Christmas 2018

Decorating the Tree

Let the ornament stealing begin! There couldn't be a cuter little elf though.

Reuben's Preschool Nativity Program

There couldn't be a cuter nativity cow either!

This is mine and Scott's master piece. Scott gets his hodgepodge Christmas tree with very meaningful ornaments from all the places we've visited and my beautifully wrapped presents. Wrapping gifts fulfills the obsessive neat freak inside me.

And this is my favorite wrapped gift. I know, I'm ridiculous and have a problem.

Family Visits

Scott's brother and his wife, Jessica, were able to visit us in Bakersfield because they were spending the holidays with Jessica's family in Los Angeles.

And we forgot to take pictures Christmas morning or we haven't downloaded them yet. Ooops, life happens!

Thanksgiving 2018

Last minute we decided to make a trip to Utah for Thanksgiving. It's a family tradition to stop by as many temples as we can when we are on road trips; so this time we were able to stop by St. George, Utah Temple

The adults had a lot of fun visiting and the kids had a lot of fun playing. We were really lame and didn't get any pictures with my family except the professional pictures that my mom planned. Opps!

Jason, Lindsey and their kids (four boys and one girl just like us) were visiting Lindsey's parents for Thanksgiving; so we were able to get together for a few hours to talk and play together.

I loved Marissa's shirt so much that I went and bought the same one, ha!

It was a fun trip, but quick. We traveled all day Wednesday, spent Thursday, Friday & Saturday cramming in as much as possible, and then traveled back all day Sunday.

This picture sums up our drive home. It is called "Terrible's" (a convenience/gas station chain in the area). On a non-busy day it would have taken us 2-3 minutes to get back onto the freeway from this store, but because it was the last day of the Thanksgiving weekend it took us 20 minutes! We also tried stopping at a rest stop, waited in line for 10 minutes and then found out they had to close because the toilets stopped working from too many people. Ahhhhhh! We also waited at one intersection for an hour. What should have been a 12-14 hour day (including stops), turned out to be an almost 18 hour day (with minimal stops too). I will never drive back on Sunday of a major holiday again.

Halloween 2018

Reuben's Preschool Halloween Party

He chose the biggest pumpkin out of all the other students. I had to make Tim walk so I could push it in the stroller because it was so HEAVY!

Timmy - Knight & Reuben - Darth Vadar

Pumpkin Carving

I was so proud of myself that I did pumpkin carving solo without Scott. I hate messes and it is hard for me to let go for pumpkin carving; thankfully, we live somewhere warm and move the mess to the outdoors. Doing it in groups of two helps as well.

Peter would only dress up for our ward trunk-or-treat because he wanted the candy. Otherwise he said he is done dressing up for Halloween and unwilling to participate in most photos. I'm so sad cause I thought I had another year or two before he got all teenagery on me.

Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows symbol (from HP), and the easiest patterns in the book, ha!

Costumes

Reuben - Darth Vadar

Adeline - Rapunzel

She's a princess, so we had to take a crazy amount of photos with costume modifications of coarse!

Rigby - Kylo Ren

Disneyland - October 2018

This was our last Disneyland trip before our passes expired. Scott's mom is a big Disney fan (and actually has a Disney World pass), so she flew in and joined us for a couple of days at Disneyland. We had a blast (minus Reuben not eating and being difficult and an injury that Kristine got on her leg on the Ferris Wheel) and as usual got a million fun pictures!

Both Kristine and I bought the Maleficent Minnie Mouse ears. I love them! I could really get into collecting Minnie Mouse ears. The kids call them my "evil Minnie ears".

We tired the poor children out and now need another vacation to recover ourselves. We're going to miss Disneyland, but our bank account won't, ha!

Reuben's Bike Parade

Reuben was so excited to bring his bike to school and ride it. That is until he saw the police dog (someone dressed as the police dog McGruff) and then he would not pass within 10 feet of McGruff. Finally the preschool teachers figured out why he would not move, they had McGruff move and then Reuben quickly moved through the little obstacles course. We have had to talk with him about how all large characters like that (Easter Bunny, McGruff, Mickey Mouse, etc) are only people dressed up in costumes; takes away any magic but that is better than a terrified kid!

Reuben's class mascot is Clifford, and they are called the "Big Dogs." Here is Reuben holding up his "license" for completing the bicycle obstacle course.

Tim had to be like his big brother and wear his helmet too!

Timothy's 2nd Birthday

Tim was over the candles and ready to dig into the cookies on top of his cake.

Timmy loves his robot towel. I accidentally put Reuben's shark towel on him the other day and he was not happy with me. He kept pointing to his robot towel until I understood and changed it.

By far this has been a favorite toy for ALL the kids. Tim loves it but I keep having to remind the other kids, especially Peter, that Tim gets first priority on it.

Timmy loves a show called PJ Masks and a little boy that dresses up as a Gecko superhero at night is his favorite.

And with the money he got from Grandma & Grandpa Stewart he had to buy Cat Boy and Owlet. These three stuffed animals go everywhere with him, usually stowed in his little backpack.

Timothy has been such a joy to have in our home. He is such a content and easy going little boy. He has many nicknames: Tim, Timmy, T-Rex, Tim-O, T and more! He is starting to talk a little bit and his pronunciation is good, so hopefully he will keep up the progress. His siblings adore him and are always happy to help him get whatever he needs wants. I will often tell him no and then one of the kids will not realize that and get what he wants when I'm not around. We love you, Timothy!