Christmas Cookies

After the library on Wednesday, Hoyt and I decided to come home and make Christmas cookies. We made a MESS, but Hoyt had a great time helping make the dough and roll it out. He especially loved using his cookie cutters to make stars, bells, angels, etc. (He is now asking to make Christmas cookies daily!) What a fun activity for a snowy, cold day.

Getting the dough ready to....

roll and roll and roll. Hoyt became an expert at rolling cookie dough!

Using his Christmas cookie cutters - he picked them out at the store himself, so he was very excited to use them.

Fresh out of the oven and ready to....

FROST!

Hoyt trying out the finished product. He said they tasted "delicious"! The next day he went to play at a friends house and got to take some of his Christmas cookies. He couldn't wait to give some away!

Tree Trimming

We had a fun family night this week, and went out to get our Christmas tree. Next year I just might do an artificial tree (I always swore I wouldn't) so this may be my last post about going out to pick the perfect tree! We found a little tree lot that sold "noble firs", which are my favorite and had one picked out in no time. Hoyt LOVES to run around and check out all of the trees, and he made fast friends with the man at the tree lot! He didn't mind the cold weather at all and would have stayed all night if he could have.

Of course, it wouldn't be a great family night without eating out at some horrible fast food restaurant!! Here is Hoyt showing off his Burger King crown!

We made it to the tree lot...

and Hoyt slowed down long enough for me to try and take his picture. This is as good as it got!

Helping mom with the decorations. (Look at that hair...I think he just woke up from a nap!)

The finished product! Oh how I love a Christmas tree - I would keep it up until the end of January if I could!!

Thanksgiving Sledding

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and other than the exceptionally cold weather, -1 that morning, it was great! Grandma and Grandpa Murray came with Kelly and Marcus and we all had a fun day. (Noelle and Kyle were supposed to come as well, but Landon was really sick so they had to stay home.)

It was my first time "hosting" Thanksgiving, so I was in the kitchen most of the day, which is why I didn't take many pictures. However, I did make it outside to get a few shots of the boys sledding (if you want to call it that)! They were definitely ready for a warm Thanksgiving dinner after this little adventure.

Getting ready to "sled".

Ryon's job was pulling them with the quad - he had just as much fun as the kids!

An action shot

I'm loving Hoyt's face in this one - I think he is enjoying himself!

Winter is HERE!

Would someone please tell this child that it is 10 degrees outside (it was -1 this morning)....which means that it is COLD, and that we should probably go in and have some hot chocolate! Oh how this boy loves the snow!!

Getting ready to head out into the SNOW!

Our neighbor came and plowed our massive driveway - so Hoyt had some snow mountains to play on.

Cold yet....

Nope. Someone is definitely loving this winter in Idaho!

Baby Ava's Blessing

This past weekend we went to Pocatello for cousin Ava's blessing. Grandma and Grandpa Hoyt, Caleb and Isaiah drove to our house on Friday night and then we all left for Noelle and Kyle's on Saturday morning. Due to the first big snowstorm of the season, it took us quite a while to get there, but we enjoyed spending time with family and watching Ava be blessed on Sunday.

Hoyt was a good little traveler and loved playing with all the kids after church on Sunday.

Noelle, Kyle, Landon, and Ava with Grandma and Grandpa Hoyt

Ava finally giving me a little smile!

Reading in Bed

This little guy has become quite the reader lately. After we read books for bedtime, he has to take a few of his own into bed with him and read before falling asleep. I like to listen at the door, and even though he cannot technically read yet, he does a pretty good job of saying exactly what is on the page! (Good memory I guess!)

His newest favorite thing is to tell everyone how to spell his name. H...O...Y...T. He has a letter puzzle and will take each letter of his name out to spell it. He is currently fascinated with letters and reading - OH - a child after my own heart! Let's hope this continues.

A Night out with Curius George

Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat came to the Buhl Library on Thursday night, and Hoyt couldn't wait to go. All day long he talked about going to meet Curious George, that he would give him a hug when he saw him and that he would ask him where he lived!

When we arrived at the library he sat with the other children and listened while Curious George read a story. When the story was over George got up and Hoyt thought he was going to leave. Hoyt turned to look at me and started crying, saying "I wanted to give him a hug....I wanted to give him a hug!" After some reassurance that George wasn't going anywhere, he calmed down and we got to go and take our picture with George. Hoyt gave him a hug and a high-five, and the world was right again!!

After meeting George, the children made a "George craft" and then everyone got...

a banana split!

At the end of the evening there was a drawing, and Hoyt won a new book and Curious George ruler. He is now measuring everything in sight and carrying his new book with him wherever he goes!

One Day...

he'll kill me for this, but I couldn't resist. Sitting on the potty, cowboy hat on, sword at his side...what a crazy kid!

While Mom's Away....

the boys will play! I was a little worried about leaving Hoyt for four days and three nights, but he seemed to manage pretty well with dad. He cried and asked me to come home the first night I was gone, but after that he did OK. He and Ryon got some great "father/son" time in and even had a chance to go fishing once or twice.

I asked Ryon to take pictures of Hoyt fishing, but this was all I got. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say Hoyt ended up IN the pond not long after this picture was taken and Ryon had to jump in after him. I'm considering NEVER leaving Hoyt again until he is at least 21!

Girls' Weekend

I decided that I needed one last, little get-away before the doctor said I could no longer travel or the baby arrives and I'm home bound! There were a few things planned in Reno the first weekend in November, so I decided to leave the boys at home and head to the land of "lots of friends"!

Friday I got to see so many great friends (thanks Nicole!!), Saturday was Sasha's shower and shopping with Christa, Sunday was a great day at church, and Monday was another day of being with friends. I couldn't have asked for a better girls' weekend!

Some of the girls from the ward at Sasha's shower - so fun!

Due dates = three weeks apart! We've already got them married off - hopefully they like each other!

Christa was my hostess for the weekend - I don't think we went to sleep before 12:00 or 1:00 any night I was there.






Brunch with Julie, Argent and Christa on Monday.