Merry Christmas!!

The crazy busy week started off with a bang on Sunday, leaving for our trip shortly after church.  Everyone was already in the Christmas spirit with gifts given to them at church and all the Christmas songs we sang.  Luckily Kylie was feeling better, after having a fever on Saturday.

After a quick pit stop at Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete's for some snow clothes, we made our way to Grandma Shari's and Grandpa Gary's house for the night.  Both kids were super excited to be out of the car and into the cold snowy weather!

And the snowy weather was perfect for our activity on Monday: sledding!  Well, it was more of a tubing activity with the whole Naylor clan.  And it was snowing for the entire time we were there.  the kids fell asleep on the way up, so they were ornery getting out of the car and into snow clothes, but after a bit of playing in the snow they were happier!

Then the tubing started.  There was a lift to the top, where we found out the kids had to have their own tube and couldn't be on laps.  We also found out the minimum age was 3, so Hayden technically wasn't allowed.  Grandma Shari walked up with Hayden though, while he rode the lift on his own and things worked out ok.

At the top we all linked our tubes and went together as a family.  It was lots of fun and super fast on the way down!  We went one more time, and then Hayden was done.  Kylie went an extra time with Grandpa Gary before she was done.

Then came the process of getting all our snow gear off and getting warmed up on the way home.  Later that evening Grandma Shari took Kylie and Hayden to the dinner with the extended family, where she said they were the life of the party, while the rest of the immediate family went to see the new Star Wars film.  It was a late night for everyone!

Tuesday there was more snow, and we took the kids out to play in it for a few minutes.  Hayden lasted longer than Kylie, which was a surprise, but Kylie was still feeling under the weather so that might be why she didn't want to stay out long.

On Wednesday we went over to Grandma Tess' and Grandpa Pete's.  The kids had fun making sugar cookies with Grandma Tess and playing and running around like usual!

Uncle James was there too, who we haven't seen in a year, but Kylie just loved horsing around with him!

Then we took the kids home to Grandma Shari and the adults all went to an indoor shooting range and had fun firing handguns.

Thursday, Christmas Eve, was a fun-filled day.  In the morning Kylie helped Grandma Shari with cleaning the kitchen.

Then, while Brandon and I went with the Hansen family to watch the Star Wars movie again (it was that awesome), Hayden took a nap and Kylie helped everyone make gingerbread houses.

Then we came and got the kids and went back to the Hansen's for presents!  The kids had so much fun opening presents (Hayden took some warming up) and they really got spoiled!  Grandma Tess made them so many fun things like hats and blankets, and Grandpa Pete scored big with a robot that Hayden did not put down for the rest of the night (he even slept with it...)

We spent the rest of the evening playing with our new toys and having a super yummy dinner.  Then when the kids were getting tired we left, and after a quick stop to say hello at the Naylor Christmas Eve festivities, we tried to put the kids to bed so Santa could come.  They did not want to go to bed.    Bed time is alway a hassle on trips!  Eventually we got them down and Santa was able to come!

Christmas dawned bright and early!  It was a morning filled with more presents and more fun!

The rest of the day was spent playing with all our new toys again and our new games.  A nice relaxing day!

Saturday was our last day visiting family, so we split the day between both families.  The morning was kinda tame, because both kids were still sick, and Hayden just wanted to stay in bed all day.  Brandon and I ran some errands, and then in the afternoon we went to the Hansen's and spent some time with them.  After playing for awhile we went to dinner, and then said our goodbyes and went to the festival of lights in Spanish Fork.  Kylie absolutely loved it.  Hayden only saw the first bit with the dinosaurs before he fell asleep.  It was lots of fun and a great family activity to do!

On Sunday we packed up early and left for home!  Hayden was pretty sick this day, so he slept most of the way home thankfully.  We got home safe and sound and our kitty was so happy to see us!  I was so happy to see no snow and 40 degree weather!  Haha! Now comes the big job of going through all our toys to make room for the new ones!

I want to thank both families for all the fun we had, and their generosity in regards to presents and taking pictures!  We love everyone so much and had a blast!

Gingerbread Houses!

After a grueling week of school, library, errands, and playing together we had a fun little get together with Sophia, Riley and Angela.  First we exchanged presents and everyone was extremely happy with what they got and did not want to share.  Kylie loved her little dog and Hayden LOVED his Big Hero 6 action figures.  He played with them all day and even took them to bed with him!

Then we made our "gingerbread" houses.  As I suspected, Hayden was way more interested in stuffing his face with the candy than actually decorating his little teepee.  Kylie decorated her house, at least, before eating her share of candy.

They turned out pretty decent for their ages!  I think next year we will do cookie decorating, though.  Much less frustrating than trying to build a house!

Afterwards we had an indoor snowball fight with little balls of yarn.  The kids all really enjoyed that!  Then Hayden took his nap and the girls had some down time and watched a movie.  Overall it was a fun day with friends!!

Saturday was a crazy busy day full of laundry, cleaning, and packing.  We are so excited to go spend next week and Christmas with family in the snow!  Kylie is always talking about Grandma Tess and Grandma Shari, as well as Grandpa Tess and Grandpa Gary, hahaha!

Here is Hayden hula hooping:

Getting Festive

This week Hayden has started saying 'Please' (it's so cute!) and has also decided that spitting his tongue at people is an acceptable form of communication (it's not).  We have also done away with bottles!!  Well, mostly.  We got some sippy cups that he actually likes for the day time (the last ones I got he didn't like at all), and the bottles in his bed at night have more of a sippy cup nib that is soft still.  So no more baby bottle nibs!!  Yay!!!  Next step:  weaning off the pacifier.  That one may take longer.  And a more devious plan...

Brandon had a long work week again, so whenever he was home the kids were extremely excited to see him.  Sometimes that excitement gave way to extreme goofiness.

At Kylie's Pre-School this week I got to have the opportunity to read to her class!  I got to read a Christmas story (Jingle Paws) and it was lots of fun.  She was excited when I told her about it, but then when I dropped her off for school and started coming in with her she was upset and kept telling me to leave because that is what I normally do!  Haha she finally realized that I was just going to read a story and then leave and then she was ok again.

On Friday I made a little craft for her to do: a paper puppet Santa!  She had lots of fun making it.  On Saturday we also made a reindeer, and the reindeer turned out to be her favorite.

On Saturday we did our little family outing and went to see the lights and nativity at the temple.  We come every year and it has been fun.  This year the kids cared less about seeing the lights and more about the leaves.  They loved to pick up huge armfuls and throw them at each other.

Haul Out the Holly!

On Tuesday we set up Christmas!!  We have had the tree out since Sunday night, but now we got to put the decorations up and decorate the whole house.  Kylie loves being in charge of turning on the Christmas tree.  But, she thinks that if the Christmas tree is on, every other light needs to off so she can fully enjoy it.  It gets quite annoying.

All week we have had the Christmas tunes cranked high and started watching Christmas movies.  I have also been teaching Kylie about Santa Claus, and managed to plant the idea in her head that if she is good Santa will bring her a scooter.  (Which she calls a 'mooter' for some reason)  By the time our ward Christmas party rolled around on Friday, Kylie was well acquainted with the idea of Santa.

I wasn't expecting a Santa to be at the party (since I hadn't seen one at a party in years), but it was our lucky day when Santa showed up!  Kylie was so excited and one of the first in line to see him.  Hayden walked towards him saying "scary" the whole time, but when it was Kylie's turn he ran right up there with her and we got a picture together.

Afterwards I asked Kylie what she said to Santa and she told me that she said "Please".  Haha well, I guess that is good!

The primary also sang some songs at the party.  Hayden decided to join Kylie on stage and was super excited to be up there.  Kylie was so excited to be on stage that she didn't end up singing at all but running around behind everyone in between the curtains.  Yup. That sounds like my kid.

Saturday we had some fun out on the town and went to the Dickens Festival.  It was my first time, and I was expecting something totally different.  While there were characters walking around and all the booths were dressed up, essentially it was a vendor event.  Lots of vendors.  Lots of things to look at.  Lots of things the kids should not be let loose in.  So someone had to hold Hayden the entire time, and the other person had to keep track of Kylie and make sure that she didn't touch everything in reach.

We also did some Christmas shopping and went to see Brandon's new office space.  Hayden also learned how to take a selfie:

Saturday night we gave Hayden a hair cut.  I tried to keep it longer on top, but he did not want to sit still so it ended up pretty short again.  Oh well, at least it grows fast!