Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive!

I think this is the closest that I have ever posted together! Usually they run 2-3 months apart! We are on a roll!")



I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving although it was wonderful! The Flannery Family minus Brooke and her family and Alli and her fiance and Grandma Nelson came down here for the big feast. So I guess it was just G-ma Flannery, Papa Flannery and Brennon. But it was awesome. Big turkeys, homemade stuffing. I wouldn't consider myself a 'scratch' kind of girl in my every day to day cooking. Why make rolls when you can buy them frozen? Why whip your own cream when it comes in the freezer section and is 75cents? Heck I don't even shred my own cheese anymore. So... what I am getting at is when Thanksgiving comes, we set our old, time saving habits aside and 'SCRATCH' it up. Homemade everything! Mmmmmm. So just visualize!

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ANYWAY, toward the end of Nov I grabbed my kids, my camera and my husband because for some reasons I can get other kids to smile when I take their pictures but my kids don't seem to understand the concept of don't move, smile and don't CHOKE each other in pictures! So we attempted to take Christmas pictures and ended up with a few tears. (I think they were mine :)

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Every month Nick takes Sam to go and see a children's play at a theatre by ASU. I always get jealous that they get to escape on their dates so Nick got 4 tickets to the play in Dec called "Jingle Bells Batman Smells, P.S. So Does Mae!" We were all Extremely excited because we had read that book as a family so even Cooper loved Junie B. It would be interesting with Paxton but I was willing to risk it! We packed more snacks than would fit in my bag and were off. When we got to the theatre and read the sign that said NO SNACKS ALLOWED I asked myself a question... "Do I break the rules OR have a screaming kid that distracts EVERYONE and possibly the actors???" What mom would not choose the latter? I guess the joke was on me though because 30 minutes into it Pax and I had to leave and attend the sound proof room. Which was still nice, but for some reason the MAGIC had faded. That's OK though, we had left the house and Coop, Sam and Pax had LOVED it!! We walked around the theatre outside and took some shots of the cute little nuggets enjoying the beautiful weather!

Why is it when you ask a boy(s) to turn, look and you and smile, they always seem to look further away?

Pax pretending to read the program.
And my Sam striking her pose!
We had a wonderful day walking around the lake and enjoying a beautiful Sat. Go Junie B Jones!!

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Sam gets out of school at 2:20 everyday and I love it. I love that she has time to come home, do her homework and still have time to play. This day when I got home after picking her up the boys were missing. (No I do not leave my boys home alone while I pick up my daughter from school. Nick works from home and will take a 10 minute break sometimes and play with them.)

So this particular day I came home with Sam and couldn't find the boys anyway! I started to panic until I heard giggling in the play room behind the love sack! This is what I found....

Two little boys who had made a bed for themselves and pretending to be asleep. I kept hearing snoring noises while I listened!


Sam soon joined in on the fun!
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At the beginning of Dec Grandma Kris surprised us with a visit. She was down here with work but we had so much fun on the weekend with her! A big tradition that has been going on for as long as I have been a Siddoway is the Gingerbread house making! You just don't buy a box kit, you buy the kit with about 20 other types of candy! So fun!


The kids had so much fun decorating the house, trees, snowmen and making a Christmas train for the gummy bear to ride! :)

Halfway caught up. Hip Hip Hooray!