P, p, P, p...What Begins with P?

....Presents, Pink, Princess, and a Birthday Party!

Eden is FOUR (and has been for about 1/2 a year now)!

She is quite the big girl now and can do things like comb her own hair (the more decorations the better, obviously) and get dressed by herself (notice she chose the exact same shirt as her last birthday).  She is a super fun girl who adds a lot of smiles and laughs to our family!

She was way excited about her presents (a princess puzzle from Jay and Brynn, new makeup, clothes for her babies, a pink wireless mouse of her own that fits her hand perfectly and...

Princess Clothes!:

Eden's big day was lots of fun.  Grandma Dorothy came over in the morning with Keumyeo, Sienna, and Raiden.  We had presents and cupcakes and went to Kangaroo Zoo, a big warehouse with tons of bounce houses that Eden and Noah love!  Eden had tons of fun "showing the ropes" to Sienna.  In the afternoon, we got to watch Beauty & the Beast (from Grandma).  Dinner, presents, and dessert with Jay, Brynn, and Maddi was a super fun finish to the day.  Also, Eden had her own little mini party at Grandma and Grandpa Lillywhite's while we were down there for Christmas and New Year's.  We decorated cookies and she got her own Genghis Khat, the cutest tiny doll, and some fun books.  She loved that too!  Pictures of that here!

Winter Fun (it is possible, Lance)!

Winter is currently a thing of the past (and hopefully the far distant future--no early winter, please!), but I wanted to post some pictures of some of the winter fun we did have.  Maybe it will be the reminder we need next winter that fun is perhaps possible despite the arctic conditions.

Temple Square:

Temple square with the lights: crowded, cold, impossible parking, and absolutely magical!  This is the second year we've taken Eden and Noah and it was way warmer (although probably not above freezing) than last year.  We drove around like maniacs trying to find parking (a difficult feat with a Jazz game going on), parked illegally, oooh-ed and ahhh-ed at the lights, met up with Jeff and Carla and then hurried off for some secret Santa shopping with Jay, Brynn, and Maddi. 

Ginger Bread House:

Isn't that cute!?  Carla made ginger bread house kits for us, Aaron and Keumyeo, and her and Jeff and got all the stuff together for us to decorate so we could carry on the Weaver tradition.  Too bad we forgot the camera for the decorating.  It was super fun!  The kids acted excited to help, but just stuffed themselves with treats until they actually complained how much their tummies hurt!  I like our psychotic snowman!

Once There Was A Snow-Woman...

Tall, Tall, Tall!

From my personal journal:  "We spent the morning outside building a 7 1/2 foot tall snowman together!  Eden loved it!  Noah is pretty sketchy about the snow even though he has all the warm gear, so he wasn't as excited.  It was sunny for a lot of the morning and after the snow-woman was complete we sledded down the side of our yard from front to backyard a few times and played with the kids on the slide.  It was nice." 

Let It Snow?

Eden loved the snow this year!  We would bundle up and she would stay out there until her feet (stuck in plastic bags and then into her shoes) couldn't take it any longer.  Noah wasn't so sure about that white stuff and tried to hide out on the porch most of the time.  Maybe this next winter we'll have to invest in some snow boots for the both of them and see if it helps!

Christmas 2011

When I worked at the pool in St. George we had an event called "Christmas in July".  I guess that is what this is since I'm seriously slow posting pictures of that holiday of holidays!  Oh, well...I just really want to be able to look back at these pictures and memories even if they were posted 6 months late!

The Dressing of the Tree:

I woke up early one morning, got out our little tree and got it ready to be decorated: fluffing the branches, adjusting the lights, and putting on the ribbon.  Noah woke up and caught me in the act.  He was super excited!  

Eden was quite the little decorator this year (and redecorated the bottom quarter of the tree pretty much everyday in December).  Noah liked trying to break things.  The Christmas Tree somehow makes the cold outside bearable, doesn't it.

Nativity "Puffets"

Grandma Lillywhite sent the cutest little nativity finger puppets and the kids loved playing with them (when they weren't missing in some very random spot).

Christmas Morning:

Christmas morning in the casita again this year.  We woke up, had a little breakfast in bed (don't tell Dorothy), opened a gift with a "little people" nativity set and arranged it piece by piece while we read about each one in the Bible.  Then it was time to open gifts to each other from each other.  Then Grandma and Grandpa Lillywhite and Grandma Kurtz came over (where was the camera?) and more presents.  Grandma Kurtz shot me in the eye with a ping pong gun!

Loot!

Eden and Noah got these little 4-wheelers obtained by Brynn and Christie at the midnight madness thing at Wal-Mart back at Thanksgiving (thanks, ladies).  Once Noah finally got the hang of his he liked it as much as Eden did!

We had a fun late-morning present opening at the Sheffield Casa, complete with a fun twist on white elephant, followed by a complete "Thanksgiving" dinner.  Then it was over to the Lillywhite homestead to visit all the cousins there.  What a fun, full day!  Too bad we didn't get a few more pictures!

Two!

So, about 6 months ago our little guy had a birthday.  I love looking back at the blog at special events in our lives so I'm posting these pictures even though they are from forever ago.

NOAH!

This little guy stole his mom's heart the moment he arrived and melts it pretty much every day with his sweet little personality.  

Look how ecstatic he is about these candles!  He was so excited for it to be his special day!  He got a tiny bit bummed out when his blows didn't seem too effective (all the air goes straight up to his eyebrows instead of forward) so we hurried and helped him out.

We had gourmet pancakes for his birthday dinner (trying to find something this little guy would love) and a chocolate cookie cake (he's not a big fan of the typical kind) for dessert.

Presents were hilarious!  He opened and sound-making, go-on-its-own car from Jay, Brynn, and Maddi first and it completely captivated his attention.  He held it for the rest of the night and had only one hand available for the rest of his presents (tool set, bear, skooty, stroller, cooking set)!

 

Here's the folks who helped him celebrate his big day: