McKay's Fourth Party

Updates on Clifton -
He got his first report card and I am mighty proud of all his hard work.  He is really loving school and trying very hard to be the best he can.  I hope he always keeps this attitude.

Updates on McKay -
Very excited about her birthday and tells everyone that talks to her that her birthday is on Christmas!  I love that she feels special that her birthday is on Christmas.  I hope she always feels that way.

Updates on Stanley -
My happy boy has been quite a grumpy boy this week.  I hope it teething!
He sure loves to walk and has caught onto it pretty quickly.  We find he often times walking in circles.  And boy does he love to chase McKay snd Clifton.  Silly kiddo.

Monday I got to help out at Clifton's school again.  I was able to do reading test for the teacher, which I greatly enjoy doing!

I think Clifton likes it when I come to school too.  This made my heart melt.  Yep its worth finding a babysitter and fitting it in.

For FHE we had our good friends the Millers come over for dinner and games.  This will be the last time we get to spend with them before they move.

Tuesday night Clifton had his Kindergarten Christmas Concert.  It was super cute!

Wednesday Alex and I were able to squeeze a much need date.  Christmas shopping date!

Boy oh boy do I love having him home!

We have been having a ton of fun this week playing together with friends and family.

 Hobbit house all decorated for Christmas.

 Acting out the Nativity.

Ugly sweater party.  Alex is the best sport and hubby ever.

Lunch date kid free!

Alex and I even got a second date in, making up for lost time :)  And finally got to see the Hunger Games.  And I was not disappointed.

Saturday we got to do a service project together as a family.  We delivered packages of food and little gifts from the Food Bank to an assisted living home.  A wonderful experience.

Afterwards we celebrated McKay's birthday (early since Christmas is already spoken for).

McKay insisted she did not want cupcakes for her party but banana muffins and snickerdoodles.  And she wanted to make them :)
We rented out the Mile high Gymnastic Center.

Yep thats me!   And I am still sore.

 A lot of fun was had!  McKay was very pleased.

Sunday was Christmas Sunday and we had cute matching outfits to wear.

That night we spent the evening with friends wishing our friends the Neal a farewell.

While there Santa came around on the firetruck handing out candy canes. A fun night!

And lucky us we caught him in our neigh bird when we got home.  That makes up for no Santa visits this year!

Alex is Home!

Updates on Clifton -
He has lately had a grumpy attitude, which is unusual for Clifton.  I sure hope its a short phase.  I miss my happy, energetic Clifton.

Updates on McKay -
She has been my little singer lately.  Everywhere we go she is singing but not songs that she knows.  Its songs she makes up.  Like at the store she sings about the things she sees around her.  It sure makes me laugh.  Other than that she is being as stubborn as ever :)

Updates on Stanley -
Well... he is walking!

Which means he is falling a lot.  Lots of bonks on his head lately.

This Monday for FHE we went to look at Christmas lights.  

Each year we have gone to a house that goes above and beyond on decorating their house.  We love this house.  This year the owner was out and we got to thank him for all his does.

Hot cocoa afterwards! Yum.

Also this week we have been baking up a storm.  Which makes McKay one happy girl!

Making cookies for our neighbor gifts and then cookies for the local fire station.

When we gave the fire station their cookies we got to have a private tour of the fire trucks.  Fun!

Wednesday we had another power outage.  This time it happened at 2am.  Woke up all the kids, finally got them back to bed but were up early at 5am with a huge thunder/lightening and hail storm.

 But hey they were being really good reading and playing together in the dark.

Thursday night I had another soccer game and sadly we did not keep our undefeated status up.

It was an intense game as you can tell by the soccer ball mark on my leg.

Friday was a BIG day.  Alex was finally coming home!

He had a great week in Scotland explore all its beauty, but was very ready to be home and we were ready to have him home.

So many hugs and kisses for Daddy!

 Daddy showing us some of the things from his trip.  Brought back some coins to show us and so treats they eat out there.

Also he came back with some cute gifts.  Clifton and Stanley in their Tam's.  Adorable!  He brought McKay a cute Scottish doll back and me a cute shirt.  We are so glad when Daddy comes home! 

That night, Alex is the biggest sweetheart and let me go to a fun ladies ugly sweater party.  It was so fun and a much needed night out.

Saturday we had our Ward Christmas party.  Which was a talent show.

 The kids have been preparing all week for it.

For our talent we acted out Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  McKay played Rudolph, Clifton was the other reindeer, Stanley was Santa, and Alex narrated.  It was a lot of fun!

Sunday we were able to fit in our annual caroling trip to an assisted living center.

 We were few in numbers this year but glad to be able to do it.  Such a fun experience.  I love traditions and the holidays!

Portland Thanksgiving 2015

Updates on Clifton -
He got his first love note this week.

He has quite a few girls who have a little crush on him and he has no idea.  It's so stinking cute!  This week at school a girl from his class ran into me and said hi.  She told her mom I was Clifton's mom.  Her mom said "oh, she talks about Clifton all the time."  I said to the girl "your name is Taylor, right?"  She said yes.  I said "oh he talks about you too."  She squealed and yelled "he talks about me, he really talks about me!"

Updates on McKay -
Still being my silly girl.

Updates on Stanley -
He is 11 months old!

Took his first step this week and is getting more comfortable standing!  His asthma was bugging him again this week and gave me a scare.  Thankfully after a visit to the doctors they allowed us to give him more puffs of his inhaler each day and that has worked!

Monday I got to help out at Clifton's school!

I love the school environment.  Hoping to do this every other Monday.

For FHE we put together a list of Christ centered activities we want to do each day till Christmas.

We had fun this week making nativities, cards for soldiers, sharing our favorite stories of Christ, etc...

This week McKay wanted to go to the zoo, so we jumped in the car and headed out there.  Only to find out during winter the zoo is closed two days a week.

So we explored Owen Beach which is right next to the Zoo.  And it didn't disappoint.
We also went back to Discovery Village and played with some friends.

Fun place and good friends!
Thursday night we went over to our friends house and decorated gingerbread houses.

Our friend does this every year and I love this tradition.

Friday was pajama day at school.

Cutie!  We all took advantage of PJ day and stayed in our PJ's all day too.
That night I had plans to go to a ladies night but since Stanley was struggling with breathing I needed to stay with him.  Luckily my friend invited us over for pizza and a movie and that made for a really fun night.

And the girls were being so cute.

Saturday we had plans to take the train down and stay the night in Portland.  But since Stanley's asthma was acting up and is worst at night I decided to make it a day trip.

 All aboard!

Clifton wrote all of our bag tags.  The train ride was a success!
Once there we went to visit Great Grandpa at his assisted living home.

Clifton sure came out of his shell.  He was singing to the elderly and making them smile.  It was a great experience.  At the end of the day I asked Clifton what his favorite part of the day was and it was visiting Great Grandpa.  Oh that made my heart so happy.  I love my Grandpa and to see my son love him as much as I do is priceless.
That night we had the Stanley Thanksgiving.

A good evening with family.  Stanley really enjoyed Great Grandpa's walker.  He was sure it was his toy!
Then back on a late night train ride home!

It was a tiring trip but lots of fun! Glad Stanley was feeling well enough that we could go.
Alex is still doing good in Scotland.  Sad to miss a chance to go to a soccer game out there because of bad weather but other then that he is doing good.

His new look!