Stuffed deer, whales, guns, & Santa.

We headed out for a fun filled night to see Santa!!

Mason was excited to actually be matching his baby brother...he kept saying..we match we match!

Where is the best place to find Santa in the 909?!

None other than Bass Pro Shoppes of course!

Nothing makes it feel like Christmas than standing in line with views of stuffed elk, deers & giant sharks hanging above your heads....

After telling Santa what they wanted....

they let the kids then head to the shooting gallery and perfect thier aim!

Masons the only one who is apparently excited about the upcoming Train.

(and the kids put on those hats...that have been worn by who knows how many other kids...I was slightly nauseous.)

Merry Christmas from the 909!

All I want for Christmas....

Letters to the man in the Red Suit havent gone so 'smooth' in the Blume house.

Last year we 'mailed them to the North Pole' only....I want them back to keep them, so I mailed them to my Mother in laws house (the kids would never see them there right?)

Well...2 days later we went over there to drop something off and my MIL was out getting her mail and Paige sees her letter in the pile and begins questioning...which I sidetracked somehow :) (loser mom)

So this year I decided to do something much easier....

Paige wrote the whole letter on her own.

Such a big kindergardener :)

She wants an American Girl doll, Silly bands, and a Pillow pet.

Mason only wanted a Bike. Keep it simple.

(mom wants a new camera that takes pictures that are IN FOCUS for once! :)
(Miles wants a bib to collect all his drool)

So....because Im so smart, I thought lets put our letters on the tree.

I told them that this year Elves come and get them at night and take them to Santa.

Only...the 'elves' forgot to come and get them...so when they came down the next morning they noticed they were STILL IN THE TREE. Smooth.

Why are the letters still here?!

Oh they must have been too busy last night?!

So that night when we went to see Santa...Paige says to him...

I left my letter on our tree...

can you tell the Elves to come and get it tonight? They forgot to last night.

Im thinking..oh please go along with it... :)

and he says in a confused way... Ok, I will.

Im sure he was wondering what in the world she was talking about hahahhaa.
The next day they were 'picked up' and taken to Santa.

Next year will need to be thought out a little bit better... :)

Im the happiest Christmas Tree....

Oh Christmas Bush...oh Christmas bush....

Miles was enjoying the tree decorating festivities....

the kids went crazy putting on all thier ornaments.

This year we had many 'sections' of ornaments..

Ballerinas

Disney

Princesses
they all were piled on the tree in an 'artsy' way...so I left them like that...unbalanced and lumpy...just like us :)

Mason chose to decorate in the buff.

All done.

Christmas Jammies on.

Time to dance around the tree!

We went with the 'fake' tree again this year....but I dont think I can do it another year...next year hopefully well get a real tree to make the house smell yummy and to drop hundreds of pine needles all over our house.

Makeshift Nativity

We got out the fisher price Nativity first week of December and the kids were loving it!

Loving it so much in fact they decided to dress up and reenact it themselves.

They put dishtowels & burp rags on thier heads with headbands to hold them on.

Then wrapped poor Miles in a blanket and sang to him Silent Night a MILLION times! :)

Once I realized what was going on...we took a few pictures then I rescued my poor Baby Jesus.

Extreme Homemakeover Family Edition

It started with a simple conversation in August while sitting around with family one lazy day.

"My mom is trying to figure out what colors she should paint her house..."

"oh! We should remodel your moms house for her!"

What?! really?!

"and we should do it over Thanksgiving weekend"

Lets get the ball Rollin!!!!

After only 2 months to plan and prepare and pick out new flooring, paint colors and carpet...

Turkey day finally arrived and so did around 15 family members......

We all went to work...and didnt stop for 4 days! sun up to sun down.

After day #1 Mom stayed at my house so she could watch the 'babies' while we all worked on the house so it ended up being a complete suprise for her at the end.

Everyone worked together flawlessly.

Craig got his 'ghostbusters' on...and attacked the house with the spray gun!

The rest of us attacked the other rooms with paint...

For sure OSHA would have shut us down had they seen the shenanegans going on there....

Here is some of the crew at the end of Day #2-paint day.

Day #3 FLOORING.

Craig, Kang, U. Dave & A. Kate went crazy on the floor while the rest of us (me) did touch ups all day long. (day 3 had a smaller work crew :) )

The fend for yourself table.

Fun to congregate around while eating triscuts & drinking out of liter bottles of soda really fast so we could get right back to work.

A HUGE improvement!!!

U. Ric working some unexpected magic on the bathroom floor.

The Project captain aka the Legend

Finished project:

The kitchen

bathroom

The crew waiting to yell MOVE THAT BUS! ha.

TA DA.

Pics after the carpet got put in the next day.

Amazing.

and it smells awsome.

and the grand finale.

Craig got the TV hooked back up.

Life could now go on. :)

We are so blessed with such a great family that works so well together.

A generous donation from my moms parents who paid for her new flooring & U. Ric's company who donated all the paint made this possible.

Along with hard working family members to help her put it all in and give up thier 4 day weekend to give thier time to my Mom to make her home a nice place to be.

We were all exausted. But there is no other feeling than to serve another. Especially my Mom.

Then hearing them all say ' it was the best Thanksgiving weekend any of them have ever had' and there was no other place they would have rather been is pretty amazing.

I love this quote. It spells out our weekend and our family perfectly.

"In family relationships, LOVE is really spelled T-I-M-E, time."

Masons 3!!

Mason turned 3 on Nov. 24th!

He is such a big boy now.

He is starting to get his 'own friends' - so we threw his first 'friend' party this year!

There is no other place that this kid would enjoy more than Krispy Kreme donuts on his birthday, so away we went!

At the party store, he was supposed to pick the plates, and presents for the kids in some sort of 'theme'. Right, like a 3 year old gets the theme idea...so we had "Cars" plates, Toy story goodie bags, and Dinosaur balloons! PERFECT for him!


9am. HOT donuts waiting to be devoured!!

*I might throw my 31st birthday party here too!*

Braeden, Nixon, Ashlyn, Mason, Brody, Taylor and Paige enjoying chocolate milk and donuts.

The cake of dreams

Pounding his 3rd donut!

I told him it was time to open presents and he wouldnt stop until all his donuts were eaten first...kid knows his priorities :)

His cool Gun from Brody!

Funnest game from the Horn girls.

He got PJ's and a cool buzz lightyear car from Jorgenson kids.

All the buddies after thier sugar feast.

Opening his presents from the family...buzz and woody bendy toys!

Then we headed out to Applebees for dinner ....

and then the movie Tangeled.

Kids loved it, we loved it!

Such a FUN FUN day!

Mason is so full of life.

He has so much happy energy and makes us laugh all day.

He sometimes uses his big head as a weapon against his sister.

He loves to try new things.

He is adventurous and friendly.

His sugar junkie ways make us laugh.

He loves his Miles and his Paigie.

We love you Mason.

Hope the simple things always make you as happy as they did on your 3rd birthday!

xxoo