Blake's new "Do"

What do you think of Blake's new do? Do you think he'll get some cute chicks with this???? We're hoping NOT!

Lexie's Recital, Christmas chaos

Lexie & Faith had their Christmas dance recital on Dec 16th. They did so good! Lexie was in 3 dances this year. She probably needed a little bit more practice, but did good for her first time doing more than one dance! We had the Longhurst Christmas party at Josh and Meagan's after, which is always fun. Everyone has a great sense of humor, and it's always fun to play the white elephant gift game. They took a picture of all the babies and then all of the kids (under 12), which was pretty amazing. I didn't realize how many kids there were, and they weren't all even there!

Getting ready for Christmas is always crazy. I hate shopping (yes, I know you're all shocked) and get so stressed out about what to even get kids that have everything. I hate crowds and never plan very well. (except for last year when I did all my shopping online in October while I was on bedrest!) Anyway, I'm about done, just a few more gift certificates and we'll be set. Blake and Tori leave on Sunday around 4, so that kind of stinks. We'll get together with my family on Sat and then do our little family on Sun before they leave. We'll miss everyone in Eagar. It's just hard to go up sometimes and have to come back the next day. I haven't been feeling well for quite some time, so that doesn't help either. It's hard, when you get to a certain age, it's kind of nice to have Christmas at your own house and be able to relax and let the kids enjoy their presents. It's ok to celebrate Christmas on a different day! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and stuffs themselves crazy with cookies and whatever else you have baked (or been given!) I have been trying out some new recipes, which I'm so excited about. I have NEVER been able to bake worth crap, so the things I've made this week have actually turned out decent and I couldn't be happier! I made fudge, gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies so far. And lots of muffins for the kids. Anyway, enough rambling...I'll put up some pictures when Christmas is over!

Random thoughts...

I forgot to say that the second picture of Sienna here is of her looking at Kaelsy when she was wailing about not liking her cake! It was quite funny!
Is anyone done Christmas shopping yet? Is anyone else having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year? I haven't even started shopping and I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I have been sick with this cold/cough for like 3 weeks now, it's getting old. I just feel tired all the time! (hu, maybe it's because I have 5 kids?) I don't know how Heather does it...her kids are alot closer in age than mine are and she's brave enough to have 3 more join their family!
Blake has his first band concert tonight. He plays the trumpet. Should be interesting...from the way he plays at home, oh boy, are we in for some night! haha. I'll take a picture if I remember! Lexie's Christmas dance recital is this Sat. She is doing 3 dances in it. I'm quite excited and a little nervous, that's a lot to remember for her age! She just added a hip hop class and a private lesson, so now she'll do 4 dances in the June recital. She really loves dance. She is quite the natural at it too.
More later!

Sienna's taste

Sienna wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake, I don't think they realized that they could eat it! Neither of them liked the feel of the frosting on their hands.

The cake drama

Ready...set...go!
Ok, Kaelsy is really not into this...
Now she's REALLY mad!
Finally she gets a taste of the chocolate and settles down!

The big 1st birthday bash

Guess Kaelsy didn't feel like wearing the cute hat Sariah made!
time to loose the clothes and eat some cake!

Best Sisters
Lexie's snow angel
Lexie & the beautiful Cascade Lake
Twins playing peek-a-boo

More pics

The girls decided to do "makeovers" for James & Grandpa. Papa with his girls...Lexie and her new friends...& Tori and her constant companion for the week!

Turkey day & Bday pics

Lexie and her first snowball (I think it's her first?), best cousins Tori & Whitley, the snowman & Blake & his new friend having a snowball fight! My only regret is that we didn't get the twins in the snow. It was just so cold!!! The Phoenix weather has really thinned my blood. And to think, I'm a true blooded Minnesotan! (can you hear the accent?)

Thanksgiving, twins 1st birthday and so on

Well, looks like I have a ton to catch up on! I haven't even dowloaded our pictures from Thanksgiving yet...life is always so crazy busy.
We went to Cascade, Idaho for Thanksgiving. We left on Monday and came home the next Monday. It was like a 19 hr drive each way. A lot more than I bargained for! With 5 kids in the car, were we CRAZY???? Anyway, Andy's family has a cabin up there and so part of his family came and Connie & Homer and Sariah & Andy and our family. There were so many kids in that cabin! It was so fun for all of the kids. Even Blake, who normally doesn't have anyone even near his age to hang out with, had quite a few boys to play with all week. All of Andy's family cooks, and they are FANTASTIC cooks I should add, so we had NO shortage of food the entire week. Everything was home made and wonderful. There were so many pies I didn't even know where to start! The twins had their 1st Birthday on Thanksgiving. I will put some pics up tomorrow. Sienna was so so on eating her cake, but Kaelsy wanted no part of it. It was like she was scared of it! She's usually the little piggy too, so I was surprised that she didn't demolish it. I'm so sad that they're 1 now. My little babies are growing up...
They both have ear infections now and need breathing treatments for their coughs/weezing. Lexie is on treatments now too. She has had asthma problems since she was a baby, only when she gets sick luckily. Hopefully she won't have problems when she dances or in gym class or running etc when she's older. I don't think she will. Anyway, we're having lots of fun here with all these sick kids! More tomorrow...