It's a Boy!!!

I know I found out on December 5th and here it is the 30th but we are having a boy! A friend had the cute idea of making a white cake and then adding pink or blue food coloring according to what the baby was. Then the rest of the family had to cut into the cake to find out if they would be bringing home a little sister or brother. My kids loved this!! It made their day and was such a fun way to tell them!

Honor Roll for Jake

Jake made the Honor Roll and was very excited about it. This is his first year at Lakeview Academy and was so happy because he says it's harder than the Elementary school he was attending. (I don't know if it really is but they are required to do more projects and activities than the other school).

A few "Favorites"

Okay, take a good look at Ava's face. She was so happy and excited that Santa brought her the marionette puppets she asked for. But the next day I saw her throw one to the ground and say, "these stinking things always get tangled!" I thought I would die laughing, which did not help things at all. Lesson learned! Next year we will ask Santa for "age-appropriate" toys:). Jake also got marionette puppets from Santa which he continues to love and work with. Brad got his voice-recorder from Santa but he has used his digital camera the most and couldn't believe his eyes when he opened it. Ethan is growing up and asked for clothes and money. He asked Santa for basketball shoes which Santa brought. Uncle Dave gave him a shirt with money taped to it and Grandma and Grandpa gave him a BYU ornament with money as well. The kids were spoiled and we had so much fun together and as usual it was "the best Christmas ever!!"

Christmas Day at G&G Merrills

The excitement before the opening of the presents is quite evident in these cute little faces! They had so much fun and it was loud and crazy-like usual. Grandma wore her new Christmas apron that Rachel had Peggy sew for her (which she shed a few tears over when she opened it:) and Uncle Dave had the best Christmas ever! He received 2 hockey jerseys from Mom and Dad and 2 from Rick and Elena!! Made his whole Holiday:)

Ralph Family (minus David and Carolyn)

Here's the group all together on Christmas Eve. David and Carolyn and their kids were in Hawaii but everyone else came this year. (Deborah's second son, Ryan, had their first baby the first of December). I also got a photo of each couple since we rarely see everyone together like this!! One of these years I will be thin like all the other girls:)

Ralph Christmas Eve Party-2011

This year, instead of having the party at Dale and Anita's house, we had it at Don and Jill's. Deborah, Geoff, and Deanna and Russ and their kids were all here for Christmas so it was decided we needed a little more room:) Jill made 3 different soups and people brought appetizers, desserts, rolls ect. The kids re-enacted the birth of the Savior as Grandpa read from the scriptures (Ethan is supposed to be a donkey in that kitty costume). The kids also played the tradition "musical gifts" game. We buy little things at the dollar store and wrap each present 3-6 times and then the kids pass the presents around while music is playing. Once the music stops everyone opens just one layer and so it goes until a name tag is spotted. Then that child opens his gift and the other continue on. The kids live for this game! Grandma did some special sewing for the girls this year. She made each of them their own tissue box cover and they all seemed excited to get one! Grandpa got all the boys BYU shirts! These were a hit as well:)

Christmas Cookies!

This year I decided to do something easy for neighbor gifts. Peanut clusters are about the easiest cookie and people love them so everyone got peanut clusters this year. Jake and Brad and even Ava helped stir them together and Jake even made a batch all by himself to put on Santa's plate. We also had a cookie decorating day with Don and Jill and their kids. I just bought pre-cut cookies that all I had to do was bake and made some butter-cream icing and Jill brought all the decorations. Ava and Reagan enjoyed it the most. The older kids decorated a few but just wanted to play together. Such a fun tradition to do with cousins!!

Our Decorated Tree

Here's the tree all lit up and decorated. The kids even helped Dennis string the lights this year and had so much fun talking about the origins of all the ornaments. Most years our trees sag by the time Christmas Day rolls around but this little tree held up great and the boughs didn't droop and the ornaments stayed on-mostly (Lacy's tail and Tatty knocked off a few)

Getting a Christmas Tree-2011

We always wait until the 1st weekend of December to go pick out a live Christmas tree. Each year we take turns picking one out and this year was Ava's turn. They were so excited and running through the tree lot looking at all of them. With a little guidance, Ava picked a beautiful little tree and the boys tied it to the roof of the car and home we went!

Merrill Thanksgiving 2011

This year we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner early and at our house since most of us go to in-laws for Thanksgiving Day. This was the first time I have ever attempted to cook a turkey and I looked at tons of different recipes but decided to go with "Grandma's Farmhouse Brine" with a few additions. It turned out so delicious and moist!! I borrowed Mom and Dad's roaster since I knew I'd need the oven for a few casseroles and it cooked beautifully but didn't brown so we put it in the oven with the broiler for a few minutes and it browned up somewhat. Everyone said it was the best so we'll probably brine the turkey from now on. We had turkey, potatoes, squash, pecan-topped sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls, chiffon salad, cranberry sauce, pickles and cheese, and mom and dad's orange drink. For dessert we had 2 blueberry pies, an apple, cherry, pecan, chocolate, coconut, and lemon (of course with whipped topping and ice cream). Amost everyone came. Shane was hunting (once in a lifetime chance for an elk) and Alisa and Meg didn't make it (they were having car trouble so Dean brought the 3 girls in his truck). Of course I had grand plans to take pictures of all the food and people before we started dinner but as usual things get happening and then it's over and I only have a couple of photos! We did have a lot of fun and the kids went crazy like they always do when they get together!

Ava Girl Turns 4!

I really can not believe our little shrimp is now 4 years old! She went with me, Brad, and Jake to the store to show us what she really liked. She told us she liked a pop-up tent, make-up, princess shoes, a doodle bear, and she went crazy for a Barbie computer. Then I took her down a different aisle while the boys bought her a doodle bear and then we switched while I bought her the little computer. We went home and had pizza and her cupcakes. She picked Harry Potter because they had rings. She had several friends bring her presents over the next few days. She got a cute little cd player from Hope, littlest pet shop from Finn, a little animal that opens it's mouth and sings from the bishop's family, and a bag of lip gloss and fun things from Ethan and Ava Welch. The next night, Saturday, we took her to Panda Express (the kids love it!).

Jake's Cultural Museum

This past week, the 3rd grade classes at Lakeview Academy had to put on a "cultural museum" of different countries. They had to research 10 facts (5 the teacher picked and 5 they picked themselves). They had to do a poster of the facts with photos, plan and name a restaurant with a menu, and dress up in costume as they presented their facts to parents and family. Dennis went to Argentina on his mission so Jake picked Argentina. He really enjoyed the research but didn't like the typing and dressing up. The bottom photo is of him in the morning, worrying that his costume wasn't good enough and didn't look like Argentinians. He did get some comments on his authentic "gaucho" belt and after it was over he told me that it was the best project ever, and he never got to do anything like that at Meadow Elementary. Such a funny boy!

Halloween 2011 for the Ralphs

The kids switched into more costumes this year than they ever have. Ethan went to a dance as Frankenstein, then to school as a "Men in Black" guy with suit and shades and then Halloween night he dressed as a scarecrow to pass out candy to the kids. Jake started off as a biker dude with a long blonde wig but decided to go as a rocker instead and leave the wig home. Brad went as Joseph Smith to his school party. He still had his long hair which he slicked back on top and then pulled the sides forward like Joseph used to. I wish I had taken a picture of him before he left the house-he really did resemble him and some of his friends even guessed who he was. (after school he wanted his hair cut so I didn't get a picture of him as Joseph) He had several teachers compliment him on his costume. I was a little worried that he might get made fun of but apparently all went well. He even took Dennis mission scriptures that have the leather cover with engravings on them. Dennis dressed up with his Eagles garb when he got home from work and took the three younger ones around for trick-or-treating. Ethan stayed with me and passed out candy but as soon as it was dark he took a chair out to the porch and told me to stay inside:) (he is too old to be seen passing out candy with his mom and wanted to do it by himself). Kids had a blast with their daddy and got way too much candy, as usual!

Dad Turns 77!

We celebrated Dad's 77th birthday on Sunday the 30th. Mother will hate these pictures of her but I thought they were so funny. I wish I could remember what she was saying when she's looking up at Dad with those mischevious eyes. Must have been pretty funny by the looks of the next pictures of her laughing. Mom made two cakes for Dad (a plain one she thought the kids would like and a fancy one for the adults). They made beef stew and home-made mac and cheese and a jello salad as well. Everyone loved it and didn't have much room for cake! It was a fun evening together.

Cousins Halloween Costumes

Kate and Eden were the only ones to be dressed up this year at Grandma and Grandpa's. Rachel's kids had already taken pictures and were back into their street clothes and we were a bit late so mine didn't dress up either. McKenna had fallen off the trampoline and had her arm in a sling. She may have broken her elbow and will have to have more x-rays this week after swelling goes down. So we have Kate as Cleopatra and Eden as Alice. What cute girls!