Santa's Elves

Each year we have a tradition that my family has done for ages. Jeff is not a fan of this tradition. But there are some traditions that his family does that I don't care for either, and because I am Mrs. Claus I kind of get to be in charge of this. What is funny is that my kids have not picked up on the idea that it is the same thing each year. In time I sure they will figure it out. This year I also bought them the best cartoons ever....Tom and Jerry. They LOVED it!! Reminds me of being a kid and watching the same cartoons.

Santa's Flight School

We love to make sweets around the holidays and we always start it off by making a gingerbread house. Parker was so excited. We got a kit this year. I think they are best because then I don't have to buy a ton of candy and it goes together easy. Parker was really stressed about it. He was worried that Addison was going to eat all the candy. He stressed about it forever. It was so funny. Addison had so much fun and what is funny is that she did not even eat the candy. So he stressed for nothing. Parker was also adament that he put his own frosting on his house. It took him forever but he had fun. His in on the left and me and Addison's is on the right.

Christmas Party

Parker's class at school had a little Christmas Party. Parker was so excited for it and LOVED it. It was fun to see the kids in a different atmosphere and Addison love it too. They let her do everything that Parker did. They decorated ice cream cones to look like Christmas Trees. I had no idea how much the kids would love it!!!




Parker and his teacher, he just loves her and we love how much she is dedicated to the kids and cares so much for them.

Merry Christmas!!!

Love 2010 Christmas Card

Customize your Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Night in Bethlehem

I have been the activity chairperson in our ward and I had the pleasure of putting together a Christmas Party. When the Bishopbric told me what they wanted I took the challenge and did it. They wanted me to do A Night in Bethlehem. I had no idea what I was getting myself into until it was too late. The whole idea behind it is that everyone is invited to come to Bethlehem and pay their taxes and sign the census. Everyone received coins and had to buy their dinner in the Bethlehem Market. Then they got to be there for the birth of the Savior, this is the program part of the night.

There were seven shops in all....The Butcher Shop, The Pita Inn, The Pottery Place, The Dreidel Shop, The Vegetable Garden, The Bakery and The Winery.


Everyone came in biblical attire. Addison LOVED this little dress. She loved it so much she wants to wear it to church.




I think that it turned out pretty good. Not sure I want to do it again any time soon. Thanks to all those that helped me. There are so many of you and I don't know how to thank you. Now I feel like I can finally enjoy the season.

"Santa nice"

I took the kiddos to see Santa and they were so excited. Addison was prepped before hand from big bro. He assured her that Santa was nice and he would give her a treat. So the whole way there she just kept saying "Santa nice." I could tell that she got a little nervous. Once she saw the treats she got excited, and then she saw that Santa was giving out presents and that made her even more happy. But once we got up there she was more nervous and did not want to have anything to do with Santa. She did want the treat though. She would not even get close to him and held onto my neck for dear life. It was funny.

(Sorry about this WONDERFUL photo....why did the lady practically cut me out of the photo???) It was with my camera...maybe she was a little confused.)

Thanks DeLaura for inviting us to see such a great Santa. We appreciate it!!

It's a...

Well that is about all I can tell you. As of right now, it is a baby. Jeff has been very stubborn about wanting to know the sex of the baby and I thought that maybe he was just being funny and would cave at our appointment, but no. He really does not want to know. He thinks that it is going to be fun. I am not sure what he sees as fun. I was hoping that the tech would slip up and tell us but he got to chat with her before I did and he let her know that we did not want to know. I corrected her and made sure she knew that HE did not want to know....I am dying to nkow. She would not even give us photos of that area. (I was hoping to figure it out myself.) I told her that she had to put the results in an envelope and that thing had better be in my stocking on Christmas morning. Even though there are many things I would love to have for Christmas that is the ONLY thing on my list.

I really do have reasons behind my madness of wanting to know. If it is a boy I have alot of shopping to do to get ready for this little thing. I am hoping it is a girl though because we have EVERYTHING we need for a girl. I just don't want to be putting a little boy in flowers and pink because that is all that we have from Addison and I don't know how long it will be until I am up for a shopping trip with 3 kiddos. He just does not get it. There are many people I know that are so mad at him and they are as anxious as I am to know. Let's just hope he has a good Christmas morning and is not left sleeping on the couch that evening.

Deck the Halls

In the past Jeff has always been very picky about when I could decorate for holidays. For example he says that I cannot decorate for Halloween until October 1st. And for Thanksgiving it got put off until a week before because he would not get in the attic to get my decorations. Well on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) when he mentioned that we should decorate for Christmas the next day I could not pass that up. The kids were SO happy.

I am one of those people that like to have a tree that has all matching decorations and I do it all. Jeff usually just sits back and watches football or something. I must be getting soft or maybe it is because I am pregnant. Whatever it is I let the kids do it all. They were so excited. I can tell that Parker has watched me and he kept getting mad at Addison for doing it wrong. It was funny. Addison kept putting all her ornaments in the same spot. Once they were all done they were so proud of their tree. And they can't wait until morning and they turn the lights on.



What is hard to see in this picture is all the ornaments in one spot, thanks to Addison. I am just glad that I got some plastic ones on clearance a few years back and they get moved everyday.

Thanksgiving 2010

We were fortunate to have two of Jeff's brothers and their wives come and visit for Thanksgiving. It was fun to have family here. The kids LOVED it and were sad when they left. Thanks so much for coming guys we LOVED it!!! Here are a few pics from the weekend. (they are all out of order, sorry!!!!)

Whenever you have the Tew family there is a croquet battle....not sure who won.


Addison enjoyed the olives...she could not get enough of them!!


Jeff was VERY proud of his stuffing. It was yummy!! Cranberry mushroom stuffing.


Addison getting tips on eating ice-cream from Uncle Scott






We all even enjoyed some Black Friday shopping. I did not do it the traditional way. I went at 2 in the afternoon and got EVERYTHING I wanted. Yep, you read that right. I got to sleep in (well if you count sleeping in until 7 am sleeping in) and did not have to wait outside in the cold.

Thanks guys for coming...so glad we got to spend our Thanksgiving with you!!!!!

What is your thought on Christmas Cards?

I have been thinking alot about Christmas Cards recently...do I or not?? Last year I did not sent any official cards. I used my blog and also facebook to tell those I love Merry Christmas but this year I am going to send them out. (well to a few or you, the list is not as big as it used to be) I just love this site...Shutterfly. I have found the cutest card and I am so excited to send it out. I have been using them for the longest time. Not only have I made Christmas Cards and baby cards but also photo books and even  Photo calenders. They have some of the cutest birthday cards as well. I may just use those one day. And with everything that I have ordered I have LOVED the results. The colors are amazing and the quality is top notch. They have so many options....the list is huge. They have Christmas cards and stationary cards and flat photo cards. Here are a few of my favs.






Of course I can't show you my most favorite...it will come soon. December is here...crazy, I know. Where has 2010 gone?? Also if you want to get 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly they are having a Bloggers: 50 free Holiday Cards giveaway. GO check it out. You will LOVE their cards. And will not be disappointed!! I promise!!

Happy Turkey Day

I know this is late, okay really late, but Happy Thanksgiving from me and my little turkeys!!!

Pine Wood Derby

The Elder's Quorum in our ward had an activity where they could build their own pine wood derby car and there were no rules. Jeff thought it would be fun for Parker to help. It was fun to watch them make it together.

Here is Parker making up the plans...not sure they went according to plans. Parker had some crazy ideas.


Parker went with the Christmas Colors....at least that is how he explained it.


Here we are sizing up the competition. Like I said there were no rules. We should have gone with that more.


As you can see we had a few casualties...Parker was pretty disappointed in his car. I think it gave him some ideas for the future.



I am just glad that Jeff and Parker had some one on one time and had something fun for them to do. They both really enjoyed doing it!!

Fall Concert and Showcase

Parker has a favorite day of the week. It is Fridays. He loves this day because he doesn't really have to do school work it is just fun stuff at school. He first goes to Spanish, then he goes to Science and then heads off to music class. Who wouldn't love that schedule?? His music class has been really fun. He has been learning about different types of music and just started learning notes. They also have taught them to play the bells. The other day he was trying to tell me about it and he was funny about his explanation but assured me it was not jingle bells. I knew what he was talking about, my high school had a huge bell choir and they were gorgeous to listen to. Of course their bells were much bigger than Parker's, but it is the same idea. He was so excited to tell me that he was going to have a concert. I was excited to see what they had been learning. Here are some pics of his concert. The rest of the concert was of the dance class and the older choir classes. It was a fun concert to attend. I cannot wait to see what else they learn through out the year.

How does your garden grow?

We get the same question all the time...."How do you guys get your garden to grow?" We don't really know how to answer that question. We really have not tried that hard. We have conditioned the soil. And Jeff has researched about how we need to do that and he also learned how to correctly water all the vegetables. It is now that time of year when we get to dig up our sweet potatoes...oh my goodness...yummy. We are very pleased with how they have turned out. Check out our recent find....holy cow. Not sure how we did that. It is huge!!! Jeff just kept saying it is going on forever. He actually hurt two of his fingernails trying to get it out. Just when he thought he hit an end he was fooled. We are sure enjoying eating them though.

Thanksgiving Feast

Parker had a Thanksgiving Feast at school....he was so excited for it. It was all he could talk about the morning before. I am not sure what he is going to do when they do not do things like this at school. He loves this kind of stuff. Addison thought it was kind of fun to be able to sit by him and have lunch with him.

I cannot believe this

Our lawn mower recently broke and so Jeff has been trying to fix it. Parker was anxious to help him fix it because Jeff said that he would teach him to mow the lawn if he helped. Once they got it fixed Parker was all smiles. I am just feeling old because my little baby is learning to mow the lawn. He cannot be old enough to be doing this. What is funny though is that afterwards he said that it was harder than he thought it was going to be. Now he knows why I hate mowing the lawn.