The busiest week of the year!

I think this last week has been the busiest week of the year for us! Here's a run down of what we were up to thus far:

Monday:
Did my visiting teaching first thing in the morning and then ran to Cody with the two younger boys and my mom and finish up a little bit of Christmas shopping. We were visited that night be several friends and family members with fun Christmas treats.

Tuesday:
Ran a bunch of errands in town, came home and put the boys down for naps and wrapped presents like a crazy lady. Had an early dinner so that Christian and Carson could head to the Hyartt to get in line for the K-2 Christmas program that was at 6:30. Every year I am amazed at how crazy it is in there!! Both sets of Grandparents came to support Carson. We were happy that this year they had the 3rd grade play later in the night so we didn't have to sit around for that too! Carson did a great job on his speaking part, singing and holding the lighted flag for a song they all sang together.
 

What a handsome guy!

The brothers wanted in on a picture too!

The entire 2nd grade.

Singing away!

Carson and a few of his friends were asked to hold the American flag during one of the songs.

This one shows the flag better.

Wednesday:
It was my week to take take the preschool kids to school. It was the VIP preschool Christmas program that morning at 9. I had to have the boys there at 8:30, so Landon and I decided to just stay and save seats for the grandmas's. Travis's program was the cutest and he did a darn good job of saying his part that we had been practicing. Apparently, we should have practiced saying his name as well. After a couple of songs, each child was given the chance to introduce themselves using the microphone. When it came to Travis, he says, "Hi. My name is Rocco." (who happens to be his best friend and was standing right next to him) followed with a look of terror on his face like what did I just say!?!Of course, those of us who knew him, knew that wasn't his name and laughed! He wasn't too sure what to do and just stood there with a really nervous look on his face! He started to get a little teary eyed because he was getting a little embarrassed, but pulled through without crying and even reintroduced himself as Travis! IT. WAS. HILARIOUS! Funny thing was, another good friend down the line introduced himself as Rocco also (trying to be funny), making it not bad for Travis! I guess that's was good friends do in Preschool. They had goodies and punch afterwards for everyone.

All ready to go to his program.

All ready to sing. The kids all did a great job of standing up straight and being still

All lined up and ready to say his part. 

This is where Travis accidentally said his name was Rocco!

Singing away!

So cute!

Ringing bells.

Little reindeer.

Finished with the program and taking a bow!

Travis with his two friends Sam and Rocco.

What a handsome little guy!

Landon and Travis enjoying some treats together.

After the program, my mom came and helped me bake Christmas goodies until about 4 when my visiting teachers showed up. After they left, we did a little bit of cleaning up and then got to go to Carson's first Scout pack meeting. Carson loved it...Christian was less than amused, but for those of you that know Christian, know how much he loves scouting! We picked up tacos on the way home for dinner.


Thursday:
After dropping the kids off at preschool. Landon and I baked some sugar cookies and made another batch of caramels since my first batch turned out rock hard! When Travis got home from preschool, we had lunch, frosted and decorated cookies and then I had Travis deliver a few plates to some of our neighbors. After naps and when Carson was home from school, we put together goodie plates for the rest of our neighborhood friends and sent the boys out to deliver them. We had an early dinner again and set out to deliver our goodies to more friends and family while Christian was away at a church meeting. We ended up making and delivering 16 plates of goodies!

Today (Friday):
Has been less busy. We had a visit from my aunt and we tried to clean up the kitchen but didn't get very far. We got some groceries, had naps and then took Carson to a friends house for a Christmas party. While he was gone, the two other boys and I ran to Powell to help my mom with a Christmas gift she was making.

The fun doesn't end there: Saturday will bring preg. testing cows and Sunday we will be celebrating my mom's birthday!

Visit with Santa

Last night was our Ward Christmas party. Carson and Travis were excited about finally getting to see Santa. Travis had been concerned that he wasn't going to get to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas because we missed seeing him at the fire hall this year. Landon actually didn't scream this year! Maybe it's because I told him that if he sat and had his picture taken with Santa that he would get a bag of candy! Here is what each of the boys told Santa they wanted for Christmas:

Carson: Skylanders Swat, Disney Infinity, and football pads

Travis: football pads

Landon: Horsey...which actually sounds like hussy when he says it.

We got the newspaper with the letters to Santa and found it interesting what they boys said. Carson said exactly what he wanted. Travis, on the other hand, was different from anything he had ever talked about. When I asked him about why he all of a sudden wanted a firetruck, we got really mad and said he didn't. I told him that that's what he said in the newspaper. He denied saying that that's what he wanted for Christmas, but was what he wanted from his teacher for Christmas! He was then really concerned that Santa was going to bring him a firetruck and not the football pads that he wanted. We told him things would work out because he actually sat on Santa's lap and talked to him! I still thought they were fun to read.

8 is Great!

 Yesterday was a special day for Carson-he chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We went back and forth and around trying to decide on a day to do it. Carson really wanted be baptized close to his birthday, but really wanted to have as much of his extended family around as possible. We finally got it narrowed down to 2 different days, yesterday (close to his birthday) or the 21st (when the most family would be around), but ended up finding out that someone was going to be decorating for a wedding on the day of the 21st, so we went with the 7th.

All ready to be baptized!

Carson and grandpa Foulger chatting before the baptism.

Travis had the job of passing out the programs as people arrived. He took it very serious and would only give one program to each family!

 The program for his baptism was wonderful. Carson knew exactly who he wanted to do everything for his program. We had to make a few changes because some family members weren't going to be around, but it turned out so nice. Carson was pretty emotional through out the program. I could tell he was really feeling the spirit. He asked each of his grandpa's to give a talk. They both did great jobs and really invited the spirit. He is lucky to have such great men as his grandpa's! Christian performed the baptism and confirmed him. I am so grateful for him and that he honors his priesthood and was able to baptize Carson.

Landon enjoying one of the sugar cookies we made as treats to hand out that were in the shape of an 8. They were perfect for putting on his pointer finger and eating.

Carson with all the men that were in the circle when we was confirmed.
(Bishop Craig Walker, Grandpa Asay, Grandpa Foulger, Christian, Daniel, Michael, Jared and Grandpa Monk)

Carson with his grandpa's, uncles and dad. He has some great men to look up to!

After the baptism, we had any family that came over for dinner at our house. Carson requested chicken noodle soup with rolls and death by chocolate cake for dessert. I was happy with his choice because it was easy and could be made ahead and be ready when we got back .

 After dinner, we opened some presents. He got some really fun things including some legos, books, army guy, remote control helicopter, an arm shooter, and money. His primary teacher (Sylvia Crosby) gave him a really neat hanky with his initials on it with a personal note that told him to keep it to use on his wedding day in the temple.

His legos. The boys worked on them all afternoon today and had lots of fun doing it.

The aftermath of wrapping paper.

Carson's cake. I accidentally put 9 candles on his cake and was aware of it until they were all lit!

 We are so proud of Carson and his decision to be baptized. He is a great example to me and his brothers. He is always kind and thinking of others and always tries to choose the right! I am so grateful that he is in our family!

Carson's 8th birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Carson's 8th birthday. The day was much like the day we had him-extremely cold(-14 when I got him up to get ready for school). He requested pancakes and chocolate milk for breakfast and  we made his pancakes into the shape of an 8...special for his day. He took rice crispy treats to school to celebrate for his birthday. Christian brought home pizza for dinner and we got to have uncle Jared join us for some birthday dinner. After dinner, we opened presents...all the boys were super excited to get them opened. Carson got a new set of scriptures, scripture bag and pencils, a new tie, and a bb gun and ammo. He was really surprised when he opened the gun! I loved watching his face as he opened the package. He spent a good amount of time "shooting" it (without any bb's in it) until it was time to get in the shower to get ready for bed. After showers, we sang happy birthday and enjoyed Neapolitan ice cream (Carson's request). I think he had a really good day! Saturday will be his baptism and we will celebrate again after it is done with family.

Enjoying some pizza.

Opening scriptures.

He was happy to get his very own set and wanted to start marking scriptures right away!

Loved the surprise on his face!

Carson and dad taking time to learn how it all worked. They are hoping it will warm up a bit so that just the two of them can go out tomorrow and learn gun safety, how to use it and then shoot it. 

Practicing.

Blowing out the candle in his ice cream.

My happy 8 year old!

You know it's cold outside when...

...you wake up in the morning to find ice on the inside of your window! We have had several consecutive days of below zero temperatures. It has been -14 and -11 the last two days when we have gotten up at 6:50 to get ready for school. BRRR! Yesterday, our high during the day was 2 degrees. It looks like this cold is supposed to stick around for a few more days. Sure makes me grateful for a warm home, coats and blankets!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Carson's 8th birthday! It seems like just the other day I was bringing my little guy home in sub zero temperatures! He is growing to be quite a great young man. He's caring, funny, always smiling, a good friend, and great example to his younger brothers, and so much more. Happy birthday, Carson! We love you lots!!

Happenings

We've had a really nice extended weekend. Carson didn't have school Wednesday, Thursday or Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I had promised the boys that we would set up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving this year since Thanksgiving was so late in the month this year. So, Friday,we did just that. Grandma Foulger came and helped us and hung out this year. This is the fastest our tree has ever gone up, I think. The boys were able to separate out the branches pretty much by themselves this year while I finished putting away my Fall decorations. They were also lots of help fluffing the branches and putting them on, as well as excellent ornament placers. I ended up having to go back and rearrange them once they went to sleep because they were pretty much in two spots on the tree.

Getting rid of the tree box after they had separated out all the branches.

Good little fluffers.

Landon had a good time sitting and standing on this box of nails supervising.

Decorating away.

Their finished product.

Later Friday night, we started framing the walls in the basement. We were able to get one whole wall framed in that night with the help of our home teacher who is guiding us and allowing us to use all his tools for this project. 

The boys have had a blast playing with all the scrap wood that they find.

 Saturday, we worked on the basement again until it was time for the boys to take naps. We seem to have really hard concrete. Friday night, the little nail gun thing that they normally use (that uses a .22 shell type cartridge) was not working consistently for us. So, Saturday, we decided to try drilling a whole first then then using some sort of powerful drill thing (I really don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to power tools) to try and drive screws in but weren't having any luck. But, we managed to get about 36 feet of framing done this weekend and hopefully we can get things figured out so that we can get the rest of the walls framed faster! Luckily, we have a great home teacher who is willing to help us out and answer all our questions because we have  A LOT of them!

The framing we got done this weekend.

 We obviously weren't supervising very well as we were working on the basement because I found Landon with a permanent marker drawing some really nice pictures on the back of one of the couches downstairs.