Merry wishes.

We spent a quiet little Christmas at home, with our little family.  Earlier in the week we were treated to a show {The Gingerbread Man} that Maddie's Kindergarten class put on. What had a wonderful performer she is!  She gets so serious and has a loud, distinctive voice, it's great!  It reminded me a little of her Spanish Fiesta performance from last year.  However, this time I remembered my camera, yay!

She was the wife...

Then on Christmas morning we took a bottom of the stairs picture...well, we tried at least.

Hazel's 1st Christmas!

Camden was so funny.  After opening each present, he would say..."that is exactly what I wanted..."  He even said this for the shoes.  Sweet little Cam.

Yum.

What can we say...she's got a bit of a cold.

Ben & Camden got helicopters from Santa.  I think Ben was just as excited {if not more} as Cam was...

Oh boy did we play!  For the rest of the day we just lounged and played with all the new toys.  What a fun day.

Maddie got a Lite Brite, a toy I loved as a child!

Cam taking a stab at being an artist.  We've got some work to do...Maddie's easel was a big hit none the less.  She's such a little artist.

Her new Jenny.  She promptly went a picked out a clippy for her to wear in her hair. 

Hazel received a dolly that crawls, just like her!  She loves crawling after her and giving her big wet kisses.

Santa was nice enough to get Cam a train, something he's been asking for non-stop since we got back from Thanksgiving {even waking me in the middle of the night to remind me}.

I love this innocent little shot of Hazel.  She's so sweet...and almost 1!  I can't believe it!

Wii love our new Wii!

{sword fighting}

Boy what a workout some of those games are!

Have you ever seen a cuter uni-brow?

We feel so blessed to have such wondeful friends and family.  We hope you all know how much we love and appreciate you.  Merry Christmas!

The project prowler.

You've got to check out my bestest friend, Kimmy's, new project blog.  Such cute, inexpensive ideas...I can't stop checking it!

The Project Prowler.

A date with my Benny.

Ben surprised me with a fun date last weekend.  We don't get babysitters often living here, because of the lack of teenagers :(  But, thanks to some of our friends, we were able to go out on the town!  We had such a fun time rock climbing and exploring in some caves they had built-into the building.  You crawl through these pitch black caves, finding your way up down and around with touch alone.  I almost lost it due to my minor claustrophobic tendencies, however I made it through.  It was the weirdest, coolest thing I think I've ever done {the caves that is}.   The rock climbing was fun too though! 

About to show me how it's done...

Grrr...

Emerging from the cave {not the cutest picture I've ever seen of myself...but gives you an idea of how small the caves were.}

Peek-a-BOO!

Hazel just loves to play peek-a-boo!  It's so cute to see her try to hide...

This last one is my personal favorite.

Thanksgiving Part 2.

As promised, here are the remainder of the pics from our trip...

Reuniting Sydney & Maddie was a highlight

Craft time for the kiddos.

Settlers of Zarahemla for the adults.

4-wheeling up the mountain that my parents live on...brought out some craziness in me.

My Benny & I.

See what I mean?

and again...

Laura & Russ came along for a ride too...we sure do miss them!

Cam is becoming quite the Daddy's boy.  I'm a little jealous how much he prefers him now days.

Caitlyn and Hazel playing...they are complete opposites in coloring.

Oh Suzanna!

Hazel learned a few things over vacation--

1-signing "more" (in photo below), baby, & all done

2-playing peek-a-boo by herself

3-folding her arms to pray

4-attempting to stand on her own

This is what happns after one gets food in ther hair...

Cam kept trying to follow Ethan around, which I'm sure was annoying for a 7 year old.  He was a good sport though.

Thanksgiving.

At the rate I'm going, my next post won't be until Christmas! My apologies, I'll do my best to not let that happen. Well, we were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving with my whole family in WA this year {I'm actually still here}. We took one heck of a flight here, then drove from Seattle to Spokane (6 hour drive),where my parents now live...and I'm here for another few days, while Ben is back in NY doing a hospital rotation. We had so much fun getting together with everyone for the holiday and got to watch the cousins reunite, play Zarahemla, go 4-wheeling, and make hair clippies and other fun crafts {of course!}. Here are some pics from our trip. The computer is being weird, so there are more to come. But here is my first batch...

Sisters and the momma.

These two are like sisters...guess that's what happens when you've got an 8 year gap between the 4th and 5th child.

My oldest sister, Steph & her girls....{I'll go ahead and brag for her...she's lost 30lbs and counting...way to go!!} What a fun surprise!

The whole gang.

Our fam.

Stay tuned for more pictures, once I can figure it out!