Ho Ho Ho...

Let me start out by saying that Avery

DEFINITELY

knows who Santa is.

Her screams of "Santa, Santa!" could be heard over

the train

passing us by.

See, we went to the annual Caliente Depot lighting

where Santa came to visit the kiddos.

Of course we were at the end of the line,

in the freezing cold,

but did that stop us from seeing the man in red?

Nope.

Avery was a little nervous once she was faced

by Saint Nick.

But with Mommy at her side she happily

sat upon his lap.

She even got a candy cane.

Laura and Kaitlyn are veterans at this point.

They did not hesitate to climb up and make their gift requests.

Laura wants a bike... knew that already from the letter she wrote Santa

before Thanksgiving.

Kaitlyn wants Barbies, Littlest Pet Shops, and a rocking horse

(meaning the giant stuffed horse at Costco).

I'm glad I was listening in.

* * *

Being it's December Kaitlyn has decided that she's

"going to be good because it's almost Christmas."

I suppose the rest of the year doesn't count.

Surprise...

Thanksgiving was wonderful...

we ate at Aaron's parents' house,

got to see Acasia and Logan,

had an amazing chocolate pecan pie,

and after we got home and were relaxing

there came a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?"

I thought it was Acasia and/or Logan.

Nope.

It was my sister, Cortney, and my new niece, Starlyn!!!

She drove from Provo and totally suprised me!

I really was suprised.  Apparently Aaron knew but never said a word.

Isn't she adorable?

The girlies loved their new cousin (their first on my side of the family).

It was fun to lay Spencer and Starlyn next to each other.

Cortney insists Starlyn will beat him up eventually.

She probably will.

If she takes after her mama.

We've decided they'll be best buds anyway.

I love my sis and niece.

And I love surprises...

unless they come wrapped in a diaper.

Snuggly...

Avery gets a little bit crabby right around lunchtime.

Yesterday she fell asleep watching a movie and the kitties decided

to join her.

I had to take advantage of the peaceful moment.

My three troublemakers were behaving themselves.

O Christmas Tree...

On Saturday Aaron, Acasia, Logan and the girlies tromped through the snow in search

of the perfect Christmas tree (actually two... one for Mom and Dad West also).

I was at a craft fair (still don't know why I even try... oh well.) so Little Man spent time with Grandma.

Aaron bundled the girlies up and off they went.

 After we got the tree in the stand Kaitlyn and Avery gave it some water.

Monday night we got out the decorations and got busy.

Mom West brought me three beautiful ornaments from Germany, including

the nutcracker.

Aaron thinks the tree itself is quite ugly.

I call it "quirky."

(It really is a bit ugly, but I love it anyway.  And the decorations help a lot!)

Today the girlies wrapped their gifts to each other and put them

under the tree.

I hope they stay wrapped...

I'll let you know in 24 hours.

Four Months...

Well, Spencer's four months now.

I can't believe it's been four months.

Little Man now...

-weighs 14 pounds

-laughs and smiles lots

-rolls over

(apparently.  I have yet to see it.  But Mom West and Aaron both say he does.)

-grabs onto the toys on his "gym" and attempts to drown them in drool.

Everyday I love Little Man more and more.

I'm so thankful I'm his mom.

Dessert...

Tonight I discovered the best thing about having a woodstove

(other than heat)...

inside s'mores.

You know what makes it perfect?

Ice.

Cold.

Milk.

You just can't get that camping.

Observations...

I went for a much needed walk this morning.

This is what I saw...

I have found the most ordinary things are sometimes

the most beautiful.

"Gingerbread" Houses...

Yesterday I decided to buy candy (a LOT of candy) and some frosting.

I had some graham crackers at home.

The following is what happens when you give these items to little girlies...

We have ourselves some lovely "gingerbread" houses.

I wonder if I could talk the Keebler elves into moving in for the holidays...

they could do my holiday baking.

Good Morning...

This morning was perfect...

The girlies got along and spent most of the morning coloring.

Spencer slept in and let me get things accomplished.

I cleaned the refrigerator.

I discovered that's where all my tupperware was hiding.

I even got to vacuum the living room.

Glory be it was a wonderful morning.

Boxes...

Turns out boxes make good forts.

And little Averys make good under-the-bed monsters.

Point of View...

This morning, as Spencer happily lay under his gym toy, I thought,

"I wonder what he sees down there?"

Apparently that's what he sees.

Toasty...

Our house doesn't have central heating or air conditioning.

Some of the summer days, especially in July when I was 9 months pregnant, were quite miserable.

However, I absolutely LOVE our wood stove.

The girlies have figured out that it's good not to touch it...

without any burnt body parts.

Impressive, right?

I just love the feeling of the warmth coming off of it.

And I'm quickly becoming a good fire-builder.

It is difficult not to break out the marshmallows though...

Panoramas and Peace...

Today we went up to the radio towers on one of the mountains that surround Caliente.

We took some photos.

I was so excited to discover that my Photoshop program can create panoramas!

So this...

is the town of Caliente.

Of course I threw in some photos of the

cutest kids around

(I swear I'm not biased).

Whenever I wear the Snugli I can barely see where I'm walking,

so of course I kept worrying that Aaron would trip.

Imagine how that worry multiplied when he added Avery to the equation.

I'm not sure where she learned the peace sign... all she had to say was,

"It's a cool sign mom."

I couldn't argue with that.

I took some random photos of some textures I found interesting.

I must admit that the desert has many interesting textures.

Now I just need to figure out who will print out my panorama for my wall

without charging me an arm and a leg.

Hmm...

See...

...this is what happens while I'm at work:

A three-month old with tattoos.

He didn't seem too tough.

Let's just hope his father hasn't set a precedent for future decisions

that may be permanent.

All Hallows Eve...

We started our evening at the PTO carnival.  The girls enjoyed the games.

We went trick-or-treating with the Bazil family and the Lopez family.

I'm SO thankful we met up with them... Aaron was working so it was me trying to

herd the girlies in the right direction (meaning out of the street).

Well, here are some photos from our Halloween fun...

(Please excuse our disaster of a living room!)

Spencer the duck...

MUCH better than "Howard the Duck."

I love the look on Kaitlyn's face.

I can never get good Halloween photos, especially of all the kids together.

It must be a curse.

Yep, that's it, I have the

"can't get good Halloween photos no matter what you do"

curse.

At least it's just once a year.