Santa came to town!!

We had the Adams Family Christmas Party at our house last night.

And the evening was so special, we even had a celebrity guest...

Emma and Kasyn were SO excited to see him!

A special thanks to Brett Peterson from acting the role... it was a HUGE success! Greg's brother Jeff is playing Santa for Brett's family party, so Brett offered to return the favor. So awesome!!

Strike 2 for Grant's relationship to become cordial with Santa.

Still baffling to me.



Grammie Lou bought the kids matching pajamas. Emma was THRILLED to match Taytum and we even get to bring a pair to Texas so that she can match Anna as well.

Grant was pleased as EVER to munch of the wrapping paper.

Should save us a lot of money on presents this year...

We had a really nice evening together with Greg's Mom, Mike and his brothers Jeff and Kurt. We gorged ourselves on yummy food, decorated sugar cookies, opened presents, played with Santa and then Linda read the kids the nativity story. Mostly it was just nice to be together.

Just to throw this picture in... earlier that same morning was Emma's preschool Christmas program. They also got to exchange gifts, which made Emma's LIFE. She was so happy!!

WHEW! I'm already tired and it's only December 16th! 9 more days of fun!! HOORAY!

First Annual Gingerbread Gala

Don't you love having creative family/friends that let you STEAL their great ideas?

I do.

A special thanks to Gina who gave me the fantastic idea for a gingerbread house decorating party. Emma wanted to have some friends over to do something around Christmas time, so this was the PERFECT option.

Greg, Laura, Tom and I spent last Sunday evening constructing 10 gingerbread houses with royal icing so that the structures would be totally together and solid for the kids to decorate.

We then invited each guest to bring one or two bags of candy to share and help decorate the houses.

We wish we could have invited more of our friends... but our house isn't THAT big. :) And I think this will turn into an annual tradition so that we can invite lots of friends for years to come.

We had such a wonderful time decorating and being surrounded by great friends!!


(L to R - Norah, Aliyah, Whitney, Emma, Wesley, Klaire, Cyrus, Kloey)

It's my party and I'll cry if want to,
cry if I want to,
cry if I want to,
you would cry too if it happened to you.

Emma was a nightmare this morning. Seriously hasn't acted out this bad in a good year. Maybe tired? Maybe hungry? Maybe just woke up on the wrong side of the bed? But after spending so much time organizing a Christmas party with HER friends, I was not impressed or happy. She spent lots of alone time in her room that day. So exasperating. Could she really only be 3???


Norah
Aliyah and Krystal.

Cara and Wesley.

Yep. This guy was there too. Smiling away.

Cyrus and Amber.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Christmas FUN begins!

The Christmas season is always such a busy, yet wonderful time of the year! We enjoy participating in lots of the community events around town.

We were SUPPOSED to enjoy the Polar Express train in Williams, AZ the first weekend in December, but there was a TON of snow up there that weekend and so we re-booked our adventure for a later weekend. Instead we unpacked more of our home and found other Christmas festivities to enjoy.

Nothing brings out Christmas like excessive crowds and fake Santa's.

Here are the kiddos perched on our fireplace. They were all dolled up for something and I took advantage for a photo opp.


No No. That is not a tooth you see in Grant's mouth - just a friendly wad of toilet paper! I'm telling you - this kid has something for toilet paper. As soon as he knows we aren't looking, the first place he crawls is to the toilet for a snack of toilet paper. YUCK. Emma never did this.


We enjoyed the Mesa Temple Lights with Laura and Tom on a VERY cold Saturday evening.
We got the kids all bundled and had a wonderful time wandering the temple grounds. Now that we are 5 minutes from the Temple, we enjoy taking advantage of the lights more often during the season.




Every year we enjoy visiting Santa at Bass Pro Shop. They have the CUTEST Winter Wonderland with lots of free activities for the kids, letters you can write to Santa and put it in his mailbox and then of course, sitting on Santa's lap with a FREE 4x6 picture. It is really super great.



I was joking with Greg in line that at least this year we wouldn't have to worry about anyone screaming on Santa's lap. Grant is seriously the happiest baby EVER and has NEVER EVER cried when being passed off to another soul NEVER.

I ate my words.

See picture below. And double click on it to make it extra large and see the complete horror on Grant's face.

Totally perplexing. What is it about Santa and small babies? I'm telling you, if Santa makes Grant cry, then there is something wrong with him. My sister says maybe he looks like Satan? Ha Ha. Maybe Laura has a point. They are spelled VERY similar... hmmmm....

Saturday evening with enjoyed the Annual Tempe Holiday Boat Parade. It was REALLY fun. Especially because the weather was great and we parked on the NORTH side of Tempe Town Lake where there were virtually no crowds but we still got a front row seat of the boats and fireworks! I stole the bottom pics from the newspaper, but you get the idea of the cool boats. Emma and Grant really enjoyed themselves.




We've also enjoyed dinner with friends, dinner and present exchange with Laura and Tom and our annual cousins Christmas dinner where we went and sang some fun songs at our neighborhood rest home, acted out the nativity, and gave my Grandpa his brand new IPAD 2! Now we hope he can figure out how to work it. But, I'm confident that if Emma can do it, Grandpa can do it.

Merry Christmas Time!! Many more activities to come...

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Not food leftovers...

picture leftovers.

From a memory disk that I forgot about. But when I found them, just had to include them for posterity.

Here are darling Jamie and Gina.

The newlyweds.
Greg and the food spread. YUM. Makes me drool a little wishing I did have some of the food leftovers still.

The Adams Family in attendance.

Laura and Tom join in.

Jamie and Gina celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary over the Thanksgiving weekend. So we had the PLEASURE to watch the kiddos for a night while they celebrated. Here we are decorating cupcakes. The kids had so much fun. Of course, who doesn't like to do art that you can eat?

The kids after a walk to our neighborhood park. It's about a mile walk round trip, so it is a great way to get kids all tuckered out for bed.

The kids table at Thanksgiving.

OK. I think we are now officially done with the Thanksgiving posts.

Milestones for the Grantster.

At about 10 1/2 months - Grant FINALLY started crawling. Was starting to get worried there for a second.

Wish I wouldn't have worried so much, because now he is EVERYWHERE!!

And he likes to greet me in the mornings and afternoons with his crib standing. Don't think Emma did this until she was well past 12 months...

And this milestone?

Yep. Just getting cuter.

Poor guy has had ear infections for about 6 weeks now. We keep going back to the doctor for a 2-week check up only to find another ear infections. Three rounds of antibiotics. Hopefully the most recent z-pac will do the trick.

We just love our little Bubbs!

Our Turkey Weekend.

Our turkey weekend was wonderful. And yours?

Jamie and Gina stayed in town and we were able to spend lots of great time together. Love them and their two darling kids.

I am so thankful that we now have a home with enough space to host Thanksgiving dinner. My dream come true. Seriously. (I know I need to dream bigger, huh?)

We absolutely completed "The First Thanksgiving" play. There was no type casting. It was super professional.

And made candy turkeys. It was a very involved (and expensive) process. Next year we may look for a simpler candy turkey.



Laura and Tom were able to spend most of the day with us, which we LOVED. Just don't get to see the newlyweds NEARLY enough. As if they could possibly have a life outside of us?

The spread. Gina and I may or may not have stayed up until 4am cooking everything. And then we may or may not have gotten up at 7am to finish. WHEW! I was tired once the feast was complete. But honestly, I look forward to the preparation more than the eating. I love the kitchen time with people I love. OK. OK. The eating is great too.

And check out my ROCKIN' island!! It can fit ALL of Thanksgiving dinner with no problem. Could possibly be my favorite part of our home.

Blue striking his best warrior pose.

MMMmmmHmmmm...

After getting three hours of sleep on Thanksgiving Eve, we stayed up until 3am indulging in our VERY FIRST black Friday shopping. It was crazy and fun - but I wanted to try it out with Gina, because she is an expert.

After leaving Target we realized that we had left Emma's razor scooter underneath the shopping cart. I was ready to throw in the towel, but Gina insisted that we were getting that razor back and drove me back to Target for searching. Of course it was not at the cart and it was also not turned in by a kind and honest shopper. Again, almost ready to wave the white flag and Gina starts asking if there are more in stock (they were flying off the shelves). A very VERY VERY kind Target employee named Paul came running up with a smile and literally seconds later returned with a razor scooter, which he handed to us and then said (without even checking my receipt), "sorry about the inconvenience". Wha??? You mean the inconvenience of my IDIOTIC brain that left the scooter under the cart? We were super impressed. Love myself some Target.

Our gratitude turkey, "Gobble" - named by Emma. Drawn by the ever-talented Jamie. We promptly had him laminated to use for many years to come.

Emma is wearing a lovely wig from the dollar store. I know, shocking as it is clearly the highest quality.

Greg's Mom, Linda got married the Saturday following Thanksgiving to Mike Dearman.

Emma had to get every. last. rose. petal. out of her basket.


And last, but most certainly NOT least, we had a new nephew join our family!!

Chuck and Emily welcome little Jackson Andrew Krebs into their family on Thanksgiving day! He weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and they are home happy and healthy. We are so thrilled to add cousin #8 to the Krebs Family. We can not WAIT to meet him in person.

I am so thankful for all the tremendous blessings in my life. Most important my Savior, Jesus Christ, my kind/patient/adorable husband Greg, my sassy but super fun daughter Emma, and the happiest most perfect baby in the world Grant. I am so thankful for the comfortable life that we lead here in America and for all of our freedoms. I am thankful for a new home that we LOVE and a new ward that has been so welcoming and kind. I am thankful for amazing renters who were quite literally an immediate answer to prayer. I am thankful for my incredible extended family (on both sides). I am thankful for gorgeous winter weather here in Arizona and for my healthy body with which I can enjoy the outdoors. I am thankful for friends that make me laugh, good books that make me cry and peppermint ice cream at Christmas time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!