Dressing Up

We didn't set out to buy the kids Christmas outfits, but we ended up with several! Zeke got a white shirt and purple tie for the wedding, then he also got church clothes for Christmas from Draper and Carrie and Grandma Carlile. (We were sure glad we had double white shirts when we had a hot chocolate disaster at the beginning of the wedding reception.....)

Nora got a couple of hand-me-down fancy party dresses, and even though she wasn't thrilled about them at first I think she really likes them now. Plus, I made her a new cute red bow to match the new dresses, and she really likes that. 

This picture doesn't quite do this dress justice, but we had room for only one picture on our camera after Christmas and wedding festivities and I'm just pleased to get a decent  picture on the first try! :) Love these cute kiddos.

Kyle and Hayley's Wedding

We had a wedding last weekend; Aaron's youngest brother married his sweetheart on a beautiful cold winter day. We walked around the temple while we waited for them to come out for pictures, and by the time pictures started Zeke was sure his hands were going to fall off!

Nora and her 'cute bow'. If you ask her about it, that's what she'll say. 

It was a beautiful ceremony for a wonderful couple and we were glad to be there to share it with them. 

The next day, we got busy transforming our townhome community's clubhouse into a magical, romantic winter wonderland. With many hands and several hours, along with lots of borrowed items, we had an amazing wedding reception ready by nightfall. 

Aaron and I spent most of the time keeping the hot chocolate flowing and the cookie plates filled. It's always fun to mingle with family and friends at events like this, and it was a wonderful evening. 

Our Christmas

Christmas Day this year was a lot of fun. We started shopping early, and the items we picked from Zeke's wishlist turned out to be what he decided he wanted most. He was super excited about his gifts and freely gave out hugs and told us thank you. 

Nora was a little harder to shop for because she doesn't really have a wishlist yet, but we did pretty well with her gifts also. She has her own big talking Cars car now and that's exciting for her.

They both have enjoyed Zeke's new Hot Wheels track! We knew Zeke would love it, but Nora has loved it too. 

Such a cute picture of Christmas night at Grandma Carlile's, too bad his eyes are closed but I still like it :)

Nora got an Angry Bird pillow.... oh my goodness she has been so excited about it. We also got an Angry Birds board game and it's hard to keep those birds out of her hands!

Gingerbread Boy and Girl

We made a special effort to go to the gingerbread house festival this year because both kids are really into gingerbread men. Zeke has talked about gingerbread men in school, and one of Nora's favorite book is a counting book involving gingerbread men.

 

As it turns out, they cared a whole lot more about the gingerbread men than the gingerbread houses.

 



We did see some houses, although Zeke didn't stop to look at most of them, he just walked by.



 

But the highlight of the trip was the gingerbread cutouts. So cute, and Nora kept going back for more.

 



Nora's Hair

I love Nora's hair, it's gotten so cute and long enough to pull back into ponytails! She loves her hairbows (the blue one with white stars is her favorite). 

Our Shepherd

Our ward's Christmas party included a nativity program. The primary kids dressed as angels and shepherds and they sat around the holy family and sang three songs. Zeke was so excited to be a shepherd, and his quick costume turned out great. If you look close, you can see that he even has a sheep!

 

 

First Snowman

Zeke was super excited to see all the snow last weekend and rushed out to build a little snowman. We didn't get one built last winter, so it was a big priority for him this winter. 

We got a lot more snow overnight, which almost buried Zeke's snowman!

Fall Fling

A few weeks ago I figured that since I had cute kids, crunchy leaves, and a beautiful fall Sunday that we'd take some pictures. Great idea, except Zeke had his pained smile on, and Nora wasn't interested in sitting still for pictures, and we managed to get a few leaves up her dress (poor girl). 10+ pictures later, I didn't get anything really good, not even any funny outtakes.

About halfway through the next week I realized that I didn't get pictures of them just playing. Fortunately, the next week the leaves and the weather were still both beautiful and the kids were as cute and busy as ever, and I got the pictures that I should have taken in the first place :)

Nora even volunteered to sit and pose for me

Trick or Treaters

Halloween was lots of fun this year. Nora was our '80s girl

and Zeke was our fiery jack-o-lantern. 

After some pictures on the front porch in the fading light, we headed out. This is the first year we did real door-to-door trick or treating, and they loved it. We walked a neighborhood in our ward with several older couples who we knew would love to see our kids. Not only were they very generous with their Halloween treats, they thanked us for coming over to see them. 

After about an hour of trick or treating, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and the kids had a treat while we visited. Nora was very possessive of her pumpkin.... Uncle Kyle put his hand down into her pumpkin to drop in her treat, and she made sure he knew that those were her treats, not his!

After that, we headed over to see Dynna and Ryan and Mia. Mia was winding down for bed, but was still in her costume and quite happy to see her cousins. Any sleepy-cranky-ness was gone the whole time Zeke and Nora were there to entertain her. 

Carlile cousins.

Then off to Grandma's house for more treats.

We had such a good time we wore ourselves out :) It was a night of making fun memories. 

A Plane and a Picnic

We went flying on our own a few weeks ago for the first time in just about forever. It was rainy when we left but when we actually got there and started flying the weather cleared and turned out beautiful. Plus there were lots of cool clouds.

Nora made sure we knew where the plane was at all times. She also pointed out that Aaron was wearing a hat 'Daddy hat!'

Kids settled and ready for a picnic lunch. We had ham and cheese. It would have been sandwiches but I forgot the bread! 

Zeke loved the river as much as the planes. 

Toward the end Nora found my phone and found a place to sit and watch Thomas and Friends. 

Everyone had such a good time that there was minimal complaining when I had everyone pose for a fall family picture :)

Digging Potatoes

Last Saturday was a perfect day for harvesting potatoes. Blue sky, warm sun, and beautiful fall foliage. 

The kids were pretty helpful with the potatoes. They both picked up potatoes and put them in buckets, and Zeke tried his hand at digging them up. 

Nora, of course, was where the water was.

After the potatoes were scrubbed, Zeke and Ashlynn laid them out to dry. Mmmm, I'm so excited to eat these beautiful potatoes!