Polar Express!!!

The day after Thanksgiving we headed up to Flagstaff to go to the Polar Express! Grandma and Grandpa Clayton were able to come with us!! We walked around and looked at the trains and lights while we waited to board...

We even found the bum that lives on top of the train in the movie!! Dad told Sophie to go stand next to the bum for a picture. She looked at him and said "whats a bum?" Haha but she complied a little nervously...

Lydia fell asleep on the drive over and was really cranky when we got there. But when they passed out hot chocolate and cookies she was cured!

They read the story the Polar Express and the conductor came around and punched our tickets...

We went through a time warp tunnel and saw the North Pole! Santa was standing in his sliegh waving. Lydia was so excited she kept saying "There's Santa Mom!!"

But when we backed up to head back and see the North Pole again santa was gone....they announced he had boarded the train! I wish I had gotten a picture of Sophies face she was beyond shocked. He came by to everyone and gave them a special bell. He leaned down to Lydia and asked her if she wanted a bell. She screamed "No!" and curled up in the fetal position. santa was nice enough though to give her one anyway.

We sang Christmas songs on the way back. It was so much fun and sophie was the perfect age for it. she really got into it. It was definatley worth the trip. after we got off the train we went to see Santa. Sophie was so concerned he wouldnt know what she wanted for Christmas so she was relieved when he got to tell him herself. Luckily Lydia let me hold her next to Santa but their was no way she was sitting on his lap...

We spent the night in Flagstaff. The girls enjoyed the hotels warm swimming pool. Then on saturday we headed to Phoenix and went to the Temple. We stayed to see the Christmas lights...

The girls loved the empty stage and performed several times for us...

 

Then we went home and the girls helped us set up the Christmas tree.  

 



Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving. We headed to my parents house in the morning to go shooting. The girls were so excited to take Eleanor (The Station Wagon). But alas it died before we got to the next exit. I left with the girls and Chad stayed behind to fix her with the help of his Dad. They did eventually make it though and Chad was still able to catch up with the men and shoot some guns.

When they came back everyone enjoyed taking Eleanor for rides...

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and they girls had a blast with their cousins...

Chad and I ran to drop Eleanor off at his parents house so we didn't have to drive her home in the dark. When we came back I couldn't get my boot off. I was seriously stuck and after many attempts by several people my Dad and brother Craig were determined to release me...

I don't know what my Father had planned with that giant knife, but I am happy to say they didn't have to use it. And I did finally get out of it. The zipper had gotten off of the track. They had to unpick the stitches but we were able to save my boot!

It was a fun and exciting Holiday and we enjoyed spending it with our family!

Riding in The Wood Car

The girls are in love with what Sophie calls "The Wood Car." They are always asking if we are going to drive it. We have seat belts in the back bench seat for them and they have claimed their spots. Saturday we had to head into town so Sophie could go to the practice for the primary program. They were so excited when they found out we were taking the wood car. Grandpa Clayton came in the morning and helped Daddy fix a few things and we were off!

Lydia is our little puppy in the car. She likes to sit sideways and hang her head out the window.

Occasionally she sticks her tongue out.....okay not really.

By the time we were headed home Lydia was pretty tired...

Poor little girl had a hard time sleeping. Every time we would turn she would bonk her cheek on the side of the car. I kept telling her to lay down on the bench but she refused so she ended up with a red mark on her cheek by the time we got home.

But she still loves the wood car anyway :)

Sophie's First Primary Program and a Trip to the E.R.

Yesterday was the Primary Program and it was the first time Sophie was able to play a part in it. We got the girls dressed up in their adorable Christmas Dresses from Grandma Clayton...

Sophie did so well in the program. When we received the paper to help her practice her part at home I was a bit confused. Her part was: "because he does." I thought wow what does this go along with?
Come to find out her teacher asks "How do you know your Heavenly Father Loves you?" And she got up to the microphone and paused and then clearly said "Because He does!" It made me tear up she has such a sweet testimony and no doubt that her Heavenly Father loves her.

I asked her whether she came up with her own part and she said yes that it was her answer to the question. Its no wonder why we are to be like a little child.

Fast forward to that night...we had gone to Craig and Jeanette's to celebrate Porter's birthday. On the way home Lydia asked for a wipe to clean her hands. I hand them wipes all of the time in the car so they can blow their nose, clean their hands, clean their shoes, whatever. When all of the sudden she starts complaining about her nose and blowing it. I could see that the one nostril was red and thought oh no she got one of Porter's Lego's up her nose! But when I looked it just looked like a booger in there from my angle in the car.

When we got home we discovered it was full of baby wipe pieces! After a lot of sucking with a bulb syringe and tweezers we got quite a bit out, but she still had a chunk at the very top that we couldn't get out. Chad even tried sucking it out with a straw.... no go. So we put Sophie to bed and our little goofball was excited to skip bedtime and go to the E.R.

She thought it was the funnest trip ever she even got to watch Madagascar in the waiting room. Luckily we only had to wait about 20 minutes. The nurse looked up her nose and sure enough it was clogged. Once she got us checked in we headed to a room and sat on the bed. Right when she closed the curtain to get the doctor Lydia did a big sneeze and the chunk flew out of her nose. I looked at Lydia and said "really!?" and she smiled. The nurse came back in to ask us a question and I told her she sneezed it out. The nurse laughed and said "You know she probably wouldn't have sneezed it out if you stayed home!" the doctor came in looked in her nose and it was clear he told Lydia she could go home now and Lydia said "no!" He thought that was pretty funny and showed her some pictures of his kids and talked to her for a minute.

Luckily we were in and out in under an hour. Which I was shocked this was the first time I had ever had to take my kid to the E.R. and I always hear stories of waiting forever. Either we got really lucky or UMC is the place to go.

Cops and Rodders Show!

Saturday we headed to the Cops and Rodders show here in Tucson! Grandpa Clayton pulled up to our house in this...

All done!!! The girls were beyond excited to ride in the station wagon!

But probably not as much as this guy....

We were all ready to go! When....it didn't start. That's a Ford for you..Found On Road Dead. But after a little tow it started up and we headed to the show!

There were a lot of fun cars to look at. The girls loved the school bus...

And Sophie was all for the rock wall. She didn't make it up too far but she liked it...

The girls painted their own pinewood derby cars and raced them! Apparently we need to work on our pinewood car skills we were dead last, but they had fun and got medals and a t-shirt.

We had some down time so we camped out in our chairs in the shade while the girls played and relaxed...

If you can see the lovely road rash on Lydia's face she fell out of the station wagon when she was climbing out. Apparently she thought it was a good idea to use her face to break her fall. The EMTs at the first aid tent were very nice.

It was fun to see all of the cars and to watch so many people admiring ours. We also found the perfect way to reduce our Halloween candy load...

We had the girls pick out their favorites to keep that would fit into a cereal bowl and the rest we dumped into a basket and shared with everyone at the show!

Happy Halloween and Sophie goes Shopping

For Halloween we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Clayton's house so that Chad and Dad Clayton could try and finish the station wagon and the girls could go trick or treating!

This is kind of sad but this is the real first year they have gone real trick or treating. We usually just go to the trunk or treat and call it good. They were so excited all day and kept saying "Its Halloween!!!" They had a lot of fun going door to door. And since we went to both the trunk or treat and trick or treating we have a Ton of candy...yikes. Not sure what to do with it all yet. I joked with Chad that thank goodness we have only 2 kids because I couldn't imagine how much candy would be brought home with any more.

Grandma Miller picked Sophie up today and took her Birthday shopping. Sophie was beyond excited. She knew exactly what she wanted.....

A Cinderella dress! We are getting quite the collection of princess dresses around here. And its not just any Cinderella dress...it actually lights up and sparkles....

Sophie is 4!

Yesterday was Sophie's 4th Birthday! I cant believe she is getting so big. Saturday we had a party for her and invited some friends from her sunbeam class. Unfortunately it was a crazy busy day for everyone so we ended up with just 2 friends instead of 8, but they had a lot of fun and needless to say got to go home with extra candy :)

Sophie requested a Jake and The Never Land Pirates Party. We had tropical punch, goldfish, graham cracker "planks", and string cheese "swords."

 

We made cupcakes with gold dablooms. I tried to make it look like the dabloom was on an island.

I made pink bandannas for all the girls to wear so they could look like Izzy from the show:

and I made red ones for the boys to look like Jake. My wonderful husband sported one for the party since none of the boys were able to come...

We played some games. First they did Cannonball float. We had black balloons for cannon balls and they had to keep them in the air or else they would explode...

Then they dug for buried treasure. First they had to walk the "plank" to the treasure...

 

Dig and find as much treasure as they could carry (ring pops, chocolate coins, and "pixie dust" pixie sticks)

Then they had to walk the plank back and put the treasure into the team treasure chest which I forgot to take a picture of their loot!

 

 

They loved digging in the sand (rice) .

Aubrey and Victoria brought her nail polish which she absolutely loves!

And her friend Dalin dropped of a gift for her...

A Tinkerbell sticker book which she says "Is so much better than a coloring book"

Yesterday for her actual Birthday we invited the Grandparents over for dinner and to sing to Sophie. Even Aunt Sarah was able to come!

She requested pumpkin pie to be just like her Dad. Then we opened presents. She got some really cute ABC tiles and a dress up doll from Grandma and Grandpa Clayton!...

And we got her a Doc Mcstuffins doctor bag with tools. She immediately started giving all of her stuffed animals and babies a checkup.

And she still gets to go shopping with Grandma Miller on Thursday! Happy Birthday Miss Sophie!!!