Pre-Christmas Fun

After the reception, we were able to enjoy some time with the family before Christmas. This year was an "in-law" year, so the married couples would be with our other families, but it worked out great that we had a little time before Christmas to spend together with the Tanner side.

The weather cooperated perfectly for a Christmas season, and the boys were able to play in the snow and make a snowman.

My Dad also reminded us of a tradition we started many years ago when I was about 11. There was a big snowstorm, and he offered $10 to anyone who would put on a swimsuit, go outside and do snow angels in the snow. I was the first one to go. This year Cole, Jacob and Caleb were the eager participants. I was impressed with the boys. They were pretty darn tough, but the reward was tempting enough to get them in their swimsuits and out the door. It was pretty funny to watch.

We were able to get in a 4-mile run one morning, and this time Jeff came along too. It was especially nice to have him there when a couple dogs decided to come out and chase us. Tom was nice enough to play with the babies while we were gone.

Family gatherings wouldn't be complete without the game nights. We played some pretty entertaining games and had some good laughs. Some of the favorites include "Guess Who" and "Choose Your Weapon." Not to be played by the faint of heart!

The FOUR Tanner girls.

It's so fun having a new sister. Becca is so fun and fits right in to the group.

It's also nice just having down time to enjoy playing and talking together. I know our kids love having aunts and uncles around to play with.

Emily found the central vac outlet and entertained herself for about half an hour playing with it and trying to figure out what was inside. It's so cute to see such a tiny little girl standing up and acting so big. We love this little girl.

One night we were able to catch a movie. We took Jacob and Caleb, and went to "Despicable Me." They thought it was great. I love the dollar movies.

One night we headed down to the church for a family game of dodge ball. It was pretty funny to play and to watch. Jacob, Caleb, and Matthew especially loved it. They usually ended up being the last ones on the team in each round and did pretty well. I definitely think I used to be a lot better at the game, but still had fun playing.

Emily and Lilah had the best seats in the house! These two cuties were great spectators for the evening.

Team A

Team A with their game faces on!

(We had a little mix-up during the pictures, Houston was on A and Becca was on B)

Team B

Team B showing their tough side

A couple action shots from the evening

One of my favorite parts was just watching Emily and Lilah play together. These two little girls are so much fun. Their "playing" at this point usually just consists of Emily taking Lilah's pacifier, both of them poking each other in the eyes and faces, slobbering on the same toys, and crawling over each other, but I think they'll be great little friends when they get older.

One morning we tried to get some pictures of the two of them. Emily is getting a little too mobile and most of the time was spent trying to keep her from crawling out of the picture, but we did manage to get a couple cute ones. Lilah, on the other hand, is at a perfect stage and would practically smile the moment the camera came out. These little girls are so fun.

All in all it was an enjoyable week. Time with family always goes too fast and leaves us wishing for more time, but it makes the next get-together something to look forward to. I was just glad we were able to have as much time together as we did.

Good for a Laugh

There's nothing like hearing a baby laugh to brighten your day. When we were home at Christmas time, Caleb was throwing dog food to my parent's dog Carly. Emily loves Carly and thought it was hilarious. I love her deep belly laugh. She was laughing for about 5 minutes before I finally brought out the camera, but luckily I was still able to capture some of it on a video. I love it when babies laugh. It just makes me happy.

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Houston & Becca's Reception

Houston & Becca had their wedding reception on December 18th. It was fun to have everyone together again for the event. Friday and Saturday were busy getting everything finished up and decorated, but there were lots of helpers too. I loved the way everything turned out, it really was beautiful with all the trees and lights.

Mom had 4 of her 6 sisters there- Terri, Tami & Kyle, Robyn & Will, and Kathy & Alan even drove up from Arizona to help with food again. Dad also had his parents, Kenni & Mari, Sher & Lance, and Jolynne & Chris, plus many of our cousins too. Many of them really sacrificed and traveled a long way to be there and it sure meant a lot. We also had the privilage of having Becca's parents come and stay with us for a couple days. They're such neat people, and it was fun to get to know them better.

It was so fun to be with everyone that evening. There was a pretty good turnout of guests despite the snowstorm, and it was sure fun to see people we haven't seen in years. I'm pretty sure the boys had a blast, they had lots of people to play with and lots of yummy food to eat. By the end of the night, both Matthew & Emily were asleep. Emily was asleep in Jeff's arms, and Matthew was with Grandma Stevens. It was a late night, but a great one. I'm sure grateful for family and love being able to spend time with them.

9 Months Old

Emily turned 9 months old on November 19th

17.1 Pounds (15th percentile)

27 Inches (23rd percentile)

- Emily is now getting her top two teeth. She got her bottom two last month. That makes a total of four! It's so cute to see her new little toothy smile.

-She absolutely loves to play with the dishwasher and dishes. Everytime I open it to load or unload, she's right there with me.

-I love to see her standing all by herself. She just looks so cute.

-She loves to go up the stairs to the playroom. If I turn my back for a second, that's where she heads. She probably likes it because that's where both the toys and her brothers are found.

- Emily is pretty much done with baby food. She doesn't want it at all, she only wants people food. She loves broccoli, carrots, and believe it or not, lima beans.

-She loves oatmeal and cream of wheat. She usually has one of the two for breakfast every morning.

-She's become quite the chatterbox. I love to hear her sit and chant, "ma ma" and "da da." I love her sweet little voice.

-She's also started to 'dance' to music. Her style of dancing consists of bouncing up and down.

-I love it when Emily wakes up in the morning or from her naps. I usually go in to find her talking to herself, sucking on her fingers, or just sitting up sweetly waiting for me to come and get her. She does wake up crying sometimes, but she's usually just sweet and happy.
-This little girl loves her soft blankets. She loves to come and snuggle up on them, especially when she's tired. When she sleeps, she loves to be wrapped up. She has two that are her favorites and gets excited when she sees them.

-Emily loves to chew on and rip up paper. I can't leave anything out that she might get a hold of!

-She is BUSY during church! It makes it tough when she just wants to crawl around everywhere. I'm glad she still has 9 months till nursery, because I'm not ready for her to be that grown up yet, but the next few months should be interesting.

-She loves the outdoors and always wants to be outside playing, especially when her brothers are outside. It makes it hard when it's winter time and just too cold for a baby. She loves walking with me to the mailbox to get the mail.
- I'm already starting to notice some differences between girls and boys even as babies. Emily loves to cuddle little toys. She has a little dolly that she loves, and a little teddy bear. She's definitely got some 'mothering' nature in her, even at a young age.
- Emily loves dogs. She loves to watch them go by and gets so excited. She loves to play with Carly at my parent's house, and loves to try and catch Bell at the Stevens.
- It's crazy to think that she's now been alive about as long as I was pregnant with her!

December Projects

Just a few of the fun projects I've done over the past month.

I made over 100 of these "Snowman Soup" treats. They had a packet of hot chocolate, a peppermint stick, Hershey kiss, and marshmallows along with a cute little poem about how to make snowman soup. The kids and I had a nice little assembly line going and had fun putting them together for the kids' friends, classmates, and craft fair.

I didn't get any pictures, but I ended up making 4 dozen sugar cookies for a ward party, 2 dozen for Caleb's preschool party, and 3 dozen hand-sized sugar cookies for Jacob's class party. I think I'll take a break from making sugar cookies for a while! The kids loved it and were great little helpers too.

Not a real great picture, I didn't get a shot of the final products, but we did chocolate dipped oreo 'lollipops' as well.
I put together a few more ornament wreaths for the craft bazaar. It was fun to try out some new color combinations. I wanted to keep them all!
Another project for the craft bazaar, fabric, sewn, cup warmers. It was fun and people seemed to like the idea of having cute, unique cup warmers.

For friends, neighbors, and co-workers, we kept up the tradition of caramel-dipped, chocolate covered pretzel sticks. The kids were happy to see these again.

We packaged them up with some other things for teachers and co-workers.

Over the past year I've enjoyed making baby/child bracelets for friends and family. (and Emily:) In November, I received a business offer to sell my bracelets at a fancy child boutique store here in town. They've also been sold at some craft fairs. Now I'm just working on getting my own site up as well. It's fun to have an excuse to make them!

Random December

Jacob was the Student of the Week during the third week of December. It was fun to put together his poster with pictures and fun facts. During the week he shared his favorite toy (camera), his favorite book (Fairy Tales for 6-year olds), favorite stuffed animal (Zebra from Grandma Forman), and favorite outfit- ("How to Train Your Dragon" t-shirt).

We did have some nice days in December before the snow finally came. The kids enjoyed playing outside in the leaves.

They wanted to get a good running start to jump in the huge pile of leaves.

One night we stopped by the local mall to visit Santa. It's always fun to see how the kids react. Emily of course wanted nothing to do with the big guy in the red suit, but the boys had fun.

Caleb had his preschool Christmas program and party on the 16th. It was so fun to watch him perform all the songs he's been working on, he was so proud!

Matthew kept himself entertained with his makeshift action figures (formerly my decorative Christmas picture holders), and Emily was pretty good most of the time; especially when I kept the cheerios coming.

There was even a surprise appearance at the party from Santa. The mistake came when I decided one more time to just get a picture with Emily in the group.

She still doesn't like the guy...