It's the most wonderful time of year...

We got our first and second snow a few weeks ago or so, but it didn't snow too much and it didn't stay for too long. Now we are in the 50's, IN DECEMBER! Crazy, but ya know what? We are grateful for more outside time before we are stuck inside for the rest of the winter:)

I made this fun Christmas wreath out of twigs, white spray paint, yarn, ribbon and Dollar Store Ornaments. 

 Grandma and Grandpa Young came for a visit just before Thanksgiving. They came for a few days and we had a blast and are so grateful for the time we had with them. Grandma brought some birdhouses for the kids to paint and decorate. The kids sure love doing crafts with Grandma!

Here is a picture of Grandpa reading to the kiddos.

The birdhouses were finished and we were about to hang them up outside. I love this picture of the kids with their grandparents.

 Noel was jumping for joy she was so excited about the birdhouses.

 We had an early Thanksgiving meal with Morgan's parents. It was delicious! Morgan makes a yummy turkey!

Sam wanted a whole turkey leg. He likes eating off of the bones, just like his daddy:)

We had a blast with Morgan's parents and are so glad we get to see family again in a couple of weeks!

So we had a second Thanksgiving on the actual Thanksgiving day of course and we had a

 Thanksgiving streaker!! (The story to this picture is simple. I believe Sam had just finished trying to pee in the potty like a big boy and I hadn't put his diaper back on yet and the second our front door opened he took off running! It was hilarious! I had to get a picture of his nudy buns.)

 My first real pie that I made from scratch for Morgan. Cherry Pie. I was so proud of myself. I have made French Silk Chocolate Pie many times before, but I feel like this is a real PIE!

 Here's Morgan about to cut his second turkey of the week.

 Our Thanksgiving meal.

 Daddy turns into a horse sometimes.

 My sister Leslie, her husband Jason and their kids stayed with us during Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a couple nights with them eating lots and lots of pie:)

 Noel and her cousin Maddy are just too cute together. They wouldn't stop hugging when it was time for Maddy to go home.

 Morgan went fishing with my brother Chris. They had a great time and brought home some yummy trout!

We got the tree out last Saturday and the kids had fun decorating it.

The kids recently had a dentist appointment and didn't have any cavities!! So they got a "Perfect Patient" coupon from their dentist for a free vanilla cone from Sonic. They sure enjoyed those cones!

 You gotta love the ice cream stache.

 Speaking of Noel and Sam's dentist, there was a Christmas Party at the Plaza that their dentist office is located. They had some yummy cookies, hot chocolate, got some from trinkets, and we enjoyed a train ride and we got a family picture with Santa Clause! 

 On the train.

 Cozy in the train.

 This is a picture of a picture with Santa Clause.

Christmas can't come soon enough. We are excited to spend some good quality time with family and celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Birthdays

 Our little Noel turned 5! I can't believe how fast she is growing! She requested special birthday cake pancakes in the morning on her birthday:)

 Happy girl!

Noel also requested pizza for her birthday dinner so I made Whole Wheat Pizza!

So we celebrated my brother Mikey's birthday this same evening along with Noel's because he was going to be out of town on his actual birthday and we wanted to be able to celebrate with him as well. So Mikey was there along with his girlfriend Caitlin and Chris, Kareena, Ty and Libby were there as well. 

Noel got some fun presents:)

 We then sang to the birthday girl. Her "special" cake was going to be made a few days later at her birthday party with her friends so we had some cupcakes that I made for Noel's preschool class that we had extra of to use for the family party.

Mikey's birthday cake was a giant almond. It's an inside joke. There's a particular comedian that jokes about almonds making milk and Mikey quotes that A LOT! So, he got an almond cake:)

 I love seeing his reactions!

 I made Noel a Castle Cake for her birthday. It was soooo easy and so fun. I loved seeing her face light up when she saw it in the morning after I finished it the night before.

 She had 3 little friends over for her Princess Themed Birthday party on Saturday. Noel and Sam helped me make our own pinata, using a small brown lunch bag, pink and purple streamers and tape. It was simple and fun and did it's job!

 They played pin the candle on the cupcake.

 From left to right Rylee, Noel, Lily and Paige.

I made these cute little princess bags for each of the girls as goodie bags for them to take home after the party. 

They had donuts on a string.

 They decorated foam tiaras (all supplies from the wonderful dollar store!)

 Played doctor.

 Opened presents.

 And ate cake!

 Sam in the mean time just stayed away hung out with Morgan. Too many females in the house:)

Halloween

So we went to the pumpkin patch a second time but this time it was with Ty and Kareena and Libby. It was a blast! Here are Ty and Sam looking at the animals.

This was a cute lil' baby kangaroo that the kids were able to pet.

 Tractor ride.

 Sam was king of the mountain, or hay:)

 Sliding down the slide.

 The annual pumpkin carving. It gets more and more fun as the kids get older.

 The result. 

 Noel's pumpkin.

 Samuel's pumpkin.

 My pumpkin.

 Morgan's pumpkin.

 Sam was a cowboy this year for Halloween. He was a mighty fine lookin' cowboy if I do say so myself.

 Noel was a beautiful Princess. 

 This is what Morgan wore for our Church Halloween Party.  

 The kids participated in a lot of games at the Ward Activity. They had a blast.

About ready to go trick or treating.

We tried to not go to as many houses as last year, but the kids still brought home a ton of candy!!!

Noel's preschool class had a Halloween Party. She absolutely is loving preschool and is making a lot of friends. Matter of fact, the other day we went to the Bean Museum on the BYU campus for a field trip and prior to going there, all the kids were in the front yard of the preschool and the kids were all chasing each other and Noel was literally taking down the boys! There are only two boys in the class and she would wrap her arm around they neck and take them down and wrestle! It was all in good fun  though. It was so funny and cute!