North Pole Express!

Well, last week we won some tickets for the family to the North Pole Express in Greer and went last night. It was amazing! Dinner at Molly Butler's, trolley ride, visit to Santa's workshop and story time with Mrs. Claus. Too bad my camera died before we met Mrs. Claus. She was so sweet and took the time to talk to all the kids. The kids loved it so much that Nellie started to cry when we left. I'm sure that had something to do with us being there until 10:30pm, but oh well. We knew a lot of the cast members, but fortunately the kids didn't recognize Santa. Why most of the elves were from Round Valley was easy to explain....They applied for the job and got it! One of Brodey's teachers was even an elf with Mrs. Claus! Jax made everyone crack up when they were playing Elf, Elf, Santa (Duck, Duck, Goose,) and Nellie was so excited her dress matched Mrs. Claus'. The kids got to make toys with the elves, eat cookies and drink snow man soup ( hot cocoa.) We saw the elf school and where they sleep, Santa's map room, and pictures with Santa. I have a ton of pics below...kinda boring, but oh well!

Pics from North Pole Experience

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NPX pics

More North Pole pics..

More North Pole Experience pics....

Blog problems and I LOVE Thanksgiving!!

I haven't been able to write posts or captions for my pics...so sorry the last two blogs are so boring. Who knows if I'll figure it out...but who cares..blogs are for pics, right??!! =) Halloween was a lot of fun...candy, corndogs, ice cream, and bronchitis..doesn't get any better. Aaron went trick or treating with us...can't remember the last time he's been able to do that. I'm so glad he did, because Jaxie does NOT listen to me at all. Some meanie teenager poked Jax with a fake knife in the rump...and he's still talking about it. "Sa knife, in da hiney, sa ghost, mean boy." Brodey really liked having a mask on...no on knew who he was. He's turning in to a shy little guy. Nellie was the ultimate Dorothy...with ruby slippers and everything. She wanted to be Dorothy after she got her hair done in the Emerald City. And I was glad, because I can't do french braid piggie tails!!
The kids got to go on temple grounds when Ammon was going through the temple. Brodey was very mad that he could not go in. "I've been in there before, Mom!!" Jaxie liked to walk on the edge of the reflecting pool, pondering life...yeah right.
Nellie really liked all the flowers...and she is really excited to go to the open house for the temples being built in AZ.
I LOVE Turkey Day! It's just a day to be with family and not worry about presents. I'm so sick of all the gift giving of Christmas. One of these years, i'm not going to buy one present!! =)

Some pics of the kids at the Mesa Temple.

Halloween

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Family pics...

Is it too much to ask that my kids open their eyes and smile all together for a pic? So, Aaron and I have decided that what matters is how we look right?? =) Jax, my love, you are little and it doesn't matter what you look like in the picture....you are a goof! Our friend Becky took these pics up by Pat's Knoll. I hate having my picture taken because I am not photogenic...but she made it fun. And may I add that this was the kids second photo session of the day...they had their pics taken with Brooklee and Brinley earlier in the day.

Busy Busy Busy...

Seriously the cutest cowboy ever

Eventhough he is the royal poops sometimes, I love this little guy to pieces!!

Doesn't he look so grown up??

Jaxie is growing up so fast! I love this little guy. These pajamas were Brodey's when he was little and Jax just LOVES them. He calls them "My jamas me." This morning he woke up and said he was going to work. He found Brodey's boots and cowboy hat......."Ready go bye-bye mama? Go get wood?" Aaron and Nic were getting wood today and Jax wanted to go SO bad. Poor guy had to go to the laundry mat with me instead. Laundry mat you say?? Yep the washing machine is kaput. And thats not fun when I average two loads of laundry a day. What else happened this week? Let's see....Brodey played Tarzan on the trampoline and broke his wrist. He gets the cast on Tuesday and wears it for 6 weeks. Nice. No writing at school or homework for 6 weeks. No xbox for 6 weeks. No Trampoline for 6 weeks. Hopefully he'll figure out how to wipe his hiney BEFORE the 6 weeks is up!! Brodey's cat ( his baby, Tilly) got hit by a car on Thursday. This was the best kitty...he was like a little kid. Following us around, meowing whenever we walked by it, and he loved to snuggle with Brodey in bed. I know that is gross...but Brodey loves to snuggle with Tilly. We did a little funeral for him after school yesterday. The kids are so sad....and so was I, and I cried all morning just thinking about how upset the kids were going to be. Aaron built a little casket and dug a little grave for him and I think the kids really liked seeing him one more time. But I am NOT ready for another cat. Living on Main Street has been bad for us with animals. And last but not least....I spent all day last Saturday bottling apple pie filling. 14 quarts thank you! But today, I went in my pantry and 6 of those quarts decided to fall on my head and break all over the ground. It's scary when quart jars are falling on your head. And it hurts...those suckers sting when they smack!! I was a sicky mess and so is my pantry. So after I do all my normal Friday chores...floors, bathrooms, cleaning the kids room.....I have to take everything out of my jam packed pantry and clean up the STICKY mess. So why am I on this blog thing when I should be cleaning??? Oh well.....

Pictures of Brodey's cast to come.....probably Tuesday after he gets the hard one on.

M&M's, Math, and Mom's Day.

Nellie at her desk, with her crazy smile!!

Doing her M&M math.

She drew this picture of me. Notice the lips and rainbow earrings. She told me she did the rainbow earring for the other girls pictures too.

Me and my favorite little lady!

A couple of weeks ago, Nellie's class had a Mom's & Math day. Brodey was telling Nellie how much fun it was going to be, because he had the same kindergarten teacher. I'm so glad I was able to go to it! When I pulled up to the school, Nellie was standing by the fence waiting for me. She looked so worried that I wasn't going to show up, but she was so excited when she saw me. I wish I had my camera right then, but taking pics when driving is not a good idea for me! We did math with M&M's, graphing, measuring, and then I stayed for lunch with her. I'm going to brag now....Nellie is truly so smart. I'm so proud of her and how hard she works at school. She loves her class and loves to do homework. If she could sit at the table all day and do "seat work," she would be in heaven. Math is her favorite and I hope she always works as hard as she does now. Eventhough she is the sassiest little thing and she always wins in a disagreement....I love my little Nella Bella!