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!