Christmas

Christmas this year came fast.  We moved into our home  December 14th and Christmas came and went quick!  We missed some of our favorite traditions like making gingerbread houses, delivering cookies and doing little service activities, but there's always next year.

After moving in we got the decorations up quick, it was so fun to hav a new house to decorate.

My mom got the kids a cute train set, they loved it!

We went to a Christmas party with Zac's family, Eloise enjoyed a snickers as large as her.

We enjoyed the most amazing ribs ever!!

And discovered that pictionary is an awesome family game, even the kids can play.

The next weekend was Christmas fun with my family, this is the only picture; Eloise stuffing her face with delicious taffy.  We had fun sharing musical talent, eating good food, pulling taffy and laughing lots.

We were driving down candy cane lane and saw Santa and Mrs. Claus outside.  It was freezing, but Teagan wanted to wait in line to visit with them.  Santa told him to go to bed early, bless his heart.  :)

Christmas Eve was fun with new PJs and a game.

Eloise watched carefully to see how the jump picture is done.

Ready, set, 

Cheeser smile!

We got two Christmas morning pictures, which means we fully enjoyed being in the moment.

Here is the wild condition of the post Christmas room, it just looks like fun!

We got to enjoy a visit from Grandma Packer, and Christmas lunch with Zac's parents and Aunt Arene.  It was so nice to stay home and enjoy our time together.  Merry Christmas all!

Blooming Artists

Teagan has started to love drawing.  He has such a vivid imagination and comes up with fabulous stories and drawings.

Santa Claus

Some work he brought home from school.

This one is sideways.  It has something to do with an excavator and a zebra I believe.

And little sis has to be coloring if Teagan is. 

Pretty Little Lady

All ready for church in her new dress.  Eloise loves new clothes and actually twirled when I put this dress on her for the first time.  Is twirling an instinct in girls?  Must be.

Thanksgiving at Bear Lake

We had a fun filled thanksgiving weekend with Zac's family in Bear Lake.  The food was wonderful, specially the goodies, and the company was even better.  There is never enough sleep, but always plenty of laughs with the Faniels family!

These four cousins are such buddies and it is beautiful.  They love each other and have so much fun with each other.

We didn't get many pictures, except on the day we took a walk to the lake.  It was gorgeous and so fun to get out in the fresh air.

Teagan about gave me a heart attack while he did his "boy" thing and climbed all over the rocks.  He had fun though.  :)

Teagan and Eloise: Best Friends Forever

He loves her to pieces and comes up with all the good ideas, she loves him back and will blindly follow him on any adventure.

Dressing up and doing concerts for me.

Driving around outside, hauling pumpkins from the garden.

Teagan got them both dressed that day to be helpful.

Sledding down the big dirt pile without any snow.

Snuggling and being sick together.

And snuggling just to snuggle.

These two are awesome little kids, they love each other so much.

We're expecting!

We were excited to find out that we are expecting a baby June 1st or so.  To announce to the world I carved an expecting lady on a pumpkin and put it up for all to see.  

This is me at 10 weeks or so, I can't believe how quickly that belly started growing!

Things are going great, we will find out if we're having a boy or girl in January sometime.  I can feel the little nugget moving as I type.  Best feeling in the world.

Teagan the Worker

Teagan is unstoppable, if he puts his mind to something he can accomplish so much!

Here are some of his projects he's worked on this fall.

He decided to rake up the leaves at Grandma and Grandpa Durtschi's house.  He worked out there for hours to make a "bed". This pile is tiny, maybe a tenth of the size of the finished product

While we were building the house he did a million little jobs.  He wasn't as excited about those as the leaves, but he was extremely helpful!  He gathered wire pieces, swept floors, played with his sister, handed me and grandpa tools...

...entertained us with his awesome self...

...and, his favorite job, he gathered anything flammable and took it to the fire pit to burn.  He then "supervised" the fire, his friends were always excited to help with this particular job.  Here he is with a neighbor, Mason.  They are two peas in a pod.

He asked his Grandma Durtschi to teach him how to sew, and she did!  He proceeded to make matching snow hats for our whole family for Christmas and several blankets for his stuffed animals.

In his ripe old age of 5 1/2 he's become quite independent.  No need to ask for help, he takes care of issues himself (which I love!).   Here he's switching out the battery to make the go cart work again.

He has grown up and changed so much in the last few months, we're so proud of him!