Christmas Day!

Christmas was wonderful this year and Santa Claus found us even at Grandma Wangsgard's house! It was a lot of fun this year because Haley was actually understanding who Santa is and what he does! She was so excited to put out cookies and write a letter to Santa. The morning was wonderful and the kids had a great time of course! Haley was especially excited about the Tinkerbell movie (she was into tinkerbell this year- hence the pj's as well) and also a talking doll with a stroller, high chair, and bed. Parker loved his Truck that Haley gave to him and also his play farm - he kept saying "yeehaw yeehaw". They were both really excited to have a new sled that they both could fit in! Later that night we had that Wangsgard Christmas party which can only be summed up in one word - CHAOS!! We love the chaos though and it is so fun to have all the cousins together especially for Haley! We are so grateful that we were able to spend Christmas with all our family - it would be so wierd not to be with them all!

Christmas Eve

My family always has their Christmas party on Christmas Eve and we were so glad to be a part of it this year. It was extra special because my Grandma and Grandpa Jackson were there. We had a little program and the kids sang Jingle bells, and also had a nativity. Haley was an angel, and Parker was the cutest sheep I've ever seen!! It was such a fun night of giftgiving and traditions! We ended the night with Christmas Eve Jammies!! Haley was so excited for her Tinkerbell PJ's and Parker would point at his 'Cars' PJ's and say "Tuck" (aka truck) It was pretty cute!

After I posted the slideshow I realized I missed a pic that I wanted to share. This is Parker sporting his Cristmas punch mustache! (Christmas punch is a long time family Christmas tradition)

Tree Decorating!

We decided to get a Christmas tree and decorate even though we weren't going to be at our house for Christmas. I have such fond memories of decorating the Christmas tree when I was little so I guess I want to give my kids the same experience. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. Haley was especially excited when she got to put the star on. Also, we had quite the snowstorm (of course it was while scott was gon) and I was snowed in for a few days. The wind and drifts were the worse part and it all seemed to land in front of my house! Thanks to some wonderful neighbors we were able to get dug out! The kids didn't mind the snow though!

Thanksgiving!!

We had our very own Thanksgiving dinner this year! Although it was bitter-sweet to be away from family we enjoyed celebrating on our own. I cooked my very first Turkey (which didn't turn out too bad considering) and we had all the fixins. Needless to say we had a LOT of leftovers! Haley was very excited to eat turkey and Parker of course made a HUGE mess but it was a lot of fun. I am so thankful for my little family!

Halloween Pumpkins!

Here are some pics of the kids in their Halloween costumes - My two sweet pumpkins! Haley has been very into pumpkins lately and was so excited to be one! Parker looked especially cute with his on and his little waddle, I wish I would have got some video of him! Haley loved carving the pumpkin as well! Halloween was really fun - we played in the leaves during the day and then took the kids trick or treating to a few houses. Haley loved trick or treating and still talks about it :)

Family Pictures!

These are the best of our new family pics! They turned out great! Thanks to my friend Katrina who took them for us! She did a great job! Its quite a trick getting everyone to smile at the same time, but we got a few good ones ;)

 

(If you click on the collage you can see a bigger version of it - I couldnt get it any bigger on the post)

A visit from Grandma!

It's taken me a while to get this on here, but a couple weeks ago my mom came to visit for a week! It was so fun to have grandma stay with us for so long and the kids loved having her here! We all were very sad to see her leave, but are grateful that she was able to come out.

The kids did most of the entertaining for her ;) but we did go to a couple fun places. We went to Reimman Gardens - which is part of Iowa State - obviously it has lots a beautiful gardens but it also has a butterfly house (which the kids absolutely loved) and also a little kids area where they had a fossil dig and dinosaurs. There was also these chimes that you could step on and they would play, Haley enjoyed that a lot.

Near the end of the week Paul (Scott's brother) and his family came as well! (We dont get visitors a lot, but I guess when it rains it pours!) While they were here we visited the famous Boone Train. The kids really enjoyed it. Haley loved having all her cousins here as well. She always asks when Dane is coming again - and tries to convince me that Grandma is at the airport waiting for us to pick her up :)