Valentine's Day

 Valentine's Day isn't a big deal in our house, but we did do a little heart breakfast and treats for the kids. Heart shaped puffed oven pancakes.

Allie got this cute necklace in her treat bag, and we had to have a mini photo shoot. I just love these pics of her (of course sucking those fingers)!

For dinner, I made a heart(ish) shaped pizza with heart pepperoni, and a very delicious red velvet poke cake for dessert. Here's the recipe: Red Velvet Poke Cake

Christmas Day 2012

 Christmas Day is always so magical when you have little ones. It never gets old for me! This is the boys' loot from Santa, Logan on the left and Noah on the right.

This is Allie's Christmas haul. I think Santa had a lot of fun shopping for a little girl!

Noah's favorite gift was his beloved Lego Destiny's bounty. It took 2 days to build!

Logan loved the bow and arrow launchers.

Allie's favorite gifts were her pink car and dolly.

Jason surprised me with a beautiful picture of the Logan temple (where we were married) and his gift from me was an Ipad (which the kids have adopted as theirs).

My baby in a box giving me her famous scowl. So glad I got that look on camera!

Christmas Eve 2012

On Christmas Eve, everyone gets to open one gift, and it is always pajamas.

We also make cookies for Santa, and leave healthy treats for the reindeer.

This year I made everyone new stockings (so they all matched).

Before the kids head to bed, we read about the birth of the Savior and use the nativity to explain it better to the kids.

Here's a cute little video of Allie saying a few words she knows.

Christmas prep

On December 1st, our elf Buddy arrived. We had a special breakfast to welcome him to our home again this year.

That night, was our ward Christmas party and the kids got to see Santa and tell him what they want for Christmas.

Allie threw a major fit but we still (somewhat) captured the special moment!

A few weeks ago, we decorated our gingerbread house. All the kids wanted to do was eat it!

I think it turned out so cute!

My little Christmas Elf hamming it up for the camera!

Some of the fun hiding places we found our Elf in.

Our Rec center had a great Santa this year, but the pictures were not-so-great! I couldn't even get Allie close to Santa this time, so no pic of her!