Frosty the Snowman

This past weekend we got dumped on... snow-wise. It was so fun to go to bed seeing the grass and a clear sky and waking up to tons of snow! Cameron and I fought over who got to shovel the driveway first (being our first house and all... we thought it was fun, but I can see how the "fun" of shoveling your own driveway will wear out fast) and since Cam won, Hallie and I built a snowman. I put dyed water in a water bottle for her to dye the snow and she thought that was so fun! So she gave Frosty a blue shirt to wear with a carrot nose and woodchip eyes. Hopefully the snow will stick around for Christmas!

Goodbye to Morning Baths... For Now!

This is something I don't have to do to Hallie on a daily basis anymore: give her baths! Because she is completley potty trained at night... FINALLY!!! No more pullups at night. Woo hoo! Potty training for Hallie during the day was easy, but at night, it was a completely different story. She was such a sound sleeper we could never wake her up to go to the bathroom at night. Then last week, I was officially tired of bathing her everyday after sitting in a pullup all night long so I told her I was throwing the pullups out and she said, "Okay!" I was shocked and didn't think she'd do it, but she did it! Two weeks later, she is still dry at night and has never had one accident. We're so proud of her! It's nice to go two days now without seeing the bathtub :)

The Christmas Tree Farm

For Hallie's fieldtrip this month for preschool, we went to a Christmas tree farm. It was soooo cold, but Hallie and Sydnee were troopers, and stuck it out with me! The kids collected some branches and pine cones as walked around the farm, and then we got to see how they shake a tree then tie it up for customers.

Elf Day (a.k.a. St. Nick Day)

Both Cameron and I have German blood in us, so in December we celebrate a German tradition called Elf Day (or as my family called it, St. Nick Day) which is when Santa's elves or St. Nick (however you want to celebrate it) come to your house the night of December 5th and fill your stockings (or shoes, if you are a Voge... can you tell Cameron and I are still trying to compromise with how we're carrying on this tradition!?). Anyway, so we had Hallie and Sydnee lay their shoes out on Dec. 5th for Santa's elves...

In the morning, Hallie was so excited to see what the elves brought her; Sydnee didn't really understand but thought it was cool that there were treats in her shoes that day. She had no idea that they were meant to be eaten but why spoil her innocence!?


This year, an elf was "left behind" to watch our kids throughout the month of December and report back to Santa of whether the kids have been good or bad. We told Hallie that the elf comes to life and moves every night while she's sleeping to a different spot in the house so he can watch her there. I should have known that Hallie would be skeptical about this elf... just look at her looking at him.


Well, since it is NOT normal for a three year old to be so skeptical of Christmas magic and Santa Clause, we were shocked when Hallie thanked Daddy for the candy and presents in her shoes. Even after Cam tried convincing her that the elves filled her shoes not him, but she just looked at him like he was silly for believing that!? Then, the first night that the elf moved, all the questions starting coming out. And just to say ahead of time, NO we did not tell her the truth, but here's how one of the many conversations played out the first morning we had to find the elf...

Hallie: Mommy, how does Santa get down the chimney? It's dangerous to go down chimneys! Why doesn't he just go through the door? Because we don't let strangers in our house?
Me: Santa comes down the chimney by using Christmas magic and it's closer to the Christmas tree than the door. And Santa's not a stranger.

Hallie: How does Santa get on our roof?
Me: By his reindeer, they fly!
Hallie: Reindeer don't fly, Mom! They don't at the zoo, so they don't fly!
Me: uh......... yes they do! It's Christmas magic! Let's go find the elf, and see where he's hiding today!
Hallie: Okay! You moved him last night Mom?
Me: NO! He moves by himself when you're sleeping.
Hallie: No he doesn't, he's just a doll. Doll's aren't real.
Me: Yes they are... like Toy Story! They're real in Toy Story!
Hallie: That's just a cartoon, silly.

Okay, I was stumped. Of course, I'm lying through my teeth to keep the magic of Christmas alive, but yet, she's a smart little fart. So I just ignore her questions and hope that next year she will just start believing!?

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We had our first snow last night, it only lasted a few hours, but it was so pretty! Here's our house in the snow and Christmas lights.

Christmas Dresses

I LOVE having girls, especially at Christmas time! I look forward to Christmas every year so I can buy them cute Christmas dresses. Here are the girls in front of our Christmas tree that Hallie and Daddy picked out at the tree lot this year.



It's our first real tree and I must admit, it really feels like Christmas with a real tree and it's smell. Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa, I Want...

Santa was at our ward's Christmas party last week, so Hallie was all ready to tell him that she wanted a dollhouse, a toy dog with a cage, and a doll high chair. She did well and told him what she wanted, but Sydnee didn't like Santa much. This picture turned out so funny. Hallie's saying, "I'm ready, take my pretty picture... cheese!" And Sydnee wants NONE of that!

Preschool: Letter "F" Week

This week I taught preschool again and the letter of the week was "F." So we learned about our family trees and I had the kids make a family tree using pictures of their family members cut into a leaf shape. Then on Wednesday, we learned about fire safety and firefighters and firetrucks. So I had the kids make a firetruck and I scheduled a mini-fieldtrip to the firestation to reinforce what they were learning, and they LOVED it! Below is a picture of Hallie's preschool group: Kerra, Hallie, Jaxton, Adam and Braden. The kids are really getting a lot of our preschool group. I think all of us mom's are getting worn out as the year goes on, but we're having fun teaching them!

The firefighters did a great job at showing them their gear that they wear and telling them what their job is. They also let the kids climb into the firetrucks and the boys especially were beside themselves. Even Sydnee got excited to stand on the firetruck.

Here's my big girl!

Our two little girls on the firetruck...

Thanksgiving in Michigan

This year Cameron managed to stay out of the ER on Thanksgiving Day! It did help that he didn't play in the Turkey Bowl to cause any further injuries, but that doesn't mean he was completely careful with his activities Thanksgiving weekend. My dad always has projects for Cam to do when we visit, and this time it was cutting down limbs off of some dead trees in their backyard.


I was prepared this time with my car keys and insurance cards in hand just in case we were destined for another ER trip on Thanksgiving... but as luck would have it, Cam and my Dad finished the job in one piece which my Dad was a little excited about!

My parents live close to Bronner's which is the largest Christmas store in the world so the girls and Stacey and my Mom and I took a day trip over there and Hallie and Sydnee loved looking at all the lights and Christmas decorations. This is just one little section of the store... the whole store is completely decked out like this, it's pretty crazy but fun for Christmas lovers!



Sydnee's favorite Christmas tree was this one with bubbles as the trunk, it was kind of cool.

In one section of the store, they had a ton of Christmas villages set up and Hallie loved watching at the little towns light up and the skiers skiing, etc. Here's my sister, Stacey, my Mom, Syd, and Hallie.



The day before Thanksgiving, my parents invited Cam's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Sam over (since they are in the same stake as my parent's are in... small world huh!?) for dinner. Hallie finally made the connection that Aunt Kathy was the one who gave her her favorite baby blanket when she was born. Kathy felt so honored that Hallie still sleeps with it every night.

Kathy was the entertainment of the night with her funny stories of Christmas when she was a little girl. She is such a great and animated story teller, we loved seeing them again!

Handy Daddy

Hallie is always right by Daddy's side when he's fixing anything with tools in hand! She's his handy little helper...

New Moon Premier & Another Twilighter's Visit

My good friend, Sarah, drove all the way from Ohio to visit us last weekend to go to the New Moon premier with me!!!

Hallie also got to see Sarah's daughter and friend, Jessy which she was so exicted about! The girls were shy around each other for about a minute and then we couldn't get them to be quiet. They were best friends again instantly!


Hallie and Jessi were so excited to have a sleepover together, but it didn't last long....


About ten minutes into the sleepover the first night, Hallie came downstairs with Jessy in tow and said, "I'm so tired but Jessy keeps trying to talk to me and I just want to sleep!" Jessy understood what sleepover's were all about but apparently Hallie didn't.

Since Sarah was coming to the premier, I decided to throw a big premier party this year in her honor :) As soon as Sarah and I put our heads together, we started coming up with great decoration ideas and games, etc. and that's when Sarah whipped out surprise #1: a huge New Moon poster for me to hang on the wall. So we went one step further and had each of our guests put their "moon" cutouts on the face of the team their on, whether it be Team Edward or Team Jacob.


The day of the party, Sarah unveiled surprises #2 and #3 which was not only a New Moon t-shirt for she and I to wear but a New Moon shirt for Hallie and Jessy to wear too!! (Yes, our shirts say, "Team Mike" 'cause the poor guy will never get any lovin' from Bella!) It was fun feeding off of Sarah's excitement.


So we put our New Moon shirts on and headed over to Burger King for lunch and to collect 20 New Moon BK crowns for our guests!

With a few finishing touches on our table centerpiece, we were ready (and rested) for the midnight premier of New Moon!


Everyone brought a dessert or appetizer to share, and this was what my friend, Darla brought... Crush drinks (a.k.a. Edward's Secret Addiction) it was such a cute idea! Everyone had to take the New Moon trivia quiz and we had dark chocolate kisses for the winner. Our premier group grew this year from 5 to 9 people which meant twice as much screaming for Edward! Here's all of my fellow Twilighter friends watching Twilight before the premier... We had so much fun and we can't wait for Eclipse's premier June 30, 2010!!

Above: (from top left to bottom right) Michelle Winter, Ali Spagnolo, Marci Stewart, Kirsten Winter, Tara Routsong, Summer Stump, Lisa Lewis

Above: (from left to right) Liberty Stump, Virginia Cox, Christy Hinds, Darla Albert

Here's a couple of us minutes before the premier started... can you see the excitement and exhaustion from staying up so late!!?? Thank you Sarah for coming and making the party so fun!