Life Group Christmas Party

On Tuesday, December 14 our Life Group had it's annual Christmas Party.  We had so much fun!  The food for the evening was a Fondue Bar - Yummy!

Pictured from left to right: Heather with Ariel, Jim, Shana, Curt, Kim, Olivia, Bethany, Travis, Carly, Jon, Scott and Sarah.

The kids got into the fun too and all dressed in their pajamas and watched the movie "Polar Express."  This was the first time Evan saw this movie.  He was very excited to be watching a new choo-choo movie.  Here are the kids watching the film.

 

In this picture below Evan is telling Jim about the movie as he takes the picture. :)

Here are all the kids with their babysitter, Ms. Ashley.  She got them all little Christmas goodie bags.  Pictured from left to right, Evan, Gavin, Amber, Macy, Savannah, Issac and Cameron.  Ms. Ashley is in the middle.

Eleven Months Old....and VERY QUICKLY approaching the Big One!

Our baby turned Eleven Months Old on Thursday, December 9...Wow!  Time continues to fly by and as you can see by the date on this post we actually almost have ourselves a one year old.  Evie is still and always will be our little bundle of cuteness and joy.  Here are the latest milestones at 11 months (In the above picture you can see that she can climb the whole flight of stairs.  We still don't let her do it by herself in case she were to fall, but she tries to go up every chance she gets.)

*Evie can WALK!!!  Jim and I officially declared that Evie is officially walking on Wednesday, December 15.  She has been taking many little steps for awhile now and kind of got set back a bit with a cold the whole family got around Thanksgiving and it really lingered with Evie, but she has made up for it.  We are so proud and excited for her. 

*She still loves playing with Evan and we hope this never changes. :)   She is always trying to do what he does and enjoys playing with whatever he is involved with.

 

*Pushing and Riding Vehicles, she has been pushing vehicles around, but her new enjoyment is riding them. 

 

Evie can be found going back and forth throughout the house.  She especially enjoys going fast!  Is she her sister's brother or what?  Evan gets a big kick out of it too.  He loves to push her around.

*Dressing Pretty, Mommy continues to enjoy dressing Evie up.  Doesn't she just look adorable in the below ensemble?  If only she would keep the hat and ribbons and bows in her hair and on her head.  Oh well, it doesn't stop me from my dress up fun. :)

 

See the cute snowman hair clip below?  Don't you just love it!  They pretty much stay in long enough for me to get these pictures before she notices them and pulls them out. :)

*Passing things back and forth, Evie loves to hand things back and forth lately.  She thinks this is a real fun game. Below she is sharing this ball with me.

*The Refrigerator Magnets are fun for both brother and sister currently at our house.  Here she is playing with Evan again.  They really have a great time together. 

*Teeth a plenty - Evie has six teeth now.  Two on the bottom and four on the top.  Here is an up close photo for you to see.  Not the most flattering of my baby, but you can see the teeth. :)

Here is a more flattering picture. :)

*Standing and looking cute is something Evie has been doing a lot of lately.  I just love this picture below.

 

*Playing with Brother's toys as mentioned above, Evie just can't get enough of her brother.  Her she is pictured after getting into Evan's train box all by herself.  She thought it would be fun to check out all the contents.  While I was taking her picture she did offer my several pieces of the track.  Such a giver this girl. :)

*Evie is also already a Comforter.  She can be found giving you pats on the back.  Especially if she is getting patted on the back.  So cute!

*She enjoys talking (she speaks in the cutest baby babble, but can say mama, dada, up, baba, gaga) and playing games with her family.

*Evie also loves to make kissing sounds and can give open mouth kisses it is so funny.  Evan gets the biggest kick out of it. 

*She continues to love to clap and wave hi and bye.  Recently she has enjoyed making Mommy's hand clap together.  We have fun playing this game. 

*Upside Down girl!  She is her brother's sister and thrill is her middle name.  She is big on adventure and enjoys being lifted upside down and wants to go again and again.

*Laughing and giggling are also a fun activity for this little girl.  She enjoys being tickled and has the cutest little laugh.

*She is Eating more finger foods these days.  However, she does similar to what Evan did when he was this age, a lot goes in to taste and then comes out in little chunks.  Makes for a big mess, but I guess she is trying the food which is good.  And you really can't complain looking at this adorable little face. She currently loves gold fish, pretzels, and Ritz crackers.

*No Shoes or Socks Please.  She also is always pulling her socks and shoes off.  The below picture is a prime example.  She got one side off.

Our little 11 month old is amazing and fills our lives with so much joy!  Thank you God for such a precious gift.  We love you Evie and can't wait to celebrate your first year very, very soon. :)  Join us in our countdown to Evie's 1st Birthday less than two weeks away. 

Silly times with Evie

On December 11 Evie decided it would be fun to have her sock in her mouth.  While this isn't that unique for kids, I thought the amount of time that she kept it in their was pretty weird on this particular day.  I captured the event on camera. :)

Still in there

 

Finally she decided to take it out and hand it to Daddy.  Gotta love these special times. :)

Christmas Lights Tour

 

We got to walk around and look at Christmas Lights with our MOPS group on Monday, December 13 in the Standford Ranch neighborhood by Sunset and Pebble Creek.  It was so much fun, we went last year too, but Jim missed the festivities because of a work trip.  It was great to have him with us this year.

This was also Evie's first time going.  She did great, however, she really wanted to get out and walk with the rest of us. :)

Here is Evan with one of our MOPS buds, Will, in front of a house decorated with "Cars" characters.

Romance Weekend

Jim and I got to take part in Romance Weekend with our church during the weekend of November 5 and 6.  The picture above is from our big date night on Saturday Night with the group from the event.

The weekend was perfect because it was close to home and really focused on how you can connect with your spouse and gave you practical ways and time to do it during the event.  Our church also set it up beautifully for people with small children in the sense that we were able to go home during the evening (they did recommend a hotel if this was something you could work out) and have large gaps in the schedule to tend to them if necessary.  This worked out perfect for us.  My parents did watch the kids for big chunks for time, but with Evie being so little and still nursing it was a little tricky - so this format was awesome!

During the weekend had a great time and started out with a message on Friday evening and then a night of bowling.  Here is a picture of our scores.  As you can see from the picture it was not a my best work.  Jim did pretty decent.  Our friend Sara did awesome! :)

Then on Saturday morning we headed to the State Capital.  Evie came along for this part of the event.  We had a good time walking around and connecting with our mates during this activity, Evie did awesome too. 

Later that evening, we had our big date and also got to play group Bunco.  We almost were the grand Bunco champions.  We didn't win in the final round, so close!  Overall, this was such a special weekend the church set up to get closer to our mates and also to remember to always put God at the center.  We were blessed to be able to take part as well as have my parents watch the kiddos. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Girl Scout Childcare Badge

On Thursday, November 11, Evan and Evie were invited to help our neighbor and friend, Nilda's Girl Scout troop earn their Childcare Badge.  We were happy to go over and help, especially, since I used to be a Girl Scout too.  The kids, Jim and I had the best time.  The troop had to play games with the kids, read stories to them, and prepare them a snack. 

The girls were so cute and worked really hard to entertain the kids during this experience.  The kids were making them work hard too!  Our friends, Savannah and Gavin were also there to aid in the badge training for the girls.  The picture below is of all the Girl Scouts in the troop with the kids.

Here the girls are reading the kids stories.  Evie was being kind of clingy with Mommy so I got to get in on the fun too!

Here they are with Evan.  He was enjoying the attention for the most part.  He really enjoyed the snack time at the end of the story.

The girls did an amazing job and all earned their badges that night.  Way to go ladies!

Thanksgiving and Mom's Birthday

We are behind as always lately in posting this, but here are some pictures and memories from our families Thanksgiving this year and Evie's very 1st Thanksgiving.

The photos below are from a quick photo session I had with the kids in their Thanksgiving shirts in the morning during the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I finally got one of them smiling and looking at the camera, but these other pictures I thought were worth featuring too.  Silly kids! :)

 

The winner - success (both kids smiling and looking at the camera)!

You can see the parade in the background here. :)

During Thanksgiving Day we also got the chance to make hand turkeys.  It was so fun to be able to do an activity with Evan for the holidays.  I love being able to teach him new things.

Here are Evie and Jim waiting and watching us do the hand turkeys.  Aren't they so cute?

The final product, along with a picture Evan also did in his MOPPETS class during MOPS.  I am a proud Mama!

That evening we headed over to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.  Here is the beautiful table before dinner.

When we first arrived Grandma and Grandpa Thompson had set us this cool train track for Evan to play with before dinner.  He was having a great time with Daddy playing.

Final food preparations in the kitchen with my mom, brother and Debra.

Dad was hanging out with Evie.

Me and my honey posing with some of the yummy food.

After dinner the kids got to do some more coloring with Daddy and Aunt Debra.

My Grandma and Mom posing pretty after the delicious meal!  Thanks to everyone for all the hard work and great feast- especially to Grandma for hosting.

After dinner, we had a real special treat, celebrating my Mom's Birthday!  Evan was especially excited and couldn't wait to sing happy birthday to Grandma as well as dive into the cake.  Yummy!

 

It was the perfect ending to our Thanksgiving Day.  We did have one minor set back, we all had colds- not ideal, but doable.  Such is the life of having little ones and lots of germs. :)