Ugly Sweater Party

So much to post about in December, and so little time. These are pics from our annual Rivermill Christmas party. Again, I cried all night due to laughing at these funny guys. We stuffed ourselves, then danced it off doing "the evolution of dance". Next we had the difficult task of choosing a winner for the ugliest sweater. Jen's sweater had little acorns dangling from her sweater. (What the ?!?!?)

AND THE WINNER IS ...........

This cool dude, because he went the extra mile and purchased the silver pants to go with it!

What Should We Make?

What should we make?
Let's make a man.
Let's make the biggest man we can!
We will call our snowman Ned.
But first he has to have a head.
And then we'll string him up with lights
So he will shine all through the night.

Avery made her own little snowman, then she spent a gross amount of time LICKING him. (She says it makes him smoother).

Still LICKING........

And now she's EATING him.

Hope you are enjoying the snow too!!

Have a Regular Christmas

Thank you to those who cheered me up after my last post. I'm over my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and another thing I'm grateful for is wonderful friends who pick me up, dust me off, and set me back on the path. Mothers need that every once in a while!

Wanna know the perfect age for Christmas? It's 4.5

The joy this little one finds in every new thing is so contagious and she is making this holiday season so much fun for us! She's been wrapping up things around the house to give to people, and she's cutting out scraps of wrapping paper and taping them to the walls to "decorate". (You know the song, "Deck the Halls with Wrapping Paper, la la la la la......")

And I keep finding the strangest things tucked in our Christmas trees. Things like pencils, cotton balls, pictures she's drawn, anything she thinks would add beauty to the tree. *smile*

She sat on Santa's lap at preschool today, and guess what she told him she wanted? A "DS" and and IPod Touch.
That was news to me.
Dang those older siblings for putting ideas in her head.















She is really digging the whole idea of reindeer landing on our roof, and has been acting like a reindeer for three days now. She makes all of her friends that come over pretend to be reindeer with her.















Last week we had a real treat and went to the Festival of Trees with Aunt Jess and Uncle Brent. Of course we couldn't go to Salt Lake without making a detour to go to In N Out Burger! Yes, we stood in a line in below freezing temperatures for a burger and fries, and was it worth it? MMMMM Hmmmmmmmm! Avery wore her cool "worker hat" the whole time. (Said she was going to put reindeer antlers on it when we got home).
























I loved the gingerbread houses- here's my favorite one, "Snowmen at Night"

















And a close second- the gingerbread outhouse. I'm thinking this could have been my Christmas Card this year, dang.

Even Santa needs a man-cave.

Look at the chairs on this ski lift! These creations just amaze me, and they almost inspired me to try and make a gingerbread house myself.

Almost.

Off to see the lights at Temple Square! The best part about that for the kids is riding the train, of course. Bailey really wants to live in a big city. But she also wants to live on a ranch with lots of horses. What to do?

For Jess and Brent, who are getting lots of practice with our kids at being great parents someday. ;) I'm thinking this could be your Christmas card this year, what do you think?

Feeling "Un"

Isn't the blogging world amazing? It's such a love hate sort of thing for me. I love getting glimpses into people's personal photo albumns and getting to know people better. The down side is the fact you now can see everyone's lives who look so picture-perfect like a Hallmark card, and compare them to your own life that is so real, and messy, and difficult, and not perfect. It gives you an (unrealistic) barometer to measure against. I haven't blogged for awhile because I'm feeling very un-interesting, un-motivated, un-talented, and un-everything compared to all the amazing things I see people blogging about. My tank feels empty, and it's not a good place to be, going into the giving season of Christmas.

I've been focusing way too much on the have-nots instead of the have's, and I need to practice what I preach to my kids about focusing on your blessings. I am not talking about material things, because I am spoiled far more than I deserve in that area. I do realize that it is very bratty of me to be having a pity party for myself when I am one of the most priviledged women in the world, just because I was lucky enough to be born here in the U.S.. What some women in the world wouldn't give for my life! So my pity party needs to stop here.


Here's what I'm grateful for:

















Three perfectly healthy and amazing kids. And one incredible husband. And food on the table. And a warm house. This was our little family's Thanksgiving Day. What more could I possibly want?!