cousins christmas

every year, a small group of cade's cousins get together for a celebration of our own. mike and mieken, who was days away from having her baby, were gracious enough to host. here are some highlights in pictures.





the other highlights NOT pictured are the great food and the musical perfomances from cade, dylan, rudi and colin.

also not pictured- because we had no idea she was so close to coming- was mieken's little baby bea. she came a few days later and was delivered in the car! to read that amazing story, head here.

festival of trees

with all of violet's christmas excitement, i thought that going to the festival of trees this year was a MUST. if she thought our tree was pretty and that the neighbors have cool lights, she would be psyched out of her gourd to see the lights at the festival, right?

well, she liked the trees just fine- but what she REALLY loved was all the dancing. off to either side of the trees, there were perfomances from local dance groups. as the little girls took stage, violet's eyes lit up. all she wanted to do was dance.

the dancing started as she was sitting on cade's shoulders, but when he finally put her down, she busted out more moves .

this girl loves to dance.

where was ivy? you guessed it... this little lovey sat cozy and happy in her seat. mesmerized by the lights, the music, and her sister's dancing.

christmas prep

christmas, for as great as it is, climbs to a new level when there are little ones at home. i found that i was forty times more excited for all the fun of the season this year simply because i knew that it was all going to blow violet's mind. i was never disappointed- she loved every minute of it.

it started with decorating the house. as we picked out our tree, set it up, and starting embellishing the rest of the house, violet was on could nine. every morning, she would run from her bedroom to the livingroom and ask me to turn on the lights. she would count to three (oftentimes skipping "2" because of the excitement) and i would watch her smile as i turned the lights on for her. pure bliss.

the excitement continued as we drove around and saw all the lights on the houses. it got to the point that she didn't like going in the car during the day because there were no lights to see. she would demand "lights, please!" from her back seat- so we always did our best to find them for her.

i remember christmas at home was always such a fun time. as a child, i pretty much had butterflies in my stomach from thanksgiving to christmas day. with that in mind, i want to make sure that my home has the same excitement in the air. one tradition that i look to continue is that of the advent calendar. growing up, my mom had a few advent calendars she had made around the house. my older brother and i would always race to be the first one up in order to move all the advents along, bringing us one day closer to christmas. my sister and i decided to make our own first advents together this year.

it was a fun time to get together with family as we ate yummy food and crafted together. cade told us to pose for this picture...

the kiddos loved the opportunity to veg out and watch mickey's christmas shows.

ivy loved the opportunity to get some gramps love.

we all loved the opportunity to get some more christmas spirit. i really do love this time of year!

let the christmas parties begin: granny woolf's party

the day after thanksgiving is not only dedicated to shopping like crazy (which we did ALL night) but also to granny woolf's christmas party. i am writing this post very late (thanksgiving was a month and a half ago...) but it is very tender to write about this party today. this morning, dear granny woolf passed away and was finally able to be reunited with her beloved husband. she lived a beautiful life and i plan to write a post about the remarkable woman she was. this christmas party was the last time that violet, ivy and i got to be with granny woolf so it has become even more special.

this party is always a fun time to meet together, eat some pizza, exchange some gifts and play warball. a lovely tradition-of-a-night!


violet sure is loving the concept of presents this year... she hovered around this pile all night.


granny woolf had the best seat in the house that night. she was sure to tell us how much she loved all of us and how proud she was of us all. after that, she cozied into the couch and watched the festivities play out.


i am sure she marveled at the sight of her posterity all gathered together that night. i hope she felt how grateful we all are for her example.

Thanksgiving 2011

thanksgiving was sure not to disappoint this year- we ate and ate and ate and then ate some more. all the while, we were sure to give thanks.

the day started out at grammy's house where we ate a fabulous lunch. i foolishly left the camera in the car. i was so concerned with getting to that table that little else entered my brain. i am obsessed with grammy's stuffing so this is an event i look forward to 364 days a year. i snarf it down, sit back, close my eyes and imagine heaven. the taste is the perfect combination of yummy stuffing goodness and nostalgic childhood memories. i love it. i once asked her to write down her recipe so that i could attempt to recreate it, but after the third or fourth time she said, "a good amount of this and a fair amount of that," i realized that this recipe was all in her head. it wasn't something i could write down. my goal in life is to make this dressing with grammy enough that i have it in my head too... and in my mouth... and in my bellly.

after my stuffing-snarf-fest, we headed to orem to meet up with the taylors. there are so many of us now that the idea of sitting down to a meal in one of our homes is a little much. thus, this year we settled into a church where we all fit just fine. all 42 of us (which only includes cade's siblings and their children... woo hoo!). we were focused on food yet again- so our pictures were hit and miss, but we were sure to get a few shots of the fun.

the kitchen was all a-buzz as we all finished the last minute food preparations. as we were all whizzing around the kitchen setting things up, we started to realize how much food we had all prepared. hoping that all 42 of us were hungry, we sat down to a FEAST. we ate and ate and ate... took a chatting break... and ate some more. despite all our efforts, however, the food table was still bursting with yummy food. i guess our 84 eyes were bigger than our 42 stomachs... it was all superb, however, so it made for a great feast and some fabulous leftovers.

after the meal, the kiddos played and colored while all the adults chatted.

violet is an expert at keeping busy...

and ivy was a peach (i can't say it enough: what a GREAT baby).

it was a great day to give thanks for a family who truly knows how to love. this year we do have so much to be thankful for so i am always glad there is at least one day dedicated to remembering just how good we all have it.

sunday naps

aren't they the best

ivy's blessing

we gave ivy a name and a blessing this month- and we were lucky to have lots of family and friends here to celebrate this event with us. here is how we spent the day...

the meeting was awesome. cade gave ivy a fabulous blessing. he blessed her that she would embrace charity and strive to serve those around her. he blessed her to know that what the Lord thinks about her is the most important thing- and to have confidence in His commandments and in herself. he blessed her with health and strength (which is something that this little one especially has needed thus far in life) and for many other important qualities. i truly am thankful to cade for offering such a beautiful blessing.

afterward, we all headed over to our house for food and chatting. each age group found their niche for socializing. the teens found violet's room:

the adults stayed in the main room:

and you better believe the kids found the man cave:

ivy was just a peach this whole time. she snoozed on and off, sometimes waking up to see who was loving on her.

we are so thankful to our family and friends who came to support us. it was fun catching up with everyone and enjoying time together.

cade and i couldn't be more thrilled to have little ivy here with us.

miss vi is growing up... and fast!

i feel like i haven't updated lately on violet. there are things i want to be sure to get on this blog so i NEVER forget how much i laughed through this stage with vi. really, all day long i just laugh at her (or with her?). anyway, here are a few things that i am loving about this little diva lately.

ACCESSORIES ARE A MUST

violet is obsessed with accessories of all sorts. she is always obsessing over at least one accessory and will demand that she wear it at all times. i am trying not to give in to her divaliciousness every time because i fear that she may turn into a kardashian, but i can't help but love watching her accessorize.

one week, she had to have about 40 necklaces draped around her neck at all times. the next week, she literally had a ring on every finger- and she loved to show them off. right now, she is really into boots. i will put her to bed and every morning, she walks out of bed with boots on over her footed jammies. i don't know when she wakes up and puts them on, but it is awesome. she becomes so attached to these accessories that it often ends up a HUGE meltdown when we have to take them off for some reason. she wore her turquoise ring for so long that i couldn't get it off even if i wanted to! it was stuck on! i have considered getting this girl a bedazzler for christmas- but i think i will hold off until she is at least two...

DANCING QUEEN

violet is really into dancing lately. the other day, she was following me around the house sulking. i asked all sorts of questions to find out why she was sad. she wasn't hungry, she didn't want to sing, and she wasn't tired.... in the end, she looked up at me and in a sad voice said, "wanna dance."

now THAT is a request i can fill! we turned on some tunes and that little girl danced in my bedroom for the next half an hour (and that is NOT an exaggeration). i kept getting things done around the house, but every time i would check in on her, i found her busting a move.

she doesn't much like to dance to any ol' thing- she prefers a good beat. that way, she can REALLY get into her groove. her favorite song to dance to right now is dev's "bass down low" (the clean version, of course). admittedly, this is not the best song for a little girl to dance to- but she LOVES it! if you start to sing, "i like my beats fast..." she will finish the sentence with "bass down low." i think i need to invest in some kids bop cds or something.

in my defense as a mother, her favorite song to sing is "jesus wants me for a sunbeam." i should throw that out there.

HAULING STUFF

for some reason, vi loves to carry anything that is heavy. sometimes, i will hear her in another room struggling with something only to walk in and find her trying to lift a table or carry a chair that is three times her size. i just think she likes the challenge of it or something. when ivy was on oxygen, violet was always trying to carry around the heavy, portable tanks that we kept. i even thought those were too heavy to just heave around the house- but not vi.

this picture is sooo blurry but i couldn't figure out my camera... nor could i get her to stop walking. but you get the point. i love her grunts as she lifts stuff and her determination to move the heavy things from one room to another. makes me laugh every time.

MOMMY'S LITTLE HELPER

i really do have a little shadow all day helping me do things. when i am cleaning, violet needs a rag to wipe down her toys. when i am working, violet is at the desk with me coloring. when i am feeding ivy, violet is there cheering ivy on (sometimes, a little too much... but ivy don't mind). when i am getting ready, violet is right there putting on her "makeup" and getting her dolls ready as well.

with two kids, i find that sometimes i need an extra set of hands- and vi is always there to step in and help. one of her favorite ways to help is to find garbage and throw it away. for a while, cade and i were so impressed with her ability to recognize what was garbage and that she knew where to throw it away. a few days later, i went to wash out the tub in our guest bathroom and found where violet's "garbage can" was. i guess she thought the tub was a good a place as any to throw the trash. ever since then, if you part the curtain in the tub, you are sure to find a collection of wrappers, old papers and maybe a diaper or two that violet has decided to throw away.

TALKING

more and more violet is expressing herself- and it is so fun to be a part of it. she went through a pretty nasty biting stage not too long ago, so we are just glad that she is using her mouth in a much more constructive way. her vocabulary is doubling by the week and it is great to hear her try to put sentences together. now, when we sit down to read her familiar books, she likes to tell me what the story is. i will be honest, sometimes i have NO idea what she is saying but she says it with such enthusiasm that i just go with it. she has the opportunity to play with her neighbor friends quite often and i love to hear them all chatter as they play. again, most of it is long, jibber-filled sentences, but they seem to know what the other is saying.

i think i could go on and on and on about this little girl....

halloween roundup

this year our halloween consisted of the following:

picking our pumpkins

we ventured out to the local pumpkin patch for some hayrides, animal time and pumpkin picking. violet spent all of her time trying to give all the animals hugs. she managed to wrangle in a few goats- but could never catch the cute, little piglets. she sure does love her animals!

in this picture, violet is "smiling."

carving our pumpkins

violet was a little too young to appreciate this tradition last year, so i was excited to get her into the action this time around. she wasn't really too fond of the pumpkin guts at first. it took some time...but she came around eventually.

ivy was content to get some love from her nana while the carving party raged on.

in the end, we had some great pumpkins!

parties

we had some really fun parties to attend this year as we led up to the big day. the ross family had us over for our annual chili and pumpkin party. violet ran wild with the other little girls while we dined on yummy treats and carved some more.

the neighborhood hosted an awesome trunk or treat. this was vi's first experience trick or treating- and she picked up on it right away. all she needed to do was say, "trick or treat" and "thank you" and she would magically get candy. this. was. heaven. she ran from car to car and timidly asked for her candy. ivy, the fabulous baby that she is, slept through the party all comfy and cozy.

next was the hobbs' party. they had a fabulous spread, a great crowd and some fun prizes.

violet and cade each won "best costume" award for their respective age groups and vi was thrilled to pick her fairy pez prize and candy. admittedly, she is one cute pirate.

facial hair

halloween conveniently fell into cade's shaving schedule as he went from having a full beard and long locks back to his normal self. it really did work out well for his various costumes...

the big day

when halloween finally came, violet was ready! we all got into costume and headed to nana and gramps' house for a fun party.

everyone was in costume- even my dad! that is a rarity, but he didn't want to disappoint the grandkids. if you can't tell from the picture what owen is dressed as, i'll tell you: he is a SHARK VAMPIRE. the kind of shark that "eats blood." he was having a hard time just picking one costume but i think he pulled off the hybrid in the cutest way possible.

before going out for candy, we ate a yummy dinner. violet spent most of her time huddled around the root beer brew. she just kept drinking and drinking and drinking... i thought about stopping this- but it was halloween. you are supposed to get filled up with sugar, right? plus look how cute she is.

i did, however, draw the line when she kept trying to eat the dry ice...

next, we went out to trick or treat. it wasn't as cold as it has been in previous years but i still bundled ivy up before we headed out. her pirate costume wasn't quite warm enough...

but she makes for a pretty cute pumpkin too!

violet was loving life as she literally ran from house to house with her cousins. she was smaller, so she had to run the whole time to keep up- but she didn't seem to mind!

after a while, however, she realized she couldn't keep the pace. she quickly found a solution by holding on to two people and lifting her legs while they carried her. she really needed to conserve that energy. she would lift her legs up until it was time to run to the next porch and then she would hurry and let go and run to the door. quite the system.

ivy, as usual, was perfectly content to watch all the action from the stroller. she didn't make a peep the entire time! love that baby.

after we had gathered as much candy as possible, we headed back so the kids could play and we could all chat together. it really did make for a great halloween.

loving on ivy

finally, i should mention that we sure did spend a lot of our time loving on this baby during halloween. we can't get enough.