December Fun

I've really had a lot of fun this month celebrating Christmas. It is very true that Christmas as a parent is even better than Christmas as a kid. It's so fun to make things magical and exciting for Susanna. We fit in what we can here and there and don't worry about the rest. Thanks to that mantra- I've just loved this month! We've decorated, done some cute Christmas crafts, watched Christmas movies, listened to Christmas music, baked, and tried to think of gifts we can give the Savior by serving others. 

I just love the Christmas season and thinking about that precious baby born in Bethlehem. I know we honor Him best when we show others love.

Here are only some of the pictures of the fun we've had this month. 

This was at our ward party. (Sam is like Susie's brother, we babysit him after kindergarten every day and everyday she can't WAIT till he gets done with school.)

 Our Christmas tree! Ooooh!

 Thanks to cousins' hand me downs, Susanna has had some adorable festive outfits to wear to church. It's hard to make sure I get a picture because Sunday mornings are busy getting myself, dinner, and 2 kids ready for church while Paul is at meetings. But I actually succeed 3 weeks in a row!

(this is my ALL TIME favorite picture. It just doesn't get an sweeter than this.)

Here is the dialogue for the pictures below:

Mom: "Susie, just smile. I want a picture of your cute dress."

Susie: "Eh! Mom stop!"

Mom: "Susanna! Smile right now and then you can go!"

Susie: "(while half smiling) Fine!"

 Our traditional Christmas sugar cookies.

 Check out the frosting on that thing!

We also went to the Mesa temple lights. It was great fun. We met my Aunt Cora and her family there. Braden looked ridiculously cute in his little Old Navy jacket!

 Tomorrow we are leaving for Disneyland! Merry Christmas to all! 

Family Pictures

I always want to keep my family pictures a secret until after Christmas cards go out so it will be a surprise, but oh well! Hopefully they will go out soon. I just need to actually remember stamps when I'm out. My photographer friend Aly Cook took our family pictures this year. She was awesome! Susie was a good girl and smiled lots for us. I love the ones we got of the 2 kids together. Here are a few of my favorites...

Fun in Cedar City

We went to Cedar City for Thanksgiving this year. My parents and all but one of my siblings lives there so it was nice to see everyone. Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth joined us for dinner, too. Cedar is about a 7 or 8 hour drive from Phoenix and the kids did pretty good in the car. I usually sit in the back and try to keep them entertained. The iPad helps for sure! 

We enjoyed an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. Mom always makes an amazing spread: turkey of course, mashed potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, rolls, fresh cranberry salad (her recipe for this is to die for), and Tiffany made a brussel sprout dish this year that was really good. 

When I'm with my family we like to do Black Friday shopping. We set out that night for some deals but Susanna started throwing up so I didn't stay out longer than an hour. Sick kids need their mama and I don't want to miss out on taking care of them! 

We were able to stay for a few days and had lots of fun. One night we went to Christmas lane. There is a neighbor hood up in the hills in Cedar that decorates with lots of lights and gives out cookies and hot chocolate. We bundled up and walked through the lights. At the end of the loop, Susanna got to meet Santa. She did a great job. He was a great Santa. I just LOVE this picture! 

I am enjoying this time of year. I love the special spirit that comes with the Christmas season. Thinking about the Savior's birth brings a special spirit to our December days. We are enjoying the Christmas lights and decorations up in our house and the Christmas music and Christmas treats. It is fun to find a few gifts that Susie will like and put them under the tree for her to look forward to. I'm loving the Phoenix weather too!! Utah was brrrr cold!!! 

My Cute Kids

When I look at pictures of Susanna when she was a baby I forget that they are Susanna and not Braden because I think they look so much alike. But then I put two pictures side by side and they don't look as much alike as I thought. They have their similarities but are definitely unique. 

Braden is 3 1/2 months old. He is such a wonderful baby. He has been sleeping about 11 hours at night. (cue the Hallelujah chorus). It's nothing short of fantastic!! He is snuggling and smiley and loves his mama. For some reason the camera makes him nervous so I don't have as many smiles on record as I'd like but he smiles all the time and I take lots of mental pictures. Yesterday in church Braden was sitting in Daddy's lap and they both looked so handsome. Paul was wearing his shirt and tie under a nice gray sweater and Braden was wearing his cute Khakis with a collared, button up shirt. I made sure to take a mental picture of my handsome boys sitting in church together. Braden is on a good schedule. It's the same schedule Susie was on at his age. He naps twice a day and after his second nap we try to keep him up until bedtime which is about 7:30 or 8. He loves being talked to and snuggled with. He loves watching Susie and smiles big whenever she talks to him or plays with him. He has rolled over a few times which is exciting! Oh how we love our Braden! 

Susanna is doing great as well. I can't believe she will be 3 in February. We started a free Mommy and Me preschool class in our home with a few of our other toddler friends. We are learning ABCs, colors, shapes, numbers, songs, how to use scissors and glue.. simple things like that. We have a lot of play time too. Susie hasn't been too interested in learning her letters but she knows a few and is learning more. She loves dressing up and knows almost all the Disney princesses. She's a girly, girl for sure. She won't let me touch her after I've worked out- she says "Mom sweaty! No touch me!" She listens to her mom and is pretty obedient most of the time. When I tuck her in at night she loves singing primary songs and talking together about what we will do tomorrow. She loves her daddy and misses him when he is gone. Paul works 6 days a week so he is gone a lot. Yesterday morning before church, Paul had to go to meetings and she said, "Daddy don't leave me!" What a sweet girl!

Braden 

Susie

Braden

Susie

Looks like Braden and Susie both like playing cards, too. 

Fall Happenings

Susie has been very excited to go and visit her Grandma. She was especially excited to go on the plane. Whenever you tell a kid something early, before it actually happens, you wonder if that was a huge mistake because that's all they talk about. Susie asked me if we could fly on a plane and go to Grandma's constantly. Every morning. All day. Everyday. Next time I won't tell her so far in advance! The day finally arrived. I had to wake Susie up at 4am so we could get to the airport in time (the joys of flying standby). She was a little confused as to what I was doing but as soon as I said she needed to get up and get dressed so we could go on a plane to Grandma's, she got herself right out of bed with a happy smile on her little face. Of course at the airport we had to wait to board. "Mom, go on plane! Go on plane!! Go on plane now!!!" After boarding, we waited to take off. "Mom plane in sky!! Plane in sky now mom! I want to go in sky!" Thankfully I have had lots of practice with being patient in sleepless situations so we had a good time with it. She loved watching the plane take off and she was a good girl during the flight. Braden did great too! 

This is after we landed. We were in the far back of the plane so we had to wait a little while to deplane. 

Grandpa picked us up at the airport. Susie was excited to see everyone. Especially her cousin Ty. They had a good time playing together. Ty liked reading to her a lot. We got to go to his school's Fall Carnival. They had a lot of inflatable bouncy houses which usually scare Susie but with Ty at her side she was fearless! 

Aunt Tiffany gave us both haircuts. This was Susie's first haircut! She was a little nervous but did a great job. I think it turned out super cute. I saved some of her hair in a little baggie of course. 

Aunt Livy loved playing with the kids. She was a huge help while I was there, playing with the kids, bathing, feeding, lots more. We took all the kids to a pumpkin patch in St. George one day and that was fun although it didn't smell great thanks to the cows!

This is a picture of Susie at the house my dad is building. He has the foundation in. We also got to see Uncle Logan's new apartment. Susie really loves Uncle Logan. He took her to the park one day with the dogs and she loved that. At the end of our trip Mom drove us back to the Vegas airport. She was able to get a security pass and help me to the gate. She bought us a pretzel and stayed with us until we boarded. It was hard to say goodbye! We love our family so much. We had such a great time!

Susie dressed up as cat girl for our ward trunk or treat. I love trunk or treat! It's the best part about Halloween! With little kids trunk or treat is where it's at. Paul's brother Jonathan gave us a baby Robin costume so we tried to coordinate the rest of our costumes with that. Thus, the cat girl costume. My little sister Olivia suggested that Susanna dress up as the Joker with the red scars on her face and teach her to say, "why so serious?" and "let's put a smile on that face." Ha ha! I don't think so.

Paul had a batman shirt already (of course) and I found one for me at Walmart. Ta-da! Batmom, Batdad, Cat girl and Robin. 

This is Susanna's best friend. You can see why they would get along so well (she's dressed as Cinderella). :) Happy Halloween everyone!