Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve

Did Christmas really come and go already???  Dang, I feel ripped off.  I feel like the Christmas season gets shorter and shorter as I get older.  So not fair.  I love the feeling that only Christmas can bring.  (I feel like a Hallmark card saying that)  But honestly, Christmas time is my favorite!!  I love the cold nights, the hot chocolate Mark makes for all of us, the kids being sweeter to each other because I threaten I will call Santa, shopping for the kids, the Christmas cartoons and movies (especially The Christmas Story), the family and friend parties and the cards we get in the mail from friends and family.  It is all such a fun time of the year!!

We had our annual Harper Christmas party the Sunday before Christmas.  We had a fabulous time being together.  My parents do such a great job putting the party together.  There is always yummy food and the grandkids LOVE being loud together!

Here they are making some ornaments.  Cody & Rachel were so sweet to head up that committee!

Elli Mae and Blayke

Cole and Crew (who is in the background)

Clay concentrating on writing his name on his ornament, Brock waiting patiently for the pen.

Cody showing off his bouncing moves on the trampoline.  What a stud.

Tyke is always smiling when he knows there is a camera around.  And not just a smile, it is a HUGE, CHEESY smile!!  Oh, he is edible.

Cole and Cade finishing the last minute touch-ups on the ornaments.

We keep these girls around as the clean-up crew.  Lisa has always been the one to wash the dishes.  Her husband Paul is always helping her too.  They kick anyone away from the sink when it comes time to clean up.  They won't let anyone touch a dish.  It's kind of nice.  And Melissa is really good at wiping the counters!!

The guys chit chatting while Kara smiles for the camera.... typical.

Mark entertaining with a little Christmas music!!

Caleb not too sure yet what is going on.  He had just woken up from a nap and wasn't quite awake yet.

Cole played Jingle Bells for us..... such a violin master!!

Caleb woke up soon enough though with Tyke around.  Tyke is only 3 months older than Caleb, but Tyke is the size of a 4 year old.  He is a tank.  He doesn't realize his own strength when it comes to playing with Caleb.  Just wait Tyke...... Caleb's Baker genes will someday pounce on those Hunt genes of yours!!  :)

Oooohhhh, the classic Nativity Scene.  Look at those cute animals.  It's always fun watching these little guys acting this out.

Look at the innocence on that face.  How could this boy ever get in trouble looking like that??

G & G Harper always get everyone an ornament for the Christmas Eve party.  Here's Elli's Belle ornament.

Blayke and Elli showing theirs off.

Caleb got a Mickey Mouse one.  He wasn't a fan of facing the ornament towards me to get a picture of it.

Braeden got Scooby Doo rocking out on a guitar since Braeden is our little Rock Star!!

Then Santa decided to surprise us.  Elli has been wanting a Swim To Me Puppy since June.  I have been putting it off thinking it was a weird toy and she would forget about it.  Nope, she didn't.... thanks to the commercial that has been advertising since then.  That's all she ever told me she wanted for Christmas this year.  So that is what she told Santa she wanted.  I thought "Great, I think Santa has something else in mind for her, I just might have to venture out and get her that toy myself since that is all she wanted."  Thanks to that fantastic commercial.

Braeden asked for a Pocket Rocket, but thanks to Santa, he didn't get it.  I'm pretty sure Santa knew that would be a dangerous toy for Braeden.  And that his mom wasn't too excited for a toy like that for Braeden.

Caleb didn't know who this man in red was.  He wanted off!!

When Santa left, the kids ran to the front door to watch Santa fly away.

But some of the adults heard Santa in the backyard, so the kids ran to the back door.

He wasn't back there, so they ran to the front again, but no one could see him.  Santa is just too fast.

(I was outside and said, "Ho Ho Ho" in my deep voice and heard Cade say, "I just heard Santa, but where is he?"  I love that they still believe.)

And that ended our Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Party.  What a fun time we had.  Now I have to wait 11 more months for the Christmas season again!!  I can't wait!!

Crazy Kid

(Christmas pictures are a little too overwhelming right now, so this is what I'm posting for now.)

Since living with my parents, Caleb's room has been in the storage room.  Poor kid has been sleeping in a crib amongst stuff.  We cram all kinds of crap in that room.

A while ago, he learned how to climb out of his crib, so I stopped that by putting a blanket over it and making it so he couldn't get out (yes, I would consider myself white trash!)  That worked for a while.  Then I decided to take the blanket off.  He didn't climb out of his crib to get out of going to sleep, but for 2 days, this is what I would find him doing shortly after taking the blanket off.

(You can see the top of the crib, that's where he climbed out of.)

Usually, Caleb will cry for about 2 - 5 minutes then realize we aren't coming to get him out of bed, so he'll lay down and go to sleep.  But he kept crying.  And it was really loud crying.  So I went in and found him on top of all these boxes..... completely stuck.  He couldn't get down.  I couldn't help but laugh.  What a little fart.

Then 15 minutes later, he cried again..... really loud.  I couldn't wait to see where he was this time.  Little chubs was stuck again behind these boxes.  Oh, and to top it off, he likes to take all his clothes off. That's why he is in his diaper.  He won't leave them on during his naps.  You can't see it, but his diaper has duct tape on it so he doesn't take that off.... once again, WHITE TRASH!  Boy am I glad those 2 days are over.  He hasn't climbed out of his crib since then.... (fingers crossed)

Elli Singing In Primary

For the little Sharing Time in Primary on Sunday, Elli got to sing Silent Night all by herself.  She did such a great job.  You can see in her face how much she loved being in front of everyone.  She's so BRAVE!!

We "ELF"ed OURSELVES

My kids saw an Elf video of their cousins and BEGGED me to make one of us.  So here it is.  Merry Christmas ya'll!!

San Tan Flat

Last weekend we went to San Tan Flat which is in Queen Creek.  It's a pretty fun place.  They have a band playing, dancing, fire pits and marshmallows, and great food!!  But note to self:  Bring your own bag of marshmallows.  I bought of "bag" of marshmallows for $3.  But there were only 8 marshmallows in it.  But the kids loved it and had a lot of fun!!

Caleb had so much fun walking and dancing around.  He didn't want to be held or picked up.  I love when this kid is happy.  He is soo stinkin' cute!!

Phil Vassar / Lucky Blue

Lucky Blue opened for Phil Vassar earlier this month.  We had so much fun watching the guys up there.

Braeden absolutely is THE NUMBER ONE FAN of Lucky Blue.  He has made his own posters of LB and knows all the songs and thinks one day he will be one stage with them playing the guitar like his daddy.  He was on the edge of his seat the whole time clapping his hands.

When the guys were done on stage, the kids sat on the chairs waiting for their dad to come down and see them.

Then Phil came out, flipping his hair ALOT and drinking "something" out of the little red cups.  Not sure what it was, but he definitely was on the tipsy side.

Halfway through Phil, I went backstage with Mark to watch the show.  I had to get a picture of the backside.  But he was such a great performer.  He blew me away on the piano.  I was a little confused why his piano had zebra print on it though.....

LB with Phil.

And I had to get a picture with him as well!!

A couple nights ago, they guys and I headed to Toby Keith's Bar & Grill to talk to Ben & Matt (KNIX's morning guys)  They were doing this fundraiser for the United Way called the Pay For Play.  If you donated money, they would play anything for you.  So..... we had them play "The Wrong Dress"  It was so fun hearing their song on the radio.  Ben & Matt said they really liked the song.  The next morning, they played it again for us!  Now if we can only get them to play it on the radio without giving donations..... someday!!  :)

Gingerbread House

Grandma Dianna and Grandpa Bob came the week of Mark's concert and boy did we get Christmas early!!  They brought all of us presents for Christmas.  It was so nice of them.  They also got us this fun Gingerbread house.  So we made it for Family night last week.  It ended up being ME finishing the rest because the kids decided they would rather jump on the wet trampoline because it was raining!!

Mark made us some YUMMY hot chocolate because it was cold.

And the final product!!  It turned out soooo cute!!

Temple Lights

We have already taken a trip to the Mesa Temple for the Christmas Lights.  It was soooo cold that night (remember, I have Arizona blood)  This was the day Braeden got his Lucky Blue shirt and was VERY proud to be wearing it and he kept opening his jacket so people would look at it.  He even tried taking it off all together because he was very determined to show it off.  Such a funny boy.  But the kids had a lot fun there. We went inside the Visitor's Center and watch the Luke 2 movie and look at the Christus.  

How did I get so lucky to get such cute kids??

Caleb has decided that he is not a big fan of the high chair (sometimes) and he'll come sit by Elli and they'll eat on this chair together.  It's kind of delicious!!!

Thanksgiving Fun Run

Is it December already???  Geez, where did November go??

Well, Braeden's school did a little Turkey Trot.... and I mean little.  The kids probably ran for a whopping 30 seconds.  Maybe a minute.  But it was fun.  I went and ran with him.  He just thought it was such a workout.  Thank goodness they gave them a popsicle to help cool down!!

AR Designs Giveaway

AR Designs is having a very tempting GIVEAWAY of the cutest jewelry there is right now!!  Anyone and everyone can enter.  And if you know me well, you know that I have already done my part to get the most possible entries I can to enter.  So just letting you know about this.  Entries need to be in by this coming Monday (the 7th)