Christmas with Grandma Heath

This year Grandma Heath came over the week before Thanksgiving and gave the gifts she had for the kids. The reason we did this was because we weren't going to see her again for another month and a half. Our family was heading to Ohio for Thanksgiving, then she was going to Florida for her art classes, and then the kids and I were going to be gone to Seattle for 4 weeks before she got back. Crazy right? So, it all came down to a Heath Christmas before Thanksgiving. The kids LOVED it of course. They got lots of things to help entertain them for our long road trip ahead to Ohio. Austin and I got a beautiful clock that plays music on the hour and has silver diamonds that spin.

 Emeri loved her gold purse, princess coloring pack, finger nail polish, and a Frosty the Snowman book. That is her favorite Christmas song/book.

 The boys were too excited to open their gifts!  

 They got these awesome super hero boxes that held their crayons and markers. The Christmas books they got were oohed and awed over too.

This is my favorite picture. I loved seeing the kids gathered around Grandma reading to them a Christmas story.

Ginger Bread Houses and White Elephant

Here we are at Grandma's house making ginger bread houses. Tammy makes the best ones and they are always so large! Decorating ginger bread houses are a kids dream during the holidays. I mean they have cookie built into a house, an limited amount of frosting, and all the candy they can grab. Fun? I think so! 

That evening we played our traditional white elephant game. Kadi's mom and two of her sisters played with us. It was a great group of people playing a fun game. 

 

 It was hilarious to see each other sing, draw, act out, and open quirky gifts.. I did a fun gift where I put money in a bag, put the bag in a jar of water, and then froze it. On the label I wrote cold hard cash! HAHA

  All who participated in our traditional white elephant game.

 Funny Faces!

Thank You Emeri

 Potty training! Well, I can't complain at all, Emeri was so easy to potty train. I don't know if it was the fact that she is a girl or if it was because we waited a few months later then the boys, but Emeri caught on so quickly. Within three days she was telling me she needed to go potty, and after 2 weeks she didn't need a diaper at night. Oh thank you Emeri! Or most importantly thank you Heavenly Father. He blessed me with an easy trainer at the right time.

Austin just reminded me that while we were training Emeri she would say the cutest thing. If nothing was coming out while she was on the toilet she would say, "it's not working Daddy, it's not working." HAHA Austin said it always made him laugh. Love that silly Emeri girl.

Aunt Sarah's visit

After my Sister's mission, Sarah came down south to visit with us. Jon and Jenna had asked her to watch their kids for them while they went on their cruise. It was such a fun time to share with Sarah and visit. I had almost forgotten how much I stinkin love my little sis. We had such a good time dancing, eating, talking, and sharing experiences with each other. We can't wait to see her again at Christmas time!

Andrew, Isaac, Nathan, Gracie, Katelyn, and Emeri.

 On one occasion Aunt Sarah and the kids made snow from conditioner and making soda. It was a fun activity that made a complete mess but was a blast for the kids. They played with their snow all morning long.

 Isaac made a snowman and put a measuring cup on the top for a hat. I thought that was cleaver. Also, over time their snowmen melted and became ramps to drive their cars on. HAHA

 I love seeing our kids really involved in an activity. The looks of concentration are adorable and for Emeri even gorgeous. HAHA

Happy baby Oakley is just glad to be alive! She is always smiling and excited for any face that comes in view.  The picture on the right is one I had to add to show what our house looks like and what I feel like I am constantly doing. HAHA It's not messy right? Just lived in? It is an ongoing battle that will be a relief when it's forever clean but extremely missed. I love having a kid packed house. I know I will miss it when I am older but it is quite tiring now. 

Fun Crafts in November

 Happy November!! Aunt Kadi thought of the best idea EVER! She told me to use our Christmas tree as a Thanksgiving tree as well. That way, it can be used for more then one holiday and for two straight months out of the year! Genius! The kids and I cut out leaves, colored them, wrote our names on the ones we colored, wrote the year, and then laminated them. Now we can use white board markers on the leaves to write what we are thankful for and reuse them the next year. YES!
The other picture is of Isaac creating his own binoculars. He grabbed two tube links, wrapped tape around them, and stuck them to his head. I was pretty impressed and thought it was funny too.

Here are pictures of Emeri and Andrew waiting for our homemade popcorn to pop. The kids love popcorn and with the extra we made popcorn string for our Thanksgiving tree.

Five Fat Turkeys Are We. In Isaac's music class there is a song that he is suppose to memorize that is about 5 fat turkeys escaping Thanksgiving by being the turkey in the highest tree. The kids love that song and think it's funny. So, we gathered our supplies and made our own fat turkeys to hang up over the fire place. Emeri was in heaven with the paint. She loves any form of paint.

Andrew's 4th Birthday

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew. Oh my sweet, sweet Andrew. You have a smile that will light up any room. Your chocolate brown eyes are noticed by all who look at you. You are a wild child that cannot do anything without making a ton of noise. Whether it is closing a door, eating up to the table, playing superheros, coloring a picture, going to the bathroom, talking to me, or simply walking around......it is always, out of ten, a volume 9.99. I always know where you are in the house. 

Your favorite things to do are pretend fight with Isaac, play puppy dog with Emeri, sneak into any dark closet with a flash light, read ninja turtle books, put on any superhero costume, and most of all laugh. You love to laugh and laugh, either at someone or with someone. Your contagious laughter is what you like to do. You tell me all the time that your favorite color is red, your favorite superhero is Raphael, your favorite sport is soccer, and your favorite food is pizza. One thing you said that made me laugh so hard happened when you were trying to persuade me that you didn't need to wear your jacket. I thought I was being clever so I told you to step outside without one so that you could see just how cold it was. Your response will never be forgotten. You walked right back into the house and told me, "see mom, it's not cold it's fresh." HAHA It had me rolling. you won that time, no jacket for Andrew.  We love you very much Andrew and know that you are suppose to be in our family. You bring such joy and laughter to our family. Thank you for being you! 

Cousins and Siblings- Nathan, Emeri, Isaac, Andrew, Derek, and Katelyn

I love that smile! It just melts my heart. What a sweet boys he is, his excited attitude is read all over that adorable face.

Blowing out the candles! Andrew finally got it right. He has blown out probably 3 or 4 other peoples candles out before his birthday. Finally we didn't have to get after him for blowing them out, it was his turn. HAHA

Grandma Heath gave Andrew a set of awesome Nerf guns. I loved the wrapping paper. -wink-

Yummy cake! We love Grandma Heath's cake. So delicious! Andrew had two pieces of cake and two helpings of ice cream. He asked me for more but I told him he should wait a little bit. A few minutes later he told me he had a stomach ache. HAHA Good thing I stopped him when I did. Awe....what good is a birthday party without a stomach ache from cake! 

The next morning Daddy surprised the boys and stayed late for a Nerf game. It was crazy! They were laughing, running, screaming, dodging, and shooting all over the place. 

Oakley's 4th Month

Our precious baby girl is 4 months old!!! Hooray! Mommy has made it this far with 4 kids! HAHA Our sweet Oakley is growing so fast. She is smiling at anyone and loves loves loves to put her fingers in her mouth. Oakley has such a calm and precious personality, which is why we like to call her precious. We love you Oakley. Your sweet spirit is already having an impact on our family.

Oakley loves to sit in both her bumbo chair and on her Daddy's lap.

This is Oakley's first bath! No, this isn't the first time we have washed her, we usually stick her in the shower with whoever is in at the time. This though was her first bath. She loved it. The warm water still with still a view of her funny siblings, Oakley was in Heaven. Oh and look, she has her fingers in her mouth. Love you sweet girl. Now we just need to work on sleeping longer through the night.

 

More fingers!!! Yum Yum Yum