what she wanted. She wants a Dora Doll that sings and dances. I think next year we just might be able to get her to sit on Santas lap! We also saw Christmas Carolers at Maceys too and we had to get a picture because they looked awesome and sound amazing!

Oh Temple Lights Oh Temple Lights!!

Yes we did it again. We willingly went out into the blistering cold and froze to walk around beautiful temple square and see all the amazing lights and watch the life like nativity set they have.
The start of the evening was great. We went to the Gateway mall in downtown and ate at California Pizza. I believe we found the kids new favorite place to eat. They downed so much food. It was incredible.


Then we drove down the road to temple square and tried to find parking. Well that a bit ridiculous. There were NO parking places anywhere!!! We actually drove around for 45 minutes. We were all pretty dissappointed and starting to get testy with eachother. Eric and Stephanie decided they would drive around temple square one more time and if there wasn't a spot we would go home. The time was 8:00 pm at this point.
We just had to find a space to park! Stefan was already crying because he wanted to see the lights, Janine was in the back saying she is hot and just wants to go home and Jacoby is crying. Such helpful children with parents who are already on edge. But wait!!!oh yes you guys we found a parking spot!!!! we had to backpack in but we found one and had a very nice time. Temple grounds always make you happy and you always feel the spirit while there.

A Turkey & A Tree???

Well it just wouldn't be right to just skip over Thanksgiving entirely this year. We must blog about something right?...Well if you can believe it Stephanie forgot to take pictures of Thanksgiving this year! But since we print our blogs into a book we must write about thanksgiving. We were unable to attend Thanksgiving in Arizona with Stephanies family this year. (tear) Since buying Kneaders life has been crazier than ever and there was no way we could leave our stores. As luck would have it our new Managers family got snowed in up in Oregon and couldn't come so we had them over for Thanksgiving dinner. His wife is Russian and has never had a true thanksgiving before so we felt "cool" that her first was with us. We had a great time.




The saturday following Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas. We put up all our decorations and saved the tree until Sunday. Stephanie ordered a few new ornaments this year and our tree looks the best this year than ever before. We actually have a few more peppermints up on the tree now so there is more on the tree than what it shows in the picture. Its always fun to decorate the house with kids because their energy and Christmas spirit just infects you so much that you find yourself just as giddy and hyper as they are. Its really fun.
Of course Saturday after we finished decorating that hyper spirit I was talking about became too much for Stefan we think. He was running, fell and smacked his forehead on the corner of one of Stephanie's glass presents and split his forehead. We looked at his head and it was in between taking him to the doctor or just bandaging it and leaving it. We all chose to leave it. That was quite the adventure to have your child approach you screaming with blood dripping through their hands.....my how the tables have turned.