Elf'n Around

Had to try it out- watch and make your own!!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9632592979

Hayley was supposed to be the one talking but I didn't put the pics in order right so Kyrsten's mouth is a little off but still funny!!

Mitchell Grande

We had a wonderful and busy Thanksgiving/Thanksgiving Weekend with the Mitchell Family. All Jeff's brothers and their families were able to come- we make quite the Mitchell Grande:) Since all the family was in town we actually had our family Christmas too. It was a great Thanksgiving/Christmas Combo. The girls had a blast playing with all their cousins. There are 14 grandchildren!! We loved getting to see and catch up with everyone. Unfortunately at the end of the weekend Kyrsten started getting sick. I took her to the doctor and she has another ear infection! She had two at the beginning of the month. She might be on her way to ear tubes. We shall see. I am excited to get out my Christmas decorations and hang lights outside for the first time. I definitely need to go get some Christmas yard decorations and yes that is a need! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to Christmas. I LOVE this time of year! Blast your Christmas music and remember the reason for the season!

I Spy Bags

Don't all email or call me at once, but I know you want one! I am selling these wonderful I spy bags to help the Young Women in my church. They are making and selling these bags as a fundraiser for camp next year. These bags would make a great Christmas present or stocking stuffer for any child. They are little vinyl bags that are full of beads and have 40 different items inside. The kids try to search or"spy" the different items on the list. It makes for a great quite activity, so they come are very useful at church, in the car, or at the doctor's office. We are even personalizing the bags if you would like. Also, there are many cute fabrics to pick from for the back. The cost is $10. If you would like one please email or call me or just let me know in a comment and I will get a hold of you. Thanks!

The one family picture

Here is the copy of the one and only picture we took of our family at Disneyland. We will hopefully learn from our mistakes and take more next time. As you can tell, Kyrsten and Hayley weren't too fond of mickey mouse, but it was a great photo opp. I finally got around to scanning the picture so I had to post it.

Sweet and Innocent?

I finally got around to taking some pictures of Kyrsten for her official 1 year pictures-even though she 13 months now. Close enough. Anyway, she sure looks sweet and innocent in these pictures, but let me tell you what this little tot has been up to lately. As you can tell by those chubby little cheeks, Kyrsten likes to eat. Here lies the problem. She loves to eat some unusual things along with her regular meals. Here is a list of some interesting items she has tasted in the last week:
*Poop
*Sand/dirt
*Toilet Paper
*Rocks
*Her sister and us

I will now give you the stories. Oh poop- she has eaten her own poop twice now! This week it was from a blow out diaper in her crib in which she was playing in and eating-YUM! Twice this week she has had her rounds with sand/dirt at the park. You think once a kid puts a handful of sand in their mouth they would never do it again. Not Kyrsten, she shoves it in as fast as she can and then tries to chew the little rocks and won't open to let you get it out. Anyone else crave dirt? Toilet paper- Kyrsten has had a runny nose so we have lots of toilet paper around the house and this morning she decided to tear pieces of her tissue up and eat it. Once again most kids would try to get it off their tongue- not sweet Kiki. We have rocks in our backyard which she always puts in her mouth, but luckily will spit them out when I see her. So no leaving her in the backyard alone. Lastly, her sister. So I think she is biting out of anger and from teeth pain but she put some good teeth marks on Hayley's hand when Hayley was trying to touch the tricycle Kyrsten was on. The last week or so Kyrsten will just try to bite you and then whine when you won't let her.We are so mean to refrain from this act:) She is quite sweet at times but has been TROUBLE a little much lately. Good thing she is cute and flashes us that grin once and a while!

The words of Hayley

Hayley said a couple of things this week that made us laugh and we thought we would share:

Jeff: "How was your day Hayley?"
Hayley: "It was a little crowded!"
(I taught preschool at our house that day so we had 5 kids over)

Hayley: "Okay,no more talking because you are going to make me boring"
(What Hayley told me at the end of my family home evening lesson on Monday about being thankful.)

Hayley is sure testing my patience these days but these little moments make up for it:)

Also FYI: for those of you who didn't get it, Jeff wrote the last post about his triathlon. He said everyone would know but by the sounds of it, not many did!

Jeff's Triathlon

So, Jeff undertook the Casa Grande Desert Grande sprint Triathlon the first weekend of November. He has done it before but typically he will train a good amount beforehand. Not this year. Due to his busy work schedule and how much he helps out with the kids (what an amazing father) he hasn't found anytime to exercise thus far in Casa Grande. He may have run 4-5 times and got on the bike a few times, but he hasn't swum since July. The race is a 400 meter swim, 10 mile bike and 3 mile run. He did amazingly well for the time he put into it. He finished in 1 hour and 11 minutes.8th in his age group and 45th out of 302 participants. His best time on the course is a 1:06 back in 2005 (when he was training), so not too shabby! He looked so great in his spandex/jammer (had to trade in the Speedo this year), it was all I could do not to tackle him right there in front of everyone, but the race must go on. Next year there is talk of getting some of Jeff's sister's in law together for a team. We'll see if that happens. lol!

Halloween 2007

Well we survived another Halloween. It was so different not to be freezing on Halloween. It never fails in Denver to be absolutely freezing with snow or rain on Halloween. We were blessed with wonderful weather for Halloween this year, too bad my kids weren't feeling the best. From the pictures you will be able to tell Kyrsten really wasn't enjoying me taking pictures of her. She is recovering from a flu bug this week and wants to be held at all times. I had to bribe her with suckers which really in the end didn't help with the pictures. I just hope our Christmas pics turn out better than our Halloween ones.
Halloween morning we went to Hayley's preschool party. The Golding's did an awesome job decorating there house and putting a little party together for the kids. Thanks Goldings! Their little boy Ethan made the absolute cutest Harry Potter. You can see for yourself in the pics. Hayley loves playing with Ethan and his brother Tyler. In the afternoon we stopped by Jeff's office to visit him and "the girls". I am still getting use to my husband being surrounded by other women all day:) I have to say they are all so nice and do a great job running the office and patients! At night Jeff and I split the girls up and each took one. I went to our church party to help the Young Women do a booth (my calling/job in church right now is a YW teacher/leader) and Jeff went to the city carnival to help with his office's booth there. The office girls that helped with the booth did a great job decorating and running it. They all dressed up as tooth fairies. They handed out candy and tooth brushes. Jeff said the other dentist office there raffled off a bike! Oh well, only one person got that and all our people got cute brushes, candy and a memorable experience- so we hope:) Our little girls did ok. Hayley started coughing during the evening and now is battling the cold Kyrsten has. The church party was a little chaotic and my YW didn't exactly follow through with their jobs- oh teenage girls!!! I am not sure how I will survive when my girls grow up. For now I am surviving two sick kiddos- so fun!!! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween. We are now looking forward to Thanksgiving, it will be here within a blink of an eye.