December so far

*This year I started a Christmas count down tradition with the kids. I made an advent calendar using Candy Tins and inside each one put something for us to do each day that is Christmasy. Charles absolutely loves it. Every morning before doing anything else he goes down stairs and gets the next tin and brings it up to me (usually I'm still half asleep in bed) and asks me what it says. I'll be honest we don't always do what the note says. Life has been pretty crazy busy for me this year, so we don't always get to it. One of the ones that we opened said, "Sleep under the Christmas Tree." The kids thought this was a Great idea. John was camping with the scouts so I decided to let them sleep under the Christmas tree. They had a great time and didn't go to sleep until about 10:30. 

Some other ones have been; drink hot chocolate, listen to Christmas music, go see Christmas lights, make Christmas cookies, watch a Christmas movie, read from Luke 2, and color Christmas pictures. The kids are having such a good time with this we will definitely have to keep the tradition going. But next year I will have to be better at doing every activity.

*On December 7th we went on a double date with our friends the Todd's to Disneyland. It had been YEARS since John and I had been to Disneyland with NO kids. And since our passes are expiring we thought why not go and have some fun. We left the kids with my parents, picked John up from work and headed down. It was SO much fun!!! I forgot how much I LOVE Tower of Terror. I think I could have ridden it all night long. We also got to go on several other "big kid" rides. Another of my favorites was Indiana Jones. I was reminded why it had been SO LONG since the last time I went on Space Mountain, it made me so sick. But I sucked it up and enjoyed many other rides. It was a Great night with Amazing Company and tons of Fun. Thanks Todd's for a much needed date night!

*On December 15th Charles school had a Christmas Program. We invited Aunt Goo to come with us. It was really cute. The kindergartens sang "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." They had these adorable antler hats and all their noses were painted red. Charles had been practicing the songs for weeks and was so excited to sing them. He did a great job and looked SO CUTE!!!

*The Tuesday before Christmas I got together with my mom and sisters and did our annual Christmas baking. It was fun to be together and make lots of yummy stuff. The kids even helped with the sprinkles on our dipped pretzels and sugar cookies. 

 *While we were at my parents house making Christmas goodies Claudia decided to roll over. It was exciting. She rolled over from her back to her tummy and continues to do so every time we put her down. 

Had to share

I am so behind on blogging and hope to catch up eventually but I just had to share this picture.  

As you can see she is absolutely devastated!!! Poor Girl! I'm still not sure why she brought her bank down stairs.

Madison's Birthday

 We celebrated Madison's 3rd Birthday with a Candyland Party for our family. I got all my game ideas from this amazing website, so I take no credit of my own for the games. Of course my party didn't look quite as cute, but the kids LOVED it!

We decorated gingerbread cookies (they were actually chocolate sugar cookies, I wasn't sure how many kids actually like gingerbread so I thought the chocolate may be a better choice) at Gingerbread Tree

 

Tossed candy into the bucket at Peanut Acres.

 

Had a race carrying peppermints on a spoon in Peppermint Forest

Raced to see who could eat their licorice with NO HANDS in Licorice Forest

   

Ate Yummy Rainbow cupcakes. (they did not look very pretty, but tasted pretty good)

 

Madison was SO EXCITED that her cupcakes had Sprinkles and Lollipops.

Megan enjoyed them too!

 

Then she opened presents and had the best expressions on her face, she is SO dramatic!!! It's hilarious.

 

She fell in LOVE with this princess couch that converts into a bed from Grandma & Papa Garthe. Sara thought it was great too!

 

She has been sleeping in this ever since she got it. Who needs a real bed when you have a Princess couch that turns into a bed!

I'd have to say that Madison had a pretty good birthday, with lots of fun games, great presents, and WONDERFUL company. Thanks everyone!

Blessing Day

We blessed Claudia on Sunday November 7th. It was a great day with lots of family and friends with us. Claudia did such a great job while John gave a beautiful blessing. After sacrament meeting we went back to the house and enjoyed some yummy early dinner with our family. It was so great to have so many people with us that day. My dad's aunt and cousin along with her husband were even able to make it. Along with my parents & siblings, Mom Garthe and her sister Aunt Mo, her daughter Debbie & son Timmy, and cousin Laura and son George, the Gibsons, the Burkes,  and a few of my dad's sisters, Susan & kids and Kathleen & Candice and John's good friend Geoff. 

It was a great day!!!!

The dress that she wore has been handed down from my mom's family. Her family was Christened in it for several generations. (My mom was the first member in her family) All of my sisters wore the dress and Madison wore it as well. It's so special that we have this beautiful piece of our ancestors to pass on to our children.

2 Months

Claudia is already 2 months old and doing great!!!! She is a very happy and healthy baby.

I took her in for her 2 month check up yesterday and just as I predicted, she is bigger than the other two were at this age.  She weights 11 lbs. 14 oz. is 24 inches tall/long and her head is 15.5 inches.

That puts her in the 75-90th percentile for length and 50-75th percentile for weight. She is bigger than Madison and Charles were at 4 months old. She is such a joy to have in our family. She is always happy and smiling. She does this really cute little half smile that just makes me smile and melts my heart. I just can't get enough of her. She is also a pretty good sleeper. She gives me at least a 6 hour stretch and usually a few nights a week she will sleep from 10-6. It's great! If I knew that all my babies would be just like her I would have 10 more! Maybe not, that is a little crazy! But we are very blessed to have such a good baby!!!!

I can't find the photo that I took of her with the monkey, but here are a few from a photo shoot that I attempted with her. And a few of Charles because he decided he wanted to get in on the shoot!

King Nathan

John came up with a great gift for our nephew's birthday.
We called it King for a Day.

We made him a crown and gave him a certificate good for King for the Day at the Garthe house. Which included dinner of his choice, dessert of his choice, and games of his choice, followed by a sleepover. Usually when the cousins sleep over it is both boys, but we thought to make it special we would make it just King Nathan!
I'll be honest I thought it was a silly idea at first but all the kids thought it was great! Andrew Nathan's brother is already talking about what he wants to eat when it is his turn to be King Andrew.
Since the kids were off school for Veterans day we decided to let Nathan cash in his certificate. King Nathan came over on Thursday night and we had Spaghetti with meatballs, (no sauce for King Nathan) bread sticks, and broccoli for dinner. Followed by vanilla ice cream cones for dessert. (All King Nathans request.) After dinner Charles thought it would be fun to slide down the stairs in his sleeping bag, Nathan joined in and they had so much fun!





Then the kids played games and watched a movie before going to bed.
In the morning they played computer games, had French Toast for breakfast and played some more games before King Nathan went home. The whole time Nathan was here Madison called him King Nathan. It was so cute!!!!!
The kids had such a great time!