All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth...

Last week Grey finally cut his first tooth on Tuesday. The lower left central came in. On Thursday the upper right central came in. Well, yesterday he got his wish and his upper left central came in, too. He now has 3 teeth and is quickly working on #4. He has been pretty cranky with this whole teething business, but he is still sweet!

Grey's First Tooth

Grey finally cut his first tooth on Tuesday (the 15th). He has been pretty miserable. He has a cold and teething on top of that. I feel bad for the little dude. He has been so miserable that I have taken him to the doctor twice in the last week, just to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. No such luck. Just one miserable baby! But, he did weigh in at an impressive 22.5 lbs. He is getting so big. I can't believe he is already 8 and a half months old. It has gone by SO fast.

Our First Snow

We woke up to our first California "SNOW DAY" this morning. What an amazing sight. Sadly, the boys still had to go to school. Cohen and I came home and hurried and built a small snowman with what was left of the melting snow. We live on a hill, so we got more snow than most, and even better, it stuck. Landon is going to be bummed to see that it is almost all gone when he gets home. We live in an amazing place. I am reminded of this over and over. Whether it be the 5 deer we saw in the neighborhood yesterday on the way to church, just sitting on the side of the road. Or be it the wild turkeys, grazing sheep, horses, mountains, oak trees, lakes, or an occasional snow fall in our own back yard. We love the area we live and hope to stay a LONG, LONG, LONG time.

Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas party this last Saturday and what would a Christmas party be without Santa? The older boys are asking for a snowboard (Landon) and a skateboard (Cohen). I hope they aren't too sad that those will not be amongst the presents they are getting this year. Grey was a typical baby on Santa's lap. He took one look at him and lost it. It was really cute and I love capturing those precious moments. The music was beautiful at the program, but other than that I didn't catch the rest because we were in the last row of a noisy cultural hall. The boys had a great time. We love this time of year and all the excitement and fun that goes along with it.

Thanksgiving week

Last week we spent some much needed time together as a family. We mostly spent time just hanging out at home and just laid low in general. With Steve traveling, his mother being sick, and three crazy boys, we needed some R and R. Steve played tons of football with the boys, we shopped at the mall a little, went and saw a movie, we ran a few errands, took naps at odd times, didn't make the kids nap, stayed up late and just had fun.

Thanksgiving day was super mellow. Steve took the older boys to Turkey Bowl with him in the morning. They had a blast. I stayed home and made pumpkin muffins and started on our meal. I had taken the time to look back at my post from last year so I not only remembered what things we liked, but I knew I had added some things I wanted to do better this year. The day before Thanksgiving I still hadn't gotten any table decorations (and I hated how pitiful my table was last year), so I took Steve, Landon and Cohen to the movie and ran to the mall and picked up a few things to pull something simple together. I ended up buying an orange table runner and some fall napkins and using some artificial pumpkins and real ones from Halloween and a flower arrangement and I think it was simple, but pretty. I did get to make rolls this year and I must say they turned out good, but it was a lot of work and I think I will just do the frozen dough balls next year. I am glad I can say I can make rolls now, though. Our meal consisted of a Honey Baked Ham turkey breast, rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans and a mixed berry pie. I let Steve talk me out of doing jello and stuffed celery and I wish I had done them both. I didn't get time to do the lemon meringue pie, but maybe for fun I'll get to it this week.

On Sunday we started putting up Christmas decorations and the boys are crazy with excitement. We really had a great Thanksgiving break.

Landon and Cohen played so well together all week. One day they played Easter for over 2 hours in the back yard. They traded off hiding and finding eggs. It was so cute.

Steve dressed Grey up and played while I was at the dreaded WalMart

After a long day of cooking, Cohen asked me to rub HIS feet! What?!?!

My fun Thanksgiving center piece.

I still remember my dad letting me help when he baked. The boys had a blast helping me make the pie this year. (Notice I did actually get ready this year. It was on my list of things I wanted to make sure I did and I am glad I wrote it down, because it reminded me that I needed to stop baking and take care of me for a second. :-)!)

My sweet boys offered to do the dishes after Thanksgiving dinner. I think Steve's comment was, "Let's have more if this is how it's going to be". They were so sweet!

The boys sitting in the massage chair one afternoon. I told you we were lazy.

The boys helping Steve get the angel on the tree. Cohen tried first, but it was too scary being held 10' in the air. Landon loved it of course.